The Starman series starts off very strong, learning out space as its own animal - a comic book where the central character may engage in super heroics but it's really more about fathers and sons, and the history of their family and their city. This first volume establishes such a distinct voice that it's easy to see how the series became such a formative hit, and had such long running repercussions on the rest of the DC universe. As Sandman crystalized the Vertigo line, Starman was the seed crys...

I read James Robinson's series Firearm as it was being published and it was notable for its noir-ish sensibility and pop-culture-tastic letters page. I was never a big fan of Golden Age heroes including the Justice Society and so I just skipped this series when it came out. It's been critically acclaimed ever since and I thought it high time I start picking up some of the collections to see what's what. This is a six-issue establishing shot and while some of it is a little clunky, Ted Knight is

James Robinson's Starman is a fascinating comic. At first glance, it's yet another DC 1990's invigoration of a classic series by a young and promising British writer, a-la Sandman, Swamp Thing, Shade the Changing Man, Doom Patrol, etc. Unlike all of those titles though, Starman is a straighter superhero book, at least judging by this first volume. Gaiman, Moore, Morrison, Milligan and others all leaned towards more psychedelic and abstract storytelling (with varying results), but Robinson wrote

Some guy was a superhero called Starman once upon a time. Then he got old and one of his sons became Starman. Then that son died and his other son became Starman. But he doesn’t want to be Starman. Uh huh. And this shit gets interesting… when?? For the longest time I’ve heard how Starman is James Robinson’s magnum opus. Don’t believe it - this comic buh-lows! I hated the main character. I have no idea who Starman is and we’re not really told, probably because there isn’t much to tell. Unlike Nei...

So kind of get the tone of this one right off the bat when Starman, david, is shot and killed. Somebody is coming after Ted Knight's kids, the original starman, and trying to murder them. In doing so with David they try to kill Jack too. Luckily Jack is able to escape the clutches of The Mist and his goons. In doing so he's on the run to survive but he can't help but turn to face the enemies eventually as he reluctantly takes up his father's mantel. Good: The tone is near perfect. Just dark enou...

James Robinson's lauded Starman run begins here, and after absolutely loving Stargirl, I thought I'd dig in for some more background reading. It's a bit of a rocky start, if we're being honest.The main problem I have is that the main character is probably the least interesting person in the book. I get that Jack's meant to be unlikeable; he's the black sheep of the family, but it definitely makes it hard to root for him even when he does the right thing.In contrast, the villain The Mist, and the...

When I began my re-read of Transmetropolitan, I worried that I'd remembered it as better than it was. Such was not the case for Starman which is pretty much immediately great. One of the things I loved then and still do now is that it doesn't assume you know a ton of backstory and continuity about the characters or even location. This is due to it being the first really big Starman story after DC's "Crisis on Infinite Earths" reboot, and Robinson basically got to create the character and setting...

I've always been fond of the Britwave movement, not that I'm alone in my appreciation. The great blossoming of American comics after that infusion of European style created some of the most legendary comics and writers of the modern age, like Moore, Gaiman, and Morrison.But there are a lot of other, lesser-known authors who are part of the same movement, some of whom are remarkable and unique in their own right. So, when I heard about Robinson's 'Starman', I was surprised I hadn't heard of it be...

There are very few books or graphic novels that I have more affection for than this particular book. The entire Starman run is near magical in both its style and substance. James Robinson and Tony Harris are both unique talents and they both shine very brightly here. The story is an Art Deco tale of Fathers and Sons and the legacies that are unique to families. It begins with the Death of Jack Knight's older brother, Ted Knights eldest son, at the hands of Ted Knight's oldest enemy. The story un...

The start of one of the great modern comics series sets its stall out right from the beginning. There's the emphasis on characters, their depths, their inherent inconsistencies and their occasional mystery. The plotting is brilliant, flowing naturally and never quite in a linear path. Crucially, Robinson is the master of the dramatic anticlimax: not every crescendo ends in a predictable thunderclap any more than every thunderclap is predicted by a crescendo; things happen if/when they have to, n...

