Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom first appeared in 1962. Gold Key published 27 issues through 1969, then Whitman published four more in 1981. All of these are available in four harcover archives or softcover tpbs from Dark Horse, and all of which are objectively awful. In 1991 Valiant Comics acquired the rights and did a much better job with the property. Along with their first and most successful (60 issues) version of the series, Valiant released a single issue of The Original Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom, which reprinted "Solar's Secret" (the very first Gold Key story from #1) and "The New Man of the Atom" (the first time Dr. Solar wore a costume from #5). These stories were colored and "reformatted" by Carol VanHook, which means she enlarged certain panels so they would overlap with others and/or "bleed" to the edge of the page to make them look more like a modern comic. These are the only original stories one need read, however, IMO. The Original Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom #1 makes a perfect introduction to...
ALPHA & OMEGA:
Solar, Man of the Atom: Alpha and Omega, by Jim Shooter and Barry Windsor-Smith, was originally serialized in the first ten issues of Valiant's Solar [no "Doctor"] Man of the Atom before being collected in a single edition. Alpha and Omega ends with "comics' largest panel": 10 double-page spreads, one per issue, which depicts the Earth being sucked into a black hole at the end. Unfortunately, the tpb collection omits the denouement! From there, one could move on to Valiant's first ongong Solar ongoing series, but my recommendation would be to move directly to Unity #0-1, which also follows directly from the end of Alpha and Omega.
UNITY:
Unity #0-1 covers events from April 15, 1991 (in an alternate universe from the Earth which was destroyed) to April 10, 3975 (10:51 PM, to be precise). That would be a good place to end it, but an alternate reality diverged from the Valiant universe on July 10, 2062 (7:45PM) in the Deathmate prologue.
DEATHMATE (PROLOGUE):
What I like most about this one is that the first half of the book is illustrated by Barry Windsor-Smith (one of comics' best artists), and the second half by Rob Liefeld (one of the worst). A more fitting symbol for 1990s-era comics I cannot imagine.
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Your assessment of Gold Keys Solar series is spot on. I only bought one issue off the spinner rack when nothing else at the time caught my eye. It may have been the painted cover that sold me. I can't tell which issue it was or anything about the story. I found both art and story severly lacking compared to DC or Marvel or even some of the Gold Key TV show adaptions. I never bought a second issue.
Under any other circumstance I would have objected to the "reformatting" of the reprints, but in this case it really didn't make any difference. Having read DC and Marvel all my life, the plethora of non-"Big Two" reprints in the early 2Ks really opened my eyes to how good/different Marvel and DC's output really was, particularly Marvel's in the '60s.
Solar continued at Valiant for four years producing some very good stories, others not so good. Then, in 1995, out of their "Birthquake" push, Valiant brought in a ringer to shake things up.
"DAN JURGENS puts a new spin on Solar... ain't that SUPER?"
Jurgens' reboot apparently had nothing whatsoever to do with the previous version... at least at first. This reality's Earth developed superheroes, or "Specials", in World War II. The "Lightning Brigade" comprised Axis Smasher, Vikki Victory, American Ace, Ultimax, Dr. Null, Luna, Flamer and Sentry. In the 1960s they reformed as the "American Brigade" which eventually evolved into today's "Fashpoint": Silver Sky, Sin Buster, Grimace, Teletech, the Wire, Urban Assault Commando (formerly Ultimax) and Luna. This world's United States has a small military, and the money saved goes into technological advancement and essential needs. As the story opens, a hero called "Sentry" is pursuing a serial killer called "Casket Jack" who has just killed the Vice President of the United States, formerly the hero called "American Ace." Sentry is a "legacy" hero, the sixth to bear that name. His father and four uncles died in that role, and a fifth uncle is confined to a wheelchair. Phil Seleski (Solar in the previous reality) also exists, with a wife and two kids. As the first issue ends, "Wire," a telepath, contacts "God"... Solar.
Not to spoil things if you haven't read it, but Solar fulfils the same role Dr. Manhattan later would in Geoff Johns' 12-issue post-Watchmen Doomsday Clock (except that Jurgens produced five issues in five months whereas it took Johns 43 months (counting from DC Rebirth) or three and a half years to complete 17 issues.
Birthquake. It was such a strange event.
Oddly, Solar's title was one of the most profoundly changed (to the point that it can be argued that this is not a Solar storyline at all), yet it is one of the very few that does not have the Birthquake trade dress.
Solar is featured in the "Birthquake" ads, though. The general failure of the push is detailed in the article "VALIANT DAYS, VALIANT NIGHTS - A Look Back at the Rise and Fall of Valiant" by Ryan McLelland. This is the same link I posted recently in the "Miscellaneous New Universes" discussion. The article is worth reading, but it is somewhat lengthy: 14 pages hardcopied.
After the five-part "Brave New World," Solar returned from the duplicate "Earth" he had created to the VH1 ("Valiant Hereos") Earth from #1-45. Dan Jurgens stayed for four additional issues, two two-parters illustrated by Tom Grindberg. (I guess I can add Jurgens' name to the list of writer/artists whose work I prefer when they themselves illustrate the stories.) Editor Tony Bedard steps up to write the next five issues, following the same vein Jurgens established, then Keith Giffen writes the final issue. Thus ends Solar's adventures in the VH1 universe.
