The Benjamin Tucker incarnation of Solarman as depicted in Solarman #2 (March 1990). Art by Mike Zeck (penciler), Nestor Redondo (inker), Bob Sharen (colorist), and Janice Chiang (letterer).
Solarman is a fictional comic booksuperhero that first appeared in 1979, published by Pendulum Press, and then starred in a self-titled two-issue series from Marvel Comics in 1989. Solarman was revived as a title by Scout Comics in 2016. The character was originally created by David Oliphant and Deborah Kalman.[1]
The character is unrelated to other heroes named Solarman, such as the character who appeared in Wham Comics #2 (Centaur Comics, Nov. 1940), the character who appeared in two issues of Superman in 1976,[2] or the Savage Dragon in 2006.[3]
Publication history
Pendulum Press
Solarman was created in the late 1970s by David Oliphant and Deborah Kalman. Oliphant was the founder and CEO of Pendulum Press, a children's educational publishing company responsible for the Illustrated Classics and Contemporary Motivators series, as well as licensed titles such as Star Wars. The character Solarman was created in response to the 1970s energy crisis as part of an energy awareness program to educate children about alternative fuels. Solarman was Davos, an alien from the Sun.[4] Pendulum's Pendulum Illustrated Original series produced three issues of Solarman:
Solarman #1: The Beginning (1979) — written by David Oliphant and M. Barbara O'Brien; "adapted" by Linda A. Cadrain and an uncredited artist
Solarman #2: Day or Nite (1980) — written by David Oliphant and illustrated by Dick Giordano
Solarman: At the Earth's Core (1980)
Marvel Comics
Years later, Marvel Comics writer/editor Stan Lee and then-Marvel president Jim Galton contacted Oliphant with the suggestion of publishing a Solarman book through Marvel. Oliphant, Lee, and Margaret Loesch created a new version of Solarman: his secret identity is a teenager named Ben Tucker who aspires to be a comic book artist, and whose adversary is the alien warlord Gormagga Kraal. Written by Lee and illustrated by Jim Mooney, this version of Solarman debuted in 1989, and lasted two issues. In 1992, a 22-minute animated Solarmanpilot was also produced, based on the Marvel Comics version.
Scout Comics
Decades later, Oliphant and Kalman revamped the character as a black superhero, and chose Scout Comics as the publisher. Scout Comics owner Brendan Deneen reached out to writer/editor Joe Illidge to co-write and edit a new Solarman series. Illidge hired N. Steven Harris, whom he had known since their days at Manhattan's School of Visual Arts, to be the artist on the series, Andrew Dalhouse as the color artist, and Marshall Dillon as the letterer.
Although likeable, Illidge characterizes this version of Tucker as "arrogant and angry," one who engages in hacking because he has a chip on his shoulder, and becomes a fugitive from the government and aliens who have vested interest in his powers. Harris, who designed the character, had never heard of him until around the time of his hiring, and based his design on real people that he and Illidge felt fit the look of a frustrated computer hacker.[5]
Solarman is teenager Benjamin Tucker, who dreams of becoming an artist for Marvel Comics even though his Los Angelesgym-owner father wants him to become a jock. Meanwhile, the alien cyborg warlord Gormagga Kraal tries to drain energy from Earth's sun, but his head scientist, Sha-han, refuses and flees to Earth with Kraal's Circlet of Power, which he gives to Ben along with a robot assistant dubbed Beepie.
Thereafter, Ben can expose the Circlet to sunlight and transform into the golden-haired adult Solarman who possesses superhuman strength, is capable of supersonic flight and survival in deep space and can control light, heat, and other forms of energy. However, he requires constant exposure to sunlight to maintain his powers.[6]
Scout Comics
Ben Tucker is a bullied, biracial teenager living in Brooklyn's East New York neighborhood, with his police officer father, as his mother is deceased. He uses his skills to expose the illegal dealings of white collar criminals and corrupt politicians.[7]
In other media
Solarman appears in a self-titled television pilot, which was originally released on VHS before airing on television on October 24, 1992. According to Oliphant, a major studio offered $15 million to create a full Solarman series, but Marvel rejected the offer out of a belief that Saturday morning superhero cartoons would soon decline in popularity.[5]
