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scans_dailyBack in the late 1980's it was a dark-ish time for the old school superhero fan (well, this one at least), a significant number of characters I liked had either been reimagined to unrecognisability, shot dead and the "dark antihero" was on the rise, a school of character I rarely like.
But every now and again, there were glimmers of hope (again, for me at least), a couple of everyman heroes (for a fairly white, straight, male value of "every" I grant you)
Marvel gave me Quasar, which I've posted in the past, and in 1988 DC gave me a new use of an old name, with Roger Stern and Tom Lyle creating a new spin on....
We start at one of those top secret research bases which litter your average comic book universe. In it the head scientist, one Dr Melrose, is expounding on his plan to create superhumans, using stellar energy being gathered by a specially designed satellite.
But as it turns out, the beam doesn't hit a populated area, well, not a VERY populated area, it hits in an isolated area in the Rockies, but, as we cut to a month later, it may have found a target, as a couple of hikers find...
So we have a dead John Doe who is heavier than he should be.... and who, as one might imagine in an origin story, isn't as dead as he appears, as evinced by him sitting up, much to the chagrin of the poor medic who had just confirmed he was dead.
But he suddenly leaps about thirty feet from a standing start, which carries him right through the window, and down....
Coping rather well, all things considered, our mystery man manages to steer himself onto the top of a truck on the freeway, where he lands and lets it take him to a town, which has a diner, where he tries to sort things out in his head... (and we find out why he had no obvious ID earlier)
And so our hero, one Will Payton by name, tries to sort things out for himself, though he's assisted in that by accidentally walking into the scene of a bank robbery (remember when criminals in comics robbed banks? It's an old school crime too, with guns, stocking masks and bags of cash. Will discovers the hard way that he's also invulnerable, and very, VERY strong, as well as being able to generate both blinding light and heat. Luