A Tale of Times Past

Poet and playwright Oscar Wilde was born on this (October 16th) date. One of his greatest works is The Picture of Dorian Gray. I've never read the story, or seen the film adaptation. Maybe I should do something about that.

I am one of many that are more familiar with the works of comic book writer James Robinson. I've read stories he's worked on with "rock star" penciller Jim Lee in Lee's WildC.A.T.s. I've read great things of his Leave It To Chance.

My favorite work by Robinson is Starman. Working with Tony Harris and Wade Von Grawbadger, Robinson carved out a niche in a corner of the DC Universe. Opal City became much like Metropolis and Gotham, a bustling hub of activity. Robinson pulled together minor, lesser known characters and told amazing stories with them. Characters like The Black Pirate, Black Condor, The Red Bee and Solomon Grundy. He connected all of the characters that used the name Starman.

Jack Knight, created by Robinson and Harris, was the son of Golden-Age Starman Ted Knight - not to be confused with the legendary actor from Caddyshack, Too Close For Comfort, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and the narrator of the '70's Super Friends cartoon. Jack was a collector. Antiques. He never wanted to be a superhero. Yet, when Ted's arch-enemy, The Mist, returned to Opal for revenge, Jack stepped up. The Mist's son, Kyle, murdered Jack's brother David, who had taken their father's mantle as Starman. The Mist's Daughter, Nash, took up her father's mantle as well.

All this unfolded in the amazing debut Sins of the Father storyline, in Starman 0 - 4. Issue five was quite interesting. It was the first Talking With David issue. David Knight was somehow able to reconnect with Jack, and he shared with Jack important pieces of the puzzle.

Starman 6 was even more interesting. Another of Ted Knight's adversaries, The Shade, had more or less retired from crime, and made Opal his home. He'd spent a good deal of his free time journaling. He shared his journals with Jack. Starman 6 is the first issue From The Pages of The Shade's Journals, a Tale of Times Past. It features The Shade, known as Mr. Black, hanging out in 1882 with Oscar Wilde. This was before he had written his famous work about Dorian Gray. Wilde was on his American tour, stopping in Opal before heading to Chicago. While chatting about Dickens and Hans Christian Anderson, The Shade is interested in someone else Wilde knows. Someone with similar powers to The Shade's. That's set aside as a young man seeks The Shade's help in rescuing his sister from a mesmerist running a circus performing in Opal. What follows is a simple confrontation; as The Shade does indeed liberate the young man's sister. His price is a bit of Opal land, and ten percent of the inheritance received from the brother and sister's late parents. Far less than what the mesmerist was interested in from the sister.

The story ends with a torn page from The Shade's journal. An important page.

Robinson didn't waste anything in Starman. Everything that happened built toward a grand finale.

Oscar Wilde was part of that. Wilde followed The Picture of Dorian Gray with The Importance of Being Earnest. He was in prison for two years, from 1895 to 1897. He died poor at age 48 in 1900 in Paris. Alan Moore incorporated Dorian Gray into his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The screenplay for the film adaptation was written by (wait for it) James Robinson.

Legend has it that Robinson and Harris modeled The Shade on actor Jonathan Pryce. You've seen him in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies and the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Maybe he modeled The Shade on Dorian Gray as well. And in doing so, inspired Wilde.

I'm thinking it might be time to read The Picture of Dorian Gray.   

Creature Comforts From Home VII: Fantastic Four

After wrapping up Starman, James Robinson moved on to other things. He wrote JSA (Justice Society of America) and Hawkman; he wrote Justice League: Cry For Justice; He wrote Batman and Detective Comics; he wrote the War of the Supermen and New Krypton storylines in Superman. He had a brief run on Justice League before The New 52 reboot relaunch in 2011. His League could be described as Justice Titans; it featured Dick (Robin) Grayson as The Batman, Donna (Wonder Girl) Troy as Wonder Woman, Mon-El as Superman, and Supergirl, just to name a few. I picked up a few issues of that, and I enjoyed it. What I would have enjoyed more, is Robinson's take on the original Magnificent Seven. With The New 52 reboot relaunch in 2011, Robinson re-imagined the Golden Age heroes of the Justice Society of America in Earth-2. You may have seen the news that his new Alan Scott was gay.

