Dark X-Men #3 & Blackest Night Starman #81!

Thankfully my package of comic books arrived in the mail today, giving me something to review tonight. First off, I have to say, this was one hell of a good haul! Besides the two books I'm checking out tonight, I also have REBELS #12, Streets of Gotham #8, Batgirl #6, Blackest Night Catwoman #83 and several other really good books waiting in the wings! This should be a really good week of comic book reading for me. But before I get to those books, I have Dark X-Men #3 and Starman #81 to get to first... My all-time favorite comic book character appears in Dark X-Men and my all-time favorite comic book series gets resurrected in Starman... I literally feel like a kid on Christmas morning looking at the covers of these two comic books! I'm giddy with anticipation! Alright, enough hype, it's time to dig in!

Dark X-Men #3(of 5): Writer: Paul Cornell. Pencils: Leonard Kirk.

This issue begins with X-Man(Nate Grey)breaking into Avengers Tower to confront Norman "Marvel" Osborn about the way he's been running the Marvel Universe since Nate's "death". Upon entering the building, Nate runs into Venom, and makes quick work of him. The Dark X-Men arrive on the scene and are surprised to learn that Nate's attack coincided with their arrival at Avengers Tower. Mystique is ready to go rushing into the fight, but the other members of the team aren't exactly chomping at the bit. Omega is afraid that he may begin to absorb Nate's powers, which wouldn't be a good thing for Omega's mind, Mimic wants to get close enough to Nate to take his powers so he can sample Nate's precognitive abilities, while Dark Beast would rather just observe the fight from the sidelines, which is exactly what the team decides to do. With Venom down and out, Osborn and the entire Dark Avengers team confronts Nate. Right off the bat, Nate tricks Sentry into leaving the battle, thus removing Osborn's most powerful weapon from the battlefield. Nate then offers the Dark Avengers the opportunity to join with him to oppose Osborn, but Ares and the rest of the Dark Avengers decide to take the battle to Nate. While Nate battles the Dark Avengers, the Dark X-Men watch the battle unfold from the sidelines and debate what course of action they should take. Unfortunately for Omega, he gets too close to the fight and begins to absorb Nate's massive powers, going temporarily insane in the process. Omega crashes into Nate and Ares, which gives Bullseye enough time to pull a knife with the intention of killing Nate off, once and for all. Mimic, still wanting to use Nate's powers, knocks the knife away from Bullseye and grabs a hold of Nate, duplicating his powers. Before Nate's powers can overwhelm Mimic, Nate steps outside of time with Mimic and the two discuss whether or not the future that Mimic saw when he first used Nate's powers(back in Dark X-Men #1)could be changed. Before Nate could fully answer the question, they are interrupted by Ares, who as a god is able to follow them outside the time stream. Ares gains the upper hand, and Nate returns the three of them to the present. Nate collapses to the floor upon returning to the proper time period, which upsets Mimic since he never received the answer to his question about the future. Osborn walks over to investigate Nate's body, but it explodes in a fireball of psionic energy, leaving nothing but charred bones, and leaving Mystique quite upset. This issue ends with Osborn happily sitting in his office, pondering his next move. He is interrupted by Mystique, who reveals that she knows that Nate is currently occupying Osborn's body!

So far, so good! One of my greatest fears upon hearing that Nate was getting brought back to life in this series was that the writer would completely butcher his character and that the Nate Grey I loved reading about a few years ago would be totally and irreparably different. Three issues in, I've got to say, Paul's portrayal of Nate has been right on the money! I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Nate hold his own against the Dark Avengers, and I was also impressed with the way this issue ended. As this mini heads towards its climax, there are a lot of interesting ways Paul can end things. I know I'll be eagerly anticipating the penultimate issue of this mini when it drops next month.

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.Take those losers apart Nate!

Blackest Night: Starman #81(!!!): Writer: James Robinson. Pencils: Fernando Dagnino.

This issue starts off with David Knight(the Starman immediately preceding Jack Knight)rising from his grave as a Black Lantern. BL Starman heads to the Starman museum and steals his old Cosmic Staff, transforming it into a Black Lantern Cosmic Staff(I guess). From there we head to the home of Opal City police officer Hope O'Dare and discover that she's been shacking up with the Shade(!). Shade wants to move their relationship from a sex thing to something deeper, but instead of answering the Shade, Hope realizes that the sky had turned pitch black. In the meantime, BL Starman is running rampant in the streets of Opal City, killing several police officers and citizens before running into Mason O'Dare, another member of the O'Dare police clan. Before BL Starman can kill Mason, he is saved by the timely arrival of his sister Hope and the Shade. Upon observing BL Starman, Shade realizes that whatever it is, it isn't the real David Knight, and that it is immensely powerful. Shade tells all of the cops and Opal citizens who were watching the battle to take refuge in the shadow realm which the Shade can access, but by taking his eyes off BL Starman, Shade's heart winds up getting torn out(!). A black lantern ring heads to the Shade, but before it affixes itself to him, he wakes up and throws BL Starman into the shadow realm, thus ridding Opal City of its menace. This issue concludes with Hope telling Shade that she thinks she loves him, but that she needs time to sort her feelings out, which Shade is willing to give her, since time is something he has plenty of.

Hmm, I'm not really sure what to say here... I loved returning to Opal City with James, but there was something that kept me from really loving this comic. I smiled with every little tidbit of information James revealed about what had been occurring in Opal since the end of the Starman series, but I have to say, there was a part of me that was absolutely disappointed by the fact that Jack Knight himself didn't actually show up. Not only that, but we really didn't find out any pertinent information about Jack... Sure, James gave a glimpse as to what the Shade, Bobo Bennetti, the O'Dare's and others had been up to, but there was precious little news about Jack. While the lack of Jack did hurt this comic a bit, I was quite pleased to see the Shade(probably my favorite Starman character besides Jack)get the starring role in this one. While I'm not quite sure what I think of Shade's relationship with Hope(I've still got to sort THAT out in my head!), it was nice to see the Shade continue his trend of helping Opal City out whenever it was in crisis. Reading this comic was kind of bittersweet, for me anyway. Like I said in the intro(oh so long ago it seems!), Starman isn't one of my favorite series, it IS my favorite series. Ever. While it was nice getting to reminisce a bit about the awesomeness that was the Starman series, it was a bit of a letdown as well. In the end this was a good comic, but it was never able to recapture the magic that the Starman series had. At least that's what I thought.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.THAT'S not a good sign!

The old desert island question...

Since I've got to be up in a couple of hours for History class, I don't have time to do a proper review for the comics I've read these last two days. For the record, I've been reading through the Kingdom mini-series from DC back in the late 90's and last night I had the absolute pleasure to read Dark Wolverine #77. Here's a quick preview of what the score for Dark Wolverine is going to be, it's higher then a 9, but less than a 11! Awesome, awesome book.

