SOLAR: MAN OF THE ATOM #1 Review


Following two great openers will Solar: Man of the Atom be another great Golden Key series? Read on to find out.

The official description from Dynamite:

“This all started with an accident…”AN ALL-NEW CORNER OF THE GOLD KEY UNIVERSE! Flooded with experimental radiation that grants him unbelievable powers, the brilliant-and-obsessive Dr. Phil Seleski seeks to unlock the secrets of the universe, begrudgingly becoming a “hero” along the way. But can a single man be trusted with near-limitless abilities? What will this mean to the ones he loves? And will his choices lead to utter chaos and destruction? Brilliant writer FRANK BARBIERE (Five Ghosts) and JOE BENNETT present the Man Of The Atom as you’ve NEVER imagined!

Solar Man of the Atom #1 variant 2Solar: Man of the Atom is the latest in Dynamite’s Golden Key Universe with the scientific character bringing a more superhero like tone to the concept. Unlike the previous two Golden Key series’ (Turok and Magnus) Solar is already the character that fans know with us yet to get any new form of origin. This allows us to get a lot more action straight from the get go but at the same time leaves questions.

Frank Barbiere is the writer tasked with bringing the chemical superhero back to comic pages. Much like the other talented writers who’ve been chosen to work on these great characters he proves more than worthy showing why fans love his work. I especially loved the poetic narration near the start of this issue and how he tried to make chemistry fun. I did however feel that at times it was a little too much science to take in with it feeling mindboggling at times. I also felt that the overall pace was slightly awkward as it shifted from fast paced to slow in a sudden manor.

Joe Bennett does a tremendous job on the art as though it doesn’t have a huge lot of vibrancy about it, it does manage to be very dynamic. I especially enjoyed how his layouts allowed the story to give so much more impact during the action sequences whilst also being very sombre the rest of the time. This along with the intensity of the facial expressions made this a very powerful story visually with it feeling very realistic. On top of this we get fabulous colours from Lauren Affe which act as the perfect finishing touches to Bennett’s art as well as being very eye catching in their own rights.

Solar: Man of the Atom gets off to a terrific start and though it’s probably the worst opener yet it’s still a very entertaining read and shows plenty of promise. Highly recommended.

OUR RATING
8
  • + Poetic narration from Frank Barbiere.
  • + Fantastic art from Joe Bennett.
  • + Chemistry made interesting.
  • - A little too fast paced at times.

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