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Wave Blaster


I like writing. It's the thing that drives me. My goal is to reach others through my work and have a nice talk. He/Him.

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Oct
13th
2016

Writing Notes: The Captain Atom Effect · 1:05am Oct 13th, 2016

It's been a long while since I made one of these, but recently I've had some ideas building up and this is one of them.

Let's start with the eponymous character, Captain Atom, specifically the run by Cary Bates and Greg Weisman. In the first issue, the character had the standard power set of the flying brick (strength+fly+energy blasts), but by the end of the run (issue #57) he could manipulate matter, energy and time (also known as everything that composes the universe we live in). This to the point of being able to create his own alternate universe out of the blue, which he could also control.

What the hell happened in those fifty-seven issues?!

Well, if I had to put it in tropes terms (which I'm going to do despite not having to), I would say it's the the result of Required Secondary Powers, Serial Escalation and Fridge Logic being considered together. That means you apply parallel thinking to the initial idea and keep up adding around deduction.

To exemplify let's go with The Flash. For Jay Garrick it was all limited to being super fast and that's where it ends. But then you take in consideration that things like friction and the Bernoulli effect, plus human anatomy are all still on play. This mean someone who moves at the speed of sound would most likely get crushed, explode, get liquefied or burst into flames. Therefore Barry Allen gets the secondary power of controlling friction through vibrating. Here's the first example of adding a power to compensate the main one.

But someone then remembered that speed comes from acceleration, which is the application of force over mass. In the case of The Flash, that would mean either make the character super strong or explain the energy input somehow. That's when the Speed Force (read 'a wizard did it') was introduced. And then someone figured out that an object reaching the speed of light (serial escalation, remember?) would pretty much destroy everything near its path and gain infinite mass, adding the even horizon effect to the mix. This is the point where comic book writers threw their arms up in the air, gave up and stated that The Flash's powers were ignoring physics.

So, we went from the white cousin of Jesse Owens to an improbability engine.

What does this mean for a story?

Well, it all depends on the focus of the story. If the focus of the story is the character overcoming its limits, then the Captain Atom Effect will be a way to tell how much the characters have been through. A well known example of this is Dragon Ball Z. Through the series, Goku (and sometimes others) gets a power upgrade per saga. This represents Goku's will to improve himself constantly, no matter what. Therefore we can tell how much he has grown through the series by comparing his powers from the beginning with the ones from the end (or ongoing, if you're watching Dragon Ball Super).

The other extreme is when the focus of the story is to see what a character does with his powers. Here we can mention Superman. Regardless of the Silver Age (and the plot convenience), Superman's powers only grow when the environment he's in grows. So, when the world starts having people who run faster than light or can manipulate matter at will, then Supes has to catch up. This is because the story is about a man who has to carry the burden of being the ultimate power around. We end up keeping the original story's icon, making his holding on inmutable ideals like Truth and Justice more meaningful because nothing can forcing him.

Of course, there are bad examples too. Sometimes it leads to a character getting creatively stuck or with the story loosing any value. Like in the previous two examples, I think it all depends if the Captain Atom Effect doesn't change the original message of the story. When you can change settings and characters around the original concept without loosing what defines it, then there should be no problem. After all, Superman and Goku keep selling like fresh bread each day.

Comments ( 3 )

The Flash is a really interesting example. You're right that there comes a point where writers say "Screw physics, speed force" to explain a situation -though one could probably make an argument about the universe breaking down at higher speeds to explain such feats- but the "Flash Fact" catchphrase really does a lot to push the idea that they want the Flash to be somewhat inspired by reality.

Heck, that's his Rogue's theme, isn't it? Superman's villains can be interpreted as "Men of Tomorrow" and foils to Superman's ideals (Metaplot, Luther, Zod). Batman's are based off of mental illness, and reflecting psyche. Spider-Man is animal themed, and reflect tons of Peter (at least in his Big Three).

The Flash Rogue Gallery is based more on physics principles, I think. So Captain Cold doesn't have a go which freezes things; he has a gun which slows down molecules. The cold is a side benefit; both concepts are ridiculous, but his version sets his apart from other cold-themed villains like Freeze, because it's "more scientically plausible".

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What I find so appealing about the Rogues is that their weapons (later powers) aren't only scientific concepts, as you say, but also as OP as the Flash himself. Here's a quote from Heat Wave:
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That applies to all of them. In fact, it was a plotpoint in 'The Fastest Man Alive' when they attacked a depowered Bart Allen (Barry's grandson from the future) and it accidentally killed him.

Now, where it comes to Cold, I have this little piece of info a friend in engineering told me some months ago. Recently there's a theoretical way to slow down light. It works by de-exciting the photons in it, making it easier to study. The catch? The method is a laser.
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4254129

Yeah, the Rogue's archery much the epitome of...that archetype, the villain who commits crimes using technology which would set themselves up for life if they would just patent the damn thing.

(Probably why The Flash established the guns as S.T.A.R labs tech, actually. The characters themselves would still be into the thrill of the situation, but it cuts down audience questions about the situation)

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