Adam Coleman

**Captain Comet** is a space adventurer with incredible psychic powers. Born with a genetic mutation that brought him to the pinnacle of human evolution; his powers include telepathy, telekinesis, genius-level intelligence, clairvoyance, superhuman strength and teleportation. He has been a member of the Secret Society of Super-Villains, L.E.G.I.O.N. and R.E.B.E.L.S..

## Character Origins

In 1931, John and Martha Blake had a son named Adam. Moments after his birth, a comet streaked across the Midwestern sky. John jokingly commented that the comet represented a sign of good fortune, but had little foreknowledge of how truthful his statement would come to be. Although the Blakes were unaware of it at the time, the comet had emitted low-level waves of radiation, which triggered multi-genetic cell growth in Adam Blake's body. As such, Adam began to develop incredible mental attributes.

By the time he was four years old, Adam demonstrated acute powers of observation. On one occasion he mentally located his mother's missing wedding band beneath a pile of discarded wood.

By the time he was eight, Adam's intelligence developed even further – he possessed a photographic memory and was able to memorize and comprehend all of the information that he had read from an entire volume of encyclopedias.

His mental skills continued to sharpen well into his teenage years, and he developed expert talents in nearly everything he attempted. He could perform a Mozart concerto on a clarinet without ever having picked up the instrument before.

Adam's physical prowess did not begin to develop until his college years, however. Although his body's development matured at a slower rate than his mind, he excelled in nearly every athletic event, notably football. He was virtually indestructible, and his superhuman stamina prevented him from ever tiring. At this time, Adam's mental acuity evolved even further. He began to demonstrate mild telepathic and telekinetic capabilities and once used these powers to save the life of a fellow college student named Betty.

Adam grew concerned over his seemingly limitless abilities and confided in a science professor named Emery Zackro. Zackro was a scientific genius who had secretly developed the world's first one-man space rocket. He tested Adam's talents at length and deduced that Adam was a mutant, born with physical and mental capabilities 100,000 years ahead of his time. He offered Adam a position as an assistant working in the science hall, and Adam aided Zackro in finding a means by which to harness deposits of gold from sunlight.

One evening, enemy agents, who had learned of Zackro's work, broke into the science hall in an effort to steal the solar reducer technology. Adam fought with the men and used his telekinetic abilities to deflect the bullets fired from their guns. Zackro eventually returned to the lab, and realized that he must forever safeguard Adam's talents from the world, lest unscrupulous enterprising men should attempt to exploit Adam for their own ends.

Adam could not keep his abilities safely hidden for long. In 1951, a global catastrophe took place, which forced 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. They stationed their mother ship on the far side of the moon and delivered several large spinning tops to the planet's surface. The Astur could not survive in an oxygen-rich environment, so they used the tops to siphon away the planet's oxygen.

Calling himself Captain Comet for the very first time, Adam donned a space suit and oxygen tank and intercepted one of the tops. He ripped into the side of it and discovered that the machines were operated via remote control. He borrowed Professor Zackro's spaceship, the *Cometeer*, and traveled to the far side of Earth's moon where he discovered the Astur mother ship. On board the ship, Adam encountered a solitary alien pilot, named Harun. The rest of the Astur crew slept in suspended animation, awaiting the day when they could live again on an airless planet. Like Adam, Harun possessed an advanced intellect and the two decided to settle their differences through a contest of strategy. Adam ultimately won their mental duel, but Harun was determined to defeat him regardless. He attempted to revive his brethren only to discover that the entire crew had died in suspended animation several years ago. Driven to despair, Harun abandoned his plan for global conquest and took his own life by jettisoning himself out of the ship's airlock. Captain Comet found the remote controls operating the lethal tops and reversed the controls, returning all of the stolen oxygen to the planet.

Captain Comet returned to Earth and reported that the planet was now safe from the alien threat. Reports of his deeds reached every major newspaper and radio program across the globe and Captain Comet became an international hero.

Using the advanced scientific tools at his command, Captain Comet pledged himself towards aiding humanity, but was cautious to keep the truth about his mutant heritage a secret from the general populace.