SOLITAIRE
Real Name: Nicholas Lone
Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Earth-93060/Ultraverse) human weapon and technology user
Occupation: Vigilante
Group Membership: None
Affiliations:
Boulevard, Bug, Coco,
Elaine, Iris, Israel, Jimmy the Geek, Prime
(Kevin Green), Deonna Saunders, Serena,
Skye, Spice, Sugar, Urch, Venus;
Enemies: Agavé (see comments), Degenerate, Double Edge, Jinn (Djinn), Martin Jones, Head Knocker, King Pleasure, Anton Lone, Monkey Woman and her disciples, Moon Man and the Moon Cult, Moose, Keith Singles (Prime impostor), Mr. Sparks, Ton-Ton Macoutes, Veil, White God, unnamed memorabilia dealer
Known Relatives: Anton Lone (father), unnamed mother
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Mobile across the USA, especially California, New York and Washington, DC
First Appearance: Hardcase#1 (June, 1993) (as Nicholas Lone); Solitaire#1 (November, 1993) (as Solitaire)
Powers/Abilities: Nicholas Lone had unusual nanotechnology infused in his system that could quickly heal near-lethal injuries and wounds such as gunshots. This nanotechnology was later transferred to his suit with similar healing properties to stop the nanites manipulating his mind. He was an excellent hand-to-hand fighter and had mastered various weapons, including guns, knives and archery, as well as many different fighting styles. He was very driven to stopping his father's criminal activities and had gathered a small network of various people who helped him in his vigilante activities. He was also a good strategist, identifying patterns to isolate crimes and gathered large amounts of information on current and potential foes.
History:
(Solitaire#3 (fb) - BTS) - Nicholas was raised by nannies and attended private schools paid for by his father.
(Solitaire#2 (fb)) - At age nine, his parents took him to Looneyville, the last time he saw his mother, and wondered why his father wanted to suddenly own the amusement park.
(Ultraverse Double Feature: Prime and Solitaire#1 (fb)/Solitaire#12 (fb) - BTS) - Disliking his father because of his negative behavior, Nicholas would run off, often hiding away in an old movie theater called Dreamland. He was later told by his father that his mother was gone and would never return, but had actually secretly killed her.
(Solitaire#11 (fb)) - Nicholas secretly kept away from his father a locket containing a photo of his mother to remember her by.
(Solitaire#3 (fb)) - At age 14, staying at a Vegas hotel owned by his father, Nicholas came across Jimmy the Geek planting explosives under his father's orders at the hotel to make it appear an accident so that he could claim the insurance money. Nicholas, realizing why his father's properties had been destroyed in the past, ordered Jimmy away and confronted his father about the fraud, but was turned away. Unable to stop his father but seeking to right his wrongs, Nicholas used his father's money to buy equipment that he could use to impact on his father's business crimes and adopted the codename Solitaire to protect his identity.
(Solitaire#4 (fb)) - Nicholas discovered his father's criminal activities in a bloody coup in Haiti and wanted to reveal it to the media. He agreed to meet up with a reporter but found the reporter and a dozen others killed in a move masterminded by his father and Jinn. At the site, Jinn told him to keep out of his father's activities or more would die. So Nicholas dropped the fight and used his father's wealth to live like a bored, rich brat. He intended to travel the world and end up an opium addict as a final act of rebellion against his father.
(Hardcase#1/Solitaire#4 (fb)) - Nicholas was at a bank to empty his account of $5 million when it was attacked by the villainous Head Knocker, but left the hero Hardcase to deal with the robber.
(Solitaire#4 (fb)/Solitaire#11 (fb)) - Realizing he had become dead inside, he drank and deliberately ran his car off the road to kill himself. But his father had him recovered and, with the aid of the Cabal, injected with unique nanotechnology that would rapidly knit his wounds. He was told by his father that he was expected to help in his father's activities, but instead resolved to stop his father and those like him, and to protect their victims.
(Ultraverse Double Feature: Prime and Solitaire#1 (fb)) - Nicholas bought the Dreamland movie theater just as it was about to be demolished and then used it as a base to strike back at his father.
(Solitaire#5 (fb) - BTS) - Nicholas Lone set up a group of helpers who had been victims of his father's misdeeds, including a double who stayed in Bangkok to divert attention.
