Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom Volume 4 (v. 4) [Hardcover]

Paul S. Newman (Author), Frank Bolle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2008 | Series: Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom (Book 4)

After his debut in October of 1962, Doctor Solar swiftly rose to join Magnus, Robot Fighter as one of Gold Key's most popular original heroes. Stunning painted covers sucked in even the most casual comics reader, and the source of Solar's astounding powers - nuclear radiation - addressed one of the biggest fears of the day. While the character has been reinvented in the decades since, his adventures in this archive of Gold Key and Wilson comics completes the body of work that formed his foundation. This collection restores and reprints issues #23 through 31 of the original Doctor Solar comic book series - the revolutionary science-fiction adventure that gave birth to one of comics' most distinctive and beloved super heroes - for the first time in over 40 years. His guest appearance in The Occult Files of Dr. Spektor #14 is also included, making this the biggest Doctor Solar volume of them all!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This archival reprint of the Silver Age's superhero stands as a stiff if warmly nostalgic document showcasing the abrupt transition of a cult favorite character from a clear-eyed do-gooder to a powerful yet tormented outcast. The volume collects the last five issues published in the late 1960s, before picking up the story again with five issues in the early 1980s. Our hero, who manipulates atomic energy into a vast array of superpowers, could not be more different from one age to the next. The quaint early stories recount unpretentious, repetitive battles of good against evil, with distinctive retro art by Colón. The later stories showcase a mercurial protagonist whose exploits are overshadowed by the desperate search for a cure to his condition, indicative of America's changing view of nuclear power. Surprisingly the most entertaining episode in the book is an issue of The Occult Files of Dr. Spektor, where our hero is little more than a supporting guest star. For those taking a stroll down memory lane or comic buffs dying to see the cultural implications of how characters evolve over time, the collection will be a useful addition. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse; Reprint edition (January 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593078250
• ISBN-13: 978-1593078256
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 7.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,343,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Final Archive of this weird Gold Key superhero title, November 3, 2009

By 

Michael R. Brown (Tamarac, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom Volume 4 (v. 4) (Hardcover)

This is the final archive volume of Gold Key Comics' strange atomic superhero.

Gold Key (an imprint of Western Publications, thru its subsidiary "K.K. Publications) was an overall strange comic book company. Most of its products were licensed titles (tv shows, Disney, Walter Lantz, Tarzan, etc). It did do some original stuff (Magnus, Brothers of the Spear, Dr Spektor, Tragg, Dagar), including Doctor Solar. But, as usually, they did them different. All the adventure titles had full painted covers. They really didn't do any straight superheroes. Doctor Solar was probably the closest, but even then he was different.

Doctor Solar was one of a handful of 'atomic superheroes', almost all of whom (like Captain Atom and Nukla) were 'destroyed' in an atomic explosion, but somehow able to come back. Doctor Solar did (btw, that's the character's real name, not his superhero alter-ego), but when he 'powered up', his skin turned green and he radiated. (uh, if he has control of his nuclear powers, he should be able to prevent that, right?).

So he goes into action as the "Man of the Atom", and later got an all-red superhero suit.

This volume, being the last of four, reprints the final stories of his original series. Then we have the issues from his later revival before Western (now using Whitman for their comics), shuts down.

This change is kind of glaring in the stories. The stories had been done by the same writer/artist, with painted covers. When Dr Solar is brought back, Whitman no longer uses painted covers. The first new comic has a story with the same writer/artist team. Was this left over from the previous run? After that, we get a new writer and artist, who makes some changes. Dr Solar gets a first name. And we have some silly robot assistants (who look too much like some of the robots in Disney's "Black Hole". Since the artist, Dan Spiegle, had worked on the comic version of that, maybe that's not surprising). I do have to wonder if there was any unpublished Dr Solar work when Whitman stopped publishing???

And we get a rare crossover comic between Dr Solar and Dr. Spektor (another great GK series that needs to be reprinted).

And we have a nice intro by Batton Lash.

Now, what IS missing is some good background info. How about contacting the creators of these stories (if they are still around, I know Dan Spiegle and Don Glut are) and get some input from them. What lead to Doctor Solar being cancelled the first time? The first story in the revived series was written by the original writer. Was this a story left over from the original series? Why the change in writers after that, which shows a change in direction (new robot characters and the like)? What were the reasons for including him in Dr Spektor? His title wasn't being published then, so was this an attempt to drum up interest in a new series? Was there anything left unpublished from the new series when it was cancelled? The inner workings of Western is unknown to most comic book fans, and this would have been a good opportunity to find out more.