Why Starlight Is So Awesome

Disclaimer: Yes, there are minor spoilers in my explaining the plot, but for the most part, they're confined to Issue One. Of a six part miniseries. So, I don't consider it a big deal. But there are spoilers. Enjoy.

With all the big news happening between the Big Two, one of the great things that slipped through the cracks in the past couple of weeks was that Starlight finally ended. Now, I realize that there are several people who didn't bother with this comic once they realized Mark "Put That In Your Shipping Date And Smoke It" Millar was writing it. I also realize there were people who gave up on it at some point because with Mark Millar, it's only a matter of time before you end up waiting three months for the story wrap up. Well, I'm happy to report that those of you who though Millar wouldn't come through on time (myself included) were wrong and those of you who didn't give this a shot in the first place really missed out on some good reading.

No matter how you feel about Millar's work (no, I'm not going to bring up Civil War because everytime you talk about what worked and didn't work with Civil War, you find yourself in an hour long debate about Civil War and I'm way too sober for that), you should take it as a high recommendation on my part in saying that this is some of his best stuff by far. The main complaints that come from a lot of the comics Millar writes is that:

a). They're overly cynical- Remember the time Iron Man, maybe the most irresponsible superhero of all time, was put in charge of the government oversight of all superheroism? Or the time in Ultimate Comics when the Hulk was a black drug dealer named Tyrone Cash? Or when Kick-Ass turned out to be Millar taking a piss at cosplayers, characterizing them as sociopathic jerks detached from reality.

b). They get away from their own points.- Remember when Civil War started off with the Superhero Registration Act in place, putting certain heroes on the run as enemies of the state and then ENDED with the Superhero Registration Act in place, putting certain heroes on the run as enemies of the state.

c). They spend a lot of time deconstructing superhero culture- Wanted: What if the bad guys had already won decades ago and were just ruling the world out of sheer boredom? Civil War: What if the government got involved because superheroes were a bunch of reckless glory hounds breaking shit all the time (even though they've been getting the job done for 40 years prior to Civil War)? Nemesis: What if Batman were the greatest villain ever?

Well, Millar rails against a lot of his worst habits except (c) because Starlight is a deconstruction (and really, only a minor one) of old school, pulp space opera heroes like Flash Gordon, John Carter and Buck Rogers. Duke McQueen is what I imagine Captain America would grow up to be like if he ever aged. A well-meaning, ass kicking old war horse who has a serious problem with bullies. As a young man, McQueen was an Air Force pilot who'd been sucked out halfway across the galaxy to a remote planet, Tantalus. While there, he'd fought alongside the people there to defeat an evil tyrant and liberate their world. He finally went home as their greatest hero. Of course, when he returned...nobody here on Earth believed him. Nobody except his loving wife.

Many years later, his kids are grown adults who ignore him almost completely, sick of his outer space tales, his wife has passed and he finds himself trying to adjust to his life as an old man with awkward results at best. One day, he receives a visit from some kid claiming he's from Tantalus and that his world needs McQueen once again.

In Starlight, Millar finds a more nuanced, mature voice than we're used to from the writer of Wanted. His characters, even the minor ones, even the evil ones, all feel genuine on one level or another with less of his trademark bravado. This is all most notably so in the case of our hero.

I apologize in advance, but for this point I'm making, the best example I can come up with is The Expendables. This movie was one of my least favorite cinematic experiences EVER in my 31 years of owning a pair of eyes because it didn't completely deliver on what was promised. If you'd believed early marketing, you'd have thought you were getting a bunch of old tough guys shaking off the cobwebs, showing the youngsters how it's done. And in fairness, there was some of that, but there was also a LOT of whining. I swear there was a whole five minutes where Jet Li went on a whole diatribe about how much it sucks to be short. The thing a lot of movie writers don't seem to understand (aside from the fact that whining is NOT always the same as actual character development) is that when your lead character can swordfight with space pirates or fly a cargo plane into heavy gunfire, whining doesn't make your character relatable or "an everyman." It kinda makes him a pussy.

Duke McQueen understands this a lot. Granted, he has a hard time believing all of this is showing up right at this time in his life, but he never truly resists. I mean what does have to complain about. He's still pretty spry, he's built like a linebacker and he has a stature erected in his honor. Any reservation he has about taking up the "hero" mantle again fade away fast. McQueen is rarely unsure of himself or a stumbling over his words. You won't find a scene where he's captured by the enemy, void of hope, doubting whether he was ever of sound mind to take this adventure on again. He knows the people fighting behind him can't afford to hear that shit or else nothing will get done. He doesn't just believe in himself but also his ability to inspire other people to save themselves.