Anyway, that's not what this post is about. Over at my picture site I posted a scan from Starman. Kello commented that there will never be a comic book like Starman again, which got me thinking about just how much I loved that series. If I was trapped on a desert island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean with only coconuts and a crate of comic books to subsist off of, which comic series would I want stuck there with me. After some thought, the answer for me has to be James Robinson's Starman. Starman was/is a masterpiece of gargantuan proportions. No other series has ever provided us with so many deep, well-crafted characters as Starman did. The only other thing that comes close to Starman is the complete Age of Apocalypse epic. If I was trapped with those two series, I could happily live on that island until the band of blood-thirsty monkeys hiding on the island wound up attacking me and eating my brain. On that rather bizarre note, I'm asking my fellow comic book fans what series they would want to be interned on a desert island with. Any series from any company is fair game. I look forward to reading your responses.

Talking about obsession. Plus, Let's Go Rangers!

I have two great passions in life. Obsessions if you will. Obviously, comic books are one of them. Anybody who has read any of this blog should realize that by now. I consider myself a comic book junkie, and I am hopelessly addicted to reading and collecting comics. It's important to note that not only do I love actually reading comic books, but I love the art of collecting comic books as well. When it comes to collecting, I'm quite obsessive about collecting ALL of something.

Take my all-time favorite character for example, Nate "X-Man" Grey. Not only do I own Nate's entire "X-Man" series, #1-75 + all the assorted annuals and specials, but due to my obsessive compulsion, I've managed to hunt down and collect ANY comic book Nate has EVER appeared in(as well as, to my embarrassment, the X-Man action figure...). I even have some books where Nate is only in one panel and not involved in the main story at all. For example, in Daredevil #371, Nate basically walks past a character in DD's comic and that's it! Still, Nate showed up in that book, so I was compelled to own it. More recently, my obsessive collecting behavior reared its ugly head again after I started to read James Robinson's terrific "Starman" series. After collecting the entire Starman series, #1-80, I managed to hunt down anything Starman related that James Robinson had a hand in. All the assorted specials, plus things like the Girl Frenzy comic and the Shade mini-series. Like I said, when I like a comic book or a character, I collect EVERYTHING that has to do with that series/character.

So, what is my other obsession, you might be asking? I am a HUGE New York Rangers fan. And when I say HUGE, I mean HUGE! I watch as many games as I can, and on top of that, I get somewhat... Lets say intense while watching the games. I get so wrapped up in Rangers games that many people, mainly my sister, HATE to watch any Rangers games with me at all. It's not like I'm breaking furniture, or punching people out, but I have a tendency to talk, yell, shout, scream and yes, I'll admit, occasionally curse at the television... LOUDLY! Tonight, my Rangers(finally)clinched a playoff spot, so needless to say I am quite happy and just wanted to gloat a little bit here on the blog. The fact that I stayed up later than usual watching the Rangers game, coupled with the fact that I've got myself a really important math test to study for tomorrow, means that I won't be reading/posting any new reviews tonight. On the bright side, after my math class tomorrow, I'm free for a week!

Spring break is upon me and for the next week I plan on doing nothing more than laying around, reading comic books and playing video games! Does that sound a tad lazy? Maybe even borderline pathetic? Hell yeah it does, but I don't care! With my college career rapidly coming to a close(I figure I'll be completely done with school in at most three more semesters), I'm smart enough to enjoy my free time when I can get it! I plan on sleeping til noon every day and passing out around 2 AM or so every night for the next week. I figure these days will be nothing more than a pleasant memory when I rejoin the work force, so my mindset is, enjoy them while they last. Well, that's enough stalling, it's time to get to studying for that math test...

Retro Review: The Shade #1-4 (1997)

Overall- You know how sometimes you look so forward to something that it can't possibly live up to the lofty expectations you have for it? Before I read this mini-series, I was expecting so very much out of it. I was expecting perfection. And perfection was EXACTLY what I got! This mini-series took one of my favorite characters(The Shade)out of my all-time favorite comic series(Starman)and delivered an incredibly well put together, satisfying story. If you were a fan of James Robinson's "Starman" series, then by all means, read this comic!

The story opens in 1838 England, where Richard Swift, The Shade, first acquires his shadow powers. He winds up losing his memories after gaining his powers, and is wandering the streets of London hopelessly lost. A man, Piers Ludlow, offers the Shade his home and a place to rest as Shade attempts to regain his lost memories. Ludlow introduces Shade to his family and treats him quite well. Ultimately though, we discover Ludlow and his family are involved in a complicated scheme where he builds partnerships with rich hermits, and kills them, framing vagrants as the culprits in order to acquire the wealth of the dead hermits. Ludlow leads Shade into the home of one of these hermits and the Shade is shocked to see an old hermit dead at the hands of one Ludlow's sons. Before Ludlow can shoot the Shade and therefore frame him for the murder, Shade takes off and hides in the house. Eventually, one of the Ludlow's find Shade hiding, and before Piers can shoot him, the Shade manifests his shadow powers for the first time, killing all of the Ludlows present. Confused and disoriented by his actions, Shade leaves the mansion and wanders the streets of London again, eventually bumping into Charles Dickens, who knew the Shade prior to his transformation. Charles takes the Shade in and helps refresh his fractured memory.

Although Shade killed most of the Ludlow clan, the two youngest children survived and swore revenge upon Shade, reproducing like rabbits and ingraining hatred of the Shade into each child they have. So, every few years, a Ludlow will come after the Shade with a new way to kill him, and every time, the Shade winds up killing the foolish Ludlow family member. The closest a Ludlow comes to killing the Shade is Paris, in 1931. A female member of the Ludlow clan, using an alias gets the Shade to fall in love with her and the two wind up living together. In time, the woman, Marguerite poisons the Shade's meal in an attempt to kill him for her family. However, the decision is tearing Marguerite apart since she has developed true feeling for the Shade. Even though the poisoning is excruciatingly painful, Shade tells Marguerite that most likely, it won't kill him. Since Shade still legitimately loves Marguerite, he tells her that if he recovers, he was willing to ignore the poisoning, provided Marguerite was willing to ignore her Ludlow upbringing and never attempt to kill him again. After a lot of thought and tears, Marguerite explains that her first responsibility is to reclaim her family's honor, and as such, she is duty bound to continue to attempt to kill the Shade. Heartbroken, the Shade then proceeds to kill Marguerite.

After that, Shade continues to periodically run into Ludlow's through the years and continues to kill them after they fail at killing him. We also get some stories about the Shade's "battles" with the Flash(Jay Garrick)during the 1950's, where we learn the Shade enjoyed facing off with Jay, and considered it more sport than anything. The Shade even prevents a Ludlow from killing Jay and his wife, since although they battled on numerous occasions the Shade held no real animosity towards Jay.

The mini-series concludes with Shade meeting with the last known surviving member of the Ludlow family in 1997. This Ludlow was working as a farmer and has a wife and son. However, this particular Ludlow didn't seem interested in trying to kill the Shade, like countless other members of his family had tried and failed. After a conversation, Shade leaves this Ludlow alive, in the hopes that the Ludlow hatred for him will finally cease. However, Shade realizes that although it seems his feud with the Ludlow clan is finally over, only time will tell.

