Doctor Solar - Man of the Atom Volume 1

Rating:
Summary: A classic Gold Key pseudo-superhero!
Review: One year after Dell split with Western Printing, Gold Key(Western's new imprint) began creating some new characters,rather than just producing licensed properties as it had during its partnership with Dell. Doctor Solar and Magnus, Robot fighter were two of the best new creations. As a kid I always loved the George Wilson painted covers with amazing depictions of Dr. Solar, and was always disappointed by the interior illustrations as not living up to the expectations. Gold Key seemed embarrassed to do a straightforward superhero, and it seemed like you never got to see Dr. Solar in action in many panels in his cool uniform. Many years later I find he never even HAD a uniform untill the fifth issue! But time has allowed me to appreciate the wonderful "realistic" artwork of Bob Fugitani on the first five issues and Frank Bolle in six and seven.Both were longtime masters of nonsuperhero genres. This collection of the first seven issues holds up better than expected. Each issue had two 12 or13 page stories or chapters in one long expanding continuity. Gail Sanders is an interesting hotter-than-I-remembered love interest for Phillip Solar. The stories are a mixture of pseudoscience and espionage. Not great but not bad. Dr.Solar's tragic and alienating accident ( he's WAY radioactive and can be around people only for a short time) is barely touched on - only one story explores this theme. Stan Lee would have drenched him in pathos. His powers are a dizzying compendium of heat, radiation, magnetism, flight as a beam of light,with mystifying turns as green-skinned and normal hued ( does anyone around him notice this??).His weakness is that he can run dangerously low on energy when performing his feats. The uniform with Cyclops-like eyepiece was published the same month as X-men #1-Sept 1963. In a later issue he is referred to as an atomic mutant. Hmmm. Any way all of these quirks and flaws actually help to make these issues charmingly interesting. All in all a better trip down nostalgia lane than I would have predicted. If this character ever intrigued you pick up this edition-you may be pleasantly suprised too.