(Solitaire#1) - Steadily becoming an urban legend, Solitaire found out about the sadistic killer, King Pleasure, and helped a young woman escape from King Pleasure's goons. He then tracked a car which the villain's lackeys had used and raced back to his own hideout to track down the owner using his computers, finally uncovering the car's origin. Solitaire then set traps for King Pleasure's armed lackeys and battled them until he reached the King's Pleasure Dome hideaway, knocking out and killing the goons who resisted. Solitaire confronted King Pleasure who then shot him and ran away, leaving his sexual hideout burning. Solitaire freed three sex-slaves, including a woman called Spice, before giving pursuit, stopping the villain and watching as he lay dying. Knowing the King had previous business dealings with his father, Solitaire revealed his identity to the King just before the sadist died amidst the flames. Solitaire then sped away.
(Solitaire#2) - Informed of a moon cult that sought atomic destruction, he followed a hunch to go to the Looneyville amusement park and engaged the moon cult's armed followers in battle.
(Break-thru#1) - Observed remotely by the Aladdin organization, Solitaire continued to battle the Moon Man's disciples at Looneyville.
(Solitaire#2) - Solitaire fought his way to the Missile to the Moon ride and confronted the head of the moon cult, the Moon Man. A fight ensued and the two crashed outside, falling onto the park's various rides. Moon Man continued to clutch his his small atomic bomb while Solitaire pursued him, but the vigilante saw him instead shot through the head by Jinn, his father's loyal assassin. Solitaire raced over to tackle him but the killer had already gone. Solitaire then went outside, passing the bomb to the assembled police, using this as a distraction to vanish.
(Break-thru#2) - Solitaire chased the remaining moon cult disciples but ran into a violent mob enraged by "moon madness" and who were attacking all ultras. Targeted by them, Solitaire defended himself. This was noticed by Alec Swan (Firearm) who chose not to immediately help the hero.
(Solitaire#3) - Solitaire confronted Jimmy the Geek to find out who he had been dealing explosives, tracing it to a gang of black international smugglers. He left to continue his investigations, finding out about the new gang's voodoo connections and monkey involvement with help of his informant Israel, finally tracking down the gang's hideout. However, as he burst in trying to stop the human sacrifice of Deonna Saunders, he was attacked by primates commanded by Monkey Woman before being overwhelmed then chained up to a pole. Monkey Woman then let loose an enraged gorilla she called the White God to attack the hero.
(Solitaire#4) - Sirens announcing the arrival of the police made Monkey Woman and her disciples leave suddenly, but she left the white gorilla behind to tear him apart. Solitaire managed to break free and killed the ape, interrogating a guard on the way out and discovering the involvement of the Ton-Ton Macoutes enforcers. Later, back at his base, he was told by Israel of an upcoming voodoo sea ceremony and followed the lead to find the Monkey Woman out in the sea, where he again saved Saunders from becoming a sacrifice. He fought Monkey Woman but her ape assistants attacked him, so he pushed himself and Monkey Woman over the edge of the boat into the water, dragging her down before kicking her up into the propeller of the boat above. Surfacing, he found Jinn in a smaller boat coming to collect Monkey Woman's stolen Soviet nuclear warheads and demanded to know what Anton Lone wanted with them. Jinn instead triggered a grenade and Solitaire leapt into the water as it exploded. He later spoke to Saunders on the docks and invited him to join his band of helpers.
(Ultraverse Origins#1) - Jinn delivered a report to his boss regarding Solitaire and the various opinions of police, criminals and others. This was secretly observed by Solitaire, who then leapt away, again resolving to stop his father's insidious activities.
(Solitaire#5) - Solitaire rushed to the aid of Spice, who had been used as bait to trap the vigilante, and he was gunned down in a hail of bullets with the body left behind. But this was all part of an elaborate plan by Solitaire to get closer to his father's operations. Jinn realized Solitaire's trick and rushed to the morgue to check on Solitaire's would-be corpse only to find Moose, one of Jinn's aids. Elsewhere, Solitaire awoke healed after two days of feverish rest, watched over by Iris, one of his helpers. He dressed and armed himself, ready to crash his father's exclusive party and thwart his destructive plans.
(Solitaire#1-6, covers) - Solitaire blasted his way across the police lines, knocking a cop off his motorbike to ride away with it, only to be tackled by Jinn.
(Solitaire#6) - Jinn and Solitaire, evenly matched, fought hand-to-hand with the vigilante eventually gaining the upper hand. Solitaire evaded police bullets and smashed his way through glass to get inside the building. As Solitaire clambered up the stairwell, Anton Lone was informed and prepared for the confrontation. Anton Lone's armed muscle were no match for the hero and one of his agents, Israel. However, when he finally reached Anton Lone, Solitaire was again confronted by Jinn but evaded him and took his father with him to where the nuclear bomb was set to go off so that the villain would reveal where the device was and avoid being vaporized. Solitaire found the bomb and disarmed it, but found that his father had escaped. Completely unknown to him, the nanites inside his body took control, making Solitaire phone Bug to erase the records that would incriminate Anton Lone. Soon after and once more self aware, he asked Bug for the evidence but was puzzled when he was told that Bug had wiped it under his orders.