There was so much more I left out of this review, it's crazy. I don't know how James Robinson managed to pack so much great story and character development into just 4 short issues. I wish certain other comic book writers were half as skilled as James was at developing characters and writing fulfilling stories. I won't name any names, but I think it's obvious who I mean... A certain writer with the initials BMB should really take notes on how to write a comic book from James.

This mini-series also got me thinking about the most recent issue of the Justice Society of America. During the "Origins and Omens" portion of that comic, Flash(Jay Garrick)meets a young man dressed in a fancy black suit in Rome sipping a cup of coffee. Jay tells this guy that he knew his father about as well as anybody did, and that he wanted to talk to this guy about the JSA, to which the guy says, "It's about time." After reading this mini-series, I wonder if this black garbed young man could be some possible offspring of the Shade. Prior to Marguerite's betrayal, the Shade seemed willing to still have relationships with women. Is it possible one of these relationships led to a son? The Shade mini-series did show that although Shade and Jay were at times adversaries, they also shared a somewhat friendly relationship... Hmm... Of course, this is just wishful thinking and I'm probably way off, but still, that idea is food for thought. After my glowing review, do I really need to even give this series a score? This mini-series was definitely a 10 out of 10 to me. Please James Robinson, please bring the great characters of Opal City back in some way, shape or form!

Shakespeare and Superman.

My order from Amazon finally arrived today, which included Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" and "A Mid-Summer's Night Dream". Of course, I needed "Much Ado" for class today, but I didn't actually get my hands on it until I got home from college, which led to me pretending that I knew what the hell was going on in class when in all actuality, I had no fricking clue! Anyway, along with the two Shakespearean plays, I also had ordered "World Without a Superman", which contained all 9 parts of the "Funeral for a Friend" storyline that immediately followed Superman's "death" at the hands of Doomsday. Along with that, I picked up "The Return of Superman" trade, which is nearly the size of a phonebook! This collection contains the whole "Reign of Supermen" storyline that follows after the "Funeral" trade. For the record, this trade includes, Action Comics #687-691, Superman: The Man of Steel #22-26, Superman #78-82, Adventures of Superman #500-505, along with Green Lantern #46, which deals with Hal Jordan learning about the fate of Coast City. Honestly, I'm most looking forward to reading the Green Lantern issue, since the loss of Coast City was pretty much the event that drove poor Hal over the deep end. By my count, that's a whopping 22 comics in this one tpb! Plus, I also have the "Death of Superman" trade that my parents brought me for Christmas a good 15 years ago. I haven't read the "Death" trade in ages, and before I read the new stuff, I might just give the "Death" trade a quick look, so I can read everything as it came out back in the 90's.

Besides that, I also received the "Shade" mini-series that I have so been looking forward to reading today as well. Needless to say, once I finish this post off, I'll be reading all 4 issues of that Shade mini, because to put it simply, the Shade is one of my all-time favorite comic book characters. I can't wait to dig into that mini!

Other than that, I'm just about caught up with the Green Lantern Corps series(I just finished issue #29 last night), so I'll probably be posting something about that series by the end of the week. Once I'm done with the GLC, I'll start reading the current Wonder Woman series from issue #1, up to the present. I'm still waiting(rather impatiently I might add)for the new issues of Daredevil, Captain America and X-Factor to get delivered to me. I'm really looking forward to reading those three books, because lately, they've been blazing hot! Well, I think I've posted about as much random garbage as I possibly can for one night, so, as always, if you've got any questions or comments, post 'em, I'm always happy to respond.

The latest order...

Since I have no willpower, I placed my second comic book order this month already. Usually I try to place two orders for the entire month, but it's beginning to look like I'll be placing at least 3 orders this month... So, why order this week, instead of holding off? Well, #1, I'm looking forward to "Batman: Battle for the Cowl", so I really wanted to get my hands on that, as well as my beloved "Guardians of the Galaxy". However, The coup de grace was the fact that my comic book shop FINALLY got "Starman" #74 in stock. Upon receiving Starman #74, I'll officially own EVERY single issue, crossover and special that James Robinson wrote about Jack Knight/Starman. I've been looking for Starman #74 for several weeks now, and finally, FINALLY, I'll get my grubby hands on it! I can't wait to read that comic book!!! Anyway, here's the rest of the order.

Action Comics (1938 DC) 875 NM
Batman and the Outsiders (2007 2nd Series) 9 VF
Batman Battle for the Cowl (2009 DC) 1A NM
Booster Gold (2007 DC 2nd Series) 18 NM
Dark Reign Files (2009 Marvel) 0 NM
Green Arrow/Black Canary (2007) 18 NM
Green Lantern (1990 2nd Series) Annual 4 NM
Green Lantern Corps (2006) 34A NM
Guardians of the Galaxy (2008 2nd Series) 11 NM
Rebels (2009 DC) 2 NM
Shade (1997) 1 VF
Shade (1997) 3 VF
Shade (1997) 4 FN
Showcase Presents Brave and The Bold TPB (2007) 1-1ST FN
Starman (1994 2nd Series) 74 NM
Titans (2008 2nd Series) 11 NM

Captain America=Starman???

James Robinson's "Starman" series from the mid-1990's was probably one of the best stories I've ever had the good fortune of reading. Notice that I didn't say one of the best comic book series I've ever read, but one of the best stories I have ever read, there is a big difference. Starman ran for 81 issues(#0-#80). From the first issue, James had a huge overall story in mind for this series. I actually read in one of the "Starman" tpb's that from day one, James knew exactly how he wanted the entire series to play out, from beginning to end. Think about that for a moment. James had a rough idea of how he wanted to end "Starman" from the first issue. That's why I consider "Starman" to be a great story as opposed to just a great comic series. The very first storyline in "Starman" was foreshadowing events that would occur almost 80 issues later. I read every issue of "Starman" from beginning to end over a couple of weeks and by doing so, I was able to fully appreciate exactly what James did in that series. Events that occurred early on in the series, such as the Shade misnaming the title of an Oscar Wilde book, that seemed to have no impact on anything, were actually huge hints James was laying out for the reader to discover. Connecting all of the dots James left throughout the "Starman" series made reading "Starman" incredibly rewarding.

So, why am I thinking about James Robinson's "Starman" series now? Because I'm starting to get the same feeling off of Ed Brubaker's excellent "Captain America" series that I got off of "Starman". Thus far, Ed has written 47 issues of Cap, and looking back on the entire series as a whole, not as a bunch of different storylines, I can begin to see the huge overall story Ed is weaving here, and I really like what I'm seeing. I'll be the first person to admit that I was absolutely mortified when Ed pulled the trigger(literally)and killed off Steve Rogers. However, the way he transitioned Bucky from evil, mind controlled Soviet agent, to sympathetic character, to Captain America has been remarkable. Ed also used the Red Skull in a somewhat similar way that James used the Mist in "Starman". For the first 40 issues of "Captain America", the Red Skull was basically the driving force behind every evil act that occurred in that comic. In "Starman", we learn towards issue #70 or so that The Mist was always behind the scenes, pulling everyone strings in order to accomplish his plots of revenge against Ted and Jack Knight. I'm guessing that Ed knows exactly how long he is going to write "Captain America", and that he already knows pretty much exactly how he plans on finishing Cap/Bucky's story.

