Re-Reading: Solar #10

[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 #10

[magnusr]

Hmm, will I have to give another 10? I do not want to do that lightly. But I can't find any fault. There is continuity in here that is negated later, but that's not the fault of this issue. There was a reason they reprinted this one. Nah, 10 it will be.

/Magnus

[Daniel Jackson]

Another one of my favorite Solar books... it has a fun story, unique cover and introduces a major character (actually a couple) all in the same book.

[Todd Luck]

An excellent issue. Basically it's Geomancer 0 but it works here because everything revolves around Solar. Introducing Goeff's abilities in his home school give the story a nice grounding and practicality. Wouldn't it just be the coolest thing ever if everything talked to you? You'ld never loose anything, nobody could ever lie to you without you knowing. Cool stuff.

The build up to the cronfrontation with Solar is appropriately ominious. Just in case you missed it, the three dates that set Geoff off were: Phil arriving in this timeline after being thrown back in time, Phil getting his powers the day the reactor went critical, and lastly, of course, the day the black hole destoyed Phil's reality (driving home the fact that it was in another reality).

The build up with Harbinger's anti-Solar operation was good too. I loved how practical it all was. This is exactly how you would find and destroy someone like Solar. The spotters, the blocking off of the "attack area", all very practical touches. Seeing it from the other sde gives us some sympathy for the Eggbreakers which is important for next issue.

And Gilad appears. No immortal rambo or fist and steel here (for goodness sakes, Geoff's the geomancer for how long before he finds the kid in a mental hospital?) Gilad's a smart, cool guy who picks his own battles. It's natural to see how he might be friends wih Harada. At this point they both share a real drive to help humanity (fo course, eventually Harada will be retconned into a rambling genocidal moron, but that'll be later).

And after all that build up what happens when Gil and Geoff finally find Solar? They talk and they figure out he isn't really a threat. Brillant

Just a very, very nice issue. A 9

[jedimarley]

Shooter at his best.

10

[magnusr]

The VCB synopsis:

Sitting outside of his elementary school in Brooklyn, young Geoff McHenry is approached by an old stranger. The wizened old man is Buck McHenry, Geoffs 120 year-old great uncle who is the current Geomancer. He takes the boy away with him, intent upon preparing Geoff to be the next Geomancer.
A year later, Geoff shows back up bearing Buck’s ceremonial axe of the Geomancer. His parents are glad to have him back, but they are alarmed when Geoff claims that he can hear objects speaking to him. Years later, on the day that Solar first arrives in our world, Geoff senses the Earth’s fear of Solar and goes wild with psychic pain. Psychiatrists are at a loss to explain Geoffs behavior, so the Harbinger Foundation is contacted.
At the Eggbreaker training facility in Missouri, Gilad Abrams arrives to meet with Toyo Harada. There, he greets VietNam war-buddy, Joe Nicoletti, who now trains Harada’s Eggbreaker teams. Gilad then proceeds to speak with Harada. Harada tells Gilad of Solar and the threat he poses to the world. Gilad requests to be present when the Eggbreakers make their assault on Solar. He also notices Geoff McHenry’s name on a list of prospective unrecruited Harbingers. Recognizing the name, Gilad asks that he be allowed to approach Geoff personally.
In the Muskogee hospital, Solar secretly visits the recovering Erica Pierce. He tries to warn her of her own potential destructive nature as an energy being like himself. But she continues denying to herself that she possesses such power. Furthermore, she will not speak to Solar out of resentment over his killing her child. Solar leaves and rejoins his friend, John Veerhusen. Together they wonder if Pierce’s pent-up rage may someday explode.
At the psychiatric hospital, Geoff is released into Gilad’s custody. Touching Gilad’s glove, Geoff geomantically absorbs the knowledge that Gilad is thousands of years old. Gilad explains that he knew Buck McHenry and the geomancers before him. He gives Geoff his number, in case the boy-geomancer should need the Eternal Warrior’s services. Then, Gilad drops Geoff off in Manhattan. Geoff finds the place where Phil befriended a group of homeless people shortly after coming to our world. When the bums tell him that Solar went to Muskogee, Geoff sets off to track down the “sun-demon”.
Several evenings later, at a Muskogee restaurant, Phil and Gayle discuss Phil’s new superhuman condition. Phil seems ready to tell Gayle about how he destroyed the world in his previous incarnation, when Geoff bursts into the restaurant and screams at Phil for having “killed the world”. Phil tosses Geoff out of the restaurant before the boy can reveal his secret. But, before Phil can follow him outside, Geoff runs off to call Gilad.
A couple of miles away, Gilad and the Eggbreakers set up to take on Solar. Gilad answers his mobile phone to hear Geoff pleading for help just a few miles away. But Solar catches up to Geoff and terminates the call prematurely. Solar tries to explain to Geoff that he avoided destroying the world a second time. A moment later, Gilad arrives to confront Solar. But now Geoff feels that Solar is not the threat, but that there is some other sun-demon at large. Suddenly, the three sense that the suburban section in which they stand has been somehow enclosed. Solar tries to determine what sort of force-field is entrapping them when the Eggbreakers strike!

/Magnus

[tarheelmarine]

A great issue, and the story of Joe Nicoletti is also explained in the Eternal Warrior Supplement that came with the Valiant Era trade.

I would have to give this one a 10 as well.

[Rufusharley]

The couple copies i have are, with any luck, 9.6's. So i'm afraid to open them up to read them!

(like that's something to get mad about)

[Elveen]

A great issue, and the story of Joe Nicoletti is also explained in the Eternal Warrior Supplement that came with the VALIANT Era trade.
.

is that called the VALIANT reader?

[myron]

A great issue, and the story of Joe Nicoletti is also explained in the Eternal Warrior Supplement that came with the VALIANT Era trade.
.

is that called the VALIANT reader?

no....valiant era tpb

and

valiant reader

[tarheelmarine]

Elveen,

http://www.valiantcomics.com/valiant/issue.asp?cn=1184

here is the link to what I was talking about.

[Elveen]

Elveen,

http://www.valiantcomics.com/VALIANT/issue.asp?cn=1184

here is the link to what I was talking about.

Thanks.....

(dang I need to get some more books.... I hate not having this stuff!)

[dac55]

Elveen,

http://www.valiantcomics.com/VALIANT/issue.asp?cn=1184

here is the link to what I was talking about.

Thanks.....

(dang I need to get some more books.... I hate not having this stuff!)

I here you Elveen. I need to finish the ones on my list and make a new one. I'm lazy or I would have already have finished it.

David

[Daniel Jackson]

Elveen,

http://www.valiantcomics.com/VALIANT/issue.asp?cn=1184

here is the link to what I was talking about.

Thanks.....

(dang I need to get some more books.... I hate not having this stuff!)

I here you Elveen. I need to finish the ones on my list and make a new one. I'm lazy or I would have already have finished it.

David

Oooh...you stopped on an evil number David...666

[Rufusharley]

Elveen,

http://www.valiantcomics.com/VALIANT/issue.asp?cn=1184

here is the link to what I was talking about.

Thanks.....

(dang I need to get some more books.... I hate not having this stuff!)

I here you Elveen. I need to finish the ones on my list and make a new one. I'm lazy or I would have already have finished it.

David

Oooh...you stopped on an evil number David...666

The sign of the Valiant beast!