DC K.O.: Superman vs. Captain Atom #1: Fight Month Begins With A Predictable Winner And Outcome

DC K.O. Fight M0nth starts out with the heavy hitters going at it in the first round as Superman and Captain Atom face each other in a no-holds-barred round of three matches. Before the fisticuffs the story picks up following the events of DC K.O. #2 in which eight of the heroes and villains pass the second round of the contest to claim the Heart of Apokolips and reshape the DCU and prevent Darkseid  from being victorious. The story is told from Captain Atom’s point of view as a means of setting the scene and tension between him and Superman, who is still hopeful that there is another way to solve the threat of Darkseid.

The tension between Captain Atom between him and Superman feels genuine but forced at the same time. There is little given, other than Captain Atom feels like a forgotten hero, for his motivation, which could have been easily corrected given the events of Justice League: The Atom Project where they gave Nathanial back his powers despite him really wanting them back.  Williamson pushes Captain Atom to the max power-wise even allowing him to somehow mimic red and green Kryptonite which he uses to defeat Superman in the first of three rounds.

The second round is full of deep cuts as the combatants must pick from their multiple incarnations. Captain Atom decides on his Monarch personality which was first seen during the Countdown To Final Crisis event. Superman, having learned from his first defeat, goes for his strongest and most invulnerable form, the Superman from DC 1,000,000 who has lived in the sun and absorbed it’s power.

The third and final round, is almost to easy for Superman, as Captain Atom, corrupted by the Omega Energy cheats and chooses a form that combines all the powers of his variants (including one that looks like Doctor Manhattan). The final fight is somewhat anti-climatic as Superman gains some of Captain Atom’s abilities and using them to defeat him in a similar way that Nathanial has always been killed, by exploding and being sent into limbo until it is time for the character to return for his next story arc,

The final pages of the issue continues reveal that Booster Gold has been possessed by Darkseid and has been manipulating the heroes and the other members of the Quantum Quorum.

Sean Izaakse’s art is on point and very kinetic in the fight scenes and depictions of the various incarnations of both Superman and Captain Atom which is enhanced by the colors of Mulvihill and Hi-Fi.