airdave817's Starman #4 - Baptism of Fire review

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    Schlock and Awwwww...

    What Starman has going for it is a good sense of setting and geography. What annoyed me in the first few issues of Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon, was that his Chicago could really have been anywhere. And that was before I realized he was excellent as far as characters, but landscape and scenery and background, not so much. I grew up on the south side of Chicago, and schooled in the Patented Perez Rubble. His detail was unmistakable. Last issue, San Antonio got some good detail from Tom Lyle, Roger Stern and the crew. This issue starts with a really clear focus on Superior, Arizona. Just the idea of a clear picture of a city or a town is cool. There's not much detail, because Will shows up to help firefighters battle a chemical factory blaze and resue a couple of firefighters. I wonder if there is a pattern in Will's rescuing either police or firefighters - so far it's in pairs - 'cuz that's how they roll; never leave a man behind. Will spends all night helping the fireman fight the fire, never once losing steam. He does surprise and amaze them that he doesn't feel the need or urge to breathe. This becomes bothersome for Will as he is washing the soot of himself at Roosevelt Lake. He's discovering clues that he may no longer be human. No heartbeat, no "circulatory" systems to speak of. Tom Lyle does some great work with what he is given from Roger Stern as far as setting the scenery and the geography.  
     
    In Utah, Dr. Melrose briefs his test subjects on Starman; and, we are brought up to speed on how he used the Stellaron-5 satellite in an effort to channel cosmic radiation to power a new kind of true, real American hero. Kind of DC's attempt at the Fantastic Four. I've read Wolfman and Perez' classic New Teen Titans, Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo's Batman and The Outsiders, Roy Thomas' All-Star Squadron, Infinity, Inc. and Invaders before that; as well as the late '70's and '80's Justice League - but then, who hasn't? If you haven't that's some good stuff. What they all have in common is the super-villain team. The Titans had the Fearsome Five; The Outsiders had the Force of July, Masters of Disaster, Maxie Zeus' Olympians and the Nuclear FamilyInfinity, Inc. had Helix, and All-Star Squadron and The Invaders had different Axis or Nazi ubermensches. By the time the Power Elite make their debut - in their prison orange jump suits - they might look like Steve Dayton's Hybrid, all kinda non-descript and bland. and we all know that the Hybrid was kinda Mento... 
      
    There's a guy hothead, a lady hothead, a couple of earnest eager beavers, a brain and a cyclops. None of them are really given much of a personality. As individual as they may be, they're all cult followers that have drunk the Kool Aid (R) (TM) that Melrose has been serving. It's not very clear if these are military, civilian, reality series or anything but psychotic volunteers. It's not clear if this laboratory in Utah is a sub-system of anything but a grant that Melrose has gotten fot his work - it doesn't appear to be a part of any military branch or research branch of S.T.A.R. Labs or Cadmus. Unless Melrose is independently wealthy, which doesn't seem likely. Most of these teams all form around a core of five character types, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern. Y'got yer guy and girl with incredible strength, yer brainy guy, yer fast thinker, and yer cocky hothead. To keep things fresh, you make one or more of them a woman, black or asian; and another one you make Keyop.  
     
    So, while the Power Elite is forming a strategy for Starman, Will Payton is proof-reading a manuscript for his new job. His sister, Jayne, suprises him with her new look for fall classes, and he tells her of a nightmare he's been having. The start of the nightmare sequence is probably some of Tom Lyle's best stuff so far: splitting a panel into three seperate segments, Will describing the dream, the visual on the dream and Will sleeping. 
     
    Later, following a newspaper story, Alan Madison - Melrose's assistant that previously hired Bolt - draws Will into a trap. The Power Elite ambush an unsuspecting Starman, and over-power him. Obviously, they have him by surprise, and they outnumber him and they just keep hammering and hammering until they wear him down for the "kill" stroke. The scene is well-choreographed. The tranformation of the one member named  Samantha, from a little girl into her muscular (butch?) form is almost frightening. She looks more powerful than her male counterpart; almost as buff as Schwarzenegger. Ewwww.  
     
    The storyline in this issue continues in Invasion and in Firestorm 80 and then in the next issue. 
     
    I'm just waiting to be amazed. Originally, I only picked up the first issue and never gave Starman a look over the next 44. That may have the case for Starman. Not enough eyeballs.   
     
     
                               

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