Because, ultimately, whether it's Batman always believing there's a way to win even after all options have been exhausted, Superman's tireless belief in the better angels of humanity's nature or Spider-Man's belief in doing what's right even when it sucks and people may hate him for it....belief is one of the greatest abilities a hero can have.

In this same regard, the story itself carries that same virtue. Rarely rude, gory, vulgar or cynical (all of which are things often associated with Millar), Starlight ends up being less of a send-up of an old genre and becomes a worthy successor. Though the tough old swashbuckler never questions his ultimate purpose, Millar, doesn't ask if heroes like this still exist so much as questions whether or not we still have the capacity to believe in them. And, at their heart, this is one of the primary functions of comics (the truly good ones, anyway). And that's what Starlight is: a return to belief. Because we can always use a little more of that, right?

Stuff I Read This Week: March 5, 2014

Jupiter's Legacy #4: Mark Millar sure takes his time getting a book out which is probably what loses some of his readers. Be that as it may, many of his books tend to be worth the wait in the long run....most of the time, anyway (sorry, Kick Ass 3). In the case of Jupiter's Legacy, I think I can find a way to forgive him.

This issue picks up nine years after Walter Sampson orchestrated an epic coup against his revered superhero brother, the Utopian. The fast forward gives an abridged tour of a more totalitarian sort of world in the wake of the "supers," also introducing yet another generation of hero to Millar's saga. This installment makes the lofty generational sprawl he's shooting for obvious, mirroring that of ancient Roman mythology. There will be readers familiar with his previous work who will be somewhat unimpressed by the deconstruction of superhero culture since Millar seems to have practically made his own genre out of it at this point. However, Jupiter's Legacy seems to hold up pretty well if you don't hold his other books against him.

Though Millar's plot might be divisive among some readers, Frank Quitely's artwork is beyond undeniable. Anyone who's read All Star Superman will tell you that Quitely is king when it comes to broad landscapes, broad shoulders and viceral battles among godlike beings. His rendering of a brave new world under the rule of the supers is absolutely beautiful and takes up a good deal of the issue which works well in it's favor.

Bottom Line: If you're not burned out on Millar's brand of superhero story telling, this is definitely a gorgeous book worthy of consideration. 7.75 out of 10.


Uncanny X-Men #18: Brian Bendis' run of All New and Uncanny have received a lot of praise from me over the past year and rightfully so. With the years of backstory to sift through and team rosters that rotate more than Taylor Swift's dating schedule, it's nice to have a set of X-books that are accessible to anyone who wants to dive right in and get a decent read without consulting Wikipedia every ten minutes. They're funny, relatable and easy on the eyes. Having said that....

...this issue isn't Bendis' best work. It has the best of intentions, trying to be equal parts chronicling the some moments in the arrival of the Original X-Men to the New Xavier School, catching awkwardness between Young Cyclops and Old Cyclops, and catching Old Scott's reaction to the disappearance of the Kitty Pryde and the original five. The flashbacks and flashforwards just aren't as tight here as they should be. The issue meanders with little direction, dipping out of one plot point and into the next almost randomly. Still, there are some instances in the story that makes this very random rollercoaster worth the ride. Watching Kitty and Cyke hash out their guilt over the death of Charles Xavier was an intriguing piece of reading. And Emma Frost's Jean Grey issues are always nothing short of hilarious. However, this issue in particular doesn't leave a whole lot of air in the room for the young recruits which is weird considering they're a man short as of the issue before.

The art in this book has been eclectic to say the least and Marco Rudy seems to keep that tradition going very well. Using Cyclops' recently uncontrollable optic blasts as borders between panels is a stroke of genius. And every unorthodox panel seems to jump right off of the page thanks to Rudy interchanging inks and watercolors.

Bottom Line: A wonderful, good looking concept....that feels really rushed in execution. 7 out of 10

Stuff I Read This Week Episode 22 or Help Me, Douchbag Cosplayer....You're My Only Hope.

