Back Issue Bin to the Future: Solar: Man of the Atom
Oct 8, 2012 by     Comments Off on Back Issue Bin to the Future: Solar: Man of the Atom    Posted In: Back Issue Bin to the Future, Reviews

It’s time to bring some old-school Valiant back to Back Issue Bin to the Future. Forget the fact that Jim Shooter took 3 awesomely staple characters out of the Valiant Universe and put them in unsuccessful books at Dark Horse. Forget the fact that we’ll probably never see them in the new rendition of Valiant. Ever. Forget the fact that I’m making this sound like the opening to the Weekly Distraction on StashMyComics’ podcast (shameless plug). At one time, Solar was a pretty cool character with quite the fan-base. At one point, he was even considered the backbone of the Universe (Valiant’s) and also played a major role in the Image/Valiant crossover Deathmate. Every character has to start somewhere though, and even though Solar originally came from Gold Key comics in the ’60’s, this is his official start for Valiant. Let’s just see how good Solar: Man of the Atom #1 really is, shall we?

Here’s the breakdown: A man drifts from space into the atmosphere of Earth. Drifting toward the town of Muskogee, Oklahoma, this man makes his way to his apartment. We think it’s his apartment. Once inside, he puts clothes on, as he’s been naked this entire time. As he’s slipping on some pants, another man rushes into the bedroom. Both of these guys look the same, right? Right. The first man, the naked man (who is now clothed) doesn’t really pay much attention to this new man, who looks like him. He just slips through the window as if it weren’t there, and off he goes to do some good. Confused? Me too.

Solar Man of the Atom #1 CoverI have never been much of a fan of Jim Shooter‘s writing style. His work on anything Valiant just wasn’t a great idea. I mean, the ideas for Valiant were sound, that much is evident, but with Jim Shooter writing them, that’s not such a good idea. He’s a great editor. He even lead Marvel down the right path for a awhile. As a writer? Not so much. As the story progresses, it starts to make at least some sort of sense. Sol (the naked man) is Phil Seleski, a Nuclear Physicist working on a new project. The dialogue is weak, the plot is thin, and almost nothing makes any sense to start. I get the idea that over the course of ten issues they wanted to bring you the origin of Solar, but it just doesn’t work for me here. It just doesn’t fit. Give me the origin now, not served in small doses. Don’t drop me in the middle of story to where I’ll not know anything that’s going on. That’s a quick way for people to drop a title.

The saving grace for this issue is in the artwork. D. David Perlin‘s pencils are solid. At no point during the course of the issue was I disappointed in the artwork. Character likeness was consistent, expression stayed true, and background and machinery were true to form. The visuals, more so than the writing bring across the feeling that this isn’t intended as a heavy hitter, explosions everywhere type of comic. It really gives you the sense that there will be something more to it than just this.  It’s some of the best for Valiant at the time.

Have I said that I’m not a fan of Jim Shooter? I give his work a try, every time I read it, and I still cannot get myself to like it. The idea of Solar, and even the changes Jim and Bob Layton made to his origins, were very sound. He’s creative, that’s for sure, and he can come up with some really good ideas, but maybe he should have just let other people write them. I think it would have worked better that way, especially here.

The original Valiant Universe, so far, has been hit or miss for me. I LOVE Shadowman, am staying steady with Bloodshot, and eat up issues of X-O Manowar. With the likes of Harbinger and now Solar though? I should like these titles. I really should. They were staples in the Valiant catalog and had massive and loyal followings, but they just aren’t for me. Shooter kinda made sure of that. If I can just get myself to work through the issues until he’s done writing them, then they might stand a chance  for me. Until then though, I’ll stick to what I like.

 

Art: 6/10
Script
: 3/10
Parental concern
: Not much. They’ll be too confused anyway.

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