# Captain Comet
**Captain Comet** (Adam Blake) is a [DC Comics](https://www.edgepedia.org/dc-comics) superhero, a mutant born with the abilities of a human 100,000 years in the future, who debuted in *Strange Adventures* Vol. 1 #9 (June 1951) as one of DC's first science fiction heroes[1](https://www.dcuniverseinfinite.com/comics/book/strange-adventures-1950-1973-9/c95ff8aa-ec57-4149-a69b-dbbd3cc1b014). He was created by writer John Broome and artist Carmine Infantino[2](https://dcuguide.com/Captain_Comet_%28Adam_Blake%29).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Real name | Adam Blake, an American born on Earth[2](https://dcuguide.com/Captain_Comet_%28Adam_Blake%29) |
| First appearance | *Strange Adventures* Vol. 1 #9, cover date June 1951, on sale April 30, 1951, priced at 0.10 USD[2](https://dcuguide.com/Captain_Comet_%28Adam_Blake%29) • [3](https://www.comics.org/issue/8941/) |
| Creators | John Broome (writer) and Carmine Infantino (artist), for editor Julius Schwartz[2](https://dcuguide.com/Captain_Comet_%28Adam_Blake%29) • [4](https://toonopedia.com/capcomet.htm) |
| Origin | A "throw-forward" mutant whose powers were attributed to the light of a previously unknown comet that shone on him minutes after birth[4](https://toonopedia.com/capcomet.htm) |
| Powers | Great strength, speed, and invulnerability, plus telepathy, telekinesis, clairvoyance, and a photographic Recall ability[2](https://dcuguide.com/Captain_Comet_%28Adam_Blake%29) • [5](https://files.spawningpool.net/docs/Vault2.0.-.TTRPG-Gamebooks/DC%20Heroes/2nd%20Edition/MFG261%20Who%27s%20Who%20in%20the%20DC%20Universe%20%232.pdf) |
| Original run | 38 *Strange Adventures* appearances, spanning #9–44, #46, and #49, from June 1951 to October 1954; last appearance in the title was #49 (October 1954)[6](https://www.comics.org/character/6421/series/704/issues/) • [4](https://toonopedia.com/capcomet.htm) • [9](https://www.dc.com/graphic-novels/the-captain-comet-archives-2013/the-captain-comet-archives) |
| Team affiliations | Secret Society of Super-Villains (former) and L.E.G.I.O.N.[2](https://dcuguide.com/Captain_Comet_%28Adam_Blake%29) |
## Creation and debut
Captain Comet appeared three months after the final appearance of the [Justice Society of America](https://www.edgepedia.org/justice-society-of-america), the last bastion of DC's 1940s costumed heroes, and he beat both the Flash and J'onn J'onzz, the [Martian Manhunter](https://www.edgepedia.org/martian-manhunter), into print at the start of the genre's revival at DC[4](https://toonopedia.com/capcomet.htm). His origin story, "The Origin of Captain Comet!", was written by John Broome, who went on to script many science fiction and superhero stories for *Strange Adventures* editor Julius Schwartz, and drawn by Carmine Infantino, who later became DC's publisher and editorial director[4](https://toonopedia.com/capcomet.htm). The same Broome/Infantino collaboration also created the [Phantom Stranger](https://www.edgepedia.org/phantom-stranger) and Detective Chimp[4](https://toonopedia.com/capcomet.htm).
The debut issue was edited in practice by Julius Schwartz, with Whitney Ellsworth credited, and the cover was penciled by Infantino with letters by Ira Schnapp[3](https://www.comics.org/issue/8941/). Most later entries in the character's original run were drawn by Murphy Anderson[4](https://toonopedia.com/capcomet.htm).