Green Lantern #23: As much as I find DC's New 52 to be alienating and unreadable, there are some bright spots in this dark, rusted meat locker of a universe that deserve mention. One of them is the Green Lantern stories, but mainly because DC left the continuity relatively untouched in the hard reboot. Since the reboot began, Geoff Johns had been doing double duty in a very Jekyll and Hyde fashion, going between maintaining a tight ship with GL by day and fucking up the Justice League by night. Since he's stepped away from the book he's done well to make the book he's done badly even worse, Robert Venditti has taken the helm to build a new dimension to the mythos.

This issue focuses mainly on Hal personally investigating a murder on Oa from #22, going off alone (true to Hal Jordan form) to find who's responsible. Venditti is at his "A" game in his characterization of the hero, fleshing out his pigheadedness in going off alone and half-cocked, looking for an enemy he knows nothing about. The Surrogates writer appears to have a great understanding of his lead character, giving Hal Jordan a whole new set of problems to deal with by leaving him in charge of the Lantern Corps. I enjoy this step in the "greatest Lantern's" journey because the plots were becoming stale with the same predictable weight of the Guardians' leadership hanging over his head.

Guardians of the Universe: "We know stuff about your enemy that might help you to not die out there, but we won't tell you because it's probably our fault in the first place. Or...you know...because fuck you, that's why."

One thing that cannot afford to slack off is artwork. When you have a comic book about a guy who can create things with a magic wishing ring, visuals have to be on point at all times. Fortunately, Billy Tan kicks here. The action beats are brilliantly drawn, letting the fights jump straight off the page. Not only do Hal's constructs look impressive, but they also give us a couple of imaginative feats I don't think I've ever seen before.

Bottom Line: Whether you like Geoff Johns work or not, he made a lasting impact on Green Lantern. That's a tough act to follow and Robert Venditti is handling the responsibility pretty well so far. 9 out of 10.

Kick-Ass 3 #2: In my last review, I was pretty clear on my feelings that the Kick-Ass saga's death is both necessary and welcome much like season three of Heroes. The second issue of the final chapter makes the reason pretty evident. Mark Millar makes no secret of his love for deconstructing superheroes under "real world" circumstances. However, with this book, it seems that his big picture mutates in such a way, each chapter becomes, in a way, unrecognizable from one story to the next.


The first theme of the first one was "Anyone who thinks they can fight crime in real life is pretty stupid and they'd probably die." In Kick-Ass 2, Millar's prevailing point was that cosplayers are delusional losers. Now, it seems clear that Millar's heroes (really, the villains, too) are held up as totems of "jerk culture" in comics. And the problem is the same as it was before: Good guy or bad guy....nobody in this book is a terribly good person. The issue focuses a lot on the building comeuppance of Chris Genovese aka Red Mist, who evolved into an extinction level asshole in the first two books. Also, we get a look at Chris' mother, seemingly as much a victim (unintended as it may be) of her son's crimes as those he had murdered. It does a pretty good job of pondering what it would be like for a supervillain's family if everyone knew their relation. How could Doctor Doom's mother ever leave the house with the whole world knowing their offspring had just vaporized Buckingham Palace? Would Bullseye's sister even be able to make it to the mailbox in the morning without a victim's angry father waiting with a sniper rifle in hand?

Meanwhile, Kick-Ass himself becomes the less interesting character to follow as he tries to rally his halfhearted troops, Justice Forever, to put a fright into the organized crime (which seems, by the way, completely unfazed by these people living out their comic book fantasies) of the city Batman: Year One style. Commonly, it is an endearing trait when the hero stays the course in his mission to make his protectorate a better place. The Dark Knight trilogy saw Bruce Wayne's parents killed, the love of his life blown to Hell, his partner in justice scarred and corrupted by the Joker, his back broken, thrown into a hole left to crawl his way out and stabbed in the gut by his rebound girlfriend. And he never gave up. And he was rewarded for it. Kick-Ass, however, seems to be on a far less fruitful quest that isn't necessarily for social change so much as it is for personal validation. Proving that one man can make a difference seems to not be as important as proving to himself that he's not just some jackass cosplayer.

Bottom Line: I've never read a comic in which I kinda wanted everyone to lose. 7 out of 10.

Stuff I Read This Week Episode 16 or Cautionary Tales for Fanboys and Crazy People....

Kick-Ass 3 #1: Okay, I'm just going to go ahead and say it. Kick-Ass needs to die. I'm not quite talking about the character. I mean this story needs to be drowned in the bathtub quickly. The thing that's wrong with everything after the first Kick Ass is that writing satire is like telling a joke. The only real rule is to just tell the joke. Don't explain it. Once you have to explain the joke, it's immediately not funny anymore. When you get bogged down on explaining satire, it becomes obvious you're trying to say something about something.

