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Starman (1994) Omnibus
The Starman Omnibus, Vol. 1
The classic super-hero series STARMAN, starring a Gen-X super-hero, is re-presented in high quality format by James Robinson ( FACE THE FACE) and Tony Harris (EX MACHINA). The super-heroic legacy of Starman is renewed in these stories, in which Jack Knight--antiques collector and dealer--inherits the name and powers of his father's old Starman identity from his older brother, who has been assassinated. Reluctantly adjusting to his role, Jack reinvents the look of Starman, ditching the traditional red and green in favor of black leather and aviator goggles. But Jack has inherited more than a heroic identity from his brother . . . he's also gained a the beautiful but mentally unbalanced Nash, daughter of the villain known as the Mist. Jack also must come to grips with the Shade, the morally ambiguous former villain who decides to become Jack's mentor.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
46 people are currently reading
1658 people want to read
About the author
James Robinson
1,265 books236 followersJames Dale Robinson is a British writer of American comic books and screenplays.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 132 reviews
April 26, 2023
Starman season two #0-16. Robinson's superbly crafted handing over of the next generation of the Starman role from fathers to sons. A must read for DC Comics' fans, as so much of the history of Opal City and the lesser known days of the JSA (Justice Society of America) are included here; in addition to the less-than-enthusiastic Starman himself, Jack Knight is a tremendous piece of characterisation, bringing the 'reluctant hero' trope to DC with a bang! Also, I really like the artwork. 8 out of 12.
2017 and 2013 read
2017 and 2013 read
September 13, 2024
When his brother is killed, Jack Knight is forced to take up his father's legacy, the legacy of Starman, and protect Opal City as best he can.
As I've said in other places, the 1990s were a bleak time for superhero comics. There were variant covers, gimmick covers, stunt storylines out the ass, and everything was grim and gritty for the sake of being grim and gritty. However, there were some bright spots. Starman by James Robinson was on of those bright spots. Unlike most comics, Starman was actually about something, about stepping into your father's shoes and seeing how they fit.
To be honest, I didn't know all that much about Starman before I initially picked this up years ago. I had a Batman and some issues of All-Star Squadron with the original Starman and I had a few issues of Adventure Comics with the Ditko Starman in it. The original series was just wrapping up when I finally gave it a shot. It quickly became my favorite superhero comic of the time period, maybe of all time.
Before I start gushing about it, I'll get the warts out of the way. It looked like Tony Harris was finding his legs at time, some of it is a little overwritten, and some of the references are way out of date. Other than that, it's pretty damn great.
Jack Knight is far from the typical superhero, of the 1990s or any other period. He doesn't wear a costume, although the goggles and leather jacket become an identifier of sorts. He's more interested in his second hand store than being the protector of Opal City. At least, at first... When Jack finally takes up the cosmic rod, I was grinning like a jackass, even though I knew it was coming. Kind of like seeing the Millennium Falcon for the first time in The Force Awakens.
It pretty slick how Robinson wove various aspects of the various Starman characters into Jack's tale, from Ted Knight's adventures as the original Starman with the Justice Society to Mikaal Tomas, the Starman of the 1970s. The rest of the cast is also great: the O'Dare family, the Shade, and Robinson and Harris' take on Solomon Grundy. Hell, the relationship between Grundy and Tomas is pretty touching, even after all these years. I think Robinson does more with Ted Knight as a character in the pages of Starman than was done in the previous fifty years.
The series was still finding its feet at the beginning but the magic is already there. The supporting cast is well established by the end, complete with the Mist's daughter taking up her father's mantle.
Tony Harris' art was perfect for the series and while I still love the series after he leaves, it loses a little something.
This was my fourth or fifth go-round through the first seventeen issues of the series, from 0-16. It still stands up. This Gene Wolfe quote seems pretty apt: “My definition of good literature is that which can be read by an educated reader, and reread with increased pleasure.” Every time I read this series, I notice something new and understand more of the references. There was a Doom Patrol reference I didn't catch the last time and lots of movies and TV shows I've seen since the last time. Also, I wonder if James Robinson ever found that Japanese import Jump with Joey CD.
I don't really have a whole lot else to say for fear of spoiling the series. After multiple reads, it still stands head and shoulders above the rest of the superhero comics of the time period. Five out of five stars.
2024 Reread My thoughts on this have not changed. Still a top notch read.
As I've said in other places, the 1990s were a bleak time for superhero comics. There were variant covers, gimmick covers, stunt storylines out the ass, and everything was grim and gritty for the sake of being grim and gritty. However, there were some bright spots. Starman by James Robinson was on of those bright spots. Unlike most comics, Starman was actually about something, about stepping into your father's shoes and seeing how they fit.
To be honest, I didn't know all that much about Starman before I initially picked this up years ago. I had a Batman and some issues of All-Star Squadron with the original Starman and I had a few issues of Adventure Comics with the Ditko Starman in it. The original series was just wrapping up when I finally gave it a shot. It quickly became my favorite superhero comic of the time period, maybe of all time.
Before I start gushing about it, I'll get the warts out of the way. It looked like Tony Harris was finding his legs at time, some of it is a little overwritten, and some of the references are way out of date. Other than that, it's pretty damn great.
Jack Knight is far from the typical superhero, of the 1990s or any other period. He doesn't wear a costume, although the goggles and leather jacket become an identifier of sorts. He's more interested in his second hand store than being the protector of Opal City. At least, at first... When Jack finally takes up the cosmic rod, I was grinning like a jackass, even though I knew it was coming. Kind of like seeing the Millennium Falcon for the first time in The Force Awakens.
It pretty slick how Robinson wove various aspects of the various Starman characters into Jack's tale, from Ted Knight's adventures as the original Starman with the Justice Society to Mikaal Tomas, the Starman of the 1970s. The rest of the cast is also great: the O'Dare family, the Shade, and Robinson and Harris' take on Solomon Grundy. Hell, the relationship between Grundy and Tomas is pretty touching, even after all these years. I think Robinson does more with Ted Knight as a character in the pages of Starman than was done in the previous fifty years.
The series was still finding its feet at the beginning but the magic is already there. The supporting cast is well established by the end, complete with the Mist's daughter taking up her father's mantle.
Tony Harris' art was perfect for the series and while I still love the series after he leaves, it loses a little something.
This was my fourth or fifth go-round through the first seventeen issues of the series, from 0-16. It still stands up. This Gene Wolfe quote seems pretty apt: “My definition of good literature is that which can be read by an educated reader, and reread with increased pleasure.” Every time I read this series, I notice something new and understand more of the references. There was a Doom Patrol reference I didn't catch the last time and lots of movies and TV shows I've seen since the last time. Also, I wonder if James Robinson ever found that Japanese import Jump with Joey CD.
I don't really have a whole lot else to say for fear of spoiling the series. After multiple reads, it still stands head and shoulders above the rest of the superhero comics of the time period. Five out of five stars.
2024 Reread My thoughts on this have not changed. Still a top notch read.
March 23, 2018
I like to joke around with Lou, my pal who orders the graphic novels for the library. I tell him how much I hate superheroes because it seems like nothing more than guys in costumes fighting, and he tells me that I'm reading the wrong superhero graphics. But, hey, he's a good sport - orders titles I suggest like Shirtless Bear-Fighter! - so when he insisted I take Starman for a spin, I'd have felt like a villain if I said no.
And, I gotta say - I didn't hate it. In fact, I rather liked it. It was suspenseful, well-drawn, and pretty darned entertaining.
Starman is a reluctant hero, hesitantly following in the footsteps of his father and brother. The fact that he'd rather be scouting antiques and collectibles than saving the city from wacky criminals and villains, helped win me over. And how could I hate characters who argue the merits of Sondheim musicals during a gunfight?
I haven't really changed my mind about superheroes, especially since the unhappy protagonist agrees with me . . .
Superheroes, supervillains. It's all self-propagating KID STUFF. A chance for grown men to put their underwear on outside their tights.
. . . but I would definitely read more Starman.
And, I gotta say - I didn't hate it. In fact, I rather liked it. It was suspenseful, well-drawn, and pretty darned entertaining.
Starman is a reluctant hero, hesitantly following in the footsteps of his father and brother. The fact that he'd rather be scouting antiques and collectibles than saving the city from wacky criminals and villains, helped win me over. And how could I hate characters who argue the merits of Sondheim musicals during a gunfight?
I haven't really changed my mind about superheroes, especially since the unhappy protagonist agrees with me . . .
Superheroes, supervillains. It's all self-propagating KID STUFF. A chance for grown men to put their underwear on outside their tights.
. . . but I would definitely read more Starman.
March 28, 2009
Starman changed my life.
I started reading the series about a year and a half after its inception and I immediately identified with Jack Knight, the misfit living up to his father's ideal, finding his own place in the world. I loved Opal City in all its glory and I loved the people who inhabited it. No graphic story has meant, or ever will mean, as much to me.
I own all of the single issues and the trade paperbacks, and with the Omnibus volumes (projected to number six in all) I get the benefit of virtually all the Starman material published during the length of the regular series as well as text from the Shade's journal and notes from creator James Robinson. The price is steep but it's worth every penny for me. Can you really put a price on love, after all?
I started reading the series about a year and a half after its inception and I immediately identified with Jack Knight, the misfit living up to his father's ideal, finding his own place in the world. I loved Opal City in all its glory and I loved the people who inhabited it. No graphic story has meant, or ever will mean, as much to me.
I own all of the single issues and the trade paperbacks, and with the Omnibus volumes (projected to number six in all) I get the benefit of virtually all the Starman material published during the length of the regular series as well as text from the Shade's journal and notes from creator James Robinson. The price is steep but it's worth every penny for me. Can you really put a price on love, after all?
May 4, 2018
I’ve dabbled in the Starman series and always had a soft spot for James Robinson’s work (especially his ‘historical’ perspective on golden age heroes), but I’ve never read the complete story of Jack Knight, so when I saw volume one of the Starman omnibus on sale at a local used bookstore I had to grab it.
