Great
Comic Writing and Why You Must Read Starman Omnibus Volumes I & II.
Praise. Not something you hear a lot from this column often, but there are those rare times when it is well justified. Writers, artists, storylines — it’s when these three components are going on all cylinders that you know you have a jewel of a book.
Such is the case with the Starman Series. Having read the entire series in first run, I can’t think of a more complete and satisfying heroes journey in a comic book series — ever. Here it is, over a decade later and I can still remember some great character and story arcs throughout the series. This was a book that took readers through decades of forgotten heroes/villains, dangling plot lines, dated storylines and second-tier characters of the DCU to weave a grand tapestry of the past, present and future for one of DC’s original superhero legacies.
James Robinson is due a tremendous credit for his effort. As the sole writer for the entire series which ran over eighty issues, he had the vision and craft to plunder the odds and ends of DCU history collecting dust and fashion the living, breathing world of Opal City. He populated this rare canvas with the principle reluctant hero, Jack Knight (son of the original Golden Age Starman) and with a wide reaching cast of supporting characters from the Starman’s mythos spanning over sixty years of DC continuity.
From a family of Opal City cops, ghosts of dead obscure superheroes and villains of bygone eras, carnie folk, pirates, gun slingers, hired muscle, the JSA, Solomon Grundy and rulers of distant planets, Robinson breathes life into the most antiquated of Golden Age characters and provides a diversity of character voices to flesh out Opal City and the Starman legend.
Unlike most solo superhero books, the charm of this book really comes from the fact that Jack Knight functions more as a member of an ensemble cast rather than the central focus of the series. Robinson words coupled with the dark, noir tones of artwork by Tony Harris, gives Opal City a truly distinct look and feel that resonates through the character arcs, twisting plots and the grand storylines.
Robinson launched Starman right after his flashback Elseworld’s tale “The Golden Age” featuring Golden Age JSA and All Star Squadron members and through the success of Starman was able to bring the JSA back into active publication. I would highly recommend “The Golden Age” as a great read and as a loose primer TPB for those not familiar with the Justice Society of America’s (JSA) rich long history. If you can’t find the numerous soft cover TPB’s of the Starman series, I suggest you get your copy of Starman Omnibus I & II today.
