Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "jack-knight"

The Starman Omnibus, Vol. 3 by James Robinson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The genius of James Robinson in Starman is that he succeeds at doing things which on other writers come off as pretentious or far too twee.

This book collects the four issue Shade Mini-Series as well as Issues 30-38 of Starman, Starman Annual #2, and Starman Secret Files #1.

The Shade mini-series is all about the anti-hero turned hero Shade running into a family in the 1840s with a murderous secret that he stops and how he finds himself haunted by them for centuries. It's an incredibly story and shows how much Robinson did on re-invigorating the character.

The main body of the book is somewhat unremarkable. There are no big DC events, no earth-shattering threats to Opal City. Much like its antique owner hero Jack, it has a great sense of nostalgia but makes that nostalgia seem cool and intriguing. This is helped by the changing relationship between Jack and his Father as they're much more at peace and that makes the nostalgia and respect feel more natural. The book dives into the history of Opal City and even into the far more obscure 1988-1992 Starman.

The book is not perfect. The idea of Jack meeting his dead brother is a bit of an oddity. That it happens every year to the point that the story here references the year as an annual is a bit nuts in a series that comes out with one issue a year.

Still, while the book isn't perfect, it's beautifully written and quite stylish.





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The Starman Omnibus, Vol. 5 by James Robinson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is probably the weakest of Robinson's Starman omnibuses. The Opal City cast of characters is placed on hold as Jack and Michael journey off into space and a new artist is brought in to boot. '

Nevertheless, the book is enjoyable for what it is: A romp through the cosmic DC Universe with visits to figures such as Adam Strange, and even an encounter with a more sinister and traditional version of Solomon Grundy, all in search of a previous Starman Will Payton...which ultimately ties into the story of yet another Starman Prince Gavin.

Outside of the space arc, there's a big filler issue at the start that kind of bleh. We get a times past story involving the Shade, which worked well enough. There's a visit from a Starman of the Future to Ted Knight as part of the DC One Million event which was fine. There was a story about the original Starman in the FBI from JSA All-Stars that was decent and featured Tony Harris back on art. Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #0 is in here Jack guest stars along with his dad and the book mostly sets up that comic and tells a story about the original Star Spangled kid. It's okay, though a bit out of place. Then there's a story at the end featuring from All Star Comics 80-page Giant featuring a sparring match between Jack and Wildcat which is not bad, but is kind of pointless.

Overall, not the best in the series, but still a pretty good read.



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