My first exposure to Starman came about when I was first getting into comics. As I recall I was in my local comic book
store fishing through The Quarter Bins. Primarily the final resting
place of whatever Bad-Girl books with a dozen variant covers the owner
had over-ordered the previous year, The Quarter Bins still yielded the
occasional treasure.
It was here, digging through several dozen copies of Danger Girl, where I stumbled across a copy of Starman
#29. With a cover painted – yes, painted! – by Tony Harris, it was
unlike anything I’d ever seen before in a comic and the interior work
was just as impressive. I must have
starred at it for quite some time, broken from my reverie by the
scornful snort of one of the shop employees – the one whose tastes were
diametrically opposed to my own.
“You WOULD like that one. The main guy? He sounds like you.”
His disdain was all the invitation I needed to spend 25 cents. Thankfully, Starman
#29 turned out to be a prefect jumping-on issue, aimed at bringing new
readers up to speed on The Story So Far. And as promised the main
character, Jack Knight, did indeed sound like me.
Jack was a self-proclaimed geek, “more in love with
yesterday than tomorrow.” Jack’s humor tilted in favor of heavy sarcasm
and obscure pop-culture references that went over most people’s heads.
He was verbose, inclined to using a dozen words when one would do. He
was also, I realized sometime later, a bit of a jerk. That revelation
helped me to recognize my own character flaws and inspired me to correct
them.
Even without that, I can honestly say without any hyperbole that Starman
changed my life. While other series brought me into comics, Starman
kept me in them. It gave me a penname and a nickname. Jack Knight was
my first cosplay. And after a decade of reading comics and writing
about comics, it’s still my favorite series of all time.
What’s it about?
Our story begins in the gloriously Art Deco town of Opal
City. We’re introduced to Jack Knight – a Bohemian artist and
collectibles shop-owner who never got along with his scientist father,
Ted Knight, or his athletic older brother, David Knight. Jack was just
as happy to stay out of the family business of protecting Opal City
using his father’s starlight-fueled inventions as David was happy to
take up their father’s mantle as the superhero Starman. But when David
is killed and Ted left hospitalized as a result of a crime spree
orchestrated by The Mist – Starman’s arch-enemy – Jack reluctantly
assumes his father’s role as Opal City’s protector.
Aiding Jack in his new job are The O’Dares – a quintet of
cops, all the children of legendary local beat-cop Billy O’Dare, who was
the closest thing Ted Knight had to a partner. Guiding Jack in his
assumption of the hero’s mantle is The Shade – a mysterious immortal and
sometimes super-villain, who makes his home in Opal City and wishes to
see it well protected… so long as nobody expects him to do the
protecting. As the series progresses, Jack will grow into his father’s
shoes, become a true hero, find the love of his life, meet the other
heroes who bore the name Starman, journey into space, travel back in
time and even become a better person.
Notable Notes
There are many reasons why Starman
is notable but I’m going to focus upon three of them – the colorful
cast of characters, the wonderful creative teams and the theme of
transformation.
I’ve already spoken a bit about how unique Jack Knight was
as a protagonist but that difference extends to the rest of the
supporting cast. Jack’s mentor The Shade is an unapologetic villain yet
he aids Jack in protecting Opal City because of his personal vow to
commit no crime there and see to the peace of his own home – presumably
even super-criminals want a nice neighborhood to live in! Each of the
five O’Dare cops have a unique personality. And that’s just the main
cast. I could write for pages about all the interesting incidental
characters like the ghost pirate John Valor or Rat-Pack loving bank
robber Jake “Bobo” Benetti. Even the random thugs break the mold,
arguing over which Sondheim musical was the best instead of the more
usual sports-related minion chatter.
Artistically, Starman has a unique
aesthetic, thanks to the efforts of some truly legendary creators. Like
Metropolis and Gotham City, Opal City has a unique feel to it that
makes it as much a character as the people who inhabit it. This is due
to the Art Deco designs of artist Tony Harris. Harris also painted the
covers for most of the issues of the original comics as well as crafting
original paintings for most of the soft-cover and all of the hard-cover
collections of the series. Though he only penciled the interiors of a
little over half the series, Starman is as much Harris’ child as it is James
Robinson’s. Tribute must also be paid to David S. Goyer, who assisted
Robinson with writing several issues. Goyer is most famous today for
his work as a screenwriter on various superhero movies, including
Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy and Man of Steel.
