Starman, Vol. 4: Times Past

Starman (1994)

by James Robinson

Tales of four Starmen -- Ted Knight, Jack Knight and two alien Starmen -- are retold in this compelling collection. Features the Justice Society of America, the origins of both the 1940s and modern Starmen, and a tale of the mysterious, centuries-old super-villain the Shade.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Fiction, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

176 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1997

About the author

James Dale Robinson is a British writer of American comic books and screenplays.

Reviews

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great one-shot stories throughout time... they may not star hipster hero Jack Knight, but there is a lot of charm. Reminiscent of Sandman's Fables and Reflections graphic novel collection

[Ignacio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Los fill-ins han sido, tradicionalmente, una jodienda para compradores, al igual que un campo de pruebas ideal para los dibujantes en periodo de fogueo. Sin embargo, en Starman James Robinson les dio un cariz único: todos y cada uno de ellos contribuyeron a tejer la retrocontinuidad de la cabecera; de la familia Knight, de los Starmans anteriores, los O'Dares, Shade... El resultado varía de unas historias a otras. Por ejemplo, John Watkiss depara uno de sus trabajos menos acertados en una historia de Shade que hubiera lucido más en manos de cualquier otro artista de los que que trabajó puntualmente en la serie (Gene Ha, J. H. Williams III). Y Craig Hamilton borda el aire setentero de un relato de invasiones sutiles en un entorno discotequero, con una versión de Mikaal Tomas que lo aleja de la copia del Capitán Marvel Kree que había sido hasta el momento. Así, lo que al principio era un mes "buff, yo quería saber más de Jack Knight" en general se transformaba en "qué historieta más chula de este personaje que hasta ahora me importaba bien poco". Un detalle más que hizo del Starman de Robinson una serie única.

[Daniel Sevitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still working my way through these. This was a nice collection of standalone stories from the early part of the run. The Shade is the narrator for most of these and as the most compelling and consistent character so far, he is welcome in the role. I've picked up the next two volumes already, so I will keep moving forwards with this.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I understand the reasoning of collecting these stories under one volume, but it does almost make me want to pickup the recent hardcover collections so I can read the series in actual order, with these tales of past adventures sprinkled throughout, instead of being read back-to-back.

[Mike Reiff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robinson’s writing is strong in building out his mythos and developing his themes - here across single stories that were released here and there in addition to the main major run. But the art is frequently not good, especially compared to Tony Harris’ work, and without the core characters all the words don’t seem earned.

[Drew Perron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starman is one of those superhero comics that really shows off the strengths of the medium and the genre; a serial story, starting in the modern day and reaching back through centuries, forward through millennia, and sideways across light-years of interstellar space.

Times Past is a collection of self-contained stories that shed further light on these times, places and people. To me, at least, it doesn't seem as strong as the larger narrative arcs - a bit less satisfying, a bit more reliant on shock value and cultural references. That said, it still explores some deeply fascinating stuff, and is an integral part of the story as a whole.

[Travis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice collection of short stories featuring past Starmen and the villain turned occasional hero and all around cool character, the Shade.

Really enjoyed the stories and how Robinson creates a believable fictional city in Opal and gives us bits and pieces of the history of the city and the various Starmen that have acted as its protecter.
Plus, the Shade has become one of my favorite characters.

While I love most of the bigger Starman stories, there's more a sense of fun to these shorter pieces.

[Doyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was wondering why the first three volumes of this TPB series skipped over certain issues. Those missing fill-in issues (and a few extras) are collected here. While it's fun to flesh out some of the back-story, I can't help but think that I might have enjoyed them more if I had read them in the order in which they were originally published. Some of the events referenced in this volume occurred several books ago, and some of the information presented here should have been presented before volumes 2 or 3 (as it would have been had I read the issues chronologically and not the trades).

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would have been four stars -- I adored almost all of the stories, particularly the disco color burst of Mikaal's tale and the Oscar Wilde story -- but the last story left me cold with some bothersome gender tropes and use of fantasy witchcraft. Still, I love these stories overall, and I'm almost sad to encounter them all now, instead of sprinkled throughout the series as they were meant to be.

[Alex E · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of stories all set in the past, which round out the world of Starman.

James Robinson did a smart thing here by slowing down the story and filling in a lot of gaps that maybe we didn't even notice were there. Maybe not gaps, but details that really round out the world of Starman in general. And the way he did it was really clever as well. Shade, the immortal ex-villain has given his journal to Jack Knight (Starman) to read and discover stories and details of the city he calls home. Which again, is a great way to really build on what's already there.