Right now, James' "Starman" work is THE embodiment of what a comic book series should be. I think in another 2-3 years though, people will be talking about Ed's "Captain America" run as highly as "Starman" is spoken about now. Agree? Disagree? Want to argue? Don't know what the hell I'm talking about? Then please, post some comments, I'd be happy to talk about either one of these great comic book series and their incredibly talented writers.

Random thoughts on a Friday night.

Yes, it's Friday night again and you know what that means! Oh, you don't? Well, it means that I'm wasted from the week and instead of actually reviewing some comics or posting something specific, I'm just going to ramble on about some random stuff until get tired and feel like passing out! With that great explanation out of the way, let's start the inane prattle.

-No Batman: The Brave and the Bold tonight... That kind of sucked. That show has really grown on me. It'll NEVER be as great as Batman: The Animated Series, but it's just quirky enough for me to enjoy it. When I'm watching Brave and the Bold, I can just shut my brain off for that half an hour. That's not to say that the Brave and the Bold is some stupid, mindless kids show, it isn't, it's just good, easy to follow fun. With no Brave and the Bold, I was going to watch Wolverine and the X-Men, but I just couldn't bring myself to put it on... It's bad enough that Wolvie is on every team in the Marvel Universe, but now the X-Men are HIS team??? NO WAY! If the cartoon was just called X-Men, I'd watch it. But, I refuse to watch a show called "WOLVERINE and the X-Men". Hell, why not go all the way and just call it "Wolverine!!!"? Or better yet, "Wolverine and some other guys"? What can I say, seeing Wolvie EVERYWHERE is really starting to sour me on the character. I've always been a Wolvie fan, the guy just exudes cool, but come on, enough is enough Marvel, stop overexposing the little Canuck!

-I came close to finally giving in and buying DC vs. Mortal Kombat today... I managed to stay strong though and not give in. Once that price drops a little bit more though, wild horses couldn't keep me away from buying that game. The prospect of kicking ass as Deathstroke actually causes me to salivate!

-Hey, I haven't mentioned a single comic book yet. Let's rectify that right now. Since one of my professor's no showed a class today, I had two hours of sitting around campus with nothing to do. Luckily, I was prepared, and had packed the last 9 issues of the Runaways as well as Batman: The Killing Joke in my book bag. With nothing else to do, I breezed through every one of those books.

-First I'll start with the Runaways. I used to love this comic back when Brian K. Vaughan first created the series. Brian put in a good 24 issues or so, before Marvel handed the writing duties over to Joss Whedon. I really didn't enjoy Joss' take on the team, and lost almost all interest in this book(that's why I had 9 issues to catch up with!). Joss left the series at issue #30, and the series was restarted at #1(Marvel sure loves to do that...)and the writing chores were handed over to Terry Moore, who's work I'd never read before. So, I read issues #1-6 and kind of liked them... Which wasn't what I wanted. I wanted to hate these comics! My subscription is almost up, and now I'm on the fence as to whether I should renew or not. If Joss was still the writer, my decision would be easy, I'd abandon ship. But, I still need a few more issues before I can make up my mind about Terry's work. Most likely, I'll wind up renewing this book, and cutting something else.

-Next up is Batman: The Killing Joke. For those not in the know, this was the Alan Moore graphic novel in which Barbara Gordon(Batgirl/Oracle)is shot and paralyzed by the Joker. This was one of those books where I pretty much knew what happened in it, but felt I had to actually own it. I'm very possessive about comic books, what can I say? The basic story is that Joker decides he wants to prove that any man can be driven insane if pushed far enough, so he decides to drive good old commissioner Jim Gordon crazy. He shoots Barbara, kidnaps the Commish, and basically tortures him physically and emotionally to prove his point. Gordon never snaps like Joker had expected, and Batman eventually shows up to rescue the Commish and bust Joker. The story was really pretty good, and Joker's dance number, complete with sideshow freaks and lyrics nearly had me laughing out loud. However, I was pretty let down by the ending, which sees Batman try one final time to appeal to Joker, offering to do anything in his power to help him reform(this was before Joker's brutal "murder" of Jason Todd). After listening to Batman's offer of help, Joker tells Bats a joke about two guys in an asylum, and the two of them laugh at the punchline. The comic ends with Batman reaching out and grabbing the hysterical Joker... Huh? But didn't Joker just paralyze one of your closest allies and torture another close friend Bats? Why the hell were they standing around sharing a laugh? That really bothered me. This comic also detailed some of the Joker's past, giving some information I didn't know about, so that was a pleasant surprise. If I was to score this comic, I'd give it a 8 1/2 out of 10. It was good, but the ending really sucked for me.

-While I'm still on a Batman kick, I recently finished reading "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" tpb. This wasn't as great as I had heard it would be... That's not to say that I didn't enjoy reading it, because I did, but I was hoping for more. As far as I'm concerned, All-Star Batman and Robin was WAY superior to Dark Knight Returns. I really can't explain why Dark Knight Returns didn't click for me, maybe it was the fact that it was so heavily influenced by it's time, Cold War America, maybe it was because of the far-fetched occurrences that happened. Why the hell would anyone book the Joker to appear on the David Letterman show? I mean come on, that's crazy even for a comic book! I guess the thing that bothered me the most was the final battle between Batman and Joker. Joker had killed Jason Todd 10 years earlier(it was this that pushed Batman to retire), escaped custody, killed 200 people at the Letterman show, killed 20 boy scouts at a county fair with poisoned cotton candy, and went around shooting people indiscriminately until Batman arrived at the fair. Bats finally corners Joker and the two fight, with Batman gaining the upper hand after a nasty battle. Batman twists Joker's neck, snapping it, but not enough to kill him, just enough to paralyze him. Joker decides, "F### that, I'm not going to spend the rest of my life in a wheel chair", and manages to turn his head just enough to kill himself... What the f### is that!?!? I'm sorry, I know Batman doesn't kill, but come on! Joker kills your kid sidekick, murders hundreds(thousands?)of people and just killed a bunch of boy scouts! Snap his f###ing neck already! I can't believe Batman stopped just short of killing Joker here. That really hurt my enjoyment of the rest of this trade. It almost made it seem like Joker had won. Sure, he was dead, but he went out when he wanted to. The end battle between Bats and Superman was pretty cool though. Score-wise, I'd give this tpb a 9 out of 10. I wanted this to be more like All-Star Batman, and it just didn't live up to expectations.

