#Phil seleski

[evilhorse]

Solar Man of the Atom #53

[thecomicsnexus]

SOLAR, MAN OF THE ATOM #1-4 SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 1991 BY JIM SHOOTER, DON PERLIN, BOB LAYTON, BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH, KATHRYN BOLINGER, JANET JACKSON, TOM RYDER, JORGE GONZALEZ AND KNOB ROW

Phil Seleski is about to make a very dangerous mistake that could wipe out the United States from the face of the Earth... but it can all be prevented, with a little help from... himself... and a super-hero from on old comic-book series from the sixties.

SCORE: 10

Whereas the beginning of Image Comics was very mixed in terms of quality... the beginnings of Valiant were very promising. The two earliest volumes I had to review, this one and Magnus Robot Fighter, were two old acquired properties from Gold Key, that were revitalized with the “revisionist” sensitivity of the British invasion (but, you know, by Jim Shooter). Both books really surprised me, but this one perhaps takes a little bit too much from the Alan Moore book. I can feel some Marvelman vibes mixed with a lot of Watchmen. Still, it’s a good comic.

It tries hard to make history, though. The gimmick in this case is that you need to buy the ten first issues to get an oversized comic-book that explains the full origin story. Well, technically, you seem to get the whole thing explained in these four issues, but I am still to finish reading that “oversized” story. I wonder if people did something with that big panel?

In any case, this is not a continuation of the old Gold Key series. Just like Marvelman, it implies the past didn’t really happen. Yet... we do get the character back. It’s just, not as simple as it used to be.

I think there is another layer to this whole origin, though. I will go over it in the spoiler section.

Artistically, that Watchmen vibe can be felt, and I would say it’s an “euro” feel that also worked very well with Magnus, robot fighter. I don’t think there is any difference in coloring techniques here with other mainstream comics, but there is a graphic novel quality to it that helps enhance the story.

Now, I never read the original series (I don’t think I ever read anything from Gold Key, unless it was reprinted by some other publisher). So it is hard to tell if this change was for the best. But it was the early nineties, I am going with the idea that this is the best thing that ever happened to Doctor Solar.

Spoilers after the break...

So, the main character is divided in three at the beginning of this story. The main persona in the present, before the accident. Another persona from a parallel timeline, from the future, nice touch there to avoid paradoxes, who became very cynical after the accident and started saving humanity in exchange of their nuclear weapons. And then there is the actual Doctor Solar, who was the inspiration for the other two to unconsciously recreate the accident from the comics. This doctor solar is pretty much the same character, but brought into the “real” world... ala Brady Bunch. Of course, it’s all technically the same person, but divided in “id, ego and superego”. It’s a very complicated, yet simple origin for the character (it’s not hard to explain, but it takes a while to understand what is going on).

And the crown jewel is the moment the “oversized” story merges with the main story, allowing us to see the other side of the origin. With mixed art by Windsor-Smith and Don Perlin.

This seems to also be the first appearance of the Harbinger foundation.

It’s an interesting story you can enjoy without having read one single issue of the original series.

[thebibliomancer]

25 Additional Days of Comics! 5/25: SOLAR Man of the Atom #20 (1993)

Hey, another Valiant comic!

One day I want to try to read some of the olde Valiant catalogue, if I can find a cheap slash economical way to do that.

Here’s some unimportant backstory context. Valiant was initially built on licensing old Gold Key comic characters and Solar was one of them! This guy goes back to the 60s but never made it out of them.

And the Valiant take on the concept is meta in that golden age Flash to silver age Flash way. Valiant Solar was aware of the Gold Key Solar and also became him? A bit confusing.

When a science accident happened Phil Seleski got split into Doctor Solar based on Gold Key Solar and Phil Seleski. Then Earth fell into a black hole. The two personas fused into one being and prevented it from happening again after recreating the universe, except with superpowers. As ya do.

Solar won the superpower jackpot with the ability to manipulate all forms of matter and energy.

Anyway, this issue picks up after Solar and love interest Gayle try to have a fun virtual reality experience which instead goes horribly wrong as Solar’s powers make the simulation go rogue. As ya do.

Gayle saves the day but in the process she gained some memories that Solar had been keeping from her: not that whole thing about accidentally destroying the world. She knew that. But that he knew and loved her back on the previous Earth. And that previous-Gayle died in his arms.

So they have a big argument about trust and sharing and replacement goldfish and Solar decides to take off to let her cool off.

He flies out to the desert to look melancholy at the night sky but notices one that seems too big and not any of the planets. So he decides to fly out into space and finds its a mysterious spaceship.

Its not a spider alien ship but Solar is a big believer in the Fermi paradox so two whole ass alien races that both are highly advanced and mosey towards Earth strikes him as unlikely so he investigates.

Solar goes through the strange alloy of the hull and pokes around finding more enigmas and mysteries. The ship is entirely devoid of life, filled with odd energy containers, and with no consistent design philosophy.

And then he discovers that getting into the ship was easy but it repels him when he tries to get out. And that its draining his energy like the whole ship is a huge capacitor.

Solar unconsciously recreates the VR creature from that earlier thing and takes a chance on imbuing it with most of his remaining energy. The ship switches focus to draining the VR creature recreation and Solar slips out of the ship while its distracted.

Out of the ship, he gets his power back and launches the ship halfway across the galaxy because he’s semi-convinced that he sensed a malevolent intelligence with a greater agenda from the ship.

Also, the ship crashes into a planet after Solar launches it. And I don’t know if thats what the ship was planning or a consequence of Solar just throwing it at space aimlessly.

Anyway! Kinda liked this story. Felt like it intersected with some Rendezvous with Rama energy. Solar is the biggest gun in the setting and he has no idea what all just happened and the best he can manage is to just get the mystery ship away from Earth. He says it felt malevolent but he also admits that he was pretty out of it as he was leaving the ship through the hull.

Good times.

[travisellisor]

the cover to Solar, Man of the Atom (1991) #1 by Barry Windsor-Smith

[justusducks]

Comic Review: Solar, Man of the Atom Vol. 1

Writer and Letterer: Frank J. Barbiere Artists: Joe Bennett, Richard Case, Roger Robinson, Matthew Marks, Sandy Jarrell, Jonathan Lau Colors: Lauren Affe, Kelly Fitzpatrick, Mauricio Wallace, Luigi Anderon Show of hands – who here has kinda-sorta-maybe heard of Solar? Now put your hands down because this is the Internet (unless you’re stretching or being robbed).…

Comic Review: Solar, Man of the Atom Vol. 1 was originally published on Nerds on the Rocks

[evilhorse]

Goodbye Jimi. I have enjoyed our talks.

(Archer and Armstrong #11)

[evilhorse]

The Valiant Era cards U5

[evilhorse]

Archer and Armstrong #11

[evilhorse]

Solar Man of the Atom #46

[evilhorse]

The inimitable Doctor Solar arrived!

(Archer and Armstrong #11)

[evilhorse]

The end of the world!

(Archer and Armstrong #11)

[evilhorse]

Solar Man of the Atom #49

[evilhorse]

The Valiant Era Cards 40

[evilhorse]

Solar Man of the Atom #47

[evilhorse]

Of course, sir—you’re Doctor Solar.

(Archer and Armstrong #12)

[evilhorse]

The Valiant Era Cards 94