## Character and powers
Adam Blake was born the night a comet passed near Earth, and the story framed him as a man born 100,000 years ahead of his time[1](https://www.dcuniverseinfinite.com/comics/book/strange-adventures-1950-1973-9/c95ff8aa-ec57-4149-a69b-dbbd3cc1b014) • [7](https://www.zonanegativa.com/archivos/Enciclopedia%20DC%20%28II%29.pdf). His friend and confidant, physics professor Emery Zackro, compared his condition to a throwback, a creature whose chance combination of genes resembles an earlier form of its species; Adam was the reverse, a "throw-forward", or, as Zackro put it, a mutant[4](https://toonopedia.com/capcomet.htm). This makes him a notable early example of the type: predating Marvel's X-Men by 12 years, he has been described as comics' first mutant superhero[4](https://toonopedia.com/capcomet.htm).
His abilities included extraordinary intelligence and athletic prowess, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, and prodigy-level talent in many fields[4](https://toonopedia.com/capcomet.htm). The DCU Guide summarizes them as great strength, speed, and invulnerability along with mental powers such as telepathy and telekinesis[2](https://dcuguide.com/Captain_Comet_%28Adam_Blake%29). The *Who's Who in the DC Universe* game supplement quantifies the set as Flight 28, Invulnerability 6, Recall 20, Sealed Systems 14, Superspeed 4, [Telekinesis](https://www.edgepedia.org/telekinesis) 9, and [Telepathy](https://www.edgepedia.org/telepathy) 8, and explains that his Recall power lets him photographically remember every detail of a scene, entire volumes of text, or long conversations word-for-word[5](https://files.spawningpool.net/docs/Vault2.0.-.TTRPG-Gamebooks/DC%20Heroes/2nd%20Edition/MFG261%20Who%27s%20Who%20in%20the%20DC%20Universe%20%232.pdf).
His costume departed from 1940s skin-tights: a slimmed-down, fancied-up version of an astronaut's pressure suit, a design already familiar from science fiction films of the period even though pressure suits were not yet in real use[4](https://toonopedia.com/capcomet.htm).
## Publication history
**Original run, 1951 to 1954.** Captain Comet appeared in 38 issues of Strange Adventures: #9–44, #46, and #49[6](https://www.comics.org/character/6421/series/704/issues/) • [9](https://www.dc.com/graphic-novels/the-captain-comet-archives-2013/the-captain-comet-archives). The chronology of his stories runs from "The Origin of Captain Comet" (#9, June 1951) through titles such as "The Air Bandits from Space" (#10), "The Girl from the Diamond Planet" (#12), and "Destination Doom" (#14)[8](https://dcuguide.com/Captain_Comet_%28Adam_Blake%29_Chronology). He continued to battle criminals, alien invaders, and the occasional talking gorilla for about three years, then began skipping issues and disappeared; his last *Strange Adventures* appearance was #49 (October 1954)[4](https://toonopedia.com/capcomet.htm).
**Revival, 1976 onward.** In 1976 he returned as a supporting character in DC's *Secret Society of Super-Villains*, explaining that he had spent the intervening years exploring outer space[4](https://toonopedia.com/capcomet.htm). After that title ended he became a guest star, later joining the interplanetary L.E.G.I.O.N., a 20th century counterpart to the 30th century [Legion of Super-Heroes](https://www.edgepedia.org/legion-of-super-heroes); the DCU Guide notes he joined after its members Telepath and Lobo helped him escape the thrall of the evil Dagon-Ra[4](https://toonopedia.com/capcomet.htm) • [2](https://dcuguide.com/Captain_Comet_%28Adam_Blake%29). He also headlined a miniseries named after the old *Mystery in Space* title, in which he was killed by the villain Lady Styx but survived in a disembodied state, merging with the soul of the 1980s hero The Weird; the two created new bodies for themselves, and the revived character, drawn by [Jim Starlin](https://www.edgepedia.org/jim-starlin), called himself simply "Comet" and passed himself off as the original's nephew[4](https://toonopedia.com/capcomet.htm).
