by Rik Offenberger

Captain Atom: Armageddon hit the stands last week. Amid a major storyline in Infinite Crisis featuring the Superman of Earth-2, Superboy of Earth Prime returning to the DC Universe, the first issue of the miniseries was unique in that the hero left the DCU. We talked with Captain Atom: Armageddon writer; Will Pfeifer about what is happening and how this series fits in with what is happening in the DCU and the Wildstorm Universe these days.

Newsarama: Were you a Captain Atom fan before getting the assignment?

Will Pfeifer: I wasn't a huge fan, but I was definitely aware of who the character was, and I had read plenty of his comic books - the material in the '80s series drawn by Pat Broderick, his appearances in the various Justice League-related titles, even some of the old Steve Ditko comics from back in the Charlton Days. When Alan Moore was developing the Watchmen concept using the DC acquired Charlton heroes, Captain Atom was the character who eventually became Dr. Manhattan, you know. I was familiar with him, and knew the broad strokes of his powers, his origin and his personality, which changed over the years, naturally.

NRAMA: Is this a case where you went to DC and said "I have a great idea for Captain Atom" or did they come to you and ask you to write this series?

WP: DC, or actually WildStorm, in the person of editor Alex Sinclair, came to me, told me they were looking to use Captain Atom as a way to take a new look at the existing WildStorm U, bounce him off the characters, contrast his philosophy with theirs, that sort of thing. Our goal was for the series to put both Captain Atom, who always seemed to be a second stringer in the DCU and the WildStorm Universe itself in the spotlight. I had written a short story featuring Jack Hawksmoor for a WildStorm themed one-shot, and Alex was the editor on that. We enjoyed working together, so when they needed a writer to bring the Captain Atom concept to life, he gave me a call. He left the project to focus more on his coloring career, he's one of the tops in the biz, but Ben Abernathy stepped in and so far we've had a swell time pitting super-heroes against each other and destroying property.

NRAMA: The series is supposed to bring the WSU back into prominence, what type of guidelines were you given in writing the series?

WP: The only guidelines I was given was to feature a variety of the stars of the WildStorm U, and build to an ending that I can't reveal here. Otherwise, everyone's been great at letting me figure out how to tell the story. There have been plenty of conference calls and e-mail conversations with Alex, Ben, Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, but I can truthfully say that input helped me tell a better story. After all, these guys know what they're talking about.

NRAMA: Captain Atom is a second stinger in the DCU, and the WSU is not at the same level it had been when WildCATs, Authority, and Gen13 were all top sellers. Why combine Captain Atom and the WSU?

WP: Well, I think you've answered the question right there. Neither Captain Atom nor the WildStorm U are on top of the comic book food chain. Why not use them to highlight what's interesting about each other. Captain Atom is a traditional, nuts-and-bold superhero, while the WildStorm Universe has always been about finding a new modern, postmodern, spin on the concept of the superhero. These two belong together. Each one can reveal new things about the other, and there's plenty of conflict, physical and otherwise, built into every encounter.

NRAMA: Right after the explosion that recaps Superman/Batman we see a bald Captain Atom from "an alternate timeline" isn't this scene from Superman/Batman #20, and if so how is that 'an alternate timeline"?

WP: Heh heh. Well, originally, we jumped right from the scene where Captain Atom pilots the giant rocket into the Kryptonite asteroid to the scene where, thrown by the tremendous force of the explosion, he winds up crashing to Earth in the WSU. But then, in a later issue of Superman/Batman that hit the stands just as Cammo was working on the art for Captain Atom #1, Captain Atom made a brief, but memorable, appearance that took place after his collision with the asteroid. So, figuring Captain Atom's time-jumping history combined with the fact that he was bouncing from one universe to another gave us the option of including that scene, making it part of the story, but never completely explaining just what happened.

The truth is Captain Atom himself doesn't know what happened; it was a glitch in the space-time continuum. But it let us include that bit of last minute continuity, and it gave the whole scene an extra feeling of displacement, to let the readers know that wherever Captain Atom was going to end up, even he didn't understand how he got there or - and this is a major point of the series - how to get home.

NRAMA: Obviously, with the hints of universe-spanning repercussions from this miniseries, possible connections could be drawn to another story with universe-spanning repercussions going on at the same time next door to the WildStorm Universe. Flat out, is this story connected to Infinite Crisis?

WP: You know it really isn't connected directly. It might be mentioned somewhere in the other crisis-related books, but it's its own story. The nine issues definitely stand on their own.

NRAMA: It appears that Captain Atom crash lands in the WSU complete with the new Alex Ross look. Is this the same Captain Atom from the beginning of the story or did we switch Captain Atoms along the way?

WP: It's the same Captain Atom. Alex just liked that version of the costume, and wanted to draw it on his cover for issue 1. We figured that, during his trip between universes, one of the changes that occurred was his costume changed. The new look even mystifies him, making him feel that much less sure of himself and his place in the WildStorm Universe.

NRAMA: Shortly after landing, Captain Atom gave Majestic a serious pounding. Has he always been that powerful of has his strength increased in the WSU?

WP: He's at the same power level, but the reason he was able to go up against Majestic like that was because, at that limit, he'd just been pushed too far. A combination of confusion, desperation and rage hit him after Majestic plowed into him, and he just cut loose. Captain Atom is still a pretty powerful guy, and as we'll see as he goes up against some of the other heroes of the WildStorm Universe, he knows how to use those powers in some imaginative ways.

NRAMA: The mini-series is titled Captain Atom: Armageddon. He also says "My Name is Captain Atom. As in a-bomb… as in nuclear fission… as in… the end of the world" from these two very obvious clues, is it safe to say that Captain Atom will blow up the WSU?

WP: Well, just like during the height of the cold war, and Captain Atom was originally a product of that time, a military man borne of the battle against the enemy, the threat of atomic destruction hangs over everything. Whether it will actually occur, well, I can't reveal that here, can I?