Captain Atom #82 (1966)
by David Kaler & Steve Ditko
cover by Steve Ditko
One issue before the debut of the Ted Kord Blue Beetle, Captain Atom serves as the introduction of another Charlton hero.
Or rather heroine.
Captain Atom is summoned to catch a thief calling himself The Ghost.
You have to love a superhero universe where nobody bats an eye at the mention of ghosts or aliens being involved.
But Captain Atom won’t be the only one to work on the case: he’ll have to work with Nightshade, the “Darling of Darkness”.
They will both have to investigate while attending a fancy party.
Captain Atom’s secret identity is known to the government, but do they know who Nightshade is? Given the mention of her “aura of mystery” I would say no… which makes it weird to have work on the case without her mask.
We learn the secret origin of The Ghost, and he’s basically Peter Parker if he became an evil scientist.
We immediately learn that Nightshade’s real name is Eve Eden, but it will take a long time before we learn her secret origin.
Also she continues the long tradition of heroines using a wig as part of the secret identity, but she’s the reverse of both Black Canary and Supergirl: she’s a blonde who disguises herself as a brunette superhero.
And yes, she’s named Eve because Captain Atom’s real name is Adam.
Guys, you’re supposed to be undercover from the bad guys, not from each other!!!
Despite not really working together, they’re both right on the spot: Captain Atom has found a lead about a possible informant, and Nightshade is already talking with The Ghost’s secret identity.
Nightshade gets the chance to shine, first beating up one of The Ghost’s goons…
…but The Ghost is impossible to catch.
The Ghost has two distinct powers: he can teleport, and he can exile people in the Ditko Dimension.
Thankfully it’s just a delaying tactic, because they automatically return to Earth later.
Despite Captain Atom being the only one with powers (for now), for a 1966 comic it’s remarkable that Nightshade is shown to be an equal partner.
Including being equally unable to catch The Ghost.
Time to return to the party, where the two heroes learn each other’s identity.
She does have a mysterious side to her.
A few pages ago you considered aliens a perfectly reasonable explanation, but THIS shocking to you!?
Sounds legit.
This leads to a big sting operation to stop The Ghost and his crew, and Nightshade gets the chance to relax doing what she likes.
Unfortunately for The Ghost, Captain Atom can do pretty much whatever he wants.
But The Ghost’s glove gets damaged in the fight, exiling him in the Ditko Dimension.
Don’t feel bad for him, he’ll return to be one of the most recurring Captain Atom villains.
All in a day’s work!
Historical significance: 4/10
Nightshade had a respectable career at Charlton Comics and has been relevant at times, but she’s never been as prominent as the other heroes who made the jump to DC Comics.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Surprisingly modern!
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
The villain turned out to be kind of bland, although I like his deceptively simple look.
But other than that it’s a decent spy thriller, kind of a James Bond story with a powered supervillain. Nightshade has enough of a mysterious aura around her to leave you wanting to learn more about her, and the difference between how she’s portrayed and the depiction of so many super-heroines in the 60s is staggering.
How close is this to the modern character? 4/10
I have to admit that I didn’t know all that much about Nightshade before preparing for this review.
She doesn’t even have her powers, which are easily the most remarkable thing about her.
She begins using it in her second appearance 3 issues later, when she displays the ability to turn into a shadow.
While not a sidekick, Nightshade at times feels like a co-protagonist.
Nightshade has her own backup story (replacing Blue Beetle) from #87 to #89.
We already knew she’s the daughter of an influential Senator, but we are introduced to the mystery of her mother.
And also, continuing a tradition going back to the Golden Age, her secret identity is a bored socialite.
The serial is one of the earliest works of Jim Aparo, and you can already tell he’s going to be one of the greats.
A flashback informs us that Eve’s mother was from the Land Of Nightshades, which gave her shadow powers.
The story is by Dave Kaler, who would become influential in the history of fandom.
A former roommate of Denny O’Neil and Roy Thomas (!!!), he was actually recommended to Charlton by the latter.
A shame that his writer career didn’t last long, this is quite creative.
I can’t believe this is a Charlton comic from 1967. Between the Jim Aparo artwork and all this scene out of an acid trip, you’d think this was from the mid-70s.
It’s also a pretty brutal origin! Poor kid Nightshade had to watch her brother being brutally murdered by monsters and had to swear secrecy.
Having been introduced towards the end of Charlton Comics, Nightshade languished in limbo like her colleagues. She even showed up on Americomics Special #1 by AC Comics, meaning that she was THIS close to eventually join Femforce.
Did she avoid that fate because of DC Comics buying the rights to Charlton characters, or because unlike every other heroine they rescued from obscurity AC Comics gave her a costume that was LESS revealing than the original?
She makes her DC debut on Crisis On Infinite Earths, where she’s barely a cameo. She might have been killed in issue 9, it’s hard to tell.
She’s introduced post-Crisis on Suicide Squad, but it takes a while before we learn it’s her.
She starts off by using the codename Chimera, and her powers now include the ability to create shadow portals.
“Chimera” was just her codename when working undercover (long story); we soon learn she’s Nightshade, and her relationship with Amanda Waller isn’t the best right from the start.
In fact, Nightshade is one of the extremely few superheroes working for Suicide Squad.
She eventually receives a radical redesign…
…and she stays with the Suicide Squad for the entire first series, which I can’t recommend enough.
After the end of Suicide Squad, Nightshade bounced around in minor roles until 2006, where she joined the magic-themed Shadowpact.
By this time, her powers have been expanded to anything remotely shadow-related…
…and she can fly for basically no reason. But her backstory is still the same.
After the end of Shadowpact she bounced between books, including another run of Suicide Squad, until she was completely revamped in 2018 with an extremely generic look.
In 2024 she joined the Justice League Unlimited… as the bartender.
Yeah I don’t get it either.
I’ve always had a soft spot for shadow-themed heroes.
Nightshade has the additional appeal of having a great origin story, a ton of versatility and more than one great look… I hope DC eventually figures out a way to use her regularly again.