-I also mentioned in an earlier post that I had finished up the Starman series written by James Robinson earlier this week. I'd implore anyone who hasn't read those comic books to hunt them down and give them a read. Starman was by far the best comic series I've read in a LONG time(maybe ever). Not only did I love the way the main character, Jack Knight developed, I just couldn't get enough of the Shade. That guy was just incredible! I'd probably rank the Shade right up there amongst my favorite comic book characters of all-time, which speaks volumes about just how awesome the Starman series was. One of the secondary characters has become one of my all-time favorites. Starman was an amazing series, and I hope the rumors I've heard about James revisiting the character down the road are true. Jack Knight in the role of Starman again, even in a flashback story would have me doing backflips through my house!

I think that's about all I can come up with tonight. If you've got any questions or comments, post em, and I'll be more than happy to respond. Until next time, LONG LIVE THE LEGION!

Sunday Night Thoughts on Starman and Final Crisis.

Seeing that I've got an early day of classes ahead of me tomorrow, coupled with the fact that it's Sunday, I really don't have much to post about. But, I promised myself that I would post at least something every day(well, not really, but it saying that makes me sound really dedicated!).

First and foremost, tomorrow, I will FINALLY get my hands on Final Crisis #7!!! I've been waiting for this f###ing comic book for a week and a half now... Hopefully, by the time I get home from school tomorrow, my package of comic books will be waiting by the front door. Besides really wanting to read this comic just to see how Grant Morrison finished things up, I'm also intrigued to read some of the opinions of my fellow bloggers. I've been deliberately avoiding some blogs in order to avoid spoiling FC #7 for myself, and after tomorrow, the flood gates will be open, and I can travel the Internet with impunity again, no longer afraid of spoilers. Yeah, so by tomorrow night, I should have a review of FC #7 up, as well as comments on several of the blogs I normally frequent... So be prepared, my rambling, ill-informed opinions might strike your blog tomorrow!!! MWA-HA-HA-HA!!!

On a sadder note, I've just about finished up the entire Starman series written by James Robinson back in the late 1990's. All I have left to read is the final 6 issues, which I'll polish off after I'm done with this post. I'm SURE I'll devote a post to the full Starman series when I find the time, but before then just let me simply say that I think Starman may just be the best comic book series I've ever read. I've read and collected A LOT of comic books over the course of my life, upwards of 8,000 now and ever growing. So, by stating that Starman is one of my favorites of all-time is really saying something. If I had the time, and nothing else to read, I would start the series over again from issue #1 and read the whole story again. I'd been told by a couple of my fellow bloggers that Starman was a spectacular comic(that's why I purchased it to begin with), and it sure as hell is.

The entire Starman series is really a masterpiece. That's really the best word I can use to describe it. A masterpiece. Some people are connoisseur of art, movies or music. Well, I am a connoisseur of comic books, and to me Starman is a nearly unequaled masterpiece. It is perfection in the form of a comic book. What the Mona Lisa is to art connoisseurs, Starman is to a comic book connoisseur like myself. While reading an issue of Starman today, I found myself laughing aloud hysterically in an empty room on one page, while a few short minutes later, on a different page in the same comic, my eyes were welling up with tears of sadness. I can't think of many other comic books that have the power to move me like Starman does.

While I can't wait to read how James Robinson finishes this series off, I'm overcome with sadness at the prospect that I won't have any new Starman comics to enjoy... No more watching Jack grow into a competent hero in the image of his father, no more inner monologues by Jack, no more entries from the journal of the Shade, no more learning about the history of Opal City, no more of Bobo's hilarious 1950's slang, no more of those wacky O'Dare's... I'm really going to miss these characters. I never expected to become as drawn into this series and these characters as I've become, but I sure did form a connection to these characters... Especially the Shade. That guy has to be one of the greatest comic book characters I've ever had the good fortune to read about! The Shade almost single-handedly makes this series for me. I can't even tell you how many times I'll chuckle or flat out crack up laughing at some of the things he says or writes down in his journal. If the Shade was to ever get his own series, I'd buy three frigging copies every month! That's how much I enjoy him and his antics.

Another thing this series proves once and for all that there are NO bad characters in comic books, there are only bad writers. James Robinson has taken every single character in this series and given them a life of their own. I truly care about every single character in this comic series. The heroes, the villains, the supporting cast, every single character is interesting in his or her own way. It's funny, since I've been reading Starman, I've noticed that for the most part, the newer comic books I've been reading just haven't been that satisfying. Lately, the new comics I've been reading have been receiving much lower scores than I usually hand out. Simply put, after reading Starman, most newer comics just don't come close to measuring up. After reading Starman, I now seem to look at other comics in a much different way...

I think I've spent more than enough time gushing about the glory that is Starman for tonight... All that's left to do now is to read those final six issues and discover just how the story of Jack Knight comes to an end... Oh, and if you've never read this series, do yourself a favor and PICK IT UP! Almost the entire series is available in tpb form, and there are plenty of places that sell these books at a pretty decent price. Trust me, you'd be doing yourself a favor by reading this comic book.

Blame Starman.

Lately, the volume of stuff I've been posting to this blog has diminished slightly. No, I'm not getting lazy with my blog, it's those blasted Starman tpb's that have been monopolizing all of my free time. For example, instead of reading and then posting a review on something more recent, I'll be posting some pics from my collection and then happily picking up my Starman trades and losing myself in them.

I think I'll refrain from posting reviews on the single Starman tpb's, and I'll just write up one massive post for when I finish up the entire series. I don't know if there was another comic series from the 1990's that was as well thought out and written as Starman was. This series is rapidly working it's way up my list of all-time favorites. Anyway, enough posting, it's time to get back to my Starman comics!

Random thoughts on a Friday night.

This is the first month since I've been keeping a blog that I haven't reached the 100 post plateau. I think I fell about 10 posts short of 100... Damn schoolwork! Interfering with my comic book reading/blogging!

-Speaking of comic book reading, I've been happily reading through the collection of Starman tpb's I've recently acquired. Yesterday, Starman tpb's #4-5, and #8-10 arrived. 6 and 7 should be here by Monday at the latest. I have this ever growing pile of Marvel comics that I just don't have the ambition to read. Between the simply superb Starman comics, to the massive amount of schoolwork I've been getting this semester(and trust me, it's been alot of work!), I really haven't had the time(or energy)to try to read through those Marvel comics. However, I will try to give Runaways a read since the subscription is almost up and before spending $20 on 12 issues I should probably see what the hell is going on in that book. It's insane how many "Ultimate" Marvel comics I have laying around, still in their original shrink-wrap. It's been literally months since I last read an "Ultimate" Marvel comic. Oh well, I guess one day I'll catch up on those books... Probably...