Robinson left Earth-2 and DC abruptly. He went across the street to the competition, Marvel, where he is now writing and updated The Invaders and Fantastic Four. I still believe that James Robinson has something in common with Roy Thomas. A Golden Age spirit. The Invaders was a World War II team book that Roy Thomas wrote when he was at Marvel in the mid-1970's. Captain America and Bucky, The Human Torch and Toro with Namor, the Sub-Mariner.

 

I'm sure that it is no co-incidence that Robinson was attracted to The Invaders, having worked on The Golden Age four-issue mini-series for DC; then Starman, which spent a great deal of time in the Golden Age; and finally writing both Justice Society and Earth-2. It is probably no co-incidence either that he is working with two teams that have a Human Torch; Jim Hammond, the original, Golden Age Human Torch, and Johnny Storm, Human Torch with the Fantastic Four.

 

Robinson's The Invaders is a little different from what I might have anticipated. It is hard to see these characters updated and contemporary from their wartime adventures. The same was true with the re-imagined Earth-2 heroes. The first story-arc puts these veteran heroes in a cosmic setting; which I would see as more suitable to the Fantastic Four. The Fantastic Four is a more cosmic team. They got their powers from a cosmic event. Reed Richards, Mister Fantastic is a cosmic scientist. He discovered the Negative Zone, which is cosmic. I see The Invaders as more of a Batman and The Outsiders team. Somewhat more political in nature. That might not work these days, it being such a small world. I see The Invaders as the original The A-Team. Only super-heroes.

 

 

I'm leaning more toward really enjoying his run on Fantastic Four. His Starman was about relationships; father-and-son, brothers, family. I believe that makes him a perfect fit for Marvel's First Family. I enjoyed Mark Waid and Mark Weringo's run on the book and their approach to the team as "Imaginauts". So far, Robinson is a few issues into his run and is deconstructing the team to define and rebuild them. As always, I'm interested to see where he is going with things.

 

To get ready for his relaunch, I went to the library and I picked up a copy of Essential Fantastic Four, Volume 1. It is a soft cover trade paperback collecting the first twenty issues, plus the first annual. One of the stories is the often reprinted Fantastic Four #5, featuring the first appearance of Doctor Doom.

 

 

This was re-imagined by Marc Sumerak and Dax Gordine in the All-Ages, Marvel Age Fantastic Four #5. Doom traps the Fantastic Four in the Baxter Building and takes them captive. He then enlists them to go back in time through his Time Platform to bring back Blackbeard's Treasure Chest. And, wackiness ensues. He holds Sue hostage while Reed, Johnny and Ben make the journey into the past. It is one of the greatest Fantastic Four stories by the original creators Jack Kirby and Stan Lee.

 

 

In 1996, around the time Doctor Doom and Reed Richards seemingly died like Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty, Marvel launched a ninety-nine cent comic book line. One of the many titles was Fantastic Four Unplugged. It lasted all of six issues before it was cancelled ended. One of the issues featured Johnny Storm on a date. While on this date he encounters a group of Moloids carrying out an operation for The Mole Man. He is the Fantastic Four's first villain. It is very much a companion piece to the main Fantastic Four book; and, it is also interconnected to other Marvel books. You can't just pick up an issue and jump right into the story without knowing what else is going on in the Marvel Universe. Still, it is a pretty fun story. Except for the stuff that might not make sense unless you already know what's going on.

