I keep hearing from the “always-accurate” Internet that long-established comics characters Magnus: Robot Fighter, Solar: Man of the Atom, and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter are likely to return to comic books, this time with Skybound/Image Comics.
WHAT IS HAPPENING?
With their successes with Transformers, GI Joe, and Universal Monsters under their belts, Robert Kirkman and Skybound Entertainment may soon have access to those three classic Gold Key properties, looking to add to their line of comics that have been based on established, popular franchises.
Word has it that a formal announcement is expected at this year’s San Diego Comic Con in July. Until then, I’m a longtime fan of these characters, so I’m optimistic this will very likely come to pass. I have followed the several different incarnations of them, so the sooner they return, the better!
Granted, they have been revived a time or two already, some with Valiant, Dark Horse, and even Dynamite! I have just enjoyed their adventures so much over the years that I wanted to bring them to everyone’s attention so we can keep our collective ears to the ground! I believe there is still life in those robot hunters and all!
These are some of what I consider to be “classic” comic book characters. They have the same appeal regardless of who the creators are, as long as they don’t stray too far from the original concept.
MAGNUS
Russ Manning, a terrific comics creator in his day, brought Magnus to life in 1963, and the character had an interesting setup. Magnus was a human being trained by a free will robot named 1-A so he could eliminate other robots that threatened humanity. That was so different—a robot training a human to destroy his own kind—I was strongly attracted to the science-fiction elements of the series.
Gold Key, unfortunately, was much harder to find in any comics shops or stores at that time, so I struggled to keep up. But I always bought any issues I found. When Valiant took over the franchise in the 1990s, it was much easier to find new books. There was even a Dark Horse series later on, and I still had to scour the area to find them. Hey, Magnus was even a female in one incarnation. How “today” of him!
The popularity of Image, specifically with several store owners near where I live, just might help me buy new issues as they are released. I would love that!
SOLAR
At times, I found it hard to recognize this character. Initially, he was named Doctor Solar, and he had green skin on his face, which went away once he was only called Solar and had flesh-colored tones on his skin.
His atomic powers fluctuated a lot from being more like Captain Atom to, at times, rivaling Doctor Manhattan’s power level from the Watchmen! It seemed to vary based on what the writers needed in order to tell the story they were producing.
But I again liked the sci-fi aspects of the hero, so I chased after every issue, which was tough to do on a regular basis.
TUROK
Of the three, Turok was much more dinosaurs and fantasy than science fiction. Of course, guys always like monsters, so I had to compete with my friends who read comics to get new issues as soon as they appeared! He also could be called “dinosaur hunter” or “son of stone,” which meant the story had changed gears.
Turok has been described as a “time-traveling Native American warrior.” He ended up with his own video game, another thing my friends all liked about him. Personally, I preferred to read the comics, but I still liked the game!
He is an interesting contrast to the other two sci-fi heroes, being much more “down to earth” and much less reliant on science. All three were very action oriented, so I always wanted them to get their own animated shows.
Of course, I always wanted all three to team up somehow, so you never know… it could happen when Mr. Kirkman’s group takes charge of them.
All this reinforces my thought that there really are no “bad” characters, only bad treatments. I could make a long list of guys, gals, and groups I have truly been a fan of and I still want more.
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