I for one would love to revisit this little corner of the DC Universe from time to time. In other words, Robinson gets his fancy writing fix worked out of his system when he’s writing the Shade, and the rest of the comic is much improved because of it.Īfter reading this issue, it becomes apparent that STARMAN, certainly an impressive achievement for its time, still has a richly layered world that is capable of producing some damn entertaining stories. However, within the pages of STARMAN, the Shade becomes the perfect vessel for Robinson’s more florid writing, thus leaving the other characters to speak in more-or-less contemporary English. When he doesn’t have an adequate outlet for all those individual styles, the result is a garbled mess-much like his scripts for SUPERMAN. Unfortunately, he also seems to have a penchant for convoluted prose, flowery descriptions, and British turn-of-the-century Victorian slang. James Robinson has a gift for writing dialogue. As I read this comic, I realized that this one character is what turns Robinson’s writing from maddening to enchanting. The O’Dares, Opal City’s first family of law enforcement, are here, and readers will discover what became of the hinted-at attraction, revealed so many years ago, between Hope O’Dare and the Shade.Īah, the Shade. The Starman museum is seen briefly, filled with reproductions of panels from STARMAN’s 80-issue run (along with an iconic panel from Robinson and Paul Smith’s excellent miniseries THE GOLDEN AGE).
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There’s no Jack Knight, unfortunately-though since the end of his own series found Jack retiring from the superhero business, I suppose it would feel cheap to have him cameo here-but Opal City is here, as much a character as any of the people who wielded Starman’s Cosmic Rod. But for those of us who loved the quirky, layered world of Robinson’s STARMAN, this issue is like a short visit from an old friend. Definitely not for newbies, though-if you never read any STARMAN before, if the names Bobo Benetti and the O’Dares mean nothing to you-let alone David Knight-you’d be better off skipping this one. Though I miss the work of the original artists (Tony Harris’ wonderful cover aside), Dagnino and Sienkiewicz provide moody, scratchy artwork that perfectly complements the plotline of the Black Lantern-empowered David Knight.
Happily, this revisitation to the world of Starman is almost as good as reading the original series. But I have not read any of Robinson’s recent work with anything even coming close to that level of enjoyment, so I had to wonder: would returning to Opal City bring back the old James Robinson, or was the writer whose work I admired as dead as a Black Lantern? The argument has been made that the series (though certainly fresh and unique for the time it was published) doesn’t hold up well upon re-examination, although every so often I pull a stack of issues out of the box and re-read a story arc or two, and for the most part I’m of the opinion that STARMAN’s style of storytelling is still entertaining. I mean, I was and still am a huge fan of Robinson’s STARMAN series from the mid-late 1990s. Given James Robinson’s rather disappointing track record lately, with both his SUPERMAN and JUSTICE LEAGUE scripts falling just short of mediocre, I bought this special BLACKEST NIGHT tie-in comic with more than a little trepidation. (Click title to go directly to the review) STARMAN #81 NEVERLAND #0 STAR WARS: DARK TIMES #15 THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #31 DONATELLO: THE BRAIN THIEF #4 Big Eyes For the Cape Guy presents BOKURANO: OURS CHEAP SHOTS!