STARMAN #80

By: Tony Whitt
Date: Friday, July 06, 2001

It's the end of an era, or at least it's the end for Jack Knight, who has returned to Opal City from the past to find that his hometown no longer needs him. He has a second chance at happiness with Sadie in San Francisco, as well as a new baby on the way, but he must first pass the cosmic staff and mantle of Starman to someone else to start his life anew.

This double-sized issue is Robinson's bittersweet goodbye to the series which gathered a following almost as great as the one behind Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN, albeit a following not nearly as vocal or public. At a time when so many comic titles have trouble getting to their fifteenth issue, let alone their fiftieth, it's a miracle that such an unassuming series as STARMAN made it to its eightieth. It's a true tragedy that we'll all have to wait so long to see anything like this again; the mournful quality of this story is all too fitting.

This last story is not for fans expecting some vast final battle on a cosmic scale, however but then, isn't that true of the entire series? As with the rest of his work, Robinson takes his time, allowing Jack Knight to say goodbye to all those who have supported him throughout his career as a hero. The only disappointment is that when an unexpected event occurs and no, I simply can't give the surprise away it's dealt with all too quickly and with the sort of deus ex machina that Robinson has usually shied away from in the past. But the rest of the issue treats Jack Knight's departure from his job in a way that superhero comics rarely have it's a job, and now that he's relocating, it's time to train the replacement. One has to wonder what this character will do after the series, although there's a hint that he may indeed return to the role he was literally destined to fulfill. It's not like he can put this down on a resumé, is it? The fact that we even think in these terms shows how Robinson incorporates the same kind of realism we've seen in the work of Neil Gaiman and Brian Michael Bendis.

Although artist Peter Snejbjerg has received a great deal of flak in the past for his supposed lack of ability, I see nothing here to justify the claim that he's anything less than solid. The simpler quality of his artwork fits in well with this series' attempt to blend the modern comics world with the legacy left by its Golden Age predecessor a legacy which has informed every page of the story arc which led up to this issue.


Obviously this isn't the issue to start with if you've never read the series before then again, perhaps it is. New readers picking up the last issue of STARMAN will no doubt come away with a similar sense of loss as old fans will, but a new reader at least has the enviable option of going back and reading the series from the beginning with fresh eyes to see what the whole trip was about. Having seen what I've seen over the last eighty issues, I know I'm jealous.

STARMAN

Grade: A-

Issue: No. 80

Author(s): James Robinson, Peter Snejbjerg

Publisher: DC Comics

Price: $3.95