Often, supervillains are what makes the world of a superhero interesting. Good must be counterbalanced by evil – it’s the way it always has been in comic books. But during the 1980s, a kind of emotional metamorphosis emerged, one whereby the heroes aren’t the purest of pure, and the villains are even more terrifying and shocking than before. Watchmen and The Dark Knight Return spring to mind, whereby writers Moore and Miller question whether characters like Doctor Manhattan or Batman have the right to call themselves heroes, and whether villains like the Joker are too evil to live. The dark age of comics – arguably an era which continues to this day – marked a significant change in the medium. But this change was not exactly universal. Some titles and writers either ignored the wave of darkness or didn’t allow their titles to become submerged in its deep waters – Starman is one of those. With his cinematic writing style and great use of dialogue and relationships, Robinson combines these modern qualities of writing with the features of old. With the original Mist – the villain who fought Ted Knight’s Starman in the golden age – suffering from senility, his daughter is the one to pick up the torch. The battle between Nash and Jack Knight is a 1990s version of the battles fifty years prior, and although Robinson doesn’t transform a brighter world of comics into something so relentlessly dark, the world of Starman is a wonderful combination of the golden and dark ages…
Starman (vol 2) 12-19 was published from October 1995 to June 1996. Written by James Robinson, with art by Tony Harris, Wade Von Grawbadger, Tommy Lee Edwards, Stuart Immonen, Chris Sprouse, Andrew Robinson, Gary Erskine, Amanda Conner, and John Watkiss. These stories have been reprinted in the excellent Starman Omnibuses, collecting in volumes one and two.
Sins of the Child --- Written by James Robinson with art by Tony Harris, Wade Von Grawbadger, Tommy Lee Edwards, Stuart Immonen, Chris Sprouse, Andrew Robinson, Gary Erskine, Amanda Conner
Starman (vol 2) 12-16 features Jack Knight’s first battle with the main villain of the whole run. After escaping from prison in a previous issue, Nash returns to seek vengeance for her brother Kyle, who Jack killed in Starman (vol 2) 3. It’s this point which Robinson strangely ignored or didn’t put much focus on – was Starman right to kill Kyle? Well, Robinson returns to that point at the start of Starman (vol 2) 12. With the story beginning just after Ted and Jack leave the courthouse, the latter is cleared of murder. Although Robinson perhaps should have included this storyline a little more during previous issues – after all, being accused of murder isn’t exactly small fry – it’s interesting to see the inner-conflict within Jack as he grapples with the struggles of being a superhero. It makes for a good introduction to a story filled by vengeance and anger. That emotion takes its form in a murder spree – Nash goes around Opal City killing seemingly random people while simultaneously searching for something of importance. While much of the details remain cloudy, suddenly the story shoots along as Jack Knight is knocked unconscious and awakens in Nash’s bed totally naked. To punish Jack for killing her brother, Nash has kidnapped Jack’s friends and scattered them across the city, leaving the hero to find his friends and survive Nash’s henchmen. Nash’s goal as a villain is not to kill, but to torture. And since these characters are now familiar to us and we’ve grown fond of them, the weight of the drama is heavier.
But ultimately – despite its length at five issues – Sins of the Child has little plot. Similar events occur in each of the issues, but with different characters. Starman (vol 2) 12-15 chronicles the events that led up to the individual characters being kidnapped by Nash. While Jack Knight is the focus of the first part, Starman (vol 2) 13 – after reconveying and adding a degree more to Jack and Ted’s courtroom discussion - focuses on the elderly original Starman. Although not one of the few to be kidnapped, Ted is hunted in his home by a villain hired by Nash. But this foe is no ordinary thug, but rather Doctor Phosphorus. Why Nash hires Doctor Phosphorus instead of another random criminal is never really explored, but it’s a nifty move. But the chances are that Doctor Phosphorus was probably forced upon Robinson by the DC editors because this issue is a tie-in to Underworld Unleashed, the widespread 1995 crossover event whereby supervillains receive revamped superpowers. Regardless, Robinson writes some intense scenes - aided by Gregory Wright’s colouring which greys out everything but the flames of Doctor Phosphorus’s body – whereby Ted hides before unleashing a liquid coolant (which Ted just so happens to dedicate a whole room to) on the foe. Ted escapes nearly unharmed, aside from a few scratches and burns. Robinson, ever the long-term planner and scripter, ensures that those injuries will have consequences far in the future…
Starman (vol 2) 14 shifts back from the Knights and onto Opal City. Brought to chaos by Nash, the city is protected by the O’Dare police family. Although Robinson writes a few scenes where we learn more about the individual characters of some of the family here, the real feature of the story is Opal City. In the afterword of the first omnibus from 2008, Robinson wrote “Creating Opal City was the most fun creatively I think I’ve ever had.” For some writers, the city may be a simple setting – an area to facilitate the action. But for Robinson, Opal is the action. Throughout the issue, Robinson conveys how the Mist’s destruction has affected the lives of Opal’s citizens. One man, suffering from depression, helps rescue a pet for his neighbour, believing that nobody should have to suffer the loss he has felt. Meanwhile, another is a relatively new mother who Robinson paints so casually and peacefully only for the Mist to kill her. These moments are emotionally gut-wrenching. Not only is the Mist portrayed to be cruel villain who readers would naturally dislike, but the personalities within Opal City are explored and take centre stage. This, combined with the absence of Jack Knight, conveys Opal City at its creative best, but the Mist at her villainous worst.
