Secret Origins Annual #1

Issue Details

Synopsis

THE SECRET ORIGIN OF THE DOOM PATROL! For the first time in over two years, Cliff Steele – the Robotman, returns to the old Midway City headquarters of the Doom Patrol. As he enters the two-story brownstone, the mansions' security systems interrogate him at length in order to determine his identity. Cliff answers a series of questions and relates the origin of the original Doom Patrol members. THE SECRET ORIGIN OF CAPTAIN COMET In 1931, John and Martha Blake give birth to a son named Adam. Moments later, a comet streaks across the Midwestern sky. John jokingly comments that the comet represents a sign of good fortune. Little does he know how true his statement will become. The comet emits low-level waves of radiation, which triggers a mutagenic alteration in Adam Blake's body. As such, Adam began to develop incredible mental physical attributes as he grows.   His mental skills continue to sharpen well into his teenage years, and he develops expert talents in nearly everything he tries. By the time he reaches college, he has evolved into a physical powerhouse with telepathic and telekinetic capabilities.   At college, Adam meets a science professor named Emery Zackro. Zackro is a scientific genius who has secretly developed the world's first one-man space rocket. He tests Adam's talents at length and deduces that Adam is a mutant, born with physical and mental capabilities 100,000 years ahead of his time. He offers Adam a position as an assistant working in the science hall.   One evening, enemy agents, who had learned of Zackro's work, break into the science hall in an effort to steal the solar reducer technology. Adam fights with the men and uses his telekinetic abilities to deflect the bullets fired from their guns. Zackro eventually returns to the lab, and realizes that he must forever safeguard Adam's talents from the world, lest unscrupulous enterprising men should attempt to exploit him for their own ends.   In 1951, a global catastrophe takes place, forcing Adam to reveal himself to the public. A space-faring alien race known as the, Astur, had traveled to Earth in the hopes of terra-forming the planet, making it inhabitable for their kind. To this end, they send several large spinning tops to the planet's surface. The Astur cannot survive in an oxygen-rich environment, and the tops labor to siphon away the planet's oxygen.   Calling himself Captain Comet for the very first time, Adam dons a space suit and oxygen tank and intercepts one of the tops. He rips into the side of it and discovers that the machines are operated via remote control. He borrows Professor Zackro's spaceship, the Cometeer, and travels to the far side of Earth's moon where he discovers the Astur mother ship. On board the ship, Adam encounters a solitary alien pilot, named Harun. Like Adam, Harun possesses an advanced intellect and the two decide to settle their differences through a contest of strategy. Adam ultimately won their mental duel, and Harun takes his own life. Captain Comet finds the computer station operating the lethal tops and reverses the controls, returning all of the stolen oxygen to the planet.   Captain Comet returns to Earth and reports that the planet is now safe from the alien threat. Reports of his deeds reach every major newspaper and radio program across the globe and Captain Comet becomes an international hero.