This story was awesome when Mark Millar simply saying "A guy trying to be Batman in real life would either be dead or in the ICU in a day." It's become painfully obvious that, in its evolution, this series has become a platform for Millar to shoot fanboys in the kneecaps. In parts 1 and 2, at least our protagonists were likeable. In this issue, we get Dave Lizewski standing over his parents' graves in what should have been a sobering reflective moment of character development. Instead, he and his friend are musing about how must look awesome like Batman did. Taking brooding pictures by a family member's tombstone because he thinks it looks badass doesn't make your character relatable or realistic. It makes him an extinction-level asshole. The big upside to this book is, as usual, John Romita Jr.'s artwork, offering the right amount of levity to serious moments and awkwardness to funnier moments. Ultimately, time will tell whether or not Millar can bring closure to something that's really already run its course.

Bottom Line: One part entertaining....two parts beating a dead horse. 7 out of 10.


Daredevil: End of Days #8: Considering the fact that David Mack retweeted and reposted my review of this book last month (No, I'm NEVER going to stop talking about that...deal with it, humans...), I considered the idea that the cool thing to do would be to not review the finale, that it would be like the hero in a movie who kisses the girl, says goodbye and walks away without looking back. But I'm a writer, a blogger and a comic book nerd which is, more or less, a willing forfeit of the chance to be cool. No need to break tradition now.

There are more great things to say about End of Days than there are adjectives meandering about  the English language. It could be argued that the much sought meaning of the word "mapone" came across as slightly anti climactic, but with a book like this, the last thing readers deserved was something they actually expected. Besides, much like in life, the destination wasn't nearly as important as the journey that brought us there. It could be argued (and it almost certainly is) that this miniseries ended on more of a bang than a whimper, but this series ended in a way many superhero titles wouldn't dare to: with a prevailing sense of finality. With many of Marvel's "The End" future vision concepts, although they stay somewhat true to the essence of the highlighted protagonist, at times, they have a tendency to feel dated depending on the changes that character endures. With End of Days, we are offered a story that manages to offer closure while preserving the hard truths that we've come to know of a hero who concerns himself very little with the traditional tropes of heroism when it comes to justice. No matter what crossovers and costume changes may come from other writers over the years, this book makes a timeless, definitive statement about who Daredevil is even if it's not always a trite one.

We see cast of characters who have been as much a part of defining who this character is than the character himself saying goodbye in their own ways, some of which are clear even if they're not reflected through dialogue or action beats. Having said that, one of this issue's biggest weaknesses is the absence of journalist Ben Urich's internal narrative that has been the perfect voice to carry us through this semi-dystopic wasteland of an eulogy to the Man Without Fear. Still, no matter what point of view they offer us, Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack's voices are like old friends taking you for a drive through that part of town you grew up in, showing you how it's changed as well as how it hasn't and never will. And after reviewing two other issues of this book, there is virtually nothing left to say about the top shelf artwork from Klaus Janson and Bill Sienkiewicz. Rarely is there a comic where any given panel or page, if left by itself, could be a poster or printed on a t-shirt. There are no artists better suited to help tell a story like this. If they taught comic books in high school, rest assured that Daredevil: End of Days would be required reading.

Bottom Line: This book raised the bar for comics like a school bully playing "keep away" with your lunchbox. 9.5 out of 10.

Stuff I Read This Week Episode 12 or You Don't Have Superpowers Because You Wouldn't Do Anything Constructive With Them....

A Note From the Writer: I am more than grateful that my little dog and pony review garnered the attention of such a writer as David Mack. However, I am thankful, first and foremost, to you all for continuing to read it. It was really just a side project (at first) that decided, through force of will, to stick around. To thank you all, I wanted to do deviate from the usual schedule for Free Comic Book Day. Doug E. Fresh would call this "crowd participation."

Basically, send me comments, requests, questions on all things comic nerd and I'll talk about them. You can ask them here in the comment area, inbox them, email me or....you know....whatever. I'll try to keep this as fun as possible. Thanks in advance. :-)

Email: letsgetfree13@gmail.comTwitter: @letsgetfree13



And Now.....To The Reviews!!!

