Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, dynamite, entertainment, Frank Barbiere, peter milligan, Solar: Man Of The Atom

Frank Barbiere Talks Solar: Man of the Atom #7 With Preview

Published Wed, 19 Nov 2014 04:00:38 -0600

Peter Milligan, writer of Terminal Hero #4, had a couple quick questions for Frank Barbiere about Solar: Man of the Atom #7, both on sale November 19^th

PETER MILLIGAN: In its own jokey way, there seems to be a lot of parent/child, father/daughter transaction going on. Would you say this is at the core of what the book is all about?

FRANK BARBIERE: I really wanted to move the book away from being the insular adventures of a super-powered person, so the inclusion of "family" was a huge mission for me. Once we settled on the dynamic of Erica and Phil, it came together very nicely … the core of the book is their relationship, how to deal with the "sins of the father" and the weight of expectations. We've also carved out Erica as a character and are really thrilled with how she's come to life on the page.

PM: If not, what IS the book about?

FB: As I mentioned, the book is also very much Erica's story. We don't want her to always be in Phil's shadow, and it's nice to have her through her "learning" portion of the story. She's taking much more agency and she's become her own person—she's a joy to write and I have to say has really become an interesting character. It's a great challenge to think of how Erica would approach problem-solving in a superhero story vs. a traditional "punch stuff" hero.

PM: Frank, tell me a little more about Erica.

FB: Erica is the ultimate foil for the traditional Solar archetype—the idea of someone who isn't a scientist and has a completely different world view becoming this archetypal hero is just so interesting to me. We take Erica, who believes in art and creativity, and apply these traditionally "scientific" powers and suddenly it opens a whole new can of worms. As I mentioned, it's been both exciting and challenging to think about how someone so different would solve problems with these powers. Ultimately, I think we've really come up with some cool stuff that makes both Erica and the book very unique.

For more on Solar: Man of the Atom #7, click here.