(Solitaire#7) - Speeding in his car to stop a major crime, Solitaire caused another car to veer off and crash, one driven by the muddled hero/criminal Double Edge and the two leapt out and fought briefly. Double Edge sought to balance a misdeed with a good act. The sudden sound of explosive fire caused Solitaire to rush to the scene; he'd sought to stop the arson before the fire happened, and let Double Edge tag along. Reaching the Plaza Del Rey grand apartment block where the fire had all too quickly begun to consume the building, the two rushed in and rescued those they could. Solitaire considered Double Edge as a possible recruit to his network, but a gas main exploded, with Double Edge saving the vigilante's life. Realizing that had now done too much good, he tried to kill Solitaire, slashing him across his gut. Believing the hero dead, Double Edge left. Solitaire's body healed itself and he went back to his theater hideout and listened to Bug's message on Anton Lone's insidious movements, but was once more struck down by the nanites in his body and he deleted the message with no memory of doing it or the message.
(Solitaire#8) - The blind woman Iris inspected Solitaire's body and said that his body had completely healed. Although he admitted feeling some irregularities after his last few injuries, and despite Iris' comments that he seemed to ignore information on his criminal father that his network had gathered, he dismissed it off and went in pursuit of the arsonist, the Degenerate. Arriving at an open air classical music recital, Solitaire leapt in just as the fire began to spread and pursued the arsonist, but was instead stopped by Serena, an Aladdin agent who wanted the Degenerate alive. She knocked out Solitaire and gave chase only to have the vigilante catch up with her. The two agreed to continue the hunt together.
(Solitaire#9) - Solitaire realized that the Degenerate was kidnapping children and used Serena's small communicator to contact Bug. Serena listened in on the conversation and then raced off alone. Solitaire then violently got answers to find the Degenerate until he and Serena once more met up at so-called cardboard city, a type of home for the homeless. There they found Mr. Sparks, the Degenerate's sidekick, who set Solitaire aflame. Serena helped douse the fire and was surprised to see him heal so quickly, claiming that she would take him in for study at Aladdin. The two tracked Degenerate down and stopped him before he could kill again, watching as the Degenerate was incinerated in his own flames. Serena then kissed Solitaire goodbye as the police arrived.
(Solitaire#10) - Concerned, six of Solitaire's best agents (Boulevard, Spice, Sugar, Elaine, Venus and Israel) call him in to confront him on why he does nothing about their information on Anton Lone's activities. However, the hidden nanites generated fake sounds in his mind to distract him from action against his father and, finding no emergency, began to realize his mind was being manipulated. Later, after speaking with Iris, Solitaire focused his thoughts and went after Jinn in New York, but his body began to stop him from harming Anton Lone's chief henchman. Solitaire then realized that the more he relied on the nanites to repair him, the more they would spread through his nervous system, delivering greater control and subservience to Anton Lone. Solitaire began to fight the programming, attacking Jinn but was overpowered by the toxic touch of the invisible assassin Veil. Solitaire escaped, his body soon newly repaired, and went as Nicholas Lone to his father's rooftop party, declaring his willingness to join his father's business.
(Solitaire#11) - As he became involved in his father's business, Nicholas Lone could no longer remember his vendetta against his criminal father. Ignoring a phone call from Iris, Nicholas is shown the new wetware lab of his father. There he met member of the Cabal and overheard his father mention his control over him, even his memories. Anton Lone then told Jinn to watch his son, who only had vague hints of memories of his past. Finally arriving at his former Dreamland base, Nicholas encountered Iris, who helped him recover his Solitaire identity by giving him the locket of his mother. Jinn then confronted him, identifying him as Solitaire and seeking to take him to his father. A brief fight followed and Jinn retreated. Later, Anton Lone told Nicholas of his plan to build an army of ultras and Nicholas unconsciously agreed with his murderous scheme, but still struggled with the morality of it. Later, he locked Jinn in a reinforced room and, finding the Cabal in the lab, ordered them to remove the nanotechnology in his body.
