Doctor Solar Day!

Jim Shooter was born on tomorrow's date in 1951. Shooter was a teenager phenom of sorts, working professionally for DC when he was just fourteen on The Legion of Super-Heroes. He returned to comics after college and eventually found himself at Marvel after a turbulent time in the lates 70's. He brought stability to the outfit, but he bruised some toes and egos along the way. He went on to participate and found several new companies, the most successful of which was Valiant. 

With the demise of Gold Key comics and later still the Whitman imprint which had replaced it for a time, the Doctor Solar character lay dormant for many years. Then Jim Shooter and his associates wanted to start up a new comic book company after Shooter's dismissal from Marvel.

While at Marvel Shooter had tried to initiate a "New Universe", one apart from the more traditional superhero one and in which the laws of nature and science were more consistent with the real world we live in. There would be an attempt at verisimilitude which was largely impossible in the sprawling Marvel Universe, full as it had become with all manner of super-beings.  This New Universe was pretty much a failure save for a few titles like DP7 and Psi-Force both of which had more than a tiny similarity to Marvel's X-Men.

Shooter took this basic idea of a new universe though and used it as the template for his new company which was dubbed Valiant Comics. The core of Valiant was familiar names from the vintage Gold Key imprint of decades past such as Magnus, Turok, and Solar. 

The Doctor Solar we meet in this new rendition is much different. In an origin story which weirdly was serialized in the first ten issues of the series, while the main story itself started where the origin would eventually end, this saga was one filled with mystery from the get-go.

Like the Doctor Solar of the Gold Key comics this one was the product of a nuclear accident. Dr.Philip Seleski is a fan of the vintage comics and also a brilliant man who creates fusion technology which hopefully will give the world vast power. But it goes wrong and he is changed into a godlike being who slowly comes to terms with his new status while those around him such as love interest Gayle Nordheim and his boss Dr.Dobson grow to fear him. Added to the cast this time is a troubled woman named Erica Pierce who comes to be a critical part of Valiant's storytelling. Selesky, who sometimes jokingly refers to himself as "Solar, the Polish Sun God" grows to use his power more and more trying at times to remove what he sees as threatening nuclear power and consequently the authorities become wary. In a final move he takes Gayle with him and in an act of foolish bravado ends up destroying the world as we know it. The world then he recreates and this then is the Valiant universe, now changed in weird ways and full of super-powered possibilities not before possible. In that world he eventually finds a role which calls upon the unrealistic optimism of the vintage Doctor Solar of the classic Gold Key Comics.

It's complicated to say the least. But it is a full-blooded realization of what being a superhero might really be, a challenging and engaging take on the character. Eventually Shooter is ushered out of the company he helped create and Solar goes on to become a mainstay for the Valiant imprint.

Eventually though the end comes after many changes in title, direction and even ownership. The 90's were a heady time for comics with lots of money folks seeking to make bundles on the fan interest the funny books created. It made for some bad comics and for some greedy outcomes which eventually nearly killed off the industry.

But that wasn't the end of Doctor Solar Man of the Atom.

Jim Shooter made a compact with Dark Horse Comics and produced eight more Doctor Solar issues about a half decade ago. They featured some very refined art and were heavy on the science which like the Valiant stories of many years before played with the conceits of the superhero and applied them to a more realistic world. While interesting the comics were not especially exciting and the series was cancelled.

But that was still not the end of Doctor Solar Man of the Atom.

Eventually Dynamite Comics got the license and (as usual) produced some few issues but dozens of covers. 

And that wraps up Solar reflections for now. Doctor Solar has proven to be a durable character and vivid concept. The costume is so simple and memorable that it has helped certainly and it's ironic that is the case since Gold Key was so reluctant to create such a distinctive look.

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Showcase Corner - Legion Of Super-Heroes Five!

The Legion of Super-Heroes had really been one of DC's more organic successes. The team started out in the late 50's in a one-off story guest-starring with Superboy in Adventure Comics, but soon they were showing up in Action Comics with Supergirl and more and more often in Adventure Comics, Superboy, and elsewhere. That led to their own feature in Adventure Comics, replacing Superboy's feature which had introduced them and they thrived, especially among the young fans of the 60's looking for a fresh take from DC. But as they grewand devleoped and added a seemingly endless cast of characters,  they also began to dwindle in popularity and gave over Adventure Comics to an updated Supergirl. They went on to take up residence in Action Comics, hidden behind the main Superman stories. Then they were shifted over to Superboy's main title and history began to repeat itself as they came to absorb it as well. Superboy was still a significant part of the proceedings but there was no doubt the Legion was the rising star.

DC also was not experimenting with different size comics featuring reprints but also offering up complete reprint comic books. The Legion of Super-Heroes was given a four-issue run which might've been an attempt to test the waters for a push into a title of their own or perhaps DC was just trying to defend its position on the spinner racks with the myriad Marvel comics hitting shelves in droves. Despite the long history of the Legion this was first self-titled series. 

That revival was largely the result of the art of Dave Cockrum. He came to the strip as an inker working with longtime DC great Murphy Anderson, but soon was doing all the art, and bringing some fresh design ideas to the series. 

The Legion was a wonderful Silver Age comic, but Cockrum tooled it to become a wonderful Bronze Age comic. New sleek costumes for heroes such as Colossal Boy, Shrinking Violet, Element Lad, Star Boy and many more. Cockrum had a knack for drawing young characters with fresh handsome faces. He gave Timberwolf a ferocious new look. And new legionnaire Wildfire was designed by him. One of his neatest contributions was giving the Legion a sleek new cruiser evocative of a certain enterprising starship from another franchise which had its ups and downs. In conjunction with writer Cary Bates, they made the Legion exciting again. But Cockrum was only there a little while before jetting over to Marvel to pull off a similar trick with a new set of X-Men. 

Mike Grell stepped in to fill his shoes and he did so wonderfully. Grell's work was not as sublimely elegant as Cockrum's, but it was more dynamic and a bit more exciting to read. His girls weren't as pretty, but they were sure pretty enough. In tandem with Bates and returning writer Jim Shooter, Grell made the Legion a must read. Heroes married, moved into new careers, and even died in these Legion stories, and the stakes were always seemingly higher than in other DC comics. With all of space and time to play with, it's no wonder the Legion of Super-Heroes became a hit all over again. 

Below are some of Cockrum's costume designs alongside some classics. 

The Legion was so successful in the 70's that Val Armorr, the Karate Kid was granted a spin-off title making late advantage of what Kung Fu craze was still left in 1976. Karate Kid featured art by Ric Estrada and one of my favorites Joe Staton. Paul Levitz wrote the initial scripts, his first connection to the Legion as far as I know. This story has the Kid shift his work to the 20th Century where he found life at once more challenging and more fulfilling, at least for a time. 

Here are the covers from this run on which the Legion appears. Many feature the creamy art of Nick Cardy. The rest are by Grell. 

And that wraps my month-long read of the Showcase Legion tales. I've been hankering to get to this one for a long time and it's a pleasure finally get it completed. These are fun stories which speak of their respective eras delightfully. 

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