Starman (vol 2) 15 focuses on two of the newer characters introduced to the run. Mikaal Tomas, still not uttering a word after he first appeared in Robinson’s saga in Starman (vol 2) 7, has become good friends with Solomon Grundy, now somewhat pacified after befriending the Knights in a previous story. But with the Mist capturing and torturing them both, the issue is relentlessly dark and grim. The thugs aren’t exactly the most interesting characters, but we are forced to watch as two likable personalities are treated so terribly. But these pages of bloodletting have a purpose. At the end of the issue, something snaps within Mikaal. He bellows an alien cry and suddenly, the building they are in explodes. Another piece of the puzzle surrounding Mikaal is placed, but what it means is – currently – anyone’s guess.
So with the differing perspectives Robinson has shown, Starman (vol 2) 16 rounds it all up. Jack comes face-to-face with Nash after all the destruction. The Mist admits she doesn’t want to kill Starman – she wants him to suffer slowly before unleashing her greatest scheme against him. Jack does manage to strike an agreement with the Mist, whereby the villain will only hold Jack in her sights and not anyone else. The relationship between the Mist and Starman is heavily one-sided – the former’s obsession with the latter is overpowering and dramatic, making sense only for the purposes of revenge. But cleverly, Robinson doesn’t drown us in the Mist. She appears very rarely during the run, but the knowledge of her return sometime in the future means she is always a threat. Sins of the Child provides us with a simple taster of the true power of the Mist and her hatred of Jack, but it also paints her more emotionally. The reasoning behind her killings in the earlier pages of the story was not simply to displease Starman, but to quest for a medal her father won in the First World War. We are shown two sides to her character here, but whatever complexities of her personality will have to wait until later. The Mist vanishes, promising to return in eleven months’ time. Oddly specific. Anyway, with sanity returned to Opal, Doctor Phosphorus behind bars, and Mikaal and Grundy found alive under the rubble of the building, the Mist’s tornado has passed. Still, you do wonder why the Shade doesn’t turn up much at all here. But Sins of the Child works greatly because it doesn’t have a dull structure. With this plot, it could last really about two issues, but since Robinson adds more characters and builds greatly on Opal City, it fully deserves to be five issues. It is a significant story, but that’s really not because of anything that happens in it. It’s more so because Robinson teases the true power of the Mist and what she has in store for Starman. Perhaps – to add to this suspense and weight – a character should have been killed off and then Jack could have become more emotive, but as it stands, the Mist is planted firmly as the key antagonist of the run.
Tony Harris and Wade Von Grawbadger had a mighty task on their hands for this one. With a wide array of characters and places, it’s the most impressive the duo’s art has looked thus far. The inks look beautifully polished while the storytelling shines. Some scenes – like Ted’s battle with Doctor Phosphorus – look stunning and flow fantastically. It’s helped massively too by Gregory Wright’s colouring, much of it in block colours, but it is subtle enough never to be overpowering. The third issue of the story is drawn by a selection of other artists, some of whom produce some decent pages, while others appear a bit too sloppy. The art there is okay, but not as high-quality as the ever-rising-in-quality work of Harris and Von Grawbadger.
Encounters --- Written by James Robinson with art by Tony Harris and Wade Von Grawbadger
After a multi-part tale, it’s always good to have a few one-offs. Starman (vol 2) 17 deals partly with the aftermath of the Mist’s war on Opal City, but there is also the emergence of a ghostly figure named the Black Pirate – more will come of him later. But in terms of the characters, there are two focuses. The first focus is, of course, Jack Knight. We witness as his love life with a girlfriend collapses in two or so pages as she grapples with her career and growing dislike of Jack. Although we have been following for nearly twenty issues at this point, it still feels like we don’t really know him that well. Although it’s good that Robinson hasn’t revealed everything too soon, I want more. Where are some of the stories of his past? Or how his personality has changed not just since he became Starman, but before it? Does he have any memories as a child first discovering his father’s heroism and passion as Starman? All this remains a mystery, and it’s about time we learn more about the protagonist. It’s also time we learned more about the O’Dares, a family of interesting personalities who haven’t enjoyed much time in the spotlight thus far. The exception to that is Matt O’Dare, a cowboy style copper bitten with the bug of vigilantism. There is certainly more coming from him, and Robinson sets the final pieces on the stage for a story he has been teasing at for some time – the devilish poster stealing the living from the streets. With this issue, the Shade and Matt O’Dare enter the poster. Their fate is to be revealed later, Although Robinson always uses these one-offs effectively to introduce or develop ongoing stories or characters, it does seem that some of the ongoing personalities need more time in the spotlight. There may be many more issues coming, but it’s about time we learned more.