First a few things that I found myself a bit disappointed in: I have to admit that I found some of the writing to be a bit sloppy. Perhaps Robinson was trying to capture some sort of idiom with his characters or felt that he was being experimental with his prose, but I often found the wording of some of the characters’ speech to be a bit tortuous and oddly constructed. The art was also not always stellar (no pun intended) in this volume. I’d say it has a certain workmanlike charm, but my socks were definitely not knocked off by it.
Okay, now that that’s out of the way we can get on with the good. My recollection was that the premise of the comic was fairly interesting: create a Gen-X superhero with little to no interest in superheroics (this was also attempted with Kyle Rayner aka ‘crab-face guy’, but note that this case doesn’t count as interesting, nor was he in any real way a superhero). How would a slacker more interested in collecting and selling second-hand junk (read collectibles) who also happened to be the scion of a Golden Age hero handle having his father’s mantle thrust upon him? Certainly Jack Knight was not the first unlikely and/or unwilling superhero ever to be invented, but having him be such a stereotypical member of his ‘lost’ generation and using this perspective as a springboard to have him not simply learn to mimic his father’s example, but to find his own way to be a hero was interesting (if also sometimes annoying…Jack isn’t necessarily the most sympathetic of dudes).
Where I think Robinson really shines here is in his creation of the wider community around Jack. This includes both the strong supporting cast that plays off of Jack in his burgeoning role of superhero, as well as the setting against which he is most often seen: his home town of Opal for which Starman is the ‘official’ protector. Indeed ‘the Opal’ becomes a very strong presence in the story from the beginning and is itself very much a character in its own right. Robinson uses this cast deftly in order to explore a variety of genre conventions and ideas, whether it’s the involvement of the police in a world of super-powered vigilantes with the O’Dare family of cops, the anti-hero in the person of the Shade a former(?) supervillain and sometime benefactor to Jack and Opal,or the idea of legacy and family (as seen not only in the obvious relationships of the various members of the Knight and O’Dare families, but also in the lineage of the many DC heroes that have borne the name “Starman”), and the setting up of an intriguing rogues gallery in the person of the Golden Age villain the Mist and his offspring.
It also is apparent that Robinson has a plan for Jack’s journey as seen in the various story elements and hints to future plotlines that he seeds throughout the tales. This coherence and overarching narrative arc (something often lacking in many superhero comics due to the serial nature of the medium) is something I find particularly satisfying, as well as the liberal use of a series of ‘times past’ stories peppered throughout the ‘current’ storyline to give us perspective on the broader story of ‘Starman’ outside of Jack’s own experience of the role.
As far as the story goes, given that this is volume 1 it is not surprising that it is very much in the realm of setting the stage: Jack having the mantle of Starman thrust upon him due to a tragedy within the first few pages of the book, the introduction of the cast and fleshing out of their characters with the main tension coming in the form of both Jack’s initial reluctance to be a hero and the strong opposition to the Knight family and Opal city in the form of the Mist and his family. While not perhaps the most outstanding graphic novel I’ve ever read, this was certainly an enjoyable volume that had enough going for it that it makes me want to continue following the story of Jack Knight in his growth from shallow and self-absorbed man-child to actual hero…a journey, I might add, that Kyle Rayner never managed to make.
First a few things that I found myself a bit disappointed in: I have to admit that I found some of the writing to be a bit sloppy. Perhaps Robinson was trying to capture some sort of idiom with his characters or felt that he was being experimental with his prose, but I often found the wording of some of the characters’ speech to be a bit tortuous and oddly constructed. The art was also not always stellar (no pun intended) in this volume. I’d say it has a certain workmanlike charm, but my socks were definitely not knocked off by it.
Okay, now that that’s out of the way we can get on with the good. My recollection was that the premise of the comic was fairly interesting: create a Gen-X superhero with little to no interest in superheroics (this was also attempted with Kyle Rayner aka ‘crab-face guy’, but note that this case doesn’t count as interesting, nor was he in any real way a superhero). How would a slacker more interested in collecting and selling second-hand junk (read collectibles) who also happened to be the scion of a Golden Age hero handle having his father’s mantle thrust upon him? Certainly Jack Knight was not the first unlikely and/or unwilling superhero ever to be invented, but having him be such a stereotypical member of his ‘lost’ generation and using this perspective as a springboard to have him not simply learn to mimic his father’s example, but to find his own way to be a hero was interesting (if also sometimes annoying…Jack isn’t necessarily the most sympathetic of dudes).
Where I think Robinson really shines here is in his creation of the wider community around Jack. This includes both the strong supporting cast that plays off of Jack in his burgeoning role of superhero, as well as the setting against which he is most often seen: his home town of Opal for which Starman is the ‘official’ protector. Indeed ‘the Opal’ becomes a very strong presence in the story from the beginning and is itself very much a character in its own right. Robinson uses this cast deftly in order to explore a variety of genre conventions and ideas, whether it’s the involvement of the police in a world of super-powered vigilantes with the O’Dare family of cops, the anti-hero in the person of the Shade a former(?) supervillain and sometime benefactor to Jack and Opal,or the idea of legacy and family (as seen not only in the obvious relationships of the various members of the Knight and O’Dare families, but also in the lineage of the many DC heroes that have borne the name “Starman”), and the setting up of an intriguing rogues gallery in the person of the Golden Age villain the Mist and his offspring.
It also is apparent that Robinson has a plan for Jack’s journey as seen in the various story elements and hints to future plotlines that he seeds throughout the tales. This coherence and overarching narrative arc (something often lacking in many superhero comics due to the serial nature of the medium) is something I find particularly satisfying, as well as the liberal use of a series of ‘times past’ stories peppered throughout the ‘current’ storyline to give us perspective on the broader story of ‘Starman’ outside of Jack’s own experience of the role.
As far as the story goes, given that this is volume 1 it is not surprising that it is very much in the realm of setting the stage: Jack having the mantle of Starman thrust upon him due to a tragedy within the first few pages of the book, the introduction of the cast and fleshing out of their characters with the main tension coming in the form of both Jack’s initial reluctance to be a hero and the strong opposition to the Knight family and Opal city in the form of the Mist and his family. While not perhaps the most outstanding graphic novel I’ve ever read, this was certainly an enjoyable volume that had enough going for it that it makes me want to continue following the story of Jack Knight in his growth from shallow and self-absorbed man-child to actual hero…a journey, I might add, that Kyle Rayner never managed to make.
September 4, 2017
Re-Read August/September 2017.
Not sure how I ever failed to actually write a review on this before!
Starman is the Gold-Standard for Superhero Storytelling. (Hell, I'd say it sets the bar for comics in general!)
This gorgeous 6 volume set showcases the entire run of the James Robinson series, and he takes no prisoners, right from the beginning.
This series reinvents the Starman character (and the mythos and rogues gallery and concept) for modern readers, while still remaining utterly faithful to the past.
While we now live in a golden age of comics, I'd attribute much of modern comics success to this stellar title.
Not sure how I ever failed to actually write a review on this before!
Starman is the Gold-Standard for Superhero Storytelling. (Hell, I'd say it sets the bar for comics in general!)
This gorgeous 6 volume set showcases the entire run of the James Robinson series, and he takes no prisoners, right from the beginning.
This series reinvents the Starman character (and the mythos and rogues gallery and concept) for modern readers, while still remaining utterly faithful to the past.
While we now live in a golden age of comics, I'd attribute much of modern comics success to this stellar title.
July 27, 2025
Just finished Starman Omnibus Vol. 1 by James Robinson and Tony Harris — and it absolutely lives up to its reputation. This is superhero storytelling with real heart: a thoughtful, literary dive into legacy, identity, and redemption. Jack Knight is a reluctant hero you can’t help but root for, and the way Robinson layers history, family, and city lore makes Opal City feel alive. Harris’s art is expressive and stylish, perfectly complementing the tone. A standout of ’90s DC and a must-read for fans of grounded, character-driven comics. 4.25 stars
November 6, 2012
I have a problem. I'm not a hoarder, but a collector. I let my collections define me. I let them tell other people who I am and what I love, but mostly, I let them tell me who I am. I use them to ug up all these holes. A bad childhood. A bad love life. An unforgiving loneliness. A merciless desperation. And now, 15 years of work has got me to a place where I am surrounded by these things I've bought, collected, and have to keep finding new and innovative ways to store one thing on top of another. Books, toys, comic books, art prints, movies, records.
James Robinson was interviewed on more than one occasion about Starman and his connection to the character. He said that Jack Knight was a part of him, pieces of him, and that the collector aspect was most definitely one of the largest pieces. He said though that after a time, those things, his collections, were consuming him. That he needed to start letting go and that Jack Knight helped him do it.
Unlike James Robinson, I have no great output of creative energy. I write and I paint, but sporadically. I lost a great passion and instead try drowning myself in other peoples' art. I don't know where or when I lost my own drive, but I feel lke all these things around me are a weight anchoring me to work that isn't my own and keeping me from doing what needs to be done. I think that maybe, like Robinson, I need to start letting go. But I can't use Starman like he did, but I can surely use it as inspiration.
Literature classes across the country may be teaching books like "Persepolis" and "Maus" these days, and even "Sandman" in some places. But when I think of literature in comics, I think of James Robinson's "Starman".
The greatest book DC had going under any imprint in the 1990's wasn't 'Sandman' or 'Preacher'. In fact, none of the Vertigo titles of the time could hold a candle to this example of comic book perfection. It has everything those Vertigo books did and more. More because it didn't have to use mature content to convey the same ideas, themes and excitement. It just as easily dazzles the reader with smart, realistic dialogue and off-beat characters set inside the DCU proper. I only wish I had known that when it was on the shelves in single issues. But I don't think I was ready for it at that point in my life. I loved Kurt Vonnegut and didn't even know who Saul Bellow was. I loved Quentin Tarantino and laughed at the simplicity of John Ford movies. I wasn't ready to understand the beauty of this book.
