Solar is a character with a long history, whose most recent incarnations were with Valiant and Dark Horse. This #1 from Dynamite sets Solar up in rather an emotional light – and while his actual appearance in the issue is fleeting, it’s enough to reestablish the mythos around this versatile character.
Written by Frank J. Barbiere
Illustrated by Joe Bennett“This all started with an accident…” AN ALL-NEW CORNER OF THE GOLD KEY UNIVERSE! Flooded with experimental radiation that grants him unbelievable powers, the brilliant-and-obsessive Dr. Phil Seleski seeks to unlock the secrets of the universe, begrudgingly becoming a “hero” along the way. But can a single man be trusted with near-limitless abilities? What will this mean to the ones he loves? And will his choices lead to utter chaos and destruction? Brilliant writer FRANK BARBIERE (Five Ghosts) and JOE BENNETT present the Man Of The Atom as you’ve NEVER imagined!
I’m going to have to lead with praise for colorist Lauren Affe on this one. Straight from the first page, the muted colours – particularly that faded-comic peachy-orange – give this comic a classic feel that hearkens back to Solar’s origins in the 60s. It’s a refreshing aesthetic, and Affe’s delicate palette is our first indication that this story is shooting for more than surface-level gloss.
We’re ushered straight into an action scene, with Solar employing his powers to stop a bank robbery and cluing us in as to his abilities with some minimal first-person narration. There are some nice little details around the periphery here – particularly the banter between two SWAT team officers with low blood sugar – and things go more or less as expected until Solar loses control. This is our angle into the story – a Solar who hasn’t quite got it together – and this proves a fruitful approach as the issue goes on.
One of Barbiere’s strengths as a writer is his facility with delivering exposition. We saw it in “Five Ghosts” and in Blackout, and here it’s handled by several characters, with Solar’s colleague, the CEO of the company he works at, and his daughter all revealing different details in conversation while Solar himself waits in the wings. And while introducing all these characters makes the issue move more slowly, keeping Solar out of it except for the first and last scenes is actually a neat device. We’re engaging with the milieu Solar’s in, the community of people he’s involved with and, well, dangerous to. We’re learning how high the stakes are before the threat Solar embodies is made clear, and that makes the dire conclusion of the issue hit all the harder.
All the while, Joe Bennett’s art is so good it’s intimidating. It’s all about the fine, dead-on lines and tight hatching, the kind of assured, old-school draftsmanship that seems to have an endless capacity for detail. Again that feeling of a community all around Phil Seleski comes across: his lab, his daughter’s workspace, are fully thought out, lived-in places that the eye is encouraged to linger on. They’re captured with some dizzying camera angles that get more dizzying as the reality of Seleski’s situation come across, and it’s a neat technique, bringing the psychological toll of the whole situation to the forefront of the issue.
The faces have a decidedly retro feel to them, and while this anachronistic flavor doesn’t extend to the personalities of the characters – Seleski’s daughter is an architect who listens to Iggy Pop – the vintage finish lends even more drama and expressiveness to an emotional story. Dr. Solar will always be a Cold War character, and keeping his heritage apparent in the aesthetics is a smart choice, grounding the story in something familiar without feeling like a pastiche. Bennett does all this without sacrificing subtlety; when Seleski’s colleague has to deliver some bad news, his look of hesitation packs a serious emotional punch.
All told, this is a good-looking #1 that sets up an engaging but conventional story. Solar may be a dated character, but the stylish art and able exposition of this issue make it easy to fall back into this story, and enjoy it for what is it: a superhero tale with a wealth of moral complexity just under the surface.
Final Verdict: 8.5 – Buy