-I'm not sure how many people who read my blog are also into video games, but the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum game looks simply phenomenal! IGN.com has a new feature up about this game. The storyline sounds pretty good, along with the graphics looking simply gorgeous. Of course, graphics don't make a game, and I'll be waiting to see what the actual reviews for this game look like before I decide to plunk down the moolah for it. I'm still waiting for the price of DC vs. MK to drop so I can snatch that game up. Now that I've polished off Lego Batman(which I'd recommend to any Batfan, provided they can get it cheap), I'm currently game-less!

-The Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon wasn't anything great this week. It dealt with Bats, along with the new Atom(not Ray Palmer)and Aquaman(who was about as dumb as a sack of bricks)teaming up to take down Chemo and the Brain... Not exactly must see TV... I'm still waiting for an episode of this series where Bats teams up with Nightwing or Robin. What gives DC? A Batman/Nightwing team-up episode better be somewhere down the road for this cartoon... So far Bats has teamed with Aquaman(twice), Green Arrow(twice, but I really enjoyed both times), Deadman, Wildcat(the first one), Red Tornado, the new Blue Beetle(twice... And I hated both episodes!), Plastic Man, and a few others... But no Nightwing or Robin, who are actually Batman's partners in the comics... Weird...

-Hopefully tomorrow, I'll have some new comics to review, since I'm(still)waiting on an order I placed about 2 and 1/2 weeks ago to arrive. To be perfectly honest with you, I don't even remember what I ordered! I could check the order out online, but I figure I'll just wait and be surprised by whatever comes. It'll be like Christmas all over again! Although a surprise is kind of nice, it's kind of sad that I can't remember what I ordered just 2 1/2 short weeks ago... They say your memory is the first thing to go...

-Of course, the main comic I want to read is Final Crisis #7, and I'm not expecting that to arrive until at the earliest, next Friday... THAT is going to be one hellishly long wait. The tough part isn't just the wait, it's trying to avoid accidentally reading/hearing about any spoilers. I don't want to know ANYTHING about FC #7 until I've actually read it myself.

-Before ending this post, let me say thank you to anyone who actually took time out of their busy life to read my ramblings. And I mean that sincerely. I consider it an honor to know that someone out there is taking the time to check out my little corner of the Internet. Besides that though, I do have a quick question that hopefully someone will respond to. I was wondering what exactly you do with the comic books you purchase after reading them. Personally, after reading any new comic/tpb I receive, I put them away in a crate, box or bookshelf. I NEVER sell, give away or otherwise dispose of ANYTHING I collect. I'm just curious as to how some of my fellow collectors deal with the books they buy. Do you keep and store EVERYTHING like I do? Sell them on a site like eBay? Trade them to friends/relatives for other books? Donate them? Throw them out? What ever you do with your comics I'm curious to find out. I only ask this because after visiting my place a few weeks ago, my father was flabbergasted by the sheer number of comic books I've collected over the years. He couldn't fathom why I was actually collecting the comics. To him, after reading them, I should just discard them in some way(sell them, throw them out, etc.). His reaction seems to be quite common to non-comic book collectors. I can't imagine getting rid of ANY of the books I've collected over the years. Even the comics I hate I can't bring myself to part with. I'm a comic book collector. That's what I do, collect comic books. I was just wondering if other collectors were as adamant about not parting with ANY of their collection, or if it's just some weird genetic quirk affecting only me.

-That's it I guess. It's time for me to pick up my Starman tpb and drift into Opal City... The only thing left to say is, as always, LONG LIVE THE LEGION!

Retro Review: Starman TPB Volume 2(issues 7-10, 12-15)

Overall- This tpb contains Starman #7-10, #12-15. I'll probably hit the story in this trade in very broad strokes so I can start reading the third Starman tpb. The sooner I finish this post, the sooner I can begin the next tpb! This tpb actually collects two separate storylines, the first of which shows Jack Knight(Starman)at his day job, buying, collecting and trading "junk" throughout the suburbs of Opal City.

While out of the city limits, Jack visits a travelling carnival, where he takes in the various sights and sounds. While looking at a blue skinned character chained to a tent wall named the Cosmic Geek(or something similar), the Geek touches Jack and causes Jack to undergo some serious hallucinations. The hallucinations give Jack the impression that the Geek is being held against his will and there is something very messed up occurring at this carnival. Once Jack is done tripping, he goes to see the head of the carnival to ask him what the hell just happened. The head Carney tries to assuage(who the hell uses a word like that?!?)Jack that it was just a minor electric shock the Geek gave him, and that he'll take that out of the act, so no one else would go through what Jack did.

Jack prepares to leave, but can't help but feel something is very wrong about this carnival. He returns during the night with his cosmic staff, and discovers that the freaks at the carnival were indeed being held against there will and that the head Carney is some kind of energy draining succubus. Needless to say, this leads to a confrontation between Jack and the succubus, which Jack ultimately wins. The freaks, now free, decide to continue running the carnival on their own. Jack takes the Cosmic Geek to his father Ted, and Ted recognizes the Geek as a former Starman named Michael. Since Michael seems to have little to no memory about his past, Ted decides to try to help him regain some semblance of his past.

The next storyline was the real treat in this tpb. It details the daughter of the first Mist escaping from prison and transforming herself into a villain in the same manner her father did. Once she gains her father's powers, the girl, Nash, takes on her father's moniker and becomes the new Mist. To show she has the same gumption as her father, Mist decides to create a crime wave in Opal City, just like her father used to do. Mist also manages to kidnap Michael, Solomon Grundy(don't ask!), as well as Jack himself. She manages to drug Jack, who wakes up laying naked in a bed with a partially clad Mist standing in the room with him.

Mist tells Jack that if he wants to leave, he'll have to find all of his clothing(including the cosmic staff)while surviving a small army of thugs she had hired to kill him. Mist then leaves and Jack begins his trek through the warehouse in search of his clothes. While Jack is fighting for his life(and clothes!), his father, Ted, is being attacked by Dr. Phosphorus, who seems to be your run of the mill c-list villain. Mist hired Phosphorous to kill Ted, but Ted manages to trick Phosphorus and defeat him. In the meantime, Mist's crime wave is ravaging the city, while she is hunting down people she suspects may have stolen her father's war medals. Unfortunately for Mist, she is never able to find her dad's war medals.

Eventually, Jack gains possession of his clothing and has defeated the thugs that Mist had employed to kill him. As Jack prepares to take possession of his staff, Mist appears behind him gun in hand and tells Jack that this entire escapade was just a dry run for the future. Mist says that Jack isn't the hero he needs to be yet and that she isn't the criminal she needs to be yet either. Mist tells Jack she could easily shoot him right now, but that she won't, telling him that they'll meet again in 11 months, before she fades away. With Mist gone, the police manage to bring order back to the streets of Opal City, and Jack reflects on what just happened to him.