 

 

Marvel and DC have had a long love-hate relationship. Over the years they have produced some great cross-company team-ups; Superman and Spider-Man and Batman and The Incredible Hulk. In 1996, the two companies came up with DC Versus Marvel. It was a contest with fan involvement to see which characters would best each other. During the course of this and future encounters, the DC and Marvel characters were amalgamated, producing new characters from each publisher. Batman and Wolverine became Dark Claw; Iron Man and Green Lantern became Iron Lantern. The Fantastic Four were combined with the Challengers of the Unknown to become the Challengers of the Fantastic. Doctor Doom was combined with the Superman villain Doomsday to become Doctor Doomsday. The Watcher was melded with the Guardians of the Universe to become Uatu, the Guardian. Galactus and Brainiac became Galactiac. The Silver Surfer and The Back Racer became - you guessed it - The Silver Racer. It was all very '60's Silver Age and fun, in an Elseworlds/What If? alternate reality sort of way.

 

Robinson's Fantastic Four feels grand, epic and serious. At the end of issue #2, Johnny loses his Human Torch powers. The storyline is called "The Fall of the Fantastic Four". It should be interesting to see where Robinson takes the team. The most interesting development is that they are now wearing red uniforms.

 

Kinda like this...

Since my wife, Cathy, and I are building our family through adoption - we are on our third trip to Kiev, bringing home our daughter, Masha - and Marvel's First Family is the Fantastic Four, I brought along the first two issues of James Robinson's Fantastic Four and a couple of other FF comics as creature comforts from home.

 

I can wait to get back home to my favorite run of FF comics -

 

I have the entire 49 issues of Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four. A number of issues were written by Batman '66 writer Jeff Parker. They are all done-in-one stories. They are a lot of fun to re-read! I hope the same is true of Robinson's FF.  

 

 

   

Creature Comforts From Home VI: Talking With David

Starman Legacy poster

Let me tell you what happened in 1994. The third time is the charm.

Jack Knight made an appearance in DC Comics' Zero Hour #1. Zero Hour counted backwards from issue four to issue zero. Following Zero Hour #0, was the DC line-wide event Zero Month. It was a chance for new readers to jump on-board each of the comics published in October 1994 with that individual book's Zero Issue. There were four DC titles that ended - or were cancelled - with Zero Hour; Team Titans, a spin-off of Teen Titans; L.E.G.I.O.N. '94; Valor (He used to go by the name Mon-El); and Justice League International. DC's Legion of Super-Heroes was re-launched with a Zero Issue and new #1, as well as a companion title Legionnaires. Seven titles were launched following Zero Hour; Extreme Justice; Fate; R.E.B.E.L.S. '94 (replacing L.E.G.I.O.N.); Manhunter; Primal Force; Starman and Xenobrood (which was a limited series). Wanna know which one of those seven titles became the most enduring?

Starman was re-launched a couple of times before 1994. In the '80's Paul Levitz and Steve Ditko created a Starman named Prince Gavyn. Prince Gavyn, Aquaman and Plastic Man were features of a Adventure Comics Dollar Comic. The feature didn't last very long and Price Gavyn was all but quickly forgotten.

A few years later in 1988, Superman writer Roger Stern and Tom Lyle created another cosmic Starman, Will Payton. This Starman lasted awhile longer. He anchored his own title for 45 issues and was often in the company of Firestorm, Firehawk and Power Girl, Superman and Batman. He was courted unsuccessfully by Lady Quark, one of the characters from 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths. He even fought David Knight, son of the original, Golden-Age Starman, Ted Knight. They fought for the Starman "birthright". When his title ended, Payton faded from the scene.

In 1994, James Robinson, Tony Harris and Wade Von Grawbadger launched a new Starman. In the first issue, the Zero Issue, David Knight is patrolling Opal City. In his bright red and green costume he is standing perched on a rooftop. He is shot in the chest by The Mist's son Kyle. David falls to the pavement to his death. If the bullet to the heart didn't get him, the fall did. The Mist is Ted Knight's - the original, Golden-Age Starman's - mortal enemy. His Lex Luthor; his Joker. The Mist has returned to Opal to take his revenge on Ted. His son Kyle murders David; and tries to kill Ted's other son, Jack. Ted is injured when his observatory blows up and ends up in the hospital. Ted tells Jack to run away from Opal as far as he can get. Jack considers it, but then something happens. Even though he doesn't want to be a hero, he wants to run. He stays. He fights. He defends Opal, he avenges his brothers death and fights Kyle to the death and wins. Nash becomes his mortal enemy.

