Comics I Bought: August 21, 2008

I'm back from the comic shop this week and I got 3 new comics plus a hard cover collection:

StormWatch: Post Human Division - 13

Rex Mundi Vol 2 - 13

Fear Agent - 23

Thunderbolts Vol 2 - "Caged Angels"

And now for a review of something I've read recently.

The Starman Omnibus Volume 1 - By James Robinson and Tony Harris

This is my first go around with Starman. Back in 1995-96 when these issues (0-16) first came out I never read even one of them. I've never read an issue from this whole series. I remember hearing some good things about this series but I haven't sampled it until now. Sometimes these things take a while.

Starman, Jack Knight, is the second generation Starman. His dad was the Golden Age Starman and now he has reluctantly taken up the cosmic rod (that's Starman's weapon). The first few issues deal with Jack being a reluctant hero as he is forced by circumstance to become one. The "reluctant hero" bit has been done to death but it's handled well here and annoyed me less than I thought it would.

Much like Spider-Man is really about Peter Parker Starman is really about Jack Knight. Jack isn't a full time super hero. He doesn't want to be. Jack goes into action when his city, Opal City, needs him. That and weird stuff finds him. That is one of the themes of the book. Jack is a collectables dealer who likes spending his time searching for odd things and old pop culture items. A lot of the book deals with the love of the past.

James Robinson says he loves history so he imbues Opal City and Starman with a sense of history. At various times we get to learn about events in Opal City's past and some of the characters who spent time there. I liked this as it gave the book a broad scope and made it's world easy to believe in.

I wasn't that familiar with Tony Harris' art until I started buying "Ex-Machina" a few years ago. In that book he photo references everything but in Starman he has yet to do that. He uses photos for some drawings and his painted covers are all photo referenced but his style was a little more conventional back in 1994. The art is nice but different from his work today.

This book is not without it's flaws. I'd mention them but they didn't take too much away from my enjoyment so I won't pick nits. This is not a conventional super hero book. So don't be looking for that here. It's not so off the wall either. Being heroic is certainly a theme but not always the main one. A lot of it is about being a human being and living in Opal City. Give it a read.