Now, I'll be perfectly honest with you here, while I've thoroughly enjoyed the stories in these comic books, the main treat is reading about the complexity of the characters and the masterful dialogue James Robinson(writer)gives to each character. It's impossible to read these comics and NOT become interested by each character and their motivations. Each character is very deep, even Mist, the villain. She is determined to punish Jack for the death of her brother, and prove herself to be a capable villain in the mold of her father. However, she's not just a one-dimensional crazy villain, she wants to get back her father's old war medals, because as her father gets older and begins to remember less and less about his life, those medals were something that he still remembered and spoke about, even at his advanced age. Yes, Nash is a bad person, as is shown by the crime wave, and what I suspect she did with Jack while he was drugged and unconscious, but she is also a dutiful daughter, who in her own insane, warped way is trying to make her father happy and proud of her.

Besides Jack, who as I stated in an earlier post is one of the most complete comic book characters I have ever read about, there is his father, Ted. In one incredibly well done scene, Jack is wearing a t-shirt with the image of the dead villain Ragdoll on it. Ted tells Jack that he hates the shirt and wishes Jack wouldn't wear it. Jack responds with his usual attitude towards his father, basically telling him the shirt was cool, and to chill out. Ted then tells Jack a story about a time when he was still Starman, and Ragdoll, along with his followers were going around and horrifically murdering people all throughout Opal City. Ted, in desperation called in the JSA to help him catch the insane Ragdoll. The JSA spread throughout Opal City and began to restore order to the Ragdoll induced chaos.

Ultimately, Ted, Jay Garrick(The Flash) and Alan Scott(The Green Lantern)catch up to the evil Ragdoll. During the battle, Ragdoll threatens to kill Jay's wife, Alan's family and Ted's two sons. Ted tells Jack that Ragdoll didn't survive the battle after that threat, stating that he didn't remember what happened or who did it, but that Ragdoll died that day. After that story, and seeing the pain in his father's eyes, Jack tells his father he'd go home and burn the shirt. Now, since I didn't write the conversation out verbatim, it loses some of it's power, but to me that conversation was immensely powerful. It shows that these great heroes, Starman, Flash and Green Lantern are only human and when they were pushed too far, they struck back lethally. That one single conversation really served to humanize Ted Knight so very much to me. While he did indeed possess this great weapon and dress in a gaudy super-hero outfit, he was in the end human, and when his sons were threatened, he did what he felt had to be done to protect them.

Like I said, the dialogue in this series is some of the best I've ever read in a comic book. Just for the dialogue alone, I'd recommend these comics, but the story is damn good as well. Starman is really the total package for a comic book fan. For a score, I'll give this tpb a 10 out of 10. Although I didn't really care for the carnival storyline, everything else in this trade was pure gold.

Nothing to say, nothing to do.

I really don't have all that much to say tonight. School was shut down today due to a few paltry inches of snow, so I spent most of the day sleeping, watching TV and playing Lego Batman, which I can(proudly?)say I completed 100% of. What a full, exciting day huh? Oh yeah, my replica Two-Face coin and Starman goggles arrived today, and they're both pretty good looking. I especially can't wait to wear the Starman goggles this spring/summer.

I did get around to ordering Final Crisis #7 last night, so now I have to wait until next week before I get my hands on that comic. Until then though, I'll be trying to avoid spoilers like the plague! After finishing this post, I'll probably post a random picture, before continuing to read Starman. I'm really enjoying this comic alot, and hopefully by tomorrow(yeah, I know I keep saying that)I'll have a review of the second Starman tpb posted. Until next time, LONG LIVE THE LEGION!

Waiting til Midnight...

Come midnight, which is in about an hour, I'll be placing my order for Final Crisis #7, and I can't wait! I still haven't finished the second Starman tpb as I had hoped to, but maybe by tomorrow I'll have something posted about this trade. I do want to say that for me, the best thing about these Starman comics I've been reading is the interaction between the characters. James Robinson's dialogue is just so dead on. I really love the interaction between Jack and his father, and Jack and the Shade.

Within an hour or so I should have a review of the latest X-Factor up, which arrived in the mail today, and should show us what will become of Siryn and the baby. On a more personal note, I am currently keeping my fingers crossed that my college will be shut down tomorrow due to the impending winter storm barreling my way. It's actually kind of funny, just 3 short years ago, I used to DREAD snow, because it would mean waking up at 4 in the morning, standing in the snow waiting for the bus and getting to work for 5:30-6:00am to start hour upon hour of shoveling snow. That job really SUCKED! It was alot of hard work to get myself back into college, but looking back, it was well worth it. Well, this post brought me a little closer to midnight... Next up is a review for X-Factor #39. As always, LONG LIVE THE LEGION!

Just a random post.

Since I'm dead tired and don't have any new comic reviews to post(I'm currently half way through the second Starman tpb)I figured I'd just throw a quick post out with some random junk in it.

-I'll be ordering Final Crisis #7 once the clock strikes midnight Tuesday night, since that's the earliest my online comic shop will allow me to place an order containing new releases. While I'm waiting for FC #7 to arrive, I'll be avoiding any and all spoilers concerning that comic. I still have that old school mentality of wanting to read the comic as opposed to reading spoilers first before deciding if I want to buy a book or not. Once the ending of a comic has been spoiled, I really don't care about reading it, because I already know the end result... Huh, the sleep deprivation seems to be making my thought process more erratic than usual... I don't know what the hell I just wrote! The bottom line is until I read FC #7, I'm going to be VERY careful as to what websites I visit.

-To prove what a huge comic nerd I am, I ordered a replica Two-Face coin off of Amazon today. I always wanted a two headed coin, and now I'll finally have one! I was such a weird kid that I once mutilated one side of a quarter with a screwdriver, a saw and a hammer in order to make it look like the coin Two-Face had in the Batman: The Animated Series cartoon! Being a pack-rat, I may even still have that old mutilated coin stashed away someplace... Besides buying the coin, I also purchased a pair of goggles that look practically identical to the one's used by Starman. Yeah, I'm one strange dude...

-Speaking of my tendency to impulse buy stuff, I was THIS close to buying a couple of sweet looking DC t-shirts. In particular, I found really good looking Flash, Green Lantern and Superman t-shirts... In a rare show of willpower, I held off from buying those shirts, mainly due to the fact that I'm probably going to be spending a good chunk of cash on my comic book order this Tuesday night/Wednesday. One day those shirts will be mine though...

I'd better call it a night here, since I have an early class tomorrow. Why I let my advisor talk me into taking a "Vietnam and America" history class I'll never know... For a class that's only held twice a week, the professor LOVES to assign TONS of reading assignments. Not only that, but he then expects people to "role-play" the parts of policy makers during the Vietnam War. I took this class to listen to a lecture, not pretend I'm Richard frigging Nixon! Enough of that nonsense though, hopefully by tomorrow I'll have the review of the second Starman tpb posted. Until then, LONG LIVE THE LEGION!!! Man, I REALLY need to get to sleep...

Retro Review: Starman TPB Volume 1(issues 0-5)

This trade collected Starman(the second series I believe, the one from the mid-1990's)#0-5.

