Customer Reviews

Star Brand Classic - Volume 1 (v. 1)

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"There is a weapon in the universe more powerful than all others. No more coveted, feared, loved, or hated thing exists. Only a fool, or a madman - or the right man - would dare possess... the Star Brand!" Those words open the tale of an everyman granted the powers of a superman.

Ken Connell is an auto mechanic from Pittburgh. He has a girlfriend with two kids who wants him to settle down, and a girl on the side who is completely co-dependent on him. And now he possesses the ultimate weapon in the universe. Does he put on a costume and fly around thwarting evil-doers? Nope. He goes back to work so he doesn't lose his job. He consults his junk-collecting therapist buddy for advice. He tries to lead a normal life until he can decide the best way to use his new power. Good luck.

Jim Shooter and John Romita, Jr. craft an interesting story of a guy who has spent his life playing it safe and just getting by. This guy could be any of us. This book collects Star Brand #1-7, the complete run with the original creators (Shooter & Romita), though Roy Thomas scripted the final issue from Shooter's plot and Alex Saviuk filled in for Romita on #3. You can feel the potential the New Universe had at its inception. Way ahead of its time! Highly recommended!

I was a total mark for the New Universe line-up when it first came out. I was just out of the 6th grade and I loved these comics. I wasn't into the standard Marvel comics (with the execption of The Fantastic Four). Today these comic books are still enjoyable. I wished that the buying public invested more interest into the New Universe series. Sadly, the hardcore fan base wasn't enough to keep it on the shelf. Jim Shooter poured his heart and soul into this series. I really liked the realism of the character of Kenneth Connell. He seemed like your average young douche bag who can never think before he acts. Poor guy never realized what kind of power he had. I'm glad to see that the first seven issues were reprinted because my old issues are real dog-earred.

Marvel's New Universe was intended as a celebration of their 25th anniversary in 1986. This involved the creation of new characters that populated an Earth parallel to the standard Marvel Universe. The New Universe cast superbeings in a somewhat more realistic light; however, it was a spectacular failure from a marketing and financial standpoint. Many regular Marvel readers weren't too enthused and quickly moved on, myself included.

Writer Warren Ellis has brought the property back for the Newuniversal series. Marvel recently released Untold Tales of the New Universe, which presented new stories of many of the original characters, and it is followed by STAR BRAND CLASSIC, collecting issues 1 - 7 of the original series. These issues were written by Jim Shooter, with some assistance from Roy Thomas, and illustrated by John Romita Jr. Not a shabby line-up, by any means, but I never imagined that any New Universe titles would EVER be reprinted. It definitely got my attention, so 20 years later, I wondered: is Star Brand worth my trouble?

After reading this trade, I can say "yes".

When I originally tried these stories back in the '80s, I lost interest quickly - if it didn't wear spandex, it wasn't a character I was interested in. Plus, compared to regular Marvel titles, the action per page ratio wasn't very high. Those NU characters spent more time talking than anything else. Now I can look at Star Brand with a more mature eye and see the appeal. The character is somewhat in the mold of Green Lantern... a strange being grants auto mechanic Ken Connell the power of the Star Brand, a sort of tattoo that confers upon its wearer god-like powers; basically, whatever the wearer can conceive of, he can do. Unfortunately, Ken is more interested in getting into the pants of the various women in his life and doesn't feel the overwhelming need to instantly use this amazing power for a greater purpose. The so-called hero of this title has no real sense of direction and only a slight inclination to use his powers for the good of others. He certainly seems like a loser, and yet, I really got wrapped up in his situation. Why should acquiring great power immediately change someone for the better or the worse? What if they simply remained the poor schlub that they always were? I'll admit that this may not sound like exciting reading, but from a psychological perspective, it's pretty interesting stuff. Plus, this doesn't mean he doesn't get into some crazy, and even catastrophic, situations. Some of the best parts are our getting to see Ken familiarize himself with this incredible power, setting off nuclear-scale blasts and obliterating mountains... on the moon, no less. Then there's his battle with the being who gave him his power, and his one-man attack on a Libyan military installation. That's not so boring, is it? I give Shooter a thumbs up for being able to convey Ken's unheroic personality so well while making it so interesting.

This book was early in JR Jr.'s career, so while it doesn't look exactly like his trademark modern style, you can see some hints of it developing. It's very solid work for the time, and when occasionally inked by Al Williamson, how can you go wrong? If STAR BRAND CLASSIC is any indication of the general feel of the original New Universe, then I'd like to see Marvel put some effort into giving us more reprints. In fact, what really annoyed me about the book itself was that it only contained 7 issues. Granted, these were the only ones with which Shooter and Romita Jr. were involved, but I would have preferred more story for the price, especially since this was a 19-issue series, plus one Annual. Would it really have been that difficult for Marvel to split the whole thing into two trades? I fear that this may be the only trade we see, and that would be a shame. There's more great story to come, especially with John Byrne as writer/artist beginning with issue #11.

When it comes to the New Universe, I must admit I was more a "Justice" fan than a "Star Brand" guy, but taking a look at this collected edition took me back big time.
At first glance, Star Brand is something of a Green Lantern rip-off. The origins of both characters are almost identical, but this notwithstanding, the character is taken in a completely different direction than the high-adventure sci-fi adventures of Hal Jordan. The point of the New Universe was to explore the possibilities concerning what would happen if superheroes existed in the real world. This was an interesting concept that since then has been explored over and over in comicdom, but in the 1980's was considered a little dull. The long and short of it is Star Brand and all its sister titles were ahead of their time. It will be interesting to see if the relaunch title, New Universal, will be a success. Ironically, the characters that were ahead of their time in the 80's may be considered passe in the new millenium, as a more realistic approach has become more the norm in comics today.
Star Brand is the story of Ken Connell, who receives a "weapon" in the form of a tatoo from a dying alien (sound familiar GL fans?) and the course his life takes after gaining posession of this ultimate weapon.
Granted, the story is somewhat dated, the artwork is so 80's it's not funny, and Connell seems to grasp how his new powers work virtually immediately with only rudimentary instruction from his alien benefactor. Still, for fans of the New Universe titles or those who grew up on 80's comics, this is a fun trip down memory lane.