Re-Reading: Solar #3

A week-to-week plan is available for re-reading VALIANT from the beginning...
start anytime, go at your own pace.

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How would you rate this book?

10
6
50%
9
3
25%
8
1
8%
7
0
No votes
6
0
No votes
5
1
8%
4
0
No votes
3
1
8%
2
0
No votes
1
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 12

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xoken
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Re-Reading: Solar #3

Post by xoken »

I thought we could do a book a day (that way people can read one every day or catch up on weekends), talk about it on its own, in the context of whats next, in regards to what expectations it creates and vote on how good it is. I don't have to be the one that posts everyday. If I miss a day or if someone wants to take over please do

For voting think of your single favourite comic book (not just VALIANT) as the benchmark - thats a 10 - and grade according to that.

Make sure to mention what you like'd about the book, what you didn't, what you wish they would have done, your favourite panels, lines of dialogue, little bits of trivia etc.

Solar #3
Image

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Todd Luck
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Post by Todd Luck »

Another great exploration of people's reactions to power and if comic book prinicples work in real life.

And then we get the intro of the Harbinger Foundation and one of the most unforgetable villians ever...Toyo Harada. The awesome thing about this issue is that Harbinger feels so real. The building really looks like a large office building. The people react exactly the way people at a real foundation would. From the politeness of the staff to the one-on-one meeting in the conference room it feels very grounded and plausible.

Solar starts breaking windows and what do they do? They call the boss and try to talk Solar down. Isn't that what they should be doing? They never even attack him in the office. Thumper and Puff fight back when Solar starts the conflict but it's never ordered by the people in charge. Fantastic.

And then we meet Toyo Harada, a man who takes the motivation of Superman and your traditional comic superheroes to it's extreme. He helps people. How does he do it? He accumulates influence and then eliminates whatever threatens HIS world. DC or Marvel heroes say things like "no one threatens MY city" or "get out of MY city" like the city belongs to them. In any other genre we'ld want these guys to be locked in the funny farm for talking like that. And so Harada takes this mentality to it's extreme. It's HIS world.

Solar and Harada have the same motivation, Harada just has his moral line for accomplishing his goals a little further down the road than Solar does. It's the reason they can't stand each other and the reason they made such good enemies when Shooter wrote the book.

It's ashame everything I just said will be done away with after Shooter leaves but that's another story.

Anyway it's a 10 :thumb:

Continuity Note: Harbinger Files 1 details how Harada recovered from the plane crash. Agian it's more retroactive post-Shooter stuff and not a very entertaining story.

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magnusr
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Re: Re-Reading: Solar #3

Post by magnusr »

Another part of this very important storyline. As with all early Valiants, there is a bit of "explaining the story so far to new readers". Everything is in place now and the story can more concentrate on exploring the themes. The differences between comic characters and real-world characters are important (as in Unity 2000, no compairison apart from that). There's a bit too much focus on Dr Solar, instead of Seleski. He is boring. I would assume it is very intentional. As Dr Solar confronts reality vs comic books, so do we. The little Seleski does show up is intelligent. Harada and Pierce are brought into things. An important issue for Valiant continuity.

/Magnus

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myron
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Post by myron »

Lays the foundation for things to come...great contiuation and lead in to future storyline...integral issue...
Why waste time learning, when ignorance is instantaneous?

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Daniel Jackson
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Post by Daniel Jackson »

The artwork is fabulous, the story very well done and interesting. All around another great early Valiant gem.

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jedimarley
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Post by jedimarley »

10.

Again, great art and story.

BWS cover and a cameo by Harada....Nuf said.

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Todd Luck
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Post by Todd Luck »

jedimarley wrote: BWS cover and a cameo by Harada....Nuf said.
If that's what you consider a cameo, I'ld love to a full appearance :) .

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magnusr
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Post by magnusr »

The VCB synopsis:

In L.A., Solar apprehends a group of drive-by gunmen. But when the police arrive, they wish to take Solar in along with the criminals. The cops are further bewildered when the costumed man flies away.
Solar returns to Muskogee, Oklahoma to Tammy and Dwight’s home. He has been staying with the mother and son, trying to figure out just who he is. Through holographic projection, he recounts to them the life of Phil Seleski: how he destroyed his world, then arrived in this one. Having seen Harbinger Foundation ads in the papers, Tammy suggests that Solar check them out. Phoning Harbinger, Solar sets up an appointment for the following day. After the call, Tammy comes on to Solar, even though she has a trucker boyfriend. But Solar isn’t ready for this yet. He spends a quiet evening contemplating his new existence.
The following morning, he visits the Dallas Harbinger complex. He meets with Harbinger executives, Ms Ando and Mr Kuramoto, and displays some of his powers. With his multi-spectral vision, Solar quickly finds that he is being monitored from behind one-way glass walls. He busts his way into the surveillance room and begins reading their computer files. When Puff and Thumper attempt to stop him, a fight breaks out. But the two Eggbreakers cannot match Solar’s power. Solar finds out that Ms Ando is speaking with Harada on the phone. He travels through the phone-airwaves and pops out of Haráda’s cellular phone inside his private jet.
Harada informs Solar that he feels the superhuman is a threat to the planet. He reaches into Solar’s mind and attempts to psionically randomize Solar’s mind, thus dissipating him. But he fails, Solar fights back, and the plane catches fire and crashes.
Solar assumes that Harada is dead and he returns to Tammy’s house. He tells Tammy that he’s ready for her romantic advances now. Elsewhere in Muskogee, “Max Blackwell” visits Erica Pierce in a local bar. He plans to use her as a pawn against Solar and Seleski. She’s puzzled by his resemblance to Phil, but they start talking physics and leave the bar together.

/Magnus

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Post by Second_Death »

As with the earlier issues, it continues the long build-up for Unity making Erica a very sympathetic figure. 10!


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