Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Merry Christmas with Robinson's Starman!

It's Christmas Eve and Jack Knight, the Starman thinks he will be spending it helping out a homeless Santa but instead it's Santa who will be helping Jack discover the true spirit of Christmas.

On this Christmas day I thought it would be fun to look at a Christmas story from Starman #27 (Feb. 1997).
When James Robinson started writing Starman in 1994 he pulled out all of the stops.

Starman #0, Oct. 1994, part of DC Comics' Zero Hour cross-over.
Vertigo was in full swing with it’s Swamp Thing, Animal Man, Sandman, Shade the Changing Man and other revamps of old DC Comics heroes written to suit the more mature modern readers created in the aftermath of Moore's Watchmen and Miller's Dark Knight Returns. Starman could have been a Vertigo title but James didn't want it to be one. He wanted it to be part of the main DC Universe so that he could play in DC Comics vast sandbox of characters.

Starman first appeared in Adventure Comics #61, Apr. 1941 and was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Jack Burnley. The red and green tights worked well in the superhero craze of the early 40's but in the early 90's they didn't have the same appeal.
With Starman Robinson updated the whole concept of 'superhero'. He would write about antique collector, Jack Knight, who reluctantly adapts the mantel of Starman from his dad Ted Knight, the original Starman of DC Comics Golden Age but he refused to wear the goofy red and green threads his dad wore. Instead he stuck to his hip leather flight jacket and some vintage flight goggles.


Along with Jack Knight (upper left), Robinson created a rich cast of characters to accompany him on his adventures, characters like Shade (upper right), an old Straman villain who turned a new leaf and the O’Dares, an Irish/American family of red headed policemen (Barry O'Dare, Mason O'Dare, Clarence O'Dare, the oldest, Hope O'Dare, and Matt O'Dare, the badboy).
Jack's Christmas adventure Starts off simply enough as Clarence O'Dare, the oldest of the O'Dare siblings, and his wife prepare for their Christmas Eve dinner. 















And so Jack learns again the importance of human kindness and the innate worth of all human beings. One of the things that makes James Robinson's Starman so special is his characterizations. The large cast of characters like Ted Knight, Jack's dad and the original Starman, the O'Dare family, Mikkal the blue alien who was a previous Starman; we are sympathetic to all of them because of James' great dialog and prose. Though superheroes are often written for prepubescent boys, James Robinson writes the kind of work that a well read adult could enjoy.

24 comments:

  1. What an interesting article! I'm glad i finally found what i was looking for. 토토사이트

    ReplyDelete

  2. I am a fan of reading to add insight to information.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for this great blog. this is here, the few months I am visiting and following you.

    ReplyDelete

  4. Feels lovely'. Is excellence an item to look and quantify, is magnificence an inclination to detect or is excellence a plan to attempt?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Finally a simple to understand information, appreciated!

    ReplyDelete
  6. It’s nearly impossible to find well-informed people in this particular topic.

    ReplyDelete

  7. you have some really great posts and I feel I would be a good asset.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I like it best and I will check it again and save it. Please also visit the website of my remarks.

    ReplyDelete

  9. I really liked it. I wanted to leave a note. I was reading your website. I also tried to share the site.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is the best way to share the great article with everyone one, so that everyone can able to utilize this information.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Great post! We will be linking to this great post on our website. Keep up the great writing.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great delivery. Great arguments. Keep up the amazing spirit.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Keep up the good work. Check out more posts. Very good starting, goodjob

    ReplyDelete
  14. Well this article is great. I need this article. Thanks. great share for us

    ReplyDelete
  15. I am glad to discover this page. Thank you that I had a great read!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks for sharing nice information here. Keep it up Keep on sharing

    ReplyDelete
  17. Yes i am totally agreed with this article and Excellent way of writing this issue

    ReplyDelete
  18. I was very pleased to discover this website. Nice article. Good work here

    ReplyDelete
  19. I found some useful topics in this well detail form. Thanks. Good job you did it!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Nice post. I learn something totally new and challenging on blogs, Its great.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Great Article. Your writing skill is magnificent as ever, More post pleased! Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  22. It’s always useful to read content from other authors, Thanks to this

    ReplyDelete
  23. Its like you read my mind! This is magnificent blog. A great read. Fantastic it is

    ReplyDelete