Starman (1988) #1

[iamrman]

Writer: Roger Stern

Pencils: Tom Lyle

Inks: Bob Smith

---

I don’t know anything about this character, but this is a Roger Stern book. That is more than enough reason for me to check it out.

---

Much to the doctor's shock, the body starts to move. His name is Will Payton. He was out hiking when he was zapped by a beam from space.

Will wanders into town, trying to make sense of what is going on.

Will reunites with his family and tidies himself up.

Comments

[mordalo]

I remember when this came out. This was something like the 5,438th "Starman" character from DC. This book was...fun. Nice, light (pardon the pun) and a good read, at least at first.

[beyondthefringe]

To be fair, the only Starmen to precede Will were the original, the Starman of 1951 who was really Batman in a one-off, Mikaal from one issue of 1st Issue Special, and Prince Gavyn, who died as a random casualty of the Crisis on Infinite Easrths. Sure, that's still a bunch, but only Ted and Prince Gayvn were of any real significance, and Ted was by far the most prominent and well-remembered. The name was wide open for reinvention.

Will Payton was very much a B-hero of the late '80s and early '90s... he didn't achieve a whole lot, and was killed off during a crossover event featuring Eclipso.
As one of those "legacy in name only" characters, he had a good if unexceptional run... as in for the life of me I can't remember what happened except fighting the Power Elite and dating Rampage. Also, his first costume is garish as all heck, and his next costume is far superior in my opinion.

Naturally, it was James Robinson who found ways to tie together all of the pre-existing Starmen -and- his own creations.

[tripodeca113]

Ah the Starman before the Starman before Jack.

oh hey Will Payton was a preexisting character. She wasn't just made up by Robinsons

[scorntx]

There was a post about the Payton run *checks watch* oooh, wow, quite a long time ago. Always interested in it, but DC being DC can't find no collected editions for love nor money...


It seems kind of mad that Starman, any Starman, would get an ongoing, let alone one that ran as long as this one did.
... especially starting with an outfit like that.

Was going to question who in their right mind builds a morgue on the edge of a cliff, but otherwise how would Will have figured out his flying powers?

(Steak and eggs for $5.95? Yowza.)

[dan_ingram]

"Was going to question who in their right mind builds a morgue on the edge of a cliff?"

A genius in civil design, that's who.

You have a great view, and a place to chuck unclaimed bodies with minimum fuss.

[beyondthefringe]

I agree. His first costume is... certainly something.

And DC has a long history of trying to reuse pre-existing names while changing everything else. I suppose it all stems from the Silver Age reinventions of so many Golden Age heroes -- Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Atom... So blowing the dust off a name like Starman, whose previous occupant had died a few years ago, was probably just a good way to maintain a trademark.

45 issues and change was definitely a surprise. These days, I doubt a series like this would have gotten more than 12, unless it was a real breakout hit, which this certainly wasn't to my knowledge.

[thanekos]

This is like a New Universe story, in that it starts out seeming novel and bids fair to quickly become unremarkably conventional.

[laughing_tree]

What do you consider novel about this?

[thanekos]

Presentation - it's enough about Will that it doesn't feel overtly like The All-New Starman's Origin Story.

[super_fly]

I wonder how many people were expecting this to be connected to the Jeff Bridges film from 4 years before.

[sisterofbloomerjunior]

I’m wondering how long the county morgue can stay on that cliff during avalanche or “just” erosion! 😱