Customer Reviews

Starman Omnibus Vol. 3

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James Robinson's famous "Starman" series hits its middle period in this collection, the third of six planned volumes that will cover the entirety of its 80-issue run (volume 4 currently scheduled for early 2010, incidentally). We're nearing the end of the art contributions of Tony Harris, the artist whose work on the first half of the series defined the characters' world. This volume collects issues 30-38 of the regular series, as well as two specials and the four-issue "The Shade" miniseries focussing on the book's most notable supporting castmember. Spoilers follow.

The collection opens with the aforementioned Shade miniseries, illustrated by a grab-bag of artists, beginning with Gene Ha (best known for Alan Moore's "Top 10"). Shade has a fairly lengthy history dating to the early 19th century, and Robinson chooses as the plot his running rivalry with a family of thieves, the Ludlows, who pursue Shade generation after generation, few of them coming anywhere close to their goal. It's an interesting choice of story; apart from the Shade's occasional use of powers, and a story set in the period when he was acting as a villain to the Golden Age Flash, there's very little in the way of the fantastic to be found here, instead mostly straight historical drama. Robinson knows how to make the Shade a character with a lot of style regardless of whether he's being a hero or a villain, and this story is in many ways the most satisfying.

In the main series, the series is at a midway point between story arcs, nothing matching the Eisner-winning "Sand and Stars" found in the previous volume. There are a couple of issues dedicated to supporting characters in order to establish future plot points: one on the history of a previous Starman (Robinson is always anxious to include all of the many men who have used the name over DC's publishing history; only the Manhunter identity comes close to having as many), another picking up on the thread of the Mist's psychotic daughter Nash, the mother of Jack Knight's child. My personal favourite part of this collection, though, is "Starman Annual #2", an extended look at the romantic relationship between Jack and a girl named Sadie, told from Sadie's perspective. Included are various anecdotes on superhero relationships featuring both Jack's father and his brother, showing what the job potentially caused them to give up.

James Robinson is at his peak here as a writer, delivering textured and very real main characters. Jack is, as the foreward notes, far more human than a lot of superheroes. He can be a bit of a pretentious ass on occasion, but I can relate. Ted Knight gets less focus here than in past volumes, apart from the aforementioned "Annual", which has a very interesting story about his history with the Golden Age Black Canary (Robinson would go on to revive the Justice Society in the modern era, and a lot of the characters and tropes that would be used there are seen in gestation in this series). Robinson's unique dialogue style, laden with obscure cultural references, is likewise quite fun to read.

Not the best part of "Starman", but still very much worth your time.

Throughout my fledgling years of comic book reading/collecting in the 90s, I would read about Starman, the Gen X hero that didn't wear a costume or belong to a team, but I never wanted to sacrifice my X-Men comics to try it out.

Now older, and with a little more disposable income than my 16-year-old self, I've had the good fortune to give the book a chance, now collected in the omnibus format. The book is positively enthralling! James Robinson and Tony Harris made Opal City into a character all its own, at times more compelling than the main character. Which isn't to say Jack Knight isn't a compelling character, far from it. The entire cast of characters, new and already established, is a treat, from the morally apathetic Shade to the law-enforcing O'Dare clan.

In this volume Tony Harris has really hit his stride. Each character has a clearly defined look so as to be easily identifiable without any other indications. And the Opal itself comes more and more into focus, with it's traditional French quarter, the Alleys, and even the outlying Turk County having a distinct character all their own.

It's a testament to Robinson's writing that in my mind, I can't distinguish actual pictures of the city from the descriptions the Shade gives in his journals throughout the volume. Normally I'd only give these passages a quick skim, but the Shade is just too fun to read. Speaking of, we're treated to a big chunk of origin for the character in the form of his mini-series, also included in the volume. It's nice to see where the ambiguity of the character stems, while still leaving much of his origin a mystery.

I cannot recommend this book enough to people that enjoy good comics or good stories in general, and I'm looking forward to volume 4, and the completion of the series in the next year.