(Solitaire#12) - Nicholas was kept suspended in green fluid as Eaters, nano-sized devices created by the Cabal, destroyed the nanotechnology inside him that bent his mind and body to his father's will. Suspicious, Jinn investigated Nicholas' disappearance but was confronted by the reborn Solitaire, now in a new nanotech-driven costume of blue and black that repaired wounds from the outside. The two fiercely fought again, evenly matched, but stopped with the sudden appearance of Anton Lone. Jinn explained that Nicholas was Solitaire and called for his death, but Anton instead shot Jinn dead while Nicholas watched. Anton then fired at his son, who evaded the bullets, but was stabbed in the chest. Anton then dragged Nicholas to the rooftop and called on his fiery flying ultra lackey to incinerate his son but Solitaire dashed away and he fought his father, who told him that that he had killed his mother. Solitaire then used his suit to protect him from the ultra's flames and Anton Lone was burned alive. Nicholas, now free of his father, watched the flame-powered ultra fly away, now also freed of servitude. Solitaire jumped into the city, a newborn protector.
(Ultraverse Double Feature: Prime and Solitaire#1) - Tracking down a serial murderer who killed to acquire the full set of ruby slippers used in a movie, Solitaire came across a memorabilia dealer who happened across the latest murder at the same time. Solitaire took the dealer with him away from the police, with the dealer giving him info on Vivian Beaumont, a retired movie star and hoarder of old movie memorabilia. Arriving at her house, the dealer shot Solitaire and then made for the actress, but was instead killed by the man impersonating her, Martin Jones. Solitaire soon recovered and followed a trail until he was able to confront the knife-wielding, mad impostor and a fight developed until Jones was killed. Solitaire acknowledged that both he and Jones were driven by different obsessions.
(Prime II#6 (fb) - BTS) - Solitaire and Coco had a brief but passionate affair, although he was concerned about her drug habit.
(Solitaire: The Perfect Man#1-3 [unpublished - see comments]) - Solitaire encountered the weird but nasty cult leader called Agavé, who did not want to kill him because she wanted to keep part of him alive.
(Prime II#7 (fb) - BTS) - Solitaire arrived in Washington, DC, following the trail of powerful drugs that imitated ultra powers for a short time and which had originally been developed by his father.
(Prime II#6) - Solitaire prevented Coco from killing a drug dealer, stopping her using the sash round his neck in a form of Korean sash fighting. The two then went to Coco's hideout and Solitaire saw Coco dismiss a boy, Keith Singles, after he demanded the power drug. Singles later returned, his body transformed by the drugs into a version of Prime, and crashed the house around them. Singles then flew off. Solitaire dug his way out of the wreckage holding Coco, hoping to get her to a hospital, only to suddenly encounter the real Prime. However, he mistook Prime as the one responsible for destroying the building and leveled his gun at him.
(Prime II#7) - Knowing about the resilience of Prime, Solitaire shot him in the eyes to slow him down and leapt over the hero holding Coco, also using a grenade to stop him. Solitaire then made good his escape while the quickly recovered Prime went off to rescue the suicidal Singles. Solitaire dropped Coco at the hospital, signing her up under a false name, but was warned by her that only the superpower drug could save her. He then tracked down two of the drug's dealers, punching them for information, and later dropped off a hit of the drug to Coco to help her recover. He left to track down the drug's pushers, finding them and the customers in an abandoned church, and watched to see what the effects would be. The arrival of Keith Singles made Solitaire enter the building where a vicious fight broke out between Solitaire and the drug-addicted would-be ultras. Prime then arrived but was knocked out by Keith Singles, now newly powered up in his Prime persona.
(Prime II#8) - As the two Primes battled, Solitaire continued to fight the ultra-powered addicts, threatening to kill the supplier to make them back down. However, the dealer burned before him and Solitaire was almost overpowered by the others until Coco, healthy once more, intervened. While the addicts ran for the drugs, Solitaire escaped with Coco before the flammable drugs exploded, bringing the church down. Solitaire then asked for Coco's knowledge about the drug's manufacturer, but she refused as she still needed it to live and then left. Solitaire and Prime then met again, both recognizing that the other was not the real enemy. Prime asked to Solitaire if they could team up again, but the vigilante sped off on his motorbike, telling Prime to walk lighter and be smaller.
Comments: Created by Gerard Jones (writer), Jeff Johnson (pencils) and Barb Kaalberg (inks).
It's identified in #5 & #6 that the covers of Solitaire#1-6 form the bridge between #5 and #6.
The nanotechnology in Solitaire's body was said to be "otherworldly".
