Nukla is a fictional character published by

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" ...

in the mid-1960s. He was created by writer Joe Gill and artist Sal Trapani (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 foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

spy and pilot. While flying his

U-2 spy plane The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "''Dragon Lady''", is an American single-jet engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day ...

over Communist China, he is fired on by the

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 Communis ...

. 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 cr ...

. 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, vi ...

-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 fo ...

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

, did the artwork for the last issue.

Issues

*''Nukla'' #1 (October-December 1965) *''Nukla'' #2 (March 1966) *''Nukla'' #3 (June 1966) *''Nukla'' #4 (September 1966)

References

External links

Nukla
at the International Catalog of Superheroes

at Don Markstein's Toonopedia Characters created by Joe Gill Comics characters introduced in 1965 Comics characters with accelerated healing Comics superheroes Dell Comics characters Fictional aviators Fictional Central Intelligence Agency personnel Fictional characters who can turn intangible Fictional characters who can turn invisible