This beautiful second of six hardcover volumes of James Robinson's much talked about comic Starman (the second volume of that title) from the mid-90s collects #17–29 and Annual #1 as well as Showcase '95 #12 and Showcase '96 #4–5. Once again primarily pencilled by Tony Harris, but with a lot of additional pencillers contributing, the volume certainly delivers fully on the promise of the first one.It opens up with "Incident in an Old Haunt" from Showcase '95 #12, a brief the Shade story, which he...

There are two major themes in Starman, as I see it: family and nostalgia. And it's used very well in this large collection, in the story with the Wesley Dodds version of Sandman, in the Christmas story that avoids cheese, even in the Shade stories. Shade threatens in every panel to go completely over the top, and he hasn't quite gotten there yet. I've seen this referred to as some of the best of Starman, and I can certainly see that.

This wasn't a come to Jesus moment with Starman so much as it reminded me of the first time I read the first volume of Starman, which was an unmitigated slog. It was long, tedious, and James Robinson's prose was out of control.I must admit that I still find myself drawn to the characters in this book, but it really suffered from lack of Jack. This volume had a lot more of the ensemble thing going on, especially in the back half, which I feel didn't have nearly enough Jack. There was some decent

Jack Knight continues to grow into the legacy of Starman, encountering old friends and foes of his father along the way.As I've said before, the best comics have an underlying theme. Starman has always been about family, with Jack trying to fill the shoes of both his father and dead brother. In this particular volume, Jack continues to learn what a lot of us learn as we get older, that our parents were regular people before we were born.This, the second Omnibus, contains Starman 17-29, Showcase

Just as Startastic as the last volume, plus - there's even a Christmas story.

I have basically one and only one beef with this book, which is that it doesn't say "Omnibus Volume 2" on the cover, just on the inside page, so I thought I was getting volume 1. Whoops. Oh well. Otherwise, this comic is awesome, and I don't think it gets as many mad props as it deserves. If you love superheroes who are also human (but not totally screwed up in a psychotic kind of way), this might be right up your alley. (Although my favorite character is Shade, who is basically a sociopath, but...

After re-reading this recently, I think that this book, only about twenty issues into the series' run, might represent the pinnacle of Starman. Which is not to say that the rest of the run is bad (although I am in the camp that views Tony Harris as the definitive Starman artist, even if he wasn't the artist for the majority of the series' run), but just that I don't know if it ever got as good as the stories in this issue.The "Sand and Stars" arc which showed us the modern day Wesley Dodds and D...

What an exceedingly adequate series this is. I'm two (large) volumes deep and just don't understand all the hype around this series. I guess if I'd read it when it came out I might have some nostalgia for it or something, but as it stands, reading this just feels like I'm reliving someone else's nostalgia. There's lots of putting Gold- and Silver-Age DC on a pedestal, revisiting these times not with a sense of hindsight, but with a sense of reverence that feels cloying and fanboyish.The idea of

Let's start this off with a tl;dr - I don't think this collection is as good as the first collection, but I still think it's a fantastic collection, stories full of heart and reality and a consideration of what the best (and worst) in a human can be. The art continues to be vibrant and pretty awesome, with a fantastic style that really sets it apart from anything else on my shelf.Okay, that out of the way... (view spoiler)[Goodness, I never ever thought I'd find the Christmas issue of a comic to...

This Second Volume of Starman stories really finds Jack Knight coming into his own. The book collects Issues 17-29 and Annual #1 of Starman along with three stories from Showcase '95 and '96.The book has a great amount of balance. The book has some noirish moments and a few edgy stories but at the same time offers up a big helping of nostalgia particularly with flashback stories to Ted Knight, a guest appearance by an aging Wesley Dodds who goes back into action as the Sandman and the book also

This great book continues to be... well... great! A mainstream DC Comics' series that throws all the superhero tropes out of the window, whilst still being deep inside the DC superhero reality! This volume includes a great tie-in with the now aged 'Sandman', Wesley Dodds. 7 out of 12.I read the comic books Starman (season 2) #17-29, Annual #1; relevant stories from Showcase '95 #12, Showcase '96 #4-5

So, in this second collection, that Vertigo spirit is there but something is missing. I can't quite put my finger on Robinson's writing. But in this volume, I'm reminded of Astro City, Sandman, Transmetropolitan... and they all did this thing better. But, I'm also willing to assume that I've lost some of my better reading habits when it comes to long-form comic storytelling! I mean, Immortal Hulk was 50 issues and I couldn't believe a comic could go that long anymore. So, maybe I should just rel...

Acceptably good. More than good.Curious seeing how the Starman Universe and characters are being developed.

This book contains the only Robinson-penned Starman-related stories I think I hadn't read previously - two Shade-focused short pieces that appeared in Showcase '95 (Shade meets Neron, tied to Underworld Unleashed, I assume) and two issues of Showcase '96 (early mention of Culp and his animosity toward Shade; curious that Dr. Fate thought they would meet him - I can't recall the details of Culp's eventual emergence later in the series, but this feels like it doesn't entirely fit for some reason)....

Here we have great developments to the blue guy story... and I really liked it.Also, I think this is the start of the REAL magic of the Starman run: how come James Robinson transformed old and lame characters into awesome characters?Take Wesley Dodds, the old Sandman, story arc. An old guy now, but his thought process is shown here, and his arc striked curiosity inside of me: now I want to know more about the character, and how he was when younger...The christimas story was also fantastic and sh...

The second volume of the Starman Omnibus project, this book contains the material found in the third trade edition ( Starman: A Wicked Inclination ), as well as a number of Tales of Times Past, in which the adventures of Starmen of previous eras are set out. Also included are some entries from the Shade's journal, which appear as a sort of non-illustrated appendix at the rear.From the four installment Stars and Sand story-arc, in which Jack Knight teams up with Sandman Wesley Dodds, to the cla...

While more scattered than the first volume, this collection continues with characteristically strong storytelling and the best arcs yet.Odds and ends first. The Shawacse issues constitute three “Times Past” stories, two about the Shade and one highlighting Ted’s first days in Opal City. It’s nice to have these issues collected, but they’re certainly not the strongest Starman shorts. Still, the Shade two-parter is intriguing for its Doctor Fate cameo and a glimpse of the Shade’s graying morality....

After the strongest first year of any comic book I've ever read, Starman volume 2 flounders a bit by interrupting the continuity with a few too many interludes. Although the separate single issues that act as these interludes are themselves extremely strong, they felt completely unnecessary and made me anxious to get back to the Starman story that had been built up in the previous volume. If that's really my only complaint, I have no complaint. This book loses none of its heart or indie feel. It...

Incident in an Old Haunt (Showcase ‘95 #12). A super-short Shade piece, but it’s nice both to remind us of his core nature and to contrast it with a super-demon [8/10].Encounters (17). There’s a lot to like in this Day in the Life issue, but I think it’s the final couple of pages and Shade’s attitude therein that really make it shine [8/10].Times past: First Joust (18). This is interesting mostly for showing how Ted interacted with Opal City in his time. We didn’t *really* need a full issue to s...

This book gave me a bunch of mixed feelings. There is a lot to like here but I also disliked a large chunk of it as well. By far my favorite segment was the team-up between Jack and Wesley Dodds. Seeing this cross generational team-up was extremely fun. James Robinson still gets overly verbose at times and there are far too many one offs in this collection. Tony Harris's art was missing in quite a few issues here but the art was still decent. Overall, this collection was a step back from the pre...