Solitaire#1 was shipped in a black plastic bag with each randomly inserted with one of four "collectible" Ace cards; the Ace of Spades was apparently the rarest. One card is pictured below next to the credits.
Solitaire#12 finished with the promise of a 3-issue limited series called Solitaire: The Perfect Man, which was scheduled for April/May 1995 release with Jeff Parker slated for pencils, plus writers Phil Crain and Julie Huffman, but nothing appeared. The basic outline was revealed in the Letters page of Solitaire#11, with Sol encountering a new character called Agavé, and is included in the above history only as a tentative entry. Solitaire#12 also included a brief line of a later 3-issue limited series featuring a team-up with Prime and dubbed Prime and Solitaire: Exordium. Presumably this morphed into the 3-issue story arc in Prime II#6-8.
Solitaire apparently appeared in Ultraforce I#1, but I can't see him in the early issues...
Profile by Grendel Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
Solitaire has no known connections to:
images:
(without ads)
Solitaire#1, cover (main image)
Hardcase#1, p12, pan5 (in leather jacket)
Solitaire#1, p23, pan3 (head shot)
Prime II#8, cover (lightning)
Solitaire#12, p1, pan2 (in green fluid)
Ultraverse Double Feature, p7, pan2 (on motorbike)
Prime II#6, p13, pan6 (with sash)
Appearances:
Hardcase#1 (June, 1993) - James Hudnall (writer), Jim Callahan
(pencils), Norm Breyfogle (inks), Chris Ulm (editor)
Solitaire#1 (November, 1993) - Gerard Jones (writer), Jeff
Johnson (pencils), Barbara Kaalberg (inks), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Solitaire#2 (December, 1993) - Gerard Jones (writer), Jeff
Johnson (pencils), Barbara Kaalberg (inks), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Break-thru#1 (December, 1993) - Gerard Jones (writer), George Perez
(pencils), John Lowe (inks), Chris Ulm & Hank Kanalz (editors)
Break-thru#1 (January, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), George Perez
(pencils), Al Vey (inks), Chris Ulm & Hank Kanalz (editors)
Ultraverse Origins#1/10 (January, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), George
Perez (pencils & inks), Chris Ulm, Dan Danko, Hank Kanalz
&
Roland Mann (editors)
Solitaire#3 (February, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Patrick Rolo
(pencils), Bobby Rae (inks), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Solitaire#4 (March, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Jeff Johnson
(pencils), Barbara Kaalberg (inks),
Hank Kanalz (editor)
Solitaire#5 (April, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Jeff Johnson
(layouts), Stephen J.B. Jones (pencils), Barbara Kaalberg (inks), Hank
Kanalz (editor)
Solitaire#6 (May, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Jeff Johnson
(layouts), Stephen J.B. Jones (pencils), Barbara Kaalberg (inks), Hank
Kanalz (editor)
Solitaire#7 (September, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Julie Huffman
(co-writer), Jeff Johnson
(layouts), Jeff Parker & Stephen J.B. Jones (pencils), Barbara
Kaalberg & Ande Parks (inks), Hank
Kanalz & Phil Crain (editors)
Solitaire#8 (September, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Jeff Parker
(pencils), John Lowe (inks), Hank
Kanalz & Phil Crain (editors)
Solitaire#9 (September, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Jeff Parker
(pencils), John Lowe (inks), Phil Crain (editor)
Solitaire#10 (October, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Jeff Parker
&
Ernie Steiner (pencils), Eric Ladd & John Lowe (inks), Phil
Crain (editor)
Solitaire#11 (November, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Jeff Parker
(pencils), John Lowe & Parks (inks), Phil
Crain (editor)
Solitaire#12 (December, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Jeff Parker
(pencils), Craig Gilmore (inks), Phil Crain (editor)
Ultraverse Double Feature: Prime and Solitaire#1 (January, 1995) -
Gerard Jones & Julie Huffman (writer), Mark Miraglia (pencils),
Dan Schaffer (inks), Phil Crain & Hank Kanalz (editors)
Prime II#6 (March, 1996) - Gerard Jones (writer), Scott Kolins
(pencils), Dennis Jensen (inks), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Prime II#7 (April, 1996) - Gerard Jones (writer), Scott Kolins
(pencils), Dennis Jensen (inks), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Prime II#8 (May, 1996) - Gerard Jones (writer), Scott Kolins
(co-plot/pencils), Scott Kolins & Justin Boomer (inks), Hank
Kanalz & Dan Shaheen (editors)
First Posted: 03/15/2009
Last updated: 03/15/2009
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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