Uncanny X-Men #5: I'm just going to start off with the simple truth of what I've gotten from the past two issues. This book is getting weird. Since the events of "Avengers vs. X-Men", Magik has become the wild card of Cyclops' outlaw revolution squad. We haven't seen the full extent of what's she capable of since the Phoenix screwed with her abilities, but it's been suggested for a while that she's the Uncanny team's Thor. Here is where we see her dealing with the ramifications of her unpredictable abilities in a fashion not too unlike how the Scarlet Witch went wrong (or, depending on your point of view, how she was never right to begin with). Brian Bendis, while not making too much of a detour from the ongoing plot, is making a bit of a rest stop to flesh Illyana Rasputin out since she hasn't gotten much focus aside from the occasional "I might be batshit crazy" one liner. We are reintroduced to an old unexpected villain which seems like a "make-up appearance" after a semi lackluster third act battle during Bendis' run on New Avengers. Here, he is given the "holy shit" factor that a baddie of his caliber deserves. One of the high points for this book was the S.H.I.E.L.D. meeting in which Maria Hill groans in the wake of the the X-Men "dropping the mic on the Avengers like it's 8 Mile." I have to appreciate Bendis' ability to make the Avengers either look like jackbooted thugs or spoiled punks who tuck their collective tails between their legs and "don't feel like talking about it" when they get owned. It's good to be able to handle characters realistically while still letting the reader know who's boss in their book.

Frazier Irving's art come across as a sudden, slightly out of place change for this book. The switch itself is already a bit distracting, but his style feels a little messy and too all over the place for my tastes. I also take issue with nobody being able to decide on a baseline set of characteristics for Cyclops' face with the mask off.

Bottom Line: This book suffers no illusions in the fact that it's semi filler. But it's good filler. 7.5 out of 10

Jupiter's Legacy #1: I was going out of my way to not pick up a mainstream superhero title when I bought this and winced when I figured out it was one. But I shouldn't have. Mark Millar has an interesting penchant for being able to introduce superhero archetypes into a world closer to the one we live in. It's a theme he seems to have gotten progressively great at as times goes on and this title, thus far, is the proof. 

Whereas Spider Man will break off a date to go fight crime with little remorse, many of the superpowered people in this world are more likely to wait until their iTunes download of Scandal finishes before running off to beat up on the alien would-be conqueror. And let's face it. That's about right. How many times have you asked someone to do something first thing in the morning and received "Not until I've had my coffee" as a reply? That's just taking out the trash or putting WD-40 on the door hinge. I shudder to think how fucked we'd be if a planet sized meteor were hurtling towards Earth.

This book centers around a generation of Golden Age heroes with a stiff moral code that seems to be getting left in the dust. The setup seems to be leaning towards questioning whether or not the current generation will be up to the responsibility of fighting for good. So far, Millar's answer seems to be a "No" so big, The Rock couldn't lift it. To his credit, doesn't just judge the Twitter era from the cheap seats like an old codger shaking his fist from his porch. He goes behind enemy lines and asks, "Can you blame them? You guys had Hitler to deal with. They have Justin Bieber." Frank Quitely's artwork is, as usual, a godsend to compliment Millar's story appropriately, stirring realism and a powerful sense of the unbelievable into an alphabet soup that's hard to ignore. Though it seems to make you wish for a slightly stronger action beats, it seems to do everything right as far as inaugural issues go.

Bottom Line: Mark Millar is definitely at the top of his game while making you wish you had superpowers and hope your roommate never does all at the same time. 9 out of 10.


East of West #2: Jonathan Hickman is certainly swinging for the fences with this one. He brings a fresh, unapologetic voice to the pantheon of dystopian future visions with his unconventional saga of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. War, Famine and Conquest are still on a bloody tear through this brave new world, jumpstarting the end of civilization as we know it. Meanwhile, Death, their fourth, goes on a similarly bloodlustful revenge run. This is the kind of sci-fi/fantasy work Hickman was born to do and the kind of quirky, badass characters he was born to write. The body count's still pretty high, but the story seems to be getting slightly more coherent as pieces of the endgame peek out from under the cracks of maiming, mauling and lush environments that keep your eyes bulging out from their sockets thanks to Nick Dragotta's masterful artwork and shrewd coloring. The first issue was ambitious and slightly experimental, but the sophomore effort is coming across more of a uniformed venture.

Bottom Line: All there was to appreciate last time has been magnified more as the plot begins to come together. 8.5 out of 10.