Starman is a deeply human book. It can stand with any indie you want to match it up against. It is angsty and human and lovely. The dialogue is perfect. The heroism is reluctant but absolutely real. Thisis the pinnacle of comic book literature. It has all the heart you could ask for, without pretense. It is real and raw, like touching exposed nerves. The reader can easily identify with the characters, readily identify. Starman and his rod are just background noise to the great human tragedies Robinson is writing in these pages. It is classic literature of the 20th century. Read it and weep.
Writing: A
Art: A
James Robinson was interviewed on more than one occasion about Starman and his connection to the character. He said that Jack Knight was a part of him, pieces of him, and that the collector aspect was most definitely one of the largest pieces. He said though that after a time, those things, his collections, were consuming him. That he needed to start letting go and that Jack Knight helped him do it.
Unlike James Robinson, I have no great output of creative energy. I write and I paint, but sporadically. I lost a great passion and instead try drowning myself in other peoples' art. I don't know where or when I lost my own drive, but I feel lke all these things around me are a weight anchoring me to work that isn't my own and keeping me from doing what needs to be done. I think that maybe, like Robinson, I need to start letting go. But I can't use Starman like he did, but I can surely use it as inspiration.
Literature classes across the country may be teaching books like "Persepolis" and "Maus" these days, and even "Sandman" in some places. But when I think of literature in comics, I think of James Robinson's "Starman".
The greatest book DC had going under any imprint in the 1990's wasn't 'Sandman' or 'Preacher'. In fact, none of the Vertigo titles of the time could hold a candle to this example of comic book perfection. It has everything those Vertigo books did and more. More because it didn't have to use mature content to convey the same ideas, themes and excitement. It just as easily dazzles the reader with smart, realistic dialogue and off-beat characters set inside the DCU proper. I only wish I had known that when it was on the shelves in single issues. But I don't think I was ready for it at that point in my life. I loved Kurt Vonnegut and didn't even know who Saul Bellow was. I loved Quentin Tarantino and laughed at the simplicity of John Ford movies. I wasn't ready to understand the beauty of this book.
Starman is a deeply human book. It can stand with any indie you want to match it up against. It is angsty and human and lovely. The dialogue is perfect. The heroism is reluctant but absolutely real. Thisis the pinnacle of comic book literature. It has all the heart you could ask for, without pretense. It is real and raw, like touching exposed nerves. The reader can easily identify with the characters, readily identify. Starman and his rod are just background noise to the great human tragedies Robinson is writing in these pages. It is classic literature of the 20th century. Read it and weep.
Writing: A
Art: A
January 31, 2021
I foolishly passed on the hardcover omnibus STARMAN collections, for a variety of reasons....Too expensive, not enough issues in each volume, the series itself was still too fresh in my mind, etc. Now, when I would love to experience the series again, in huge chunks, I am left with the two paperback editions that DC published before some snit with writer James Robinson caused them to abandon the series and nix any future Robinson collections.
Reading this first volume brought back so many heady memories of the early '90s, when I was finally getting steady enough financially to slowly dip my toes back into my beloved world of comics. The buzz around this book, back before everything was eventually collected into trades, the hunt from store to store to find the back issues that would enable me to catch up to the current issues, the joy I felt at seeing James Robinson's talent, which I had recognized in THE GOLDEN AGE and LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT: BLADES, reach full flower in this epic generational saga. And, really, that generational aspect is what DC did best, back in the day.
I'm sad that there is only one more volume to read, sad that this masterpiece, which should be perpetually in print, a la WATCHMEN and SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING, an evergreen bestseller, is being allowed to fade into obscurity by a careless publisher with an axe to grind. I'm sad that this work of genius seems to have drained all of Robinson's talents (He has written a lot of mediocre and a lot more downright terrible books since then, so much so that he has burned off any goodwill that STARMAN bought him...seeing his name on a book now makes it a must NOT buy, for me...). But this, right here...is one of the all-time great beginnings in comics. And it just gets better from here.
Reading this first volume brought back so many heady memories of the early '90s, when I was finally getting steady enough financially to slowly dip my toes back into my beloved world of comics. The buzz around this book, back before everything was eventually collected into trades, the hunt from store to store to find the back issues that would enable me to catch up to the current issues, the joy I felt at seeing James Robinson's talent, which I had recognized in THE GOLDEN AGE and LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT: BLADES, reach full flower in this epic generational saga. And, really, that generational aspect is what DC did best, back in the day.
I'm sad that there is only one more volume to read, sad that this masterpiece, which should be perpetually in print, a la WATCHMEN and SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING, an evergreen bestseller, is being allowed to fade into obscurity by a careless publisher with an axe to grind. I'm sad that this work of genius seems to have drained all of Robinson's talents (He has written a lot of mediocre and a lot more downright terrible books since then, so much so that he has burned off any goodwill that STARMAN bought him...seeing his name on a book now makes it a must NOT buy, for me...). But this, right here...is one of the all-time great beginnings in comics. And it just gets better from here.
January 2, 2012
I'd never read Starman before, but I'd heard a lot about it, all good. And it's all true.
Starman is an oddly permanent fixture in the DCU. I've seen him, in the classic costume, in dozens of books, not really knowing who he was but still liking that very iconic, very visible costume. The costume is gone very, very quickly here. Robinson's version is not really about the identity of Starman, and it's certainly not about the costume. It's about being the black sheep of the family, about disappointing your father, and about wanting to live up to expectations and carry on the family legacy and doing it in your own way. It's a brilliant way to pass the torch, and it's a storyline that is very easy to relate to.
The art, by Tony Harris, is distinctive and striking. I loved the covers, too, even though they're in a totally different style. The cover for the omnibus itself is especially cool.
I'll definitely be continuing with this series, probably with the omnibus versions. I liked Robinson's notes at the beginning and the end about how the book came to be, which is reason enough to stick with the omnibus.
Starman is an oddly permanent fixture in the DCU. I've seen him, in the classic costume, in dozens of books, not really knowing who he was but still liking that very iconic, very visible costume. The costume is gone very, very quickly here. Robinson's version is not really about the identity of Starman, and it's certainly not about the costume. It's about being the black sheep of the family, about disappointing your father, and about wanting to live up to expectations and carry on the family legacy and doing it in your own way. It's a brilliant way to pass the torch, and it's a storyline that is very easy to relate to.
The art, by Tony Harris, is distinctive and striking. I loved the covers, too, even though they're in a totally different style. The cover for the omnibus itself is especially cool.
I'll definitely be continuing with this series, probably with the omnibus versions. I liked Robinson's notes at the beginning and the end about how the book came to be, which is reason enough to stick with the omnibus.
July 13, 2009
I'd heard about Starman for a while now, but had never read the comics so I was curious to see if it lived up to its reputation. At first, I wasn't that impressed with what seemed a standard story of a son reluctantly taking on a father's hero mantle, but they quickly got multiple intriguing storylines going that sucked me in and turned me into a fan.
I loved how they made this a modern comic, but incorporated all the older Golden Age history of Starman without making it seem hokey. And I was really impressed with the whole story of how Nash became the new Mist and Jack's self-declared arch-enemy. I'll definately be checking out the rest of the story.
I loved how they made this a modern comic, but incorporated all the older Golden Age history of Starman without making it seem hokey. And I was really impressed with the whole story of how Nash became the new Mist and Jack's self-declared arch-enemy. I'll definately be checking out the rest of the story.
December 13, 2018
Napsat recenzi na Starmana je trochu oříšek, protože tohle je superhrdinský komiks který nemá obdoby. Převrací všechno co znáte z komiksů od DC či Marvelu a dělá to jinak. Hlavní hrdina (Jack) tu nemá superhrdinský kostým, má vestu, a takové steam punkové brýle, no a to je vše. Nemá žádné superschopnosti až na kosmickou tyč pomocí kterého může střílet a lítat.
O čem to ale je ? Jackovi zemře bratr který převzal po jejich otci žezlo a stal se Starmanem, bohužel při jednom večeru ho zastřelí. Jack je bohužel později po pokusu o vraždu jeho spolu s otcem nucený vzít si Cosmic Rod (tyč co dodává schopnosti) a stát se Starmanem. Tady to ale všechno začíná, Jack nechce být superhrdinou a tak se radši věnuje jeho práci, což je prodej starých a vzácných předmětů, bohužel je čím dál tím více nucený se této role zhostit. Jasně zní to jako klasický superhrdinský komiks, ale písemně se to nedá popsat.
Robinson tu rozehrává mnoho linek, během sešitů vás teasuje s nějakou podivností co se děje ve světě aby pak po delší době jí na vás mohl vytáhnout. Pečlivě buduje svět, atmosféru a sní i postavy které jsou skvěle napsány. Každý charakter tu hraje roli, každý tu má své místo a učestní se něčeho velkého co se chystá.
Jsou tu sešity kdy hlavní hrdina mluví celou dobu jen na hřbitově se svým bratrem, či čte deník jednoho člověka co dělá spisy o Opal City (ve kterém se příběh odehrává) či si projdete ve třech sešitech stejnou událost ale v jiných pohledech či prespektivách.
Starman je nejlepší a jedinečný superhrdinský komiks, který se vyrovná i Watchmenům, hraje s médiem a všechno podává nově i svěže. Neřídí se berličkami dnešních supráckých komiksů a i nejvážnější či nejzajímavější příběhy od Snydera v Batmanovi oproti tomuhle vypadají jako dílo patlala ze školky.
K tomu všemu je tu geniální kresba i coloring, které si hrají s atmosférou i motivy. Jediná vada na kráse jsou tak možná zastaralá přirovnání či občas až moc popisování jak město vypadá či jde cítit.
I s tím se ale jedná o geniální dílo a pečlivě vytvořený svět co po 17 sešitech je více propracovaný než svět Supermana, Batmana a dalších. Jedinečný superhrdinský epos co nemá obdoby a kde kdykoliv můžete o někoho přijít.
DC překvapilo že něco jako Starman pustilo do oběhu, jedná se totiž o vysoce experimentální dílo s velkým přesahem.