#ThrowbackThursday - Back in the '90s, I used to write comic book reviews for the website of a now-defunct comic book retailer called Rockem Sockem Comics. From the December 1997 edition with a theme of "Offbeat Superheroes":INTRODUCTIONEven though the field of comic books is dominated by superheroes, I have yet to write a column devoted entirely to the superfolk. Well, let's get down to it, bunky. Here are a few of the more interesting supertitles being published. Not the best, mind you, just i...

James Robinson's series was very much under the radar at the time it started, and eventually it became a critical and commercial success. Here in the first volume (there's 10) we meet Jack Knight. Jack deals in collectables, or what his father, a former super hero, calls junk. When his father;s arch foe returns, Jack's brother is murdered, and attempts are made on Jack and his father's life. Jack reluctantly enters the world of the weird, and is a more human character than most in these types of...

Recently I was lucky and foundThe first three volumes of thisSeries at my comic shop in theHalf price bin.I of course had to snatch them up.This book was an amazing step for DC that changed everything.Taking a Golden Agehero and rewriting himfor the present.Ted Knight the original Starmanand his son Jack Knight.Thrust into the role of heroby a maniacs planfor revenge against the STARMAN.Robinson leapt off a cliffinto the deep.Creating a new kind of hero.Robinson rewrote thesuperhero comic making...

James Robinson's Starman exemplifies everything great about superhero comics. A vast history? Check. Great action? You got it. Cool villains? They're here. Awesome art? Present. This first story arc, Sins of the Father, is excellent, and a fantastic introduction to the world of Starman. I have read all of JSA, so I was familiar with Jack Knight, but this book let me see that there was so much more to him. He's a person that readers can connect to with ease, as he also loves to collect comics, as...

Jack Knight is more interested in amassing and trading various collectibles than in picking up his father's mantle and become the next Starman. But when his older brother David is killed, and Opal City is threatened by the machinations of the Mist family, he finds himself taking on a role he never envisioned: that of Superhero...No great connoisseur of comic books, I am usually indifferent to the genre, put off by the feeling of having entered a work in medias res, and uncomfortably aware that t...

I was going to give this a 3, but upped it to a 4 due to the last pages, which really tied everything together. I foresee me bumping this down to a 3 in the future, though.Solid storytelling, a little throughout. As mentioned, the last pages brought everything together. Total 90s book, but great stuff. Family legacy book, sibling jealousy, collector/hoarder porn throughout.Ultimately, though, I don't quite know why my comic book store owner loaned this to me when we were talking about Batman, bu...

My high school had a weirdly huge (possibly complete?) collection of Starman, but I never really read it for whatever reason. It's actually really fascinating - this feels like the missing link between 90s mainline-DC-continuity and 90s Vertigo. The use of color is really beautiful - Opal City is maybe the only place other than Gotham in the DC universe that feels real. Looking forward to picking up more of these.

I picked this collection up just because this Starman made an appearance in the Power of Shazam comics I read recently and one highly dubious letter writer in the back of the book made the comic sound interesting, and I just happened upon it in the library.And it was pretty good! Starman is a junk-dealer turned superhero, though he's less Sanford and Son (which would've ruled) and more hipster pop culture hoarder with a streak of 90's slacksterism. You'd think he'd have designed a better costume...

This trade was recently featured as a book club selection on a comic podcast I listen to (Matt And Brett Love Comics) and seemed the perfect excuse to revisit it.I've lost track of how many times I've read through this series as whole, and this volume in particular (which I first picked up WAY back in 2000 before a trip abroad, knowing nothing about it). What is it about Jack Knight that still remains so relevant and engaging? Obviously, he looks cool (one of two comic characters I've ever put t...

No comic story means as much to me personally as James Robinson's Starman series, which begins in this volume. Jack Knight, iconoclastic son of a retired superhero, is written as a human being with human problems. Throughout the series, he strives to balance the need to live up to his family's heroic legacy with the need to find his own path in life.I've realised that any story where the main character is an outsider trying to find his place in society is a story that will mean a lot to me. That...