DIAL B for BLOG - THE WORLD'S GREATEST COMIC BLOGAZINE

THE SECRET ORIGIN OF SOLAR -- PART 2 OF 4
THE WHITMAN ISSUES

The Solar character was subsequently revived for four more issues published from 1981-82 under the Whitman imprint. These stories reduced Solar to a conventional superhero fighting conventional super-villains -- such as Medusa, the Sentinel, and King Cybernoid, a new, robotic incarnation of his old arch-enemy, Nuro.

The resulting stories, while not catastrophic, were not especially memorable either. Small wonder the revived series only lasted four issues. The first Whitman issue (#28) was written by Dick Wood and drawn by JOSE DELBO, who also did the cover:

The revived Whitman series continued the tradition of one-page "Solar Secrets" with this installment, drawn by Al McWilliams:

NEW ARTIST, NEW WRITER, NEW BACK-UP FEATURE

With issue #29, Magnus Robot Fighter got a back-up feature in the book, but it was too little, too late. Roger Mackenzie and artist DAN SPIEGLE (pictured left) took over as Solar's new Spiegle

creative team, but at this point, it seemed as though Whitman had come to regard the book as some sort of nuisance.

Whitman could no longer be bothered with creating new Solar cover art, or even writing simple cover blurbs. The editors simply lifted a panel from the story and made THAT the cover, with little or no explanatory copy at all.

Above right is a page from Solar #29 which shows how the art on the bottom of the page was cannabalized for use on the issue's cover (above left). Below is the splash page from the book's new 10-page MAGNUS ROBOT FIGHTER back-up feature, by Roger Mackenzie with some nice art by former Solar artist Frank Bolle.

Solar #30, also by Roger Mackenzie and Dan Spiegle...

...with another nice little MAGNUS back-up by drawn by Frank Bolle.

SOLAR FLARE-OUT

Solar #31, the final issue of the revived series, had Solar fighting a villain named The Sentinel, who was actually an actor who gets super powers and goes on a destructive spree. Quite a comedown from battling the world-shaking machinations of Nuro! Above right is a page from the story, with Dan Spiegle's art in panel two doing double-duty on the cover, seen above left.

Whitman’s parent company, Western Printing, quit the comic book business in 1984, seemingly extinguishing the career of comics’ hottest character forever. But Solar’s blazing nuclear fire refused to die! The valiant hero's smoldering ashes were destined to burn anew -- and this time, the heat they generated would threaten to incinerate not just SOLAR himself, but the entire comic book industry!

CONCLUDED NEXT WEEK!

SOLAR ON AMAZON.COM

POST YOUR COMMENTS BELOW!