Thematically, the book is all about the ability we all have
to change ourselves for the better. This is virtually unheard of in
superhero comics, where most of the characters are static and their
personalities unchanging. The series is primarily about Jack’s
transformation from a self-absorbed fanboy into a hero and a decent
human being. And yes, there is a difference between the two. As one of
Jack’s ex-girlfriends notes, “You may be a hero, Jack Knight, but that
still doesn’t make you a nice person.” This theme also extends to most
of the series’ main characters, who change for the better as the story
progresses.
I’m hard pressed to think of one story arc out of dozens to
hold up as the best or most memorable. But if I had to pick one, I’d
say Sand And Stars – an arc collected in The Starman Omnibus: Volume 2.
I picked this one for two reasons. The first is that this is the arc
that won Robinson and Harris an Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story.
The second is that this story contains a line, thought by retired
superhero Wesley Dodds (a.k.a. The Sandman)
as he watches Jack Knight fly into battle, that I think sums up the
appeal of adventure fiction in three short sentences. “He’s in danger.
He may die. And I envy him the thrill of it.”
Significance
Starman came about because writer James Robinson wanted to establish a common mythology for every character published by DC Comics
who ever used the codename Starman. When the series started in 1994,
there had been six separate heroes who had used the name and only two of
them had any link to one another. Starman was meant to create those missing connections.
Starman was also significant for promoting the glorious past of DC Comics
at a time when the American comics industry seemed to be abandoning
their roots in favor of books centered upon violent anti-heroes. As
part of the series, James
Robinson penned a number of flashback stories known as Times Past,
which told epic tales in a modern style using the characters and
trappings of yesteryear. This proved the value of the early superheroes
and the relevance of their morality to the modern world.
In many ways, Starman predated Kingdom Come
in rejecting the values of The Dark Age and introducing the
storytelling techniques common to The Modern Age. If it hadn’t been for
Starman, it’s unlikely we would have had a revival of the Justice Society of America and the heroes affiliated with that group in the pages of JSA. There’s also a chance that Geoff Johns – DC Comics current Chief Creative Officer – would have had a markedly different career path as his first professional comics work – Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. – was created with input from James Robinson and spun out of Starman.
Appeal
It’s difficult to suggest an ready-made audience for Starman
as the people I know who enjoy the series besides myself are as
eclectic as the series itself and defy easy classification. It’s a
superhero book but it’s unlike any other superhero series I can think of
and I can’t see your average X-Men fan seeing the
appeal. Fans of Golden Age comics will find a lot to enjoy, though.
There are elements of the series that will likely appeal to fans of
science-fiction (particularly the Stars My Destination arc) but it isn’t
entirely a science-fiction series, being closer to classic Doctor Who in tone than Star Trek.
I would instead recommend this series to fans of quirky
dialogue and unusual characters in general. If you enjoy Jerry
Seinfeld’s talking about nothing, Christopher Moore novels, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Michael
Stipe’s music or Chuck Klosterman’s essays, there’s a fair chance
you’ll enjoy Jack’s dialogue and adventures. I’d also recommend the
series to anyone who is a collector, whether it be of comics, tin signs,
baseball cards, Barbie dolls or anything that anyone might consider
cool and put on a shelf. You’re likely to find a kindred spirit in Jack
Knight as I did.
I consider this series a must-read for all graphic novel
enthusiasts 16 and up. That age restriction is due less to the content
(though there are a few graphic deaths, a fair bit of innuendo and
suggested nudity) and more to the fact that a certain level of maturity
is needed to appreciate the growth of the characters as well as some of
the dramatic situations and most teenagers lack the patience to muddle
through the talky bits between the action scenes.
Why should you own this?
Historically, Starman is an important
series for students of the genre to study. It’s an award-winner,
frequently held up as a source of inspiration by many of today’s most
popular graphic novel
writers and artists. It’s also a damn fine read on its own terms.
With the recent Omnibus collection of the series – currently available
in its entirety in Hardcover with paperback editions on the way –
there’s no excuse for a library NOT to have this series in their adult graphic novel collection, in my professional opinion.
Starman Omnibus (hardcover)
- Volume 1 – 9781401216993
- Volume 2 – 9781401221942
- Volume 3 – 9781401222840
- Volume 4 – 9781401225964
- Volume 5 – 9781401228897
- Volume 6 – 9781401230449
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