Overall- I was really blown away by how much I enjoyed reading these 6 issues. Since I don't actually have my copy of this trade with me right now(I lent it to my sister), I'm going to be a bit light on an actual review. I'll basically go over the story in broad strokes, so if you have any questions, fire away, and I'll answer them post-haste. This comic series was set in Opal City, which seemed to be a pretty crime-free place to live thanks in large part to the efforts of the first Starman, Ted Knight, and later his son David, who winds up taking over the Starman mantle after his father retires from super-heroics. Ted also has a son named Jack who views the whole costumed super-hero idea in a pretty dim light. Shunning his father's heroic legacy, Jack winds up as the owner of an antique shop.

All of this changes when an old(and I mean that literally)foe of Ted Knight named the Mist gathers a criminal army in Opal City, and sends his own son, Kyle, out to kill both David and Jack, wanting to strike at his old rival through his family. Kyle succeeds in murdering David Knight, but only manages to wound Jack. Kyle then blows up Jack's antique shop, before destroying the lab of Ted Knight, which sends Ted to the hospital. With Starman(David Knight)dead, Mist sends out his criminal minions to terrorize the people of Opal City. Jack visits his father in the hospital and is told that the cosmic staff, the weapon of Starman, is hidden safely away, and that Jack should take up the fight in the place of his dead brother. Jack is initially hesitant, he considers himself a normal guy, not a delusional super-hero, but after watching Opal City torn apart by Mist's thugs, Jack tracks down the cosmic staff and proceeds to try to bring order back to the streets.

While this is occurring, a former criminal by the name of the Shade, who "retired" to Opal City, watches the events transpiring in Opal City with mixed emotions. On one hand, he wants to join in with the widespread criminal activity, but on the other hand, it saddens him to watch the peaceful Opal City torn apart. The Shade decides to visit with the elderly Mist and the two reminisce about old times in some of the best dialogue I've read in some time. I can't say exactly why, but I LOVED the conversation between the Mist and Shade, as the elderly Mist seems to have trouble recalling the simplest facts and is continually corrected by the refined Shade. The Shade tells Mist he'll capture Ted Knight, so that Mist can finally have his ultimate revenge on his old foe.

While Jack is out trying to restore some order to Opal City, the Shade breaks into Ted's hospital room and takes him, turning Ted over to Mist as promised. After learning of his father's abduction, Jack rushes back to the hospital and receives a call from the elderly Mist, who challenges Jack to a one on one battle to the death against the Mist's own son, Kyle. Jack agrees, and he meets Kyle in the skies high above Opal City. The two battle for several pages, before Jack impales Kyle with the cosmic staff and blasts Kyle to atoms. After that, Jack decides that he'll never kill another person, chalking up his killing of Kyle as revenge for Kyle killing his brother David.

While Jack and Kyle were having their fight, the Shade tracks down the police officers who were assigned to protect Ted Knight while he was in the hospital. The cops figure the Shade is looking for a fight, but instead, the Shade reveals the location of Mist's hidden layer, telling the cops the best way to sneak in and take out the Mist. The cops gain entrance to the Mist's headquarters, and manage to arrest him with no difficulty. As the Mist is being arrested, Jack arrives to watch the Mist led away. The Mist's daughter, upon learning that Jack had killed her brother in battle, swears revenge before being led away by the cops.

In the aftermath of the battle, Jack tells his father that he'll take up the Starman mantle, but only on a part time basis, meaning he won't be wearing any spandex, and he won't be patrolling the streets like a cop. Jack states that he'll respond when he is needed, but that he won't allow the Starman mantle to take over his life. In return, Jack asks his father to use his genius to create something better than cosmic powered weapons for Starman to use. Jack tells his father to use the cosmic energy in the staff to create instead of destroy. Ted agrees to spend his time researching better uses for the cosmic power, and Jack agrees to become Starman.

That was the main gist of what I read in this trade, however, there was a lot I left out. James Robinson(writer)really created a bunch of characters with an amazing amount of depth in just 6 issues. Jack is a very deep character, who seems very unhappy with the idea of of costumed super-heroics, and almost embarrassed by his family's Starman legacy. Jack also seems unfazed by the death of his brother, at times even questioning if he cares at all that his brother was killed. Jack's relationship with his father is predictably cantankerous, seeing as that Ted Knight created the Starman weapons and persona and Jack disdains the entire Starman idea. Besides Jack's unique outlook on super-heroics and his hesitancy to step in and become the next Starman, Jack is an obsessive collector of items, which I can readily identify with, since I am a pretty obsessive collector in my own right. Off the top of my head, I can't recall another comic book character whose life is based around the art of collecting.

Besides Jack, another character that intrigued me was the Shade. First off, the Shade's dress and manner of speech was very eye-catching(think England mid 1800's). The Shade just plain SEEMS interesting. Besides his look, his actions were pretty interesting as well. The Shade, openly admits to being an enemy of both the Golden and Silver Age Flash's(Jay Garrick and Barry Allen), but doesn't act as a conventional villain here. Granted, he does kill a thug and kidnaps Ted Knight, but he also rats Mist's location to the cops as well as visits Jack after the arrest of Mist and seems interested in assisting Jack in keeping Opal City a peaceful place.

There are many other characters who show up in these issue's, but I'll get into them as I continue to read the next few tpb's of this series. I enjoyed this comic so much that last night, I hunted down and purchased the rest of the tpb's that collect pretty much this entire series. I figure instead of putting down at least $50 for each one of the 4 Starman Omnibus', I'd actually save money if I collect used tpb's from this series, and purchase the few issues that are left out of the trades. Of course, I would have waited to order these books had I known that Final Crisis #7 was coming out this Wednesday, that way I could have ordered everything together(grumble,grumble)...

The score for this tpb is pretty easy, a 10 out of 10. I think the thing that I enjoyed the most about this comic wasn't the story itself, but the enormous amount of development James Robinson put into Jack Knight's character. Jack is a unique character in that he not only didn't want to become a hero, he hates the entire idea of costumed heroics. It should be interesting to see where James takes Jack as he continues to attempt to sort out his life while keeping his promise to his father to carry on the Starman legacy.

A preview for tomorrow night.

I just finished reading the "Starman: Sins of the Father" TPB, and all I can say is WOW! This trade collected Starman #0, #1-5. It was written by James Robinson and pencilled by Tony Harris. And it was F###ING awesome! Usually, upon finishing a comic, I try to post my thoughts immediately after completing it, but with school looming on Monday, I can't spend the next hour writing my thoughts about this comic, since I've got to get back into a normal sleeping schedule. But, I'll definitely be posting something about this TPB tomorrow. Now, before hitting the sack, I'll be searching around my favorite online comic shops in order to purchase as many Starman comics as I can afford!

Starman

I just figured I'd say that I managed to find the first three TPB's of the Starman series for the bizarrely low price of $20! Since just Starman TPB #1 was selling for $16 in most shops, I'm pretty happy I managed to snag these books at this price. Hopefully, I'll soon be able to see what all the hubbub for this series was about!