Unprepared for Armageddon

As a comic book reader, I am so unprepared!

I don't like Captain Atom. I know nothing about "the Wildstorm Universe", other than the part of it, the W.I.L.D.Cats, is usually the punchline to some joke by people who read more comics than I do.

So, you'll forgive me if I was unprepared to enjoy Captain Atom: Armageddon.

I should not have been unprepared, because I seem to like the writing of its author, Will Pfeiffer. At least, I really liked his revitalization of the nearly dead (but iconically huge) Aquaman.

Why did I like CA:A?

In one or two pages, Pfeiffer explains Captain Atom's origin, gives him an actual personality, positions him uniquely in the DCU (right before he leaves it!), explains the backstory to his current situation and takes it somewhere. That page or so did more to interest me in Captain Atom than everything else published about him in the last 20+ years since he was acquired by DC from Charlton.

Pfeiffer introduces the characters of the Wildstorm Universe, well, without introduction. They are simply there, doing what they do, confounding Captain Atom and me. That utter lack of exposition is refreshing, intrigues me into trying to understand the world Cap't A finds himself in, and pleasantly forces me to identify with Captain Atom.

Captain Atom's charmingly naive comment, "I won't hurt you; I'm a superhero!", and the reaction it gets perfectly communicated the difference between the DCU and Wildstorm. I think that's one of things I like about Pfeiffer's writing: he uses the story to convey information, instead of conveying information in order to tell a story.

I have no idea who Giuseppe Camuncoli is, but I love his art; beautiful stuff. The fact that I've never seen it before creates what is, to me, a unique look for the Wildstorm Universe; that's almost reason enough to stay tuned.

I don't know whether you will like Armageddon; but I did.