**Collection.** DC published *The Captain Comet Archives* in 2013, a 400-page hardcover priced at 75.00 USD collecting *Strange Adventures* #9-44, 46, and 49, and *Secret Society of Super-Villains* #2-6[9](https://www.dc.com/graphic-novels/the-captain-comet-archives-2013/the-captain-comet-archives).
## Place in comics history
Captain Comet occupies an unusual position as a superhero created between the [Golden Age](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-age) and the Silver Age of comic books: he reached print only three months after the Justice Society of America's closing bow and before the Flash and the Martian Manhunter revived the costumed-hero genre at DC[4](https://toonopedia.com/capcomet.htm). The character supplement in *[Kingdom Come](https://www.edgepedia.org/kingdom-come-comics) / Revelations* describes the Earth-22 Adam Blake as representing the new direction into heavier science fiction being applied to superheroes[10](https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Adam_Blake_%28Earth-22%29), and the character has been identified as a member of the [Justice League](https://www.edgepedia.org/justice-league) in some incarnations[10](https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Adam_Blake_%28Earth-22%29).
## Other characters named Captain Comet
The name has been reused elsewhere at DC. Within the Tangent Comics imprint (Earth-9), Captain Comet is a Black university student in Chicago whose abilities arose from an unusual mishap in which pieces of a luminous comet hit him.[11](https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Captain_Comet_%28Earth-9%29) Separately, Comet the superhorse, a [Supergirl](https://www.edgepedia.org/supergirl) supporting character, was originally a centaur named Biron transformed by the witch Circe into a super-horse with invulnerability, telepathy, flight, immortality, and super strength[12](https://www.comics.ugent.be/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/ACME_6_Maaheen.pdf). The Adam Blake character also appeared in the cartoon *Batman: The Brave and the Bold* as one of the characters controlled by Starro[13](https://superheroes.fandom.com/wiki/Captain_Comet).
## References
1. [Strange Adventures (1950-1973) #9 synopsis, DC Universe Infinite](https://www.dcuniverseinfinite.com/comics/book/strange-adventures-1950-1973-9/c95ff8aa-ec57-4149-a69b-dbbd3cc1b014)
2. [Captain Comet (Adam Blake), DCU Guide](https://dcuguide.com/Captain_Comet_%28Adam_Blake%29)
3. [Strange Adventures (DC, 1950 series) #9, Grand Comics Database](https://www.comics.org/issue/8941/)
4. [Captain Comet, Don Markstein's Toonopedia](https://toonopedia.com/capcomet.htm)
5. [Who's Who in the DC Universe #2 (DC Heroes RPG supplement)](https://files.spawningpool.net/docs/Vault2.0.-.TTRPG-Gamebooks/DC%20Heroes/2nd%20Edition/MFG261%20Who%27s%20Who%20in%20the%20DC%20Universe%20%232.pdf)
6. [Adam Blake [Captain Comet] appearances in Strange Adventures (1950 series), Grand Comics Database](https://www.comics.org/character/6421/series/704/issues/)
7. [Enciclopedia DC (II), Zona Negativa](https://www.zonanegativa.com/archivos/Enciclopedia%20DC%20%28II%29.pdf)
8. [Captain Comet (Adam Blake) Chronology, DCU Guide](https://dcuguide.com/Captain_Comet_%28Adam_Blake%29_Chronology)
9. [The Captain Comet Archives, DC Comics](https://www.dc.com/graphic-novels/the-captain-comet-archives-2013/the-captain-comet-archives)
10. [Adam Blake (Earth-22), DC Database](https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Adam_Blake_%28Earth-22%29)
11. [Captain Comet (Earth-9), DC Database](https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Captain_Comet_%28Earth-9%29)
12. [Olivia Hicks, ACME vol. 6 (on Comet in Supergirl's Action Comics)](https://www.comics.ugent.be/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/ACME_6_Maaheen.pdf)
13. [Captain Comet, Superhero Wiki](https://superheroes.fandom.com/wiki/Captain_Comet)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Film characters and fictional worlds › DC Comics characters › Justice League and other DC heroes › Titles A to I*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license