I dropped it mid-stream, and I still like Firearm better, but Starman did have more issues. And this random one's cover grabbed me, at least! From 1999, Starman #55, "Taxicab Confessions" Written by James Robinson and David Goyer, pencils by Peter Snejbjerg, Chris Weston, and John McCrea, inks by Keith Champagne. Cover by Tony Harris.

The Starmen--Jack Knight, his dad Ted, and alien Mikaal--were doing a lost-in-space/time storyline at the time; but we don't really see them this issue. Instead, Space Cabbie picks up a couple guys who want to go to the Karloff sector. Figuring this was probably going to end in gunplay or something, Cabbie chats them up, trying to get at what they want out in the middle of nowhere. Nothing to see there but a debris field, and the Cabbie knows the story of that one: the Starmen had answered a distress call there, and fought Jovian pirate Jarko, to rescue the Teen Titans' Starfire. Jarko had a strange, curved staff--that you might recognize as another Starman's, Prince Gavyn's! His duel with Jack's Cosmic Rod is inconclusive, since the Knights of the Galaxy arrive and start shooting the place up, but Mikaal frees Starfire and they escape before it explodes.

EDIT: Did I have the wrong picture here? Lemme try that again.

The first passenger, revealing himself to be Space Ranger, disagrees on some of the details: yes, the Starmen were answering a distress signal. But it wasn't from the Titans' Starfire, it was from the 70's sci-fi revolutionary leader Starfire! Speaking mangled "ye olde Englishe," like they spoke back then, Jack challenges Jarko...to a game of a Twister knockoff? This time, the duel is interrupted by the Star Rovers, but Mikaal (looking very Spock-like in this version) still frees Starfire and they escape.

The second passenger also disagrees, and he was Ultra the Multi-Alien! In a far more bombastic version, the Starmen (including Jack in a more classic costume, as Mikaal as space Bucky) rescue Russian Starfire Red Star--why he was there is anyone's guess. Jarko challenges Jack to the contest of "unflinching gaze," and whoever grinned first lost! This time Tommy Tomorrow and the Planeteers blast up the joint, but the Starmen free Red Star and escape.

Although they had split a cab, Space Ranger and Ultra had been sent separately, by the Space Museum, to recover Gavyn's staff, since it could be dangerous. How'd Gavyn even get that thing--the guys all argue on that story, on their way home. 

Do comics do a better job of Rashomon'ing a story than Rashomon does? Sometimes, when the art shifts go hard enough, I'd say they might!

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I was more excited to see "Mystery in Space!" on the cover, than anybody else that's on there.

There's an Adam Strange cover that used "Misery in Space!" I'm a sucker for whenever DC uses this or a variant of it. From 1994, New Titans #111, "The Extra Mile!" Written by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Matt Thompson, inks by Rus Sever.

At first glance, I thought this was from the much later Dan Jurgens/Young Atom era of the Titans: nope! It's Arsenal, Changeling, Pantha and Kid Wildebeest on the cover; but none of them are the main focus inside. In South America, Dick Grayson has found Starfire, who has apparently been living with the natives, and doesn't seem to recognize Dick. But no time for love, as her adopted village is attacked from space, by a satellite controlled by the "Teraizer." Or Teraizers, that might have been the group's name: they were extortionists running under cover of being environmentalists. The other Titans were there in a LexCorp shuttle, and after Starfire takes a hit, Russian member Red Star risks flying out to save her.

Back on the ground, Dick shakes it off, and falls back on Batman's training to help rescue villagers. The Teraizer leader increases his demands to earth's governments, and one of his underlings worries that he's overplaying their hand, when the Titans bust in. The Teraizers are of course no match for the Titans, and Starfire refrains from killing them to make an example of them: she asks "green boy" to turn the cameras back on, to tell earth a story...At a glance, Starfire would regain her memory next month, then an issue of Dick working through his Bat-issues, just in time for a big line-up shake-up for Zero Hour. They also seem determined that Arsenal is a marquis name, and I don't see it. Read more!

"The End" Week: Justice League Odyssey #25!

We saw an issue of this some time back, although without looking I couldn't have told you what crossover this series sprung from, or into what crossover it returned. Ashes to ashes, funk to funky...wait, that's not right. From 2020, Justice League Odyssey #25, "Last Stand" Written by Dan Abnett, art by Will Conrad.

Anyway, I think I liked the idea of this and the lineup maybe more than the actual execution, but part of that is probably just the nature of the crossover mill, and that probably at least three of these characters were needed elsewhere. This issue finds the space-based JL team of Starfire, Azrael, Cyborg, and Green Lantern Jessica Cruz; with series regular Dex-Starr and Orion, and Starfire's sister Blackfire, and doomed timeline versions of Cyborg and Jessica; all in a final battle to keep Darkseid from rewriting the timeline. If that seems a little esoteric or out of character for him, it probably was, but he wasn't at the top of his game...until afterwards. His plan gets stopped, doomed Cyborg and Jessica sacrifice themselves, and the team separates to warn the universe of Darkseid's new rise. Oddly, although he mentions it later, we don't see Azrael return to earth in the end: he joins Dex-Starr and Orion, to prepare for war...starting on Thanagar? Orion says it's a planet of warriors, but didn't he shoot the hell out of the planet in Cosmic Odyssey?