O čem to ale je ? Jackovi zemře bratr který převzal po jejich otci žezlo a stal se Starmanem, bohužel při jednom večeru ho zastřelí. Jack je bohužel později po pokusu o vraždu jeho spolu s otcem nucený vzít si Cosmic Rod (tyč co dodává schopnosti) a stát se Starmanem. Tady to ale všechno začíná, Jack nechce být superhrdinou a tak se radši věnuje jeho práci, což je prodej starých a vzácných předmětů, bohužel je čím dál tím více nucený se této role zhostit. Jasně zní to jako klasický superhrdinský komiks, ale písemně se to nedá popsat.
Robinson tu rozehrává mnoho linek, během sešitů vás teasuje s nějakou podivností co se děje ve světě aby pak po delší době jí na vás mohl vytáhnout. Pečlivě buduje svět, atmosféru a sní i postavy které jsou skvěle napsány. Každý charakter tu hraje roli, každý tu má své místo a učestní se něčeho velkého co se chystá.
Jsou tu sešity kdy hlavní hrdina mluví celou dobu jen na hřbitově se svým bratrem, či čte deník jednoho člověka co dělá spisy o Opal City (ve kterém se příběh odehrává) či si projdete ve třech sešitech stejnou událost ale v jiných pohledech či prespektivách.
Starman je nejlepší a jedinečný superhrdinský komiks, který se vyrovná i Watchmenům, hraje s médiem a všechno podává nově i svěže. Neřídí se berličkami dnešních supráckých komiksů a i nejvážnější či nejzajímavější příběhy od Snydera v Batmanovi oproti tomuhle vypadají jako dílo patlala ze školky.
K tomu všemu je tu geniální kresba i coloring, které si hrají s atmosférou i motivy. Jediná vada na kráse jsou tak možná zastaralá přirovnání či občas až moc popisování jak město vypadá či jde cítit.
I s tím se ale jedná o geniální dílo a pečlivě vytvořený svět co po 17 sešitech je více propracovaný než svět Supermana, Batmana a dalších. Jedinečný superhrdinský epos co nemá obdoby a kde kdykoliv můžete o někoho přijít.
DC překvapilo že něco jako Starman pustilo do oběhu, jedná se totiž o vysoce experimentální dílo s velkým přesahem.
August 17, 2021
It's...okay. I like the fact that Robinson 'modernised' Starman especially the look (jacket, goggles...ok, that's it, go fight crime). But the stories in this omnibus collecting the first 16 issues didn't do much for me. Interesting enough but no "wow" factor.
February 17, 2009
Wow. This is just... wow! Great! Wunderbar! Incredible!
Maybe I should elucidate. I've enjoyed comics practically all my literate life, really becoming a fan in the mid-seventies. By that era, the staples of the super-hero genre--the heroes from DC and Marvel--were pretty well established. I spent many an hour delving into the treasure trove of their history. The comic books and characters that had their start since that era, however, I've usually found lacking. I've bought many a premiere issue, wanting to get into the character, along with its setting, its supporting cast, its rogues gallery and ended up being disappointed. The magic just wasn't there. So anyway, back in 1994, the new Starman came out. I heard a lot of good things about it, but money was tight and comics weren't as appealing to me as they used to be. I didn't check it out. I mean, hey, Starman? I always considered him just a Green Lantern wannabe. If I had only known then what I know now, I might have been spending more money. Or maybe I would have been too young to appreciate it. Anyway, now it's 2009. I picked up this collection of Starman issues 0 through 16, read it and... wow. This is the series with that classic quality. Interesting characters, intriguing setting and a hero with an honest-to-Ghandi personality. I don't have the money for it now, but one day I'd like to get a copy of this sucker. Or maybe I should dare to haunt the comic shop back issue racks one again?
Maybe I should elucidate. I've enjoyed comics practically all my literate life, really becoming a fan in the mid-seventies. By that era, the staples of the super-hero genre--the heroes from DC and Marvel--were pretty well established. I spent many an hour delving into the treasure trove of their history. The comic books and characters that had their start since that era, however, I've usually found lacking. I've bought many a premiere issue, wanting to get into the character, along with its setting, its supporting cast, its rogues gallery and ended up being disappointed. The magic just wasn't there. So anyway, back in 1994, the new Starman came out. I heard a lot of good things about it, but money was tight and comics weren't as appealing to me as they used to be. I didn't check it out. I mean, hey, Starman? I always considered him just a Green Lantern wannabe. If I had only known then what I know now, I might have been spending more money. Or maybe I would have been too young to appreciate it. Anyway, now it's 2009. I picked up this collection of Starman issues 0 through 16, read it and... wow. This is the series with that classic quality. Interesting characters, intriguing setting and a hero with an honest-to-Ghandi personality. I don't have the money for it now, but one day I'd like to get a copy of this sucker. Or maybe I should dare to haunt the comic shop back issue racks one again?
November 24, 2021
This was a reread of an Omnibus that was a reread of the original issues when I read it the first time. Does that make sense? Anyway, Starman is still one of my favorite comics of all time and inarguably one of the best comics of the 90s. Tony Harris' art still looks great. "Times Past" and "Talking With David" were so cool and the rest of the plot just spools out beautifully.
January 11, 2014
This was a Christmas present to myself, an omnibus collection of the first 17 issues of Starman, a comic I loved as a teen and, it turns out, still love today. As usual when something hits my nostalgia bone, I get as wordy as hell and cant shut up so the tldr of this is - it’s a really fun, good, quirky offbeat comic.
Starman is a strange book in many ways, something that really stood out at the time and has become something of a 90’s classic since, a reputation that is very deserved. Launched into the regular DC universe, the place where Batman and Superman and Green Arrow have been playing for decades now, Starman was, from the start, not designed to be an ongoing episodic story. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end, something that is incredibly rare in mainstream superhero comics. It also features a hero who steadfastly refuses to wear anything resembling a costume (he does have a uniform of sorts, but it’s just a bunch of regular clothes assembled on the basis of common sense), a hero who doesn’t have a secret identity, a hero who is completely new and yet whose history stretches back into the early days of the 19th century and continues into the far flung future of the 30th. It’s a comic that really embraces the whackier side of superheroes while also staying very grounded in real emotions and problems.
The genesis of the book came out of the Golden Age of comics, where superheroes were born. The Justice Society was the first super team and the premiere group of the Golden Age, a massive group that included amongst it’s number a guy called Starman. But the Golden Age ended, executed by old Joe mcCarthy and HUAC and only the big guns survived, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Starman, and the rest of the Justice Society faded away. A few would come back, or rather their names would be reused on new characters when the Silver Age began, but poor old Starman wasn’t as lucky as the Flash or Green lantern. A B-lister at best, the Golden Age Starman was not revived. No surprise really. Theodore Knight, Starman, was a fairly generic superhero after all. A billionairre scientist who invents a “cosmic rod” (dont laugh) that allows him to fly and fire blasts of some sort of energy, he takes to the skies of Opal City to fight evildoers for no particularly good reason. A precursor to Tony Stark, perhaps, but without any of the depth or complexity. But the name. A name a simple and evocative as Starman? That’s not going to be left alone, not in the world of superheroes. T DC’s long and varied history, no less than 4 other champions followed Ted Knight in donning some silly tights and calling themselves Starman. They shared no link whatsoever with their progenitor apart from the name and, much like the original, all of them lasted a scant few years before sinking into obscurity. Starman, it seemed, just couldn’t catch a break. Then James Robinson came along.
Legacy is a big part of DC. Superman carries the legacy of his entire race. Batman fight alongside Robin, who is not just his sidekick but also his chosen successor. The Silver Age Flash was killed and his kid sidekick (called, unimaginatively, Kid Flash) took up his name and mantle. And eventually the Justice Society got in on the act. Some of them anyway. The Golden Age Flash came back to mentor his superhero grandson. The Golden Age Green Lantern had kids who became solid B-List heroes in their own right. Even Wildcat, a heavyweight boxer who, for some reason, dressed up in a black panther costume, was retconned to be one of the people who trained a young Bruce Wayne. Maybe it was just a matter of time before someone dusted Theodore Knight off the shelf, but it took James Robinson to not only revive him, to not only tie him into DC’s succession of legacy heroes by attempting to link him to all the other Starmen that had borne his name over the years, but to also provide a personality and motivation to this bland and generic character, to give a history to him and his family and also the city he called home. Because Ted Knight also had kids, two sons, David and Jack, and both were destined to follow in his footsteps.
Starman begins by killing it’s titular hero on the third page. David Knight, newly come to the mantle of Starman and looking vaguely ridiculous in his father’s red tights and green cape, is shot and killed at the beginning of an city-wide crime wave, engineered by Ted Knight’s old (now ancient) arch-enemy the Mist and carried out by the Mist’s psychotic son and daughter. It’s left to Jack, the black sheep of the family, to take up his father’s cosmic rod (I said don’t laugh) and try and protect the city he loves, a task he never wanted. Jack isn’t a hero. He’s a junk dealer, a collector, a proto-hipster with a funky hairstyle and abstract tattoos who mercilessly mocks the family legacy. He’s actively unpleasant at times, doesn’t get along with his father or (now dead) brother, and has absolutely no idea what he’s doing. But Opal City needs a hero.
Cue your standard “reluctant guy learns how to be a superhero” story, right? Well no. I mean yeah, that’s there, but James Robinson and Tony Harris don’t tell the story in a very conventional way. They take their time with it. The story is regularly interrupted by an ongoing feature called ‘Times Past’, a series of single issue standalone stories that are sometimes only tangentially related to Starman himself (though they are always important to the story and history of his hometown Opal City). There’s also the Shade’s Journal, prose pieces, short stories taken from the personal diary of the Shade, an immortal denizen of Opal. And then there’s ‘Visiting With David’, an issue that happens once a year in which Jack Knight is somehow visited by his dead brother, and the two just hang out and have a chat for the entire issue in some sort of monochromatic limbo. And sure there’s the usual stuff too, villains and bank robberies and all that, but even then Jack Knight spends as much time obsessing over rare collectibles for his store as he does fighting criminals.
