Dell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...
Sal Trapani
Salvatore A. "Sal" Trapani (April 30, 1927—July 14, 1999) at the
(with uncredited assistance from others artists, including
Dick Giordano
Richard Joseph Giordano (; July 20, 1932 – March 27, 2010) was an American comics artist and editor whose career included introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes and serving as executive editor of DC Comics.
Early li ...
). The character made his debut in ''Nukla'' #1 (October-December 1965).
Fictional character background
Nukla is really Matthew Gibbs, a handsome blond
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
spy
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...
and
pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
Chinese Red Army
The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army or Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, commonly known as the Chinese Red Army or simply the Red Army, are the armed forces of the Chinese Communist Party. It was formed when Communist ...
. Unable to evade the missiles, he and his aircraft are vaporised in the resulting
nuclear explosion
A nuclear explosion is an explosion that occurs as a result of the rapid release of energy from a high-speed nuclear reaction. The driving reaction may be nuclear fission or nuclear fusion or a multi-stage cascading combination of the two, t ...
. For some unexplained reason, he is able to maintain his human consciousness in this atomized state and reform himself through sheer force of will with incredible nuclear powers. His secret known only to his section chief Jim Clarke, Nukla used his atomic abilities to fight the enemies of the United States, like supervillains Baron Von Zee and Captain Whale.{{cite book , last =Rovin , first =Jeff , title =The Encyclopedia of Supervillains , publisher =Facts on File , date =1987 , location =New York , isbn = 0-8160-1356-X , page=53
Powers and abilities
Nukla has nuclear-based powers, somewhat similar to those of
Captain Atom
Captain Atom is a superhero appearing in American comic books, first in the 1960s by Charlton Comics before being acquired in the 1980s by DC Comics. Captain Atom has existed in three basic incarnations.
Publication history
Captain Atom was crea ...
. He can will himself into an
invisible
Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be ''invisible'' (literally, "not visible"). The phenomenon is studied by physics and perceptual psychology.
Since objects can be seen by light in ...
immaterial state and in said phantom form fire destructive bolts of pure "
radiation
In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. This includes:
* ''electromagnetic radiation'', such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visi ...
-free" atomic energy from his hands and fly at the
speed of light
The speed of light in vacuum, commonly denoted , is a universal physical constant that is important in many areas of physics. The speed of light is exactly equal to ). According to the special theory of relativity, is the upper limit ...
as well as quickly heal himself of any injuries received in his mortal flesh and blood form. He must be careful, though, not to deplete his energy and take time to recharge his "nuclear batteries" or he will not be able to transform, and extreme cold makes it impossible for him to dematerialize.
He is also able to dematerialize and rematerialize his U-2 when needed, flying it both to conserve his vast powers for when they are needed and also simply because he still enjoys being a pilot.
Publication history
''Nukla'' ran for only four issues.
Steve Ditko
Stephen John Ditko Page contains two reproductions from school yearbooks. A 1943 Garfield Junior High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen Ditko". A 1945 Johnstown High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen J. Ditko" under extracurricular act ...
, artist of
Captain Atom
Captain Atom is a superhero appearing in American comic books, first in the 1960s by Charlton Comics before being acquired in the 1980s by DC Comics. Captain Atom has existed in three basic incarnations.
Publication history
Captain Atom was crea ...
Nukla at the International Catalog of Superheroes at
Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...