I'll look later, but I think I have the next appearance for Jessica, where she gets traded to the Yellow Lanterns, presumably for a draft pick in the next round. Cyborg and Starfire return to earth, and get immediately redesigned, for Death Metal. Fun... Read more!

Who among us hasn't gone into space and found a weird cult based on them?

There's maybe two or three here, but that number could be going down; in a book I had wanted to try for a bit: from 2019, Justice League Odyssey #5, "Ghost Sector, part 5" Written by Joshua Williamson, art by Carmine di Giandomenico, colors by Ivan Plascencia.

This little League was Starfire, Cyborg, Green Lantern Jessica Cruz, and Azrael; having space adventures in the so-called "Ghost Sector," a bunch of worlds that had been recently re-enlarged after being shrunk and kept on Colu. (Think Brainiac!) Today, on the Machine Worlds, the Programmer was trying to convince Cyborg to use their homemade Mother Box to help everyone "ascend" to a higher level, of Cyborg-ism, whether they wanted to or not. Azrael had encountered an apparent disciple to him, Rapture; who turns out to maybe be a little much, as Rapture had killed a bunch of Tamaraneans that had been following Starfire.

Meanwhile, on Tamaran, a surprisingly hands-on Darkseid is wrapping up his fetch-quest with Blackfire, who's cut a deal to keep Darkseid off her world. He won't need it anymore; as Cyborg uses the homemade Box is discover Darkseid's plan: the Coluans may have shrunk all those worlds for a reason, other than scientific observation and dickery. The pieces of Darkseid's plan were spread across the worlds of the Ghost Sector, but he now had the "Other Box" to find them. And Rapture appears to be a Coluan, and presumably so is his Order of Azrael, now on a quest to kill the Old Gods...

Jessica appears to be the only one so far not have a cult or followers; at least not so far. Maybe they were agoraphobic too and couldn't make it? The "Other Box" is kind of a groaner, but it would be kind of neat if this stuck and Blackfire got the W: the Tamereans hail their queen for saving them, even as Starfire testily points out she sold the rest of the sector down the river. Read more!

Which Starfire had the skimpier costume? That's open to debate.

A couple days ago, Bully had a pic up of Lois Lane reading an issue of Starfire; the Starfire in question being the short-lived DC sword-and-sorcery book from the seventies. I found a few issues from that ill-fated series back at the Spokane Comicon, and was saving the last issue for "The End" week; but was having a hard time writing about this book.

Partly because it's not great, but maybe it could've been. The same could be said for the other books in the same sword-and-sorcery push from DC, like Stalker and Beowulf. Mike Grell's Warlord turned out to be the breakout book of that lot, and went on for 133 issues; while most of the rest of the characters in that launch have barely a dozen appearances to date. Starfire's name would be appropriated by Marv Wolfman and George Perez for the Teen Titans character; but classic Starfire did appear recently in Time Masters: Vanishing Point.

Like most of the books in that push, though, Starfire was a sword and sorcery and sci-fi book; and kind of reminds me of Marvel's Killraven. On an alien world, where humanity is enslaved by the brutish Mygorg; Starfire was raised to be a concubine, but fled with a warrior-priest named Dagan. He trained her as a warrior, before being captured and killed, and Starfire began a revolution against the Mygorg. At first, it was seemingly only for revenge for the death of her lover, but Starfire found herself trying to teach freedom to people who never knew how. So it's a pretty standard, Robin Hood-style, rebels against the evil empire set-up, perfectly sound for a book like this. Except Starfire was a pretty, vaguely Asian young woman; which had to be unusual for a seventies comic; and because she was a pretty girl there's an ugly recurrent sexism in the book: even among her followers, many thought if they gave her the high hard one, she'd give up this revolution nonsense and get back in the kitchen and make them a sandwich. It's a short series, only eight issues, but that still seems to occur a lot.

Coveting Starfire as an object is doubtless kind of creepy in itself, but the men that want her don't really seem to care that she's about the only thing keeping the revolution going: if they got to sleep with her, they act like it's cool with them if they'll have to live as slaves, and don't seem particularly invested in the revolution either. And then the Mygorg, and most of the bad guys in the book, well, they probably want her too. Robin Hood never had to worry about being raped by the Sheriff of Nottingham. (Did he? To the best of my knowledge...) The art doesn't seem to be especially cheesecake or anything, but there does seem to be an awful lot of leering.

Sadly, Starfire didn't catch on, and was cancelled with #8. I do hope it isn't sexist of me to say, I love her early green costume, which with the bare and covered areas, reminds me of classic Star Trek outfits; and it's hot. Hope that isn't covetous...Scans from Starfire #5, "Here There Be Monsters!" Written by Elliot S! Maggin, art by Mike Vosburg and Vince Colletta.
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