NEXT: VH2
If I am not mistaken, the VH1 universe went on for a bit longer. Solar #60 is cover-dated April 1996, while X-O Manowar #68 is cover-dated September 1996.
But #60 was the last time we saw VH1 Solar, at least for the time being. Acclaim had acquired Valiant at some point in 1994 (around the same time as "Chaos Effect" was published), when very few of the VH1 books were even three years old.
The whole line felt to me a bit directionless since. "Archer and Armstrong" was cancelled right away, and less than a year later about half of the whole line was terminated in just the two months before Birthquake (an event that was probably fairly expensive, but also very lazy). I don't think I have ever seen a shared universe crumble quite so quickly. "Solar" survived considerably longer than most of its line, but it was not healthy for a while already - and it still ended less than a year after "Birthquake". The writing was very much in the wall.
As an aside, for such a short-lived line VH1 sure went through a lot of change of presentation. Sometimes I find myself trying to decide who editorial perceived as their main books. I can't help but conclude that this perception changed very quickly. Perhaps Magnus, then Solar, then Harbinger, then Bloodshot, then X-O Manowar. It may be that they attempted to promote Visitor as a core book as well. Hard to tell.
By that point, I don't see how Acclaim could avoid some sort of reboot even if it wanted to.
If I am not mistaken, the VH1 universe went on for a bit longer.
Quite correct. what I meant to say was, "Thus ends Solar's adventures in the VH1 universe." (I have changed it.)
Acclaim had acquired Valiant at some point in 1994
That article I linked above goes int more detail, but essentially, Valiant was originally funded by venture capitalists. Once they made their money (and they did make a lot of money), they had no interest in running a comic book company and unloaded it as quickly as possible.
On April 15, 1991, Phil Seleski was responsble for a black hole so powerful that it twisted timespace into knots and warped realities all across the many-layered multiverse, of which our universe is a part. He himself was shunted several months into the past of a parallel, alternate reality where, eventually, he became "God" (see above). The problem with doing a series about the ongoing adventures of God is what to do with him on a month-to-month basis. When Acclaim launched the VH2 universe, editorin-chief Fabian Nicieza solved this problem with the introduction of standalone "event issues" as a means to produce "universe-shattering storylines," the first ow which was...
MAN OF THE ATOM by Warren Ellis:
In the VH1 universe, Phil Seleski eventually became God, but in the VH2 universe, he actually was God in that he created the VH2 universe. This time, however, "Phil Seleski" was born as twins, Frank and Helena Seleski. Both Frank and Helena seek to know the mond of God, but Frank is a theoretical physicist who pursues it through science, and Helena is a woman of divinity who pursues it through religious scholarship. via their separate paths, they both discover: "In the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, in the summer of the year, that thing which is the smallest part of God shall touch the Earth. And if the smallest part of god were to touch the Earth, you should all die." This revelation leads directly into...
REVELATIONS by Jim Krueger:
...in which other heroes of the VH2 universe are drawn into events, and Frank and Helena Seleski meet God (i.e., the VH2 version of Phil Seleski/Solar) face-to-face. They succeed in convincing him that just because he created the world doesn't give him the right to destroy it. He turns his god-like power over to them, which leads directly into...
HELL ON EARTH by Christopher Priest:
I read Man of the Atom and Revelations back in the '90s, but I didn't read the four-issue Hell on Earth mini-series until today. If fact, the last time I became interested in Solar (2010 probably), I discovered I had only the first two issues and bought #3-4 for when I was in the mood to read them. (I know this because of my LCS's pricetag.) It took an additional 14 years, but that day has finally arrived. The first issue introduces a few new POV characters and demonstrates that Frank and Helena Seleski are decidedly not qualified to weild their powers. While trying to save a car from being hit by a car, for example, they accidentally destry the city of Seoul, South Korea, and the ripple effect from that brings a jet plane down in Mecca. Issue #2 folds the Eternal Warriors (Ivar, Aram and Gilad Anni-Padda), Woody (of "Quantum & Woody"), Turok and Magnus into the mix. Issue #3 adds X-O and Quantum, plus the VH1 version of Solar appears on the last page. All conflicts are resolved and a new status quo is established by the end of #4.
I have fonder memories of Solar, Man of the Atom than you do, Jeff and Doc. I liked the premise, even if it wasn't used very well by writer Dick Wood. I tried to imagine all the things Solar could do that he wasn't doing, just like I did with Green Lantern. (It seemed to the Li'l Capn that Solar was Spectre level, and he was using his immense powers like a B-list superhero.) And I liked the costume a lot (I was Cyclops fan, so the visor probably helped). And yes, the painted covers were definitely a factor.
So was my age, which was a very small number. So like today's Transformers and G.I. Joe fans, I have an irrational love of something that really wasn't very good when it first came out, because it reminds me of happy moments in my childhood.
To a degree that nostalgic love carries across the entire Gold Key line, as the little line that didn't make it. Like you and Atlas/Seaboard, Jeff, I wondered as a young man what would have happened if it had been more successful. I felt like there was gold in them thar hills, and there was -- it just took 30 years for someone (Valiant) to successfully mine it.
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