Captain Comet - Publication History

Publication History

The character of Captain Comet first appeared in a 10-page tale, 'The Origin Of Captain Comet', in the flagship science-fiction title 'Strange Adventures' #9 (June 1951) published by National Comics (now known as DC Comics). He was created by 'Strange Adventures' Editor Julius Schwartz, John Broome, and artist Carmine Infantino, and the story was written by John Broome (under the alias Edgar Ray Merritt), drawn by Carmine Infantino and inked by Bernard Sachs. The character was based on the pulp fiction character Captain Future. His first appearance was actually a two-part story, continued in 'The Air Bandits From Space' in 'Strange Adventures' #10 (July 1951). From issue #12 (September 1951) Murphy Anderson took over as artist, and he drew all Captain Comet's further appearances in 'Strange Adventures' until #46 (July 1954); Sy Barry and Gil Kane drew the last two stories. John Broome wrote every issue.

Captain Comet appeared in 38 issues of 'Strange Adventures', (missing only issues #45, #47, and #48); the series ending in 'Strange Adventures' #49 (October, 1954). From the beginning, Captain Comet appeared on most of the covers, mainly drawn by Murphy Anderson or Gil Kane. Stories ranged in length from six to ten pages, dropping from ten pages in 1951 to eight pages in 1952 and finally six pages from May 1953. He next appeared in 1976, when writer Gerry Conway and co-writer David Anthony Kraft reintroduced him as a supporting character in 'Secret Society of Super Villains' starting with 'No Man Shall Call Me Master' ('Secret Society of Super Villains' #2, July/August 1976). He appeared in most issues of that title, together with associated 'Secret Society of Super Villains Special' #1 (October 1977), until it was canceled with issue #15 (June/July 1978). During this run he also appeared in 'Super-Team Family Giant' #13 (September 1977), a story directly linked to the 'Secret Society of Super Villains' series, and as lead character for the first time since 1954 in an extended story, 'Danger: Dinosaurs at Large!' in (DC Special #27, April/May 1977) by Gerry Conway and artist Arvell Jones. 'Secret Society of Super Villains' was canceled as part of 'The DC Implosion'. Ironically Captain Comet was a popular character at the time - he had recently come second in a poll for potential Justice League membership, and writer Bob Rozakis had recently presented DC Comics with a proposal for Captain Comet's first own-title series.

After the cancellation of 'Secret Society of Super Villains', Captain Comet entered another hiatus, his appearances limited to guest spots in other DC titles during the 1980s. Four of these were cameo appearances - 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' #5 (August 1985), #10 (January 1986) and #12 (March 1986), and 'All-Star Squadron' #53 (January 1986). Two were team-ups with Superman - 'DC Comics Presents' #22 (June 1980) and #91 (March 1986); the fourth was a retelling of his origin by Roy Thomas in 'Secret Origins Annual' vol 2 #1 (1987). He also appeared in the non-canonical series 'DC Challenge' (1986).

He then became a supporting character in the 'L.E.G.I.O.N.' series from issue #16 (June 1990). Captain Comet was actually a late replacement for fellow 1950s space traveler Adam Strange who was due to become a regular character, as otherwise it would have clashed with the Adam Strange Prestige Format limited series published around the same time. He was then part of the R.E.B.E.L.S. series which continued from L.E.G.I.O.N. That series was canceled with 'R.E.B.E.L.S.96' #17 (March 1996), and had a solo story in 'Showcase '96' #10 (November 1996), after which another hiatus followed.

Since 2005, under the writer Jim Starlin Captain Comet has had his highest profile in DC Comics publications since the 1950s, featuring in the Rann-Thanagar War miniseries (2005), starring in the 8-issue miniseries 'Mystery in Space (vol 2) (2006), and co-starring in 'Rann-Thanagar Holy War' (2008) and 'Strange Adventures' (vol 3)(2009), as well as appearing briefly in the '52' (2006) and 'Final Crisis' (2008) events. Most recently he has become a regular character in the ongoing new R.E.B.E.L.S. series (2009).