As I said, Jack himself can be unlikeable at times, but James Robinson provides a cast of characters so big it’d be impossible to find someone you don’t enjoy. There’s his father, of course, Ted Knight, a former two fisted pulp hero who suffered a nervous breakdown over his role in the Manhattan Project in WWII and now is trying to use his super science to actually help mankind, rather than build weapons for costumed men to use. There’s the O’Dares, a family of flame haired cops, descended from a patrolman who acted as Ted Knight’s unofficial partner way back when. There’s the Shade, a former Golden Age villain, amoral and immortal who has chosen to make Opal City is home and will go to extreme lengths to defend it. There’s a dozen more, and Robinson continues to add to them as the series progresses. And then there’s Opal City itself.
DC has a big tradition of madeup cities, but Opal really stands out. It isn’t just a stand-in for New York, like Gotham and Metropolis. It isn’t a generic mid-west town, like the Flash’ home of Keystone. It’s a place James Robinson and Tony Harris put a lot of thought into, a city with it’s own history, geography and culture, a blend of art deco inspired skyscrapers and Victorian slums. It’s a little too weird and fantastical to be real, but it never the less feels like a living, breathing city, a place with it’s own unique character. Much like Jack Knight himself, Opal is a traditional superheo concept that James Robinson took and made his own.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the art. Tony Harris was the series regular penciller (though he takes breaks here and there) and his style sets the series apart as much as Robinson’s writing. He has his weaknesses - his action scenes in particular can be a little confusing, but he excels at facial expressions, the kind you see on real people, and his renderings of Opal City are gorgeous.
Anyway, that's enough of my bollocks. It's a lovely book and it was an absolute joy to rediscover it.
Starman is a strange book in many ways, something that really stood out at the time and has become something of a 90’s classic since, a reputation that is very deserved. Launched into the regular DC universe, the place where Batman and Superman and Green Arrow have been playing for decades now, Starman was, from the start, not designed to be an ongoing episodic story. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end, something that is incredibly rare in mainstream superhero comics. It also features a hero who steadfastly refuses to wear anything resembling a costume (he does have a uniform of sorts, but it’s just a bunch of regular clothes assembled on the basis of common sense), a hero who doesn’t have a secret identity, a hero who is completely new and yet whose history stretches back into the early days of the 19th century and continues into the far flung future of the 30th. It’s a comic that really embraces the whackier side of superheroes while also staying very grounded in real emotions and problems.
The genesis of the book came out of the Golden Age of comics, where superheroes were born. The Justice Society was the first super team and the premiere group of the Golden Age, a massive group that included amongst it’s number a guy called Starman. But the Golden Age ended, executed by old Joe mcCarthy and HUAC and only the big guns survived, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Starman, and the rest of the Justice Society faded away. A few would come back, or rather their names would be reused on new characters when the Silver Age began, but poor old Starman wasn’t as lucky as the Flash or Green lantern. A B-lister at best, the Golden Age Starman was not revived. No surprise really. Theodore Knight, Starman, was a fairly generic superhero after all. A billionairre scientist who invents a “cosmic rod” (dont laugh) that allows him to fly and fire blasts of some sort of energy, he takes to the skies of Opal City to fight evildoers for no particularly good reason. A precursor to Tony Stark, perhaps, but without any of the depth or complexity. But the name. A name a simple and evocative as Starman? That’s not going to be left alone, not in the world of superheroes. T DC’s long and varied history, no less than 4 other champions followed Ted Knight in donning some silly tights and calling themselves Starman. They shared no link whatsoever with their progenitor apart from the name and, much like the original, all of them lasted a scant few years before sinking into obscurity. Starman, it seemed, just couldn’t catch a break. Then James Robinson came along.
Legacy is a big part of DC. Superman carries the legacy of his entire race. Batman fight alongside Robin, who is not just his sidekick but also his chosen successor. The Silver Age Flash was killed and his kid sidekick (called, unimaginatively, Kid Flash) took up his name and mantle. And eventually the Justice Society got in on the act. Some of them anyway. The Golden Age Flash came back to mentor his superhero grandson. The Golden Age Green Lantern had kids who became solid B-List heroes in their own right. Even Wildcat, a heavyweight boxer who, for some reason, dressed up in a black panther costume, was retconned to be one of the people who trained a young Bruce Wayne. Maybe it was just a matter of time before someone dusted Theodore Knight off the shelf, but it took James Robinson to not only revive him, to not only tie him into DC’s succession of legacy heroes by attempting to link him to all the other Starmen that had borne his name over the years, but to also provide a personality and motivation to this bland and generic character, to give a history to him and his family and also the city he called home. Because Ted Knight also had kids, two sons, David and Jack, and both were destined to follow in his footsteps.
Starman begins by killing it’s titular hero on the third page. David Knight, newly come to the mantle of Starman and looking vaguely ridiculous in his father’s red tights and green cape, is shot and killed at the beginning of an city-wide crime wave, engineered by Ted Knight’s old (now ancient) arch-enemy the Mist and carried out by the Mist’s psychotic son and daughter. It’s left to Jack, the black sheep of the family, to take up his father’s cosmic rod (I said don’t laugh) and try and protect the city he loves, a task he never wanted. Jack isn’t a hero. He’s a junk dealer, a collector, a proto-hipster with a funky hairstyle and abstract tattoos who mercilessly mocks the family legacy. He’s actively unpleasant at times, doesn’t get along with his father or (now dead) brother, and has absolutely no idea what he’s doing. But Opal City needs a hero.
Cue your standard “reluctant guy learns how to be a superhero” story, right? Well no. I mean yeah, that’s there, but James Robinson and Tony Harris don’t tell the story in a very conventional way. They take their time with it. The story is regularly interrupted by an ongoing feature called ‘Times Past’, a series of single issue standalone stories that are sometimes only tangentially related to Starman himself (though they are always important to the story and history of his hometown Opal City). There’s also the Shade’s Journal, prose pieces, short stories taken from the personal diary of the Shade, an immortal denizen of Opal. And then there’s ‘Visiting With David’, an issue that happens once a year in which Jack Knight is somehow visited by his dead brother, and the two just hang out and have a chat for the entire issue in some sort of monochromatic limbo. And sure there’s the usual stuff too, villains and bank robberies and all that, but even then Jack Knight spends as much time obsessing over rare collectibles for his store as he does fighting criminals.
As I said, Jack himself can be unlikeable at times, but James Robinson provides a cast of characters so big it’d be impossible to find someone you don’t enjoy. There’s his father, of course, Ted Knight, a former two fisted pulp hero who suffered a nervous breakdown over his role in the Manhattan Project in WWII and now is trying to use his super science to actually help mankind, rather than build weapons for costumed men to use. There’s the O’Dares, a family of flame haired cops, descended from a patrolman who acted as Ted Knight’s unofficial partner way back when. There’s the Shade, a former Golden Age villain, amoral and immortal who has chosen to make Opal City is home and will go to extreme lengths to defend it. There’s a dozen more, and Robinson continues to add to them as the series progresses. And then there’s Opal City itself.
DC has a big tradition of madeup cities, but Opal really stands out. It isn’t just a stand-in for New York, like Gotham and Metropolis. It isn’t a generic mid-west town, like the Flash’ home of Keystone. It’s a place James Robinson and Tony Harris put a lot of thought into, a city with it’s own history, geography and culture, a blend of art deco inspired skyscrapers and Victorian slums. It’s a little too weird and fantastical to be real, but it never the less feels like a living, breathing city, a place with it’s own unique character. Much like Jack Knight himself, Opal is a traditional superheo concept that James Robinson took and made his own.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the art. Tony Harris was the series regular penciller (though he takes breaks here and there) and his style sets the series apart as much as Robinson’s writing. He has his weaknesses - his action scenes in particular can be a little confusing, but he excels at facial expressions, the kind you see on real people, and his renderings of Opal City are gorgeous.
Anyway, that's enough of my bollocks. It's a lovely book and it was an absolute joy to rediscover it.
Read
May 3, 2019Starman is one of those defining series I’ve heard nothing but good things about. James Robinson’s epic reinvents the Golden Age hero in Jack Knight, who reluctantly takes up the Starman mantle from his aging father. One of the things I’ve heard about this book is that it was a bright spot during the grim n’ gritty 90s. But has it stood the test of time? After reading this first omnibus, I have to say yes.
Even though it was published as a main DC title, Starman feels like a prime Vertigo series. For one, it’s a reinvention of a low tier character by a British writer. It’s also nuanced, thematic, and creative like the best series of the era. What largely separates Starman, though, is its direct focus on superheroics. Throughout these first 17 issues, Jack dwells on being a hero as he wades into the Starman role. His father and the Shade encourage him to be a hero. Then, Jack fights crime and tangles with some of his father’s old villains, namely the Mist. You can tell Robinson loves the DC universe. He includes a lot of great continuity nods and deep cut characters. As a DC fan, I loved picking out the references.
Of course, Starman isn’t just about superheroes and DC history. In the first issue, Robinson introduces two themes that (I assume) play a major part throughout the story: family legacy and nostalgia. Jack has zero interest in his father’s superhero past, at least at first. But after being thrust into the role, he learns what it was like for his father to battle crime on the streets of Opal City, and what it means to continue his legacy. Regarding nostalgia, Jack owns a junk shop and has an obsession with vintage collectibles, several of which he references while fighting bad guys. Both of these themes brilliantly play off each other, providing fertile ground for character-driven storytelling.
These first 17 issues aren’t perfect. Robinson tends to overwrite, especially towards the beginning where clunky narration clogs the pages. Also, Tony Harris’ art takes a bit to gain its footing. Negatives aside, I was pretty much on board from page one. This series boasts consistently strong storytelling, especially in the “Time’s Past” issues, which are some of my favorites in this collection. They remind me of the standalone stories from Sandman; at first, they seem completely separate from the main saga, only gaining relevance and weight as the series goes on. I can tell Robinson has a firm handle on the story he wants to tell.