With some more shadowy scenes, the Shade, and a poster sending innocents to some kind of hellish realm. Tony Harris and Wade Von Grawbadger are in their element.
First Joust --- Written by James Robinson with art by John Watkiss
Here it is – another Times Past tale. Standing always as highlights in the run where Robinson can explore characters and the past, Starman (vol 2) 18 is set during the golden age and presents readers with Ted Knight’s first confrontation with the Mist.
A deadly villain who unleashes knock-out gas to commit theft, the Mist is a cunning foe indeed. But as with many of those villains from the forties, Robinson writes with them both menace and honour. These were the days when supervillains had class and played by a vague set of rules – rules against excessive killing or deception. The Mist, while definitely more threatening than most villains during this era, corresponds to that and Robinson shines writing in this style. As you’d except, the ending contains Starman beating the Mist, but the writer leaves with a clever insert. Throughout, Starman works alongside five people as they collaborate to defeat the Mist – it’s these five people whom Nash kills in the first part of the Sins of the Child. This is a very nice touch, making the Times Past issues feel relevant to the mainstream issues. Compared to the fate of Ragdoll in Starman (vol 2) 11, in which all the details of the story were revealed in a previous issue taking place during the present, this Times Past works brilliantly because it unleashes new plot and great surprises.
With Harris and Von Grawbadger always absent for the Times Past issues, John Watkiss provides the art. Overall, it’s just about okay. The colouring suits a golden age story perfectly, and while the storytelling is nice, the inking is a bit too heavy and sloppy at times. It’s nothing terrible, but perhaps it could have been better.
Talking with David ’96 --- Written by James Robinson with art by Tony Harris and Wade Von Grawbadger
As with tales of Times Past, the Talking with David issues can be waited for with equal excitement. Starman (vol 2) 19, returning us to the greyscale world of the deceased David Knight, Jack meets his brother on a lone pirate ship out in the sea. These issues make for great opportunities where both the star characters and the readers can catch up and reflect on recent events in the title. But alongside this and usual glorious banter between brothers who loathed one another in life, there are also a revelation or two which may shake things up when Jack returns to the world of colour. For instance, unlike Jack, David knows that Solomon Grundy killed Skyman, once the Star-Spangled Kid. Moments like this reveal how secretive and unwilling to talk about the past Ted Knight can be. After all, he has been looking after Grundy for some time and he didn’t even mention Skyman’s death. Despite all of this, the Talking with David issues are a chance for the two brothers to have some fun, something they never had previously. The two brothers fight a skeleton crew abroad another ship. Aside from some pretty unreadable pirate-esque captions written by Robinson which go on forever, it leaves the story on a high note – but not the highest. That comes when colour suddenly appears in the world and Jack, for the first time in years, comes face-to-face with his deceased mother. We see nothing of their conversation, but it’s stories like this that make you appreciate the people you have in life and how you must cherish your memories of them. Jack Knight is uniquely given the opportunity to speak to those we have lost – it’s his joy and sadness in these stories which make them great.
The monochrome appearance of this world is conveyed brilliantly by Harris and Von Grawbadger, and aided by the fact that only David is in colour. The scenes of action are told with excitement, and the moments of dialogue are conveyed with emotion. This emotion reaches its climax when Jack’s mother appears at the end; all of the sudden the world brightens into colour. This reflection of Jack’s inner-feelings proves just how effective the artistic direction and team on Starman are.
VERDICT
Overall, Starman (vol 2) 12-19 make for some near-faultless issues. Sins of the Child is a wonderful story with such a wide selection of characters and focuses that it really leaves a memorable impact. Encounters is a decent one-off with some nice moments, but clearly the weakest of the batch. Meanwhile, we have a great Times Past tale and a fantastic Talking with David. A strange side of me wishes to say that this is the height the run reaches, but it doesn’t. The best is still yet to come!
Next Week: Starman: Sand and Stars (Starman (vol 2) 20-26). Written by James Robinson with art by Tony Harris, Wade Von Grawbadger, Guy Davis, Chris Sprouse, Ray Snyder, J.H. Williams III, Gary Erskine, and Mick Gray.
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