More great tales, set in the modern era, but also set in the Golden Age, in Opal city, including a shocker regarding the deadly antagonist and new version of, The Mist!. 8 out of 12.I read the following comic books collected in this volume Starman (season 2) #30-38, Annual #2, Starman Secret Files (one-shot); The Shade #1-4.

This is the volume where original artist Tony Harris left and original (and legendary) editor Archie Goodwin died. I knew that my enjoyment of the series took a hit about this time, but I'd never quite put it together that this was why.The look of the book became less consistent, and often the art didn't quite fit the tone of the story. There's a lot of good, even great, art here, but there is also some artwork that was on the weak side, especially compared to the visual tone Harris and Von Graw...

Starman is not a super hero comic. Well, I take that back. Starman is a super hero book, but through its heart and depth of character it outshines its counterparts and contemporaries. James Robinson's greatest work continues to reverberate years after its initial printing not because Jack Knight, the seventh Starman, has a cool costume - in fact he barely has one, settling for the practicality of a jacket over the flash of a cape - or a grim and gritty demeanor - he's actually laid back, though

This is a series that defies logic all the time and that's not necessarily a bad thing. James Robinson is still much too wordy, especially when describing things that don't matter. Jack's relationship with his father is still what makes the book work. The book is steeped in history but at times it weighs so heavily on the title that parts are a slog to get through. The art had highs a lows. Tony Harris is still a delight especially his amazing covers. Overall, this is a tough book to get into bu...

After reading the first three installments of James Robinson's Starman series - Starman: Sins of the Father , Starman: Night and Day and Starman: A Wicked Inclination - in trade paperback, I switched over to these hardcover omnibus editions, beginning with volume two, which was mostly a recap. This third omnibus volume is therefore the first new Starman material that I've read in some time, and I enjoyed it immensely!Here we learn more of the history of that morally ambiguous villain-...

Ah, Starman. Starman is my all-time favorite series from the 90's. Starman was my first introduction to the great James Robinson and the great Tony Harris. This series has it all, action, comedy, horror, romance, superheroes, aliens, gods, etc. James Robinson writes fantastic stories, brings long forgotten characters back to the spotlight, he builds a world that has so many cool things, I can't even remember them all. Tony Harris is the artist that does most of the art. I believe this was his fi...

This is another book I stalled out on for a year. I stalled out so long, in fact, that I often remember points where I yearned for that early Starman, that good Starman. The problem with this book, and Robinson says as much in his afterword, is that it’s the point where he’s about halfway. The story’s been going for a while, things are continuing on, he has an ending, but it’s a long way off. It makes most of this book less than compelling... I feel like there’s a ton of Batman in this whereas I...

One of the best things about this series is how seamlessly it moves the story forward while integrating continuity, often decades-old, into its narrative tapestry. Surely, this is a DC lover’s book. It’s impressive how Robinson not only fleshes out, but humanizes forgotten characters like the Shade, Brian Savage, Mikaal Tomas, Will Payton, and even Justice League Europe. They feel important, like they were just waiting for Robinson to come along and dig into their history. And what he does with

Much of this volume is spent setting up what will follow later in the series, so it can be a bit slow-going at times. But it certainly can pack an emotional impact, especially in the resolution of Grundy's storyline and in this volume's dream of David, including this time some deceased Golden Age heroes. (I am not a fan of the infidelity storyline, but I can put that aside in light of what is otherwise an excellent issue.) There's also the Shade miniseries, brief incidents in the life of Shade,

I love Starman, but other than The Shade miniseries stuck in this volume, it doesn't stand up to the last 2 volumes at ALL. I paced my way through this over a long period of time because I just wasn't that interested in the story. Once I finished it I was amped up for the next volume...and then immediately bought volumes 5 & 6...this series is spectacular, but this volume was a lull in what is a great epic.

Starman to me will always be a singular moment in a fictional time and place that too briefly shined like a jewel; we will never see its like again, simply because the act of returning would change everything. The magic would be gone, even if the city and its people came back to us.I probably should have said that for the final volume but I'll forget it if I don't say it now!

Unfortunately, I'm giving up on this series. I made it about halfway through this volume before I came to grips with the fact that I was dreading picking it up, and the idea that I'm only roughly halfway through this interminable slog was just too much to handle. So, adios Starman, I'll never know how you turned out. My guess is pretentious and boring.I'm sure this type of character appealed greatly to comic readers in the early 90s. This was the Golden Age of snobby, nostalgia-obsessed Comic Bo...

Here we are. The third Starman Omnibus.As I've mentioned in other Starman reviews, Starman is more than just a superhero series. It's the story of Jack Knight trying to fill his father's shoes as Starman. Jack is not your average superhero and should be relatable to a large segment of the comic reading audience.In this volume, we get the tale of The Shade and his centuries long battle against the Ludlow family, a tale of Will Payton, Sadie's past, Dr. Pip, a trip into Solomon Grundy's subconscio...

The genius of James Robinson in Starman is that he succeeds at doing things which on other writers come off as pretentious or far too twee. This book collects the four issue Shade Mini-Series as well as Issues 30-38 of Starman, Starman Annual #2, and Starman Secret Files #1.The Shade mini-series is all about the anti-hero turned hero Shade running into a family in the 1840s with a murderous secret that he stops and how he finds himself haunted by them for centuries. It's an incredibly story and

Even 10+ years later, James Robinson's Starman run remains the pinnacle of straight superhero comics. JR somehow managed to pull off a superhero book that respected the long history of DC comics while avoiding the usual superhero retardery. Skeptical without being cynical and self-referential without the clever wink-wink of today's cape stories, Starman is the best silver age comic you'll find. And the art managed to stay consistently similar, even though about 25 guys drew it in and around Tony...

The Shade #1-4. It’s interesting to see a series focused on the Shade, though I think the character unfortunately accentuates Robinson’s tendency toward wordiness (rather than letting the comics speak for themselves). I also think the whole Ludlow feud gets strung out too long (and is repetitive with stuff from the ‘90s like the family feud in the Flash). With all that said, this book has some good moments in it and is worth reading [7/10].Infernal Devices (30-35). This is the first longer arc i...

It seems like Marvel and DC Comics are going out of their way to destroy the history of their characters these days with retcons and reboots run amok. DC can’t go a month without blowing up their time stream and the next thing you know, Batman is dead. Wait, no he isn’t. Well, he kind of is, and all history has changed. Or you may think that Spiderman married Mary Jane about twenty years ago. Wrong. Marvel just decided to erase that so I guess none of those stories are ‘real’ now. (Thanks for le...

"Matt, are you really going to give five stars to every volume of Starman?"In a word: yes.In a few more words: This book continues to be, for me at least, the best superhero comics has to offer. It's a longform narrative by auteurs. This volume in particular, reaching the halfway point of the larger series by its end, shows James Robinson coming into the difficult second act of his larger work with a bit of a stumble that bears strong fruit by the volume's end. And Tony Harris' art provides such...

The third collection brings us halfway through James Robinson's brilliant reimagining of Starman. In addition to another nine issues of the series, this volume also includes the second Starman annual, the Starman Secret Files, and the four-issue Shade miniseries, which is brilliant in its own right. This book includes the introduction of the Black Pirate into the Starman mythos, the fate of Solomon Grundy, another "Talking With David," story, and the beginning of the story threads that would ult...