Starman: Sins of the Father

Synopsis: These stories were originally printed in Starman #0, 1-5.

This is the story of Jack Knight, the son of a superhero who reluctantly follows in his father’s footsteps as the latest incarnation of the Starman character.

Good Stuff: There are a lot of truly great things about Starman. First and foremost are the characters. We have Ted Knight, the retired hero, his son David who badly wants to be Starman but really isn’t qualified (indeed, David is killed in the first five pages), and most importantly, Jack Knight the reluctant hero who nevertheless fulfills his destiny. Also of note are the Shade, the “villain” who later becomes one of Jack’s greatest allies, Nash, the daugher of the Mist, who is transformed from a mousy ineffectual girl into a cold calculating hero by the very efforts of Jack himself, and the O’Dare family, with a lineage as policemen going back several generations. Top all of this off with the various quirks of the characters and you not only have a good superhero story, you also have a cool superhero story, set against a backdrop of elegant design.

Beyond the characterization however, (and that is quite substantial), this is simply a very good story, and one that gets much better in later volumes.

Not so Good Stuff: Occasionally, when reading the series, one gets the feeling that Robinson grafts interests and knowledge onto characters where it shouldn’t be. Otherwise, I really can’t think of anything I particularly can complain about.

I give this book 9/10.