These omnibus collections are the way to go. They collect the entire series (81 issues) plus annuals and specials, in publication order. The gorgeous covers and commentary by Robinson are all the more reason to seek them out.
I’m excited for more.
Even though it was published as a main DC title, Starman feels like a prime Vertigo series. For one, it’s a reinvention of a low tier character by a British writer. It’s also nuanced, thematic, and creative like the best series of the era. What largely separates Starman, though, is its direct focus on superheroics. Throughout these first 17 issues, Jack dwells on being a hero as he wades into the Starman role. His father and the Shade encourage him to be a hero. Then, Jack fights crime and tangles with some of his father’s old villains, namely the Mist. You can tell Robinson loves the DC universe. He includes a lot of great continuity nods and deep cut characters. As a DC fan, I loved picking out the references.
Of course, Starman isn’t just about superheroes and DC history. In the first issue, Robinson introduces two themes that (I assume) play a major part throughout the story: family legacy and nostalgia. Jack has zero interest in his father’s superhero past, at least at first. But after being thrust into the role, he learns what it was like for his father to battle crime on the streets of Opal City, and what it means to continue his legacy. Regarding nostalgia, Jack owns a junk shop and has an obsession with vintage collectibles, several of which he references while fighting bad guys. Both of these themes brilliantly play off each other, providing fertile ground for character-driven storytelling.
These first 17 issues aren’t perfect. Robinson tends to overwrite, especially towards the beginning where clunky narration clogs the pages. Also, Tony Harris’ art takes a bit to gain its footing. Negatives aside, I was pretty much on board from page one. This series boasts consistently strong storytelling, especially in the “Time’s Past” issues, which are some of my favorites in this collection. They remind me of the standalone stories from Sandman; at first, they seem completely separate from the main saga, only gaining relevance and weight as the series goes on. I can tell Robinson has a firm handle on the story he wants to tell.
These omnibus collections are the way to go. They collect the entire series (81 issues) plus annuals and specials, in publication order. The gorgeous covers and commentary by Robinson are all the more reason to seek them out.
I’m excited for more.
March 19, 2022
For me, this the THE James Robinson title. It's got all the tropes I expect from him: a fascination with the Justice Society of America (and how righteous they are and aren't), a strong focus on a particular urban setting and what that setting means, and characters who regularly digress about "high" popular culture. (In the last arc in this collection, there is a gunfight punctuated by an argument about the best Sondheim musical and a torture scene where the torturer muses on the best cinematic portrayal of Philip Marlowe.) Oh, it's also where Robinson's most interesting creation (his version of the Shade) first appears.
In the midst of all this, you have Jack Knight reluctantly taking on the role of Starman after his brother dies in costume and a huge cast, including Jack's father Ted (the original JSA Starman), some previous incarnations of Starman, and a bunch of sibling red haired cops. It's a saga that this volume (the first 17 issues) just barely starts.
I can see readers thinking it's all too pretentious, and sometimes I think it teeters on that edge too much. (Jack, when he's not being Starman, is a collectibles dealer, which leads to the word "Bakelite" being used in each of the first three issues and an inner monologue about Philco televisions during the pummeling of henchmen.) The Harris art is great, but often endows the book with a sense of grandeur and importance. So, in contrast to the Firearm series or The Golden Age, which read as more grounded to me, Starman is much more willing to swing for the fences, whether those fences are whimsy or family-based sentimentality or nostalgia.
And it still all works for me. I know I have a weakness for the expostulating protagonist (see my love of the works of Brian K. Vaughan), but that feature of Jack Knight, along with the rococo stylings of the drama and art all combine for a wonderful (if slightly jarring) read.
In the midst of all this, you have Jack Knight reluctantly taking on the role of Starman after his brother dies in costume and a huge cast, including Jack's father Ted (the original JSA Starman), some previous incarnations of Starman, and a bunch of sibling red haired cops. It's a saga that this volume (the first 17 issues) just barely starts.
I can see readers thinking it's all too pretentious, and sometimes I think it teeters on that edge too much. (Jack, when he's not being Starman, is a collectibles dealer, which leads to the word "Bakelite" being used in each of the first three issues and an inner monologue about Philco televisions during the pummeling of henchmen.) The Harris art is great, but often endows the book with a sense of grandeur and importance. So, in contrast to the Firearm series or The Golden Age, which read as more grounded to me, Starman is much more willing to swing for the fences, whether those fences are whimsy or family-based sentimentality or nostalgia.
And it still all works for me. I know I have a weakness for the expostulating protagonist (see my love of the works of Brian K. Vaughan), but that feature of Jack Knight, along with the rococo stylings of the drama and art all combine for a wonderful (if slightly jarring) read.
July 23, 2022
I heard alot of good about this book initially so I was excited to have found it for cheap in my area and see what it’s all about.
Sadly there wasn’t one time I was excited to sit down and continue reading this. Nothing ever interesting or surprising happens, and when something DOES start to feel interesting it just lets you down and doesn’t outweigh all the negatives in this. The majority of this first omni is literally just “Oh I’m not a hero that’s stupid believe me pls, but I am though” back and forth.
The narration was super obnoxious, way too exaggerated, over the top and did very little to the story or immersion in my opinion. Aswell as Jack’s odd, almost stuttering speech the majority of the way through just added to the chore it was to complete this. All in all just not my kind of book apparently.
Sadly there wasn’t one time I was excited to sit down and continue reading this. Nothing ever interesting or surprising happens, and when something DOES start to feel interesting it just lets you down and doesn’t outweigh all the negatives in this. The majority of this first omni is literally just “Oh I’m not a hero that’s stupid believe me pls, but I am though” back and forth.
The narration was super obnoxious, way too exaggerated, over the top and did very little to the story or immersion in my opinion. Aswell as Jack’s odd, almost stuttering speech the majority of the way through just added to the chore it was to complete this. All in all just not my kind of book apparently.
April 13, 2024
Honestly this is one of the best graphic novels I've ever read. It's very different from most of the DC comics I've read with more emphasis on the setting and character motivations than the actual sci-fi/fantasy of our main superheroes. Feels more like batman than Aquaman in terms of realism, which allows it to tell the story differently from most other superhero stories.
The whole plot is very hero's journey but it's a super fresh and unique extention of this pre-existing character. Loved this story, love this whole era of DC, overall great comic.
The whole plot is very hero's journey but it's a super fresh and unique extention of this pre-existing character. Loved this story, love this whole era of DC, overall great comic.
August 26, 2021
Starman is a perfect self-contained superhero epic. The kind that rarely is allowed closure. Its the perfect melding of DC and Vertigo sensibilities.
March 7, 2020
I first read this book way back in 2011, after having taken a big break from reading comics for many years (hard to believe now, since they're basically all I, a grotesque dork, ever read). I remember reading this and just not getting it. Feeling like it was flat, like something was missing, and not understanding why it was such a frequently celebrated book.
Now, almost 9 years later, I still don't love it, but for, somehow, totally different reasons. Back then, I said it felt like the characters weren't fleshed out or defined, and that, quote, "nothing happens." Well, having matured quite a bit as a comics reader over the years, I can assure you, this isn't anywhere near as bad as Old Me made it sound. Robinson does actually define his characters pretty well (well, Jack and his father anyway), and this volume does a pretty decent job of kicking off a story of an extremely Gen-X-y superhero, forced to take up his father's mantle despite just wanting to be some loser who sells old junk or whatever. The stories revolve heavily around these ideas in these early chapters, and I mostly enjoyed the way Robinson lays the groundwork for the future of the series.
But, Sandman this is not. A few decades after its release, I just don't quite think this first volume of Starman holds up. First of all, it's deeply 90s. Too 90s. Like Singles ate a bunch of Reality Bites and threw up the entire grunge movement.
I mean, Jack Knight, our very hero, is not, by any modern standard, a likable guy. He's standoffish, whiney, and obsessed with nostalgic minutiae that truly sucks. I mean, I very much do not need to hear him describe another old lamp ever again. He's about as "young and cool" as Dennis Miller, dropping ancient references left and right in hopes you won't understand him so he can be hipper than you. It's a type of person that mostly died out over the past few decades, only persevering in certain kinds of record shops and comic book stores. Needless to say, he ain't a guy I'm looking forward to spending six full volumes with.
The other thing about Jack Knight is, the writer, James Robinson, very clearly based him on himself. Robinson goes on at excruciating length in various forewords and letters to the reader interspersed throughout this book about how eclectic his own personal collections are. That is when he isn't tooting his own horn about "making history" with this (outdated) comic. Therefore, whenever a character starts mouthing off about some pop culture reference from the deepest ass crack of the 1950s, I know exactly who's actually talking. There's a very long scene in which a hoodlum we've never seen before beats the hell out of a character we've barely met, and spends the entire beating yammering on about who played Phillip Marlowe the best in the old movies. It's obnoxious, bargain-basement Tarantino nonsense, and it made my eyes roll all the way out the back of my skull.
So, why am I giving this thing I intermittently hated 3 stars? Well, for one, I'm constantly charmed by Tony Harris's artwork. I loved Ex Machina, one of his later series, and reading this gave me a glimpse at an artist I enjoy as he came into his own. This also gives me hope that Robinson will improve as the series progresses. I've read several Robinson comics that I enjoyed, and with this being his most celebrated one, I'm anticipating that it will get better and less overtly clunky as it continues.
Second, I've read a bunch of 90s comics lately, and even though this one feels stale, it's a hell of a lot fresher than the others I've read. Robinson clearly has a grander plan in the works, and much of this book feels like pieces being arranged on a chessboard. I'm actually interested to see where those things go, which is more than I can say for some of his contemporaries.
So, I get it. When this came out in the early 90s, there weren't many comics like this on the stands. The Vertigo imprint had barely begun. There were a few grounded, character-driven comics out there, but almost none from a mainstream publisher, and few that aimed so hard at Gen Xers as a demographic. This was a comic perfect for its time, and I'm interested to see how that evolved. But, right out of the gate, I'm not super impressed.
