Captain Atom (Volume 2) #25 is an issue of the series Captain Atom (Volume 2) with a cover date of January, 1989.
Synopsis for "Slow Burn"
Captain Atom is on Air Force One with the President while flying to New York City for the upcoming ceremonies to honor those (including Atom) for saving Earth from the alien invasion. While discussing about the public accolades, Captain Atom raise the topic about his personal investigation into his 1968 court martial sentence. The President think about giving him a presidential pardon, but Captain Atom respectfully decline as he insisted that his innocence must be proven beyond all doubt. Instead of a pardon, Nathaniel accepted the President's offer to reinstate him into the Air Force with full honors and a promotion to major.
Air Force One soon arrive at Kennedy Airport, along with others that are attending the ceremonies: Maxwell Lord, General Wade Eiling, J'onn J'onzz, Oberon, Flash, and Major Force. The latter is peeved over Captain Atom grabbing the public's attention for his role in leading Earth's superheroes during the invasion, and is further incensed to hear about his rival's promotion by the President. Force then decide to leave the scene before he loses his temper.
Force's mood-swing is noticed by his handlers, who then notify Eiling. Rather than to have Force pacified via his implants without causing a public incident in the city, the General approaches Captain Atom to calm down Force. To Eiling's surprise, Nathaniel is very open to cooperate.
Nathaniel finds Force mulling by the East River and takes him to Liberty Island to talk. Major Force expresses his jealousy over Captain Atom's popularity and demand on when he will get his share of the glory. Force's tirade is interrupted by a threat delivered by the Xenoist Terrorist Army: they have an airship rigged with high explosives that will level the city within a two mile radius and they will remotely detonate it if their demands that have been given to the mayor are not met by 6 P.M. Furthermore, any attempt to tamper the airship will trigger an automatic detonation that will also kill the pilot trapped inside.
Major Force sees this as a chance to earn his glory. But Captain Atom flies off without Force, as he is deemed as dead weight, to neutralize the blimp. He separates the gondola and uses his quantum powers to contain and absorb the explosion. Force attempt to catch the gondola, but only for Nathaniel to catch it at the last second. This infuriates Force and he inadvertently brings himself sinking into the East River.
After Force is fished out the river by Captain Atom, Force soon takes matter into his own hands. Force takes a woman hostage; his handlers activate his implants, but Force has built up a tolerance to the gas vials. Captain Atom carefully negotiate with Force, telling him about the explosive charge installed in his head in which Martin Allard is very eager to press the button if Force kills the girl. Force relents, releasing his hostage rather than having his brains blasted.
Appearing in "Slow Burn"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Superman
- Justice League International
- Flash
- Martian Manhunter
- Oberon
- President Reagan
- Wilma Dane (First appearance)
- Truly (First appearance)
- Killer (First appearance)
Locations:
- New York
- New York City
- Liberty Island
- New York City
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- This issue is an Invasion! Aftermath tie-in extra, taking place in between Invasion! #2 and Invasion! #3. After the conclusion of the war in the second issue, these deal with the rest of the story right before the conclusion in the final issue where the Dominators unleash the Gene Bomb.