The stories themselves are solid, each one detailing different small adventures of Shade. But it's really the background of each that informs us of Opal City. Or of the original Starman, as he is featured in a few of these. Learning about Jack's dad is actually something that Robinson teases from time to time. And I find it interesting learning not only about his exploits, but about the relationship of Ted Knight and his sons - or lack thereof.

Every series has volumes where the action stops and the story builds, and this one does just that. And does it well.

[James Bowman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice set of flashback stories mostly about past Starmen (Starmans?), as well as one story featuring the Shade. My favorites were the ones featuring the original Starman, particularly his first duel with the Mist, but the story featuring Prince Gavyn was rather good too. (Least favorite was the 1970s one with Mikaal Tomas.) (A-)

[Brian Rogers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a weird decision to put all the Times Past stories in one book rather than in the order they appeared. It's like kids these days not realizing the songs on the album are ordered to produce a certain sequence of moods. Have I shown you my vinyl collection?

Anyway, these stories are all individually good, but better read in sequence.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are short stories that embellish the over all arc on Jack's saga. Narrated by Shade as he was there in the past. Maybe not in the same location, but he was privy to first hand sources.
Also note the are pages of text like they were out of Shades journals.

[Tyler Marsolais · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really cool. Could do without the pages of words

[Siobhan J · Rating 5 out of 5]

I (re)read these as singles. Again, the collections for Starman are from the nineties and so not standardised at ALL (and Goodreads, bless them, is not providing clear information as to how the stories are actually split up) so I am having to make some on the fly decisions as to how to review them. XD I’ve decided to contain my reviews of all the more one off stories from #18-#29 in this collection.

The Original Starman V the Original Mist - I am so sorry your dad fucked that guy, Jack.

The Annual - the space opera fascinated me with its daring, but admittedly I did not care overmuch. I really, REALLY liked the more noirish second story.

Yo, David - I went on an whole ARC with this story. This is weird?? -> Oh, this is WEIRD :DD -> OH MY GOD JACK ;;. Like, the end few panels of this story really just got me so much. Absolutely beautiful.

Jack Befriends Santa (sort of) - JACK YOU UTTER SWEETHEART YOU. ;; His true superpower? The friends he made along the way.

Mikaal backstory - I LOVED the colours and vividness of this, and the story was pretty cool too!

Jack befriends Bobo - absolutely adored this one! The full reveal of what The Mist did to Jack… Jack’s feelings on everything… How great the Bobo story was… The absolutely hilarious moment when Jack bursts in to stop Bobo robbing a bank, and they both find another bank robbery in progress… What an absolutely great issue, I loved it. <33

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

A friend of mine is trying to get me back into comic books (and let's be honest, this isn't a graphic novel, it's a thick, expensive comic book). I fell out of love with comic book reading when I was in middle school when comic books started getting all dark and angst-ridden. I stuck for a while to Archie comics but... well, I grew up to big girl books with chapters.

I'd never heard of Starman (other than the movie). He wasn't invented until I was already done with comics.

The art in this book is beautiful for the most part. The only thing was I think the children were just creepy looking.

The stories, though, were angst-ridden and dark. I'm neither. It's not my thing. If I wanted angst-ridden and dark, I'd spend more time with my students. They are at seriously angsty-age (11-14) where everything "sucks." <--I hate that word.

My friend hasn't changed my mind yet about comic books: too dark and angst-ridden.

[Armand · Rating 4 out of 5]

this review contains spoilers!
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Another blast in the Starman series. This one focuses on stories of the "Starmen" of the past, including Jack Knight's father (Ted), Michael Thomas, and a few others including one alien Starman who never even got to Earth.

Highlights (and great moments) include: A duel to the death at a disco; Jack's dad kicking ass in the 1930's; The Shade being scary as hell; a cameo appearance by Oscar Wilde; a real life witch with a gun; and (finally) The Shade being very cheerful.

A must for any Starfan!

[Roberto Diaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Collection of sigle stories set in Times Past, that set its purpose and shed light into the key players in the Starman Universe. Art is mild to good, and its refreshing to see somonother artists than Tony Harris (which I have no complains about) tackle on this characters and world, and also serves to visually separate the events in the timeline.

Must-read for people that dig Robinson's run on the character. But no a jumping on point.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of one shot issues where creators James Robinson and Tony Harris use the past to illuminate more about the history of Opal City (as much a character in the series as any person) and some of the series supporting characters.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disjointed collection of "in-between" stories... those one-off stories that run between major arcs in the Starman comic.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good bit less compelling than the first trades. Looking forward to getting back to Jack and his story.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

some parts of it were really good, some parts of it weren't so great. Depends on which story you were reading of this volume. All the parts with The Shade were great.

[Jamie Manley · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 and a half stars.