Jack was the third time re-launching Starman in as many years. The third time was the charm.

Why? Was it James Robinson? I have posted before and I will post again that I believe James Robinson and Roy Thomas are kindred spirits. Leaving Marvel for DC, Thomas left The Invaders and launched the All-Star Squadron grouping all of DC's wartime heroes in one book. Robinson wrote the four issue The Golden Age, a 1993 Elseworlds - alternate reality - four-issue mini-series covering much the same ground as Thomas. Robinson covered a lot of Golden Age  ground with Starman, and during his run on Justice Society.

I believe that Robinson, Harris, Von Grawbadger and editor, the late Archie Goodwin, had a lot to do with the success of Jack Knight as Starman. What I think they hit on, though, was the only way to do it right.

Since the original Starman, Ted Knight, there were three attempts to make the character cosmic. There was even a Star Boy on the Legion of Super-Heroes. Ted Knight used his star rod technology and shared it with fellow hero Sylvester Pemberton, the Star Spangled Kid. The Kid later became Skyman, part of the next generation, Infinity, Inc. which featured the children and heirs of the Justice Society. Pemberton was killed in action toward the end of Infinity, Inc. before the title was cancelled ended. David Knight was portrayed as eager and zealous to take on his father's mantle. So much so that he died in action.

The only way to make Starman work the way it did for Jack was to tie it back to Ted and Opal City. Everything that Robinson did was common sense. He brought the Golden Age back in Tales of Times Past stories that tied to storylines that he was setting up to a grand finale. Robinson made Starman about family. Jack's relationship with his father Ted. Robinson tied together all the Starmen into a legacy.

Along with the Tales of Times Past stories, Robinson paused for annual Talking With David stories. Jack meets his late brother David annually, in different places. Jack and the surroundings are in black and white, while David, wearing the Starman uniform he died in is in vivid color. They first meet in a cemetery and do little more than make a mess they have to clean up after fighting. The following year, they meet onboard a pirate ship. Together they scuttle another ship before docking in Opal for a very special appointment. The next year, it's dinner with other dead heroes for advice on "the life". Later still, while searching for Will Payton with Mikaal Tomas - a one-time Starman from the '70's - it's Mikaal that talks with David, while Jack fights Solomon Grundy. Jack and David meet one final time, where all the pieces are finally fit into place. It is with this meeting that Jack and David travel back in time to 1951 for a very important job.

I put the three-issue story arc about the Starman of 1951 in with the Talking With David issues because Jack and David are together through the entire adventure until it's conclusion. At the end of the adventure, David starts to feel cold, hear music and then, simply disappears - leaving Jack in 1951. He is returned to the present in a Legion Time Bubble by his successor Star Boy.

And then Starman ends with #80. Jack Knight was Starman from October 1994 to August 2001.

The issue that Jack's father Ted fights his ultimate, final battle against The Mist and ends like Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty over Reichenbach Falls was released right around the time I lost my dad to prostate cancer. I held my dad's hand and told him it was okay. He'd fought the good fight. He could rest. My dad passed away on Mother's Day, 2000. I like to think it was a gift to my mom, since she had taken care of him the last few years of his life while he was fighting the cancer. I don't know if I would have felt any connection to any work other than Starman. The book had an interesting way of handling the death of characters.

In 2010, when Geoff Johns brought the Green Lantern event Blackest Night across the DC line, a Black Lantern ring found David Knight and he rose again. Blackest Knight may have been DC's version of The Walking Dead, the Black Lantern Corps being corpses. Risen from the dead by their Black Rings and killing anyone in their path.

Jack did not return to Talk With David this time around. James Robinson did return, though, and had The Shade defeat David's Blackened soul and write one final "The End" to Starman with #81.

Because Starman's Talking With David was about brothers, and Starman itself was about family - fathers and sons - and community, it's one of the books I've brought along with on my trip to Kiev as I bring home my daughter with my wife. Creature comforts from home. Starman issues #5, #19, #37, #49, #76 and #81.

Good stuff.