Robert Kirkman built his career on taking genre premises seriously. The Walking Dead wasn't a zombie comic — it was a study in what survival does to people who weren't built for it. Invincible wasn't a superhero book — it was a deconstruction of what it means to inherit a legacy.
So when Kirkman acquires a license, it's worth paying attention to what he sees in it.
This week, Skybound announced that Kirkman has secured the Gold Key license, bringing Magnus Robot Fighter, Turok Dinosaur Hunter, and Solar Man of the Atom into the Skybound fold.
The characters
Magnus Robot Fighter was created in 1963. The premise — a man trained from birth to fight robots in a far-future society — is both utterly of its time and strangely prescient.
Turok Dinosaur Hunter is one of the genuinely strange gems of mid-century American comics: a Comanche warrior who discovers a hidden valley of living dinosaurs. Valiant had a strong run with it in the nineties. Now Skybound gets its shot.
Solar Man of the Atom is perhaps the most interesting of the three for contemporary readers. A physicist who becomes a being of pure energy — it's a power set that invites philosophical questions about identity and consciousness that feel more relevant now than they did in 1962.
What this means for collectors
If you have original Gold Key issues or the Valiant-era relaunches of any of these characters, now is a good time to revisit your collection. Kirkman announcements tend to have a secondary market ripple effect.
We'll be stocking the new Skybound titles when they arrive. Keep an eye on superheroempire.com for updates.
— Superhero Empire