Yin And Yang
What would happen if Hal Jordan faced The Joker? Jordan's most arch-nemesis is Sinestro. Jordan is cocky, over-confident and full of bravado. Sinestro is the dark side of that. How would Jordan handle Batman's rogues gallery? That is exactly the question James Robinson poses in bringing back Will Payton as Starman in a Tale of Times Past, "1990 - A Hero One...Despite Himself".
There really are only two types of super heroes. The big, loud colorful ones like Superman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman and the ones "with an edge". You can guess which type of hero Will Payton was. He was a cosmic super-hero. Part of the post-Crisis wave of new characters. Try as he might, he did not catch on and was cancelled after forty-five issues. A couple years before Zero Hour, and James Robinson re-launched the character in a slightly bold, new and different direction. If not for Mikaal Tomas, Prince Gavyn and David Knight, one could say that Will Payton was the George Lazenby of Starmen. It depends on how one measures Payton's success. He certainly was invited to many of the big DC events. He was given every opportunity to get a leg up and catch on.
Here, in this Tale of Times Past, he pursues the "Bonnie and Clyde" duo of Aaron and Lupine Bodine on their cross-country spree into Opal's Turk County. It's a pretty straight-forward thing: good guy chases the bad guys and should catch them. Except, this is more The Killing Joke, with Hal Jordan's Green Lantern in for The Batman. Robinson makes a point of noting that. The Bodines take a waitress hostage; and, to rub Payton's nose in it, ask a cop and the hostage who would pull of a better rescue, The Batman or Will Payton.
It's obvious why: The Batman "has an edge". He wouldn't waste time or breath having a conversation about who would pull off a better rescue. The rescue would be over and the Bodines would be feeding through a tube. Rectally. The point is made. Characters like Green Lantern, Superman and Will Payton's Starman don't operate like The Batman. The Demon could. The Question definitely. Green Arrow might. Nightwing and Robin probably. The Creeper on a good day maybe. But not Starman.
The Good
James Robinson's script is gripping and compelling. It is a nice compliment that he brings back Roger Stern and Tom Lyle's Will Payton.
Richard Pace's visuals for the Tale of Times Past fits the flashback time period.
Compliments to Bill Oakley for balancing Payton's inner monologue and The Shade's running commentary.
The Bad
There is very little at fault in this story. Maybe the fault is in the stars for Will Payton. Maybe it was from the beginning for him.
The only negatives are the Bodines. They are very bad. One wonders what became of them.
The Skinny
The question is, how does someone bullet-proof handle protecting people from the ricochet? Will Payton had to think about that. The Batman never does. There are times when looking back helps looking forward. Tales of Times Past are like that.
Five stars for another stellar Tale of Times Past.