Dr. Solar, Man of the Atom #1
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Jim Shooter
Artist: Dennis Calero
Cover Artists: Michael Komarck, Dennis Calero
Plain and simple: Dr. Solar rocks, period.
I was a little nervous about this title’s relaunch. Dr. Solar is such a great superhero to play with, and many fans of his have found memories from either his original comics at Gold Key or during the 90s with Valiant Comics. However, there are plenty out there who have never picked up a Dr. Solar issue in their lives, maybe never even heard of him. If the time was right for a relaunch, the time is now. Dark Horse has relaunched the Man of the Atom (and next month will also relaunch Gold Key/Valiant Comics hero Magnus, Robot Fighter) in a positively fun and exciting direction!
Our first issue starts off with Dr. Solar fighting a beefed-up super villain named Leviathan. After exchanging some blows and leaving for the cops, the story begins to go two places. The first is the origin of Dr. Solar, what he is made up of, what he can do, etc. The second is a writer, who apparently wrote the character of Leviathan, and suddenly realizes he has the powers to somehow bring to life the characters he dreams up in his head (which leads to a comical segment with a super-seductress he creates, who unfortunately doesn’t smell great). The fight scenes in the comic kick ass.
Written by Jim Shooter and drawn by Dennis Calero (with two different covers, one done by Michael Komarck and one done by Dennis Calero), the art is stunning to look at, with beautifully drawn action scenes, and the writing solid with the right amount of smarts (although I think some may complain Dr.Solar may remind them too much of Dr. Manhattan from The Watchmen, however I think it’s fitting of the character). The totally new Dr. Solar is what we need to save the day when superhero comics haven’t really thrilled some of us lately. Dark Horse also includes in the first issue a second tale, which is a reprint from the classic Dr. Solar, Man of the Atom Gold Key Comics, which is awesome nostalgia and I give them a lot of credit for. Out on stand nows, buy today!
Drew McCabe
drew@comicattack.net
Been looking forward to this for a while now. I’ve just gotten into Doctor Solar, I’m really liking the character so far.
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Sounds great, and you know what you’ll get from Shooter.
I had fun reading it. It was wordy, though.
Alan Moore modeled Dr. Manhattan after Dr. Solar. All of the Watchmen characters were modeled after old Gold Key characters or other characters from companies that were no longer around at the time.
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I have to say I was disappointed in this book. I read the TPB, and while there were panels that I really dug in the art, in general I think it was week. Backgrounds and facial expressions were bland; nobody ever looked like they were talking, and most shots people looked too cardboardy for my tastes. The inking, however, was spectacular, and where shadow was possible it really brought out out the life.
I found the plotline interesting, but the dialogue was very weak. It’s been a long time since I’ve read Shooter, but my memory is that he has done better than this. Maybe the guy was doing too many books at once, came up with great concepts but didn’t have the energy to put down on paper well.