Gold Key superheroes return developed by Jim Shooter

Old-school Valiant Comics fans rejoice.  Jim Shooter is joining forces with Dark Horse Comics to again work on Turok, Doctor Solar, and Magnus Robot Fighter.   Also included in the announcement was Mighty Samson, a former Gold Key character.

Dark Horse plans to develop new comic books and graphic novels with these characters, with Shooter as the head writer.  Shooter wrote many of the classic Valiant Comics issues of “Solar” and “Magnus.”   Further characters and writers are yet to be announced.

“It’s great to be at Dark Horse, working with Mike Richardson, world-class creator, honorable gentleman and industry powerhouse,” said Jim Shooter in a release. “It’s great to be reunited with Magnus, Solar, Turok, Samson and the other wonderful Gold Key properties. The opportunity is tremendous and the time is ripe. Let’s do it.”

Shooter was editor-in-chief of Marvel for a nine-year tenure that was responsible for hits including Frank Miller’s Daredevil and Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s Uncanny X-Men.  Shooter launched Valiant Comics in the early 1990s.

“Jim and I share a great affection for these terrific characters. We have some very exciting ideas on how to introduce them to a whole new generation of fans.” said Mike Richardson, president of Dark Horse Comics, in a release.

I don’t know the legalese of whether these characters can be based on their Valiant counterparts, or if this will allow reprints of the Valiant material with these characters.  Obviously, some of the Valiant properties have been reprinted recently by the new Valiant Entertainment, which is also involved in bringing the Harbinger property to the big screen.   Anthologies of the original Turok, Magnus and Doctor Solar are currently available from Dark Horse.

Following are descriptions of the characters from Dark Horse’s release.

Turok®

An original comic book hero, Turok is best known today for a successful video game franchise boasting more than five million units sold since the first game was introduced in the 1990s. The legend of the brave and ruthless dinosaur-hunter has lived on for more than thirty years in comic book series from Dell Comics, Gold Key Comics and Valiant. Anthologies of the original classic comics are now available from Dark Horse Comics.