Now, almost 9 years later, I still don't love it, but for, somehow, totally different reasons. Back then, I said it felt like the characters weren't fleshed out or defined, and that, quote, "nothing happens." Well, having matured quite a bit as a comics reader over the years, I can assure you, this isn't anywhere near as bad as Old Me made it sound. Robinson does actually define his characters pretty well (well, Jack and his father anyway), and this volume does a pretty decent job of kicking off a story of an extremely Gen-X-y superhero, forced to take up his father's mantle despite just wanting to be some loser who sells old junk or whatever. The stories revolve heavily around these ideas in these early chapters, and I mostly enjoyed the way Robinson lays the groundwork for the future of the series.
But, Sandman this is not. A few decades after its release, I just don't quite think this first volume of Starman holds up. First of all, it's deeply 90s. Too 90s. Like Singles ate a bunch of Reality Bites and threw up the entire grunge movement.
I mean, Jack Knight, our very hero, is not, by any modern standard, a likable guy. He's standoffish, whiney, and obsessed with nostalgic minutiae that truly sucks. I mean, I very much do not need to hear him describe another old lamp ever again. He's about as "young and cool" as Dennis Miller, dropping ancient references left and right in hopes you won't understand him so he can be hipper than you. It's a type of person that mostly died out over the past few decades, only persevering in certain kinds of record shops and comic book stores. Needless to say, he ain't a guy I'm looking forward to spending six full volumes with.
The other thing about Jack Knight is, the writer, James Robinson, very clearly based him on himself. Robinson goes on at excruciating length in various forewords and letters to the reader interspersed throughout this book about how eclectic his own personal collections are. That is when he isn't tooting his own horn about "making history" with this (outdated) comic. Therefore, whenever a character starts mouthing off about some pop culture reference from the deepest ass crack of the 1950s, I know exactly who's actually talking. There's a very long scene in which a hoodlum we've never seen before beats the hell out of a character we've barely met, and spends the entire beating yammering on about who played Phillip Marlowe the best in the old movies. It's obnoxious, bargain-basement Tarantino nonsense, and it made my eyes roll all the way out the back of my skull.
So, why am I giving this thing I intermittently hated 3 stars? Well, for one, I'm constantly charmed by Tony Harris's artwork. I loved Ex Machina, one of his later series, and reading this gave me a glimpse at an artist I enjoy as he came into his own. This also gives me hope that Robinson will improve as the series progresses. I've read several Robinson comics that I enjoyed, and with this being his most celebrated one, I'm anticipating that it will get better and less overtly clunky as it continues.
Second, I've read a bunch of 90s comics lately, and even though this one feels stale, it's a hell of a lot fresher than the others I've read. Robinson clearly has a grander plan in the works, and much of this book feels like pieces being arranged on a chessboard. I'm actually interested to see where those things go, which is more than I can say for some of his contemporaries.
So, I get it. When this came out in the early 90s, there weren't many comics like this on the stands. The Vertigo imprint had barely begun. There were a few grounded, character-driven comics out there, but almost none from a mainstream publisher, and few that aimed so hard at Gen Xers as a demographic. This was a comic perfect for its time, and I'm interested to see how that evolved. But, right out of the gate, I'm not super impressed.
March 14, 2016
I've never had a desire to read 90s comics. They don't appeal to me (it's the art and the storytelling styles, the tone the flavor, name it and I'm not into it). Couple that with the growing resentment I've had towards superheroes for the last few years and me reading this should be a disaster. Starman is a superhero book from the 90s that got it start from the sort of dumb superhero event that I absolutely abhor and it's written by James Robinson, who, to give you an idea of how verbose and purple his prose and dialogue is in this book, wrote an afterword for this volume that's 10 pages long (and they are not small pages and the font is not tiny). This should be a disaster. I should not like this.
But here's the thing...
James Robinson's run on Starman is an 80 issue epic that is still talked about today. When this collected edition of the first seventeen issues (it starts with an issue 0) hit the stands it was a big deal, big enough that I bought it based on word of mouth without knowing anything about it except that it was a long run and that it would pay off at the end. I read it, thought it was good, but the purple of it was a huge turnoff and was a bit of a struggle. It got better. It ended up good. I promised I would read more when I had bought the rest of the volumes, when it was all out, when I had hours and hours to read dense comics.
Reading it now, now that I'm older, now that my times have changed from wanting to read, say, Bendis's Avengers comics or Geoff Johns's re-imaginings of classic DC staples, this is.... this is great. This is really, really great. This is what I want. This is what I'm missing. Jack Knight as Starman is a revelation. I've never read a hero like him, which is shocking. Watching him slowly take up this mantle he doesn't want but is meant for is the sort of superheroing I want. His perspective on the world, watching him be a collector and re-seller of junk.... It's just... great. It's so great.
And knowing that this is more than Jack. That Robinson is building up Opal City (a city that first appears in this pages) to be a DC city on the level of Central City or Harbor City... That he fills this book with amazing pages, not just Jack Knight's dad, Ted Knight, the original Starman, but also the mysterious and alien Mikhaal, a re-imagining of Solomon Grundy (that still feels fresh in the way it must have felt over 20 years ago), the O'Dare family, the villainous daughter of Papa Starman's archnemesis The Mist, and the utterly wonderful and mysterious Shade... All of this establishes the sort of long form comic story that I'm looking for. Tons of characters all colliding off of each other, characters I already love and want more of...
That Robinson fills it with DC history (that JSA flashback issue...), DC themes (Jack as the legacy of his father), and a leisurely pace (the Davey issue, the Shade flashback issue, five issues that chronicle one day in Opal City) are all perks. This, truly is the sort of comic that I like. It's the sorta thing I like and was always going to like. I need more. I can't wait to read more. I can't wait to see where this book goes, where it ends up. Robinson is just setting up blocks and blocks and blocks to knock down over the course of the following 60+ issues and I can't see where it all ends up falling.
I seriously can't remember the last time I was this giddy excited to be starting a comic project. And that it's about a superhero? Guys. This book is awesome and if you want a superhero something you should read this. Muscle through because it's awesome.
But here's the thing...
James Robinson's run on Starman is an 80 issue epic that is still talked about today. When this collected edition of the first seventeen issues (it starts with an issue 0) hit the stands it was a big deal, big enough that I bought it based on word of mouth without knowing anything about it except that it was a long run and that it would pay off at the end. I read it, thought it was good, but the purple of it was a huge turnoff and was a bit of a struggle. It got better. It ended up good. I promised I would read more when I had bought the rest of the volumes, when it was all out, when I had hours and hours to read dense comics.
Reading it now, now that I'm older, now that my times have changed from wanting to read, say, Bendis's Avengers comics or Geoff Johns's re-imaginings of classic DC staples, this is.... this is great. This is really, really great. This is what I want. This is what I'm missing. Jack Knight as Starman is a revelation. I've never read a hero like him, which is shocking. Watching him slowly take up this mantle he doesn't want but is meant for is the sort of superheroing I want. His perspective on the world, watching him be a collector and re-seller of junk.... It's just... great. It's so great.
And knowing that this is more than Jack. That Robinson is building up Opal City (a city that first appears in this pages) to be a DC city on the level of Central City or Harbor City... That he fills this book with amazing pages, not just Jack Knight's dad, Ted Knight, the original Starman, but also the mysterious and alien Mikhaal, a re-imagining of Solomon Grundy (that still feels fresh in the way it must have felt over 20 years ago), the O'Dare family, the villainous daughter of Papa Starman's archnemesis The Mist, and the utterly wonderful and mysterious Shade... All of this establishes the sort of long form comic story that I'm looking for. Tons of characters all colliding off of each other, characters I already love and want more of...
That Robinson fills it with DC history (that JSA flashback issue...), DC themes (Jack as the legacy of his father), and a leisurely pace (the Davey issue, the Shade flashback issue, five issues that chronicle one day in Opal City) are all perks. This, truly is the sort of comic that I like. It's the sorta thing I like and was always going to like. I need more. I can't wait to read more. I can't wait to see where this book goes, where it ends up. Robinson is just setting up blocks and blocks and blocks to knock down over the course of the following 60+ issues and I can't see where it all ends up falling.
I seriously can't remember the last time I was this giddy excited to be starting a comic project. And that it's about a superhero? Guys. This book is awesome and if you want a superhero something you should read this. Muscle through because it's awesome.
January 10, 2011
What I've gathered for a while is that Starman was the best superhero comic of the 90's that I didn't read when it originally came out. Now that I've made it through the first Omnibus, I do have to say that it's pretty cool. Jack Knight isn't by any means the kind of character I was expecting. Because of his leather-jacket look, I was expecting someone a little more cool, cynical, and scornful of the whole superhero life. In fact, he turned out to be something of a retro-geek who spent way too much time watching Antiques Roadshow as a kid.
Robinson handles the "new hero learning the ropes" thing really well - it's the kind of story that made me enjoy Firestorm and Nova a decade earlier. He weaves in the "legacy" aspects of the character in a way that doesn't grate, I think because the classic Starman isn't a character with a lot of continuity baggage or a big fan following.
My one complaint about Robinson's writing style is his overuse of narration. The great comics writers generally know when to shut up and let the artist tell the story. Robinson seems to feel compelled to fill each panel with huge blocks of text. That habit is making his current run on Justice League almost unreadable; in Starman it's just an occasional distraction.
P.S. I'd been aware of Robinson's take on the villain Shade from his appearances in other comics, but this was my first exposure on his new take on The Mist. Got to say, I really love Mist II.
Robinson handles the "new hero learning the ropes" thing really well - it's the kind of story that made me enjoy Firestorm and Nova a decade earlier. He weaves in the "legacy" aspects of the character in a way that doesn't grate, I think because the classic Starman isn't a character with a lot of continuity baggage or a big fan following.
My one complaint about Robinson's writing style is his overuse of narration. The great comics writers generally know when to shut up and let the artist tell the story. Robinson seems to feel compelled to fill each panel with huge blocks of text. That habit is making his current run on Justice League almost unreadable; in Starman it's just an occasional distraction.
P.S. I'd been aware of Robinson's take on the villain Shade from his appearances in other comics, but this was my first exposure on his new take on The Mist. Got to say, I really love Mist II.
July 19, 2016
DNF. Made it through 3 or 4 issues.
A friend gave me a bag full of graphic novels to play with while I recover from surgery. Starman was the only did-not-finish in the bag.
Flipping through, I saw a couple of moments (like Starman selling a vintage Tshirt to a criminal who was trying to steal it from him) that showed promise, but it reads like a Golden Age superhero comic. I detest those.
A friend gave me a bag full of graphic novels to play with while I recover from surgery. Starman was the only did-not-finish in the bag.
Flipping through, I saw a couple of moments (like Starman selling a vintage Tshirt to a criminal who was trying to steal it from him) that showed promise, but it reads like a Golden Age superhero comic. I detest those.
December 26, 2023
In 2010, I quit a job at a comic book store, feeling disrespected by the owner. I took a year off, only bartending, and I stuck to reading poetry and prose, not really picking up graphic novels very often.
In 2011, I got a job wirh a different comic book store, and decided to read two series I'd never read before. One, a series I heard was terrible, and was able to buy the entire run for ten dollars: Shoadowhawk, which definitely lived down to my expectations. The other, was a series i heard was amazing but which wasn't readily available when I worked for the previous store: Starman, which DC had just wrapped up releasing as hardcovers in late 2010.
Starman was a wonderful way to reacquaint myself with superhero comics. It focuses on a hero who had inherited his responsibility but doesn't want it. A guy who would rather be buying antiques for a second-hand shop than stopping crime in his underwear.
But then it becomes a superhero epic, enveloping other stories, and entering other DC mythoses. You'll note that I've attached it to the Sandman Universe. This is mostly because it includes Wesley Dodds and Dian Belmont, who star in Sandman Mystery Theatre Book One, and have a cameo or two in the main Sandman universe, pop up here in senior citizen form. I love this series as kind of a coda to the 90s/early 2000s Sandman Universe before it gets rebooted into the Nu-52 and beyond.
If you're interested in superhero comics but find most of the continuity-heavy, thousand issue titles not to your liking, I'd check this out. Sure, it's related to characters who exist in the DC Universe before this series, and it has some Easter Eggs for longtime DC fans, but it's also a solid standalone story with some incredible, non-superheroey art.
In 2011, I got a job wirh a different comic book store, and decided to read two series I'd never read before. One, a series I heard was terrible, and was able to buy the entire run for ten dollars: Shoadowhawk, which definitely lived down to my expectations. The other, was a series i heard was amazing but which wasn't readily available when I worked for the previous store: Starman, which DC had just wrapped up releasing as hardcovers in late 2010.
Starman was a wonderful way to reacquaint myself with superhero comics. It focuses on a hero who had inherited his responsibility but doesn't want it. A guy who would rather be buying antiques for a second-hand shop than stopping crime in his underwear.
But then it becomes a superhero epic, enveloping other stories, and entering other DC mythoses. You'll note that I've attached it to the Sandman Universe. This is mostly because it includes Wesley Dodds and Dian Belmont, who star in Sandman Mystery Theatre Book One, and have a cameo or two in the main Sandman universe, pop up here in senior citizen form. I love this series as kind of a coda to the 90s/early 2000s Sandman Universe before it gets rebooted into the Nu-52 and beyond.
If you're interested in superhero comics but find most of the continuity-heavy, thousand issue titles not to your liking, I'd check this out. Sure, it's related to characters who exist in the DC Universe before this series, and it has some Easter Eggs for longtime DC fans, but it's also a solid standalone story with some incredible, non-superheroey art.
September 10, 2024
Next up in my project to read my stack of unread graphic novels and comic book collected editions is Starman by James Robinson. I'm counting the six-volume set as one story, because that's what it is in essence, albeit with some tangential stories in the mix. Those stories, however, fill in blanks and add to the interconnectedness of the whole thing. That "everything is connected" aspect is, for me, the most impressive thing about the series, which stars Jack Knight, the younger of former Starman Ted Knight's two sons ,who reluctantly takes up the Starman name and cosmic rod when his older brother is murdered during his brief tenure as Starmaan.
A lot of characters pop in and out, including old members of the JSA. And the Shade, one of my favorite villains, plays a charming, not-quite-a-villain, major role in the series. The art s nice enough if not spectacular, although the last two volumes feature art by Peter Snejbjerg which is quite lovely.
My only quibble is that Robinson is, at least here, a very wordy writer and I ended up skimming a lot This issue was exacerbated by some hard-to-read fonts, mostly the font used for the Shade's long journal entries that serve as narration in many of the stories. But the solid character development and the realistic emotions displayed by the main characters keep the series at above average levels. The feel of "what if superheroes were real?" vibe brought to my mind one of my all-time favorite comics: Astro City. This isn't quite as good as that, but it comes close.
A lot of characters pop in and out, including old members of the JSA. And the Shade, one of my favorite villains, plays a charming, not-quite-a-villain, major role in the series. The art s nice enough if not spectacular, although the last two volumes feature art by Peter Snejbjerg which is quite lovely.
My only quibble is that Robinson is, at least here, a very wordy writer and I ended up skimming a lot This issue was exacerbated by some hard-to-read fonts, mostly the font used for the Shade's long journal entries that serve as narration in many of the stories. But the solid character development and the realistic emotions displayed by the main characters keep the series at above average levels. The feel of "what if superheroes were real?" vibe brought to my mind one of my all-time favorite comics: Astro City. This isn't quite as good as that, but it comes close.
April 6, 2018
Third time reading this series - once serially, one in trades (but not everything was collected), and now in omnibus format - and so far, we're off to a great start. Robinson treads a fine line, keeping the characters grounded in real emotions but still allowing the book to embrace the oddness and fun of superhero adventure. This first book is very Mist-centric, with the old Mist's initial plot taking up the first four issues, and Nash's crimewave encapsulating the final five. In between, the groundwork for literally almost every major storyline is laid - Mikaal's introduced; Payton makes a cameo; the Black Pirate cameos; the hell poster grabs a few civilians; sidelong references to Culp are dropped; Grundy joins the cast; Sadie makes two brief appearances; David's ghost appears and makes reference to having unfinished business even.
Having recently read Robinson's Superman/Mon-El stories, his narrative voice in Starman did, at times, grate on my nerves. It works better here than in Superman, but Robinson really does write the same voice all the time. Clipped. Choppy sentences. Writing back to his point. Exceedingly purple. It works well here though.
Harris is a phenomenal artist, capturing the grace and elegance of Opal city and designed gorgeous pages. This figure work can be inconsistent, but he uses light and dark spaces very, very well.
Having recently read Robinson's Superman/Mon-El stories, his narrative voice in Starman did, at times, grate on my nerves. It works better here than in Superman, but Robinson really does write the same voice all the time. Clipped. Choppy sentences. Writing back to his point. Exceedingly purple. It works well here though.
Harris is a phenomenal artist, capturing the grace and elegance of Opal city and designed gorgeous pages. This figure work can be inconsistent, but he uses light and dark spaces very, very well.
August 10, 2018
He lacks the look, the attitude, the demeanor, the will, and the time to be a hero, so how does Jack Knight become Opal cities much needed Super? The best way to find out is to read it.
While the anti-hero trope has been replayed to the point where it has almost caught up with it's predicessor, the squeeky clean hero, both can still be compelling when developed thoughtfully, and Starman is a fine example of an anti-hero's journey towards the heroism he thought he despised.
The style of the story is reminiscent of Sandman, in the way it meanders along getting sidetracked by backstory, sideplots, and it's ever growing supporting cast, in ways that made me almost forget to care that there is a main stream we'd been diverted from.
I'll be continuing this series, though maybe not right away, like Sandman, the pace and style of Starman is such that feel like I could read some other books on my list and come back to this later without a problem.
While the anti-hero trope has been replayed to the point where it has almost caught up with it's predicessor, the squeeky clean hero, both can still be compelling when developed thoughtfully, and Starman is a fine example of an anti-hero's journey towards the heroism he thought he despised.
The style of the story is reminiscent of Sandman, in the way it meanders along getting sidetracked by backstory, sideplots, and it's ever growing supporting cast, in ways that made me almost forget to care that there is a main stream we'd been diverted from.
I'll be continuing this series, though maybe not right away, like Sandman, the pace and style of Starman is such that feel like I could read some other books on my list and come back to this later without a problem.
May 21, 2020
I read this series a long time ago and really enjoyed it. I recently reread the Justice Society series and moved into this because I enjoyed Stargirl so much.
I had recalled enjoying this series, but it really is blowing me away on the second read-through. Robinson has written a series that pays tribute to golden age heroes and tells the story of a hero for a different generation. Jack isn't like his father or brother who were Starman before him. He is a reluctant hero that grows into the role.
The others in the story are interesting in their own way. Jack's father, the original Starman is now old and an inventor. His brother's ghost visits him at times. Shade, a villain who isn't really that bad of a guy? The O'Dare family, a fortune teller, an alien Starman, and a benevolent Solomon Grundy round out the cast.
My one quibble with the book is the art. I'm not a huge fan of it, but it did grow on me as the series continued.
I had recalled enjoying this series, but it really is blowing me away on the second read-through. Robinson has written a series that pays tribute to golden age heroes and tells the story of a hero for a different generation. Jack isn't like his father or brother who were Starman before him. He is a reluctant hero that grows into the role.
The others in the story are interesting in their own way. Jack's father, the original Starman is now old and an inventor. His brother's ghost visits him at times. Shade, a villain who isn't really that bad of a guy? The O'Dare family, a fortune teller, an alien Starman, and a benevolent Solomon Grundy round out the cast.
My one quibble with the book is the art. I'm not a huge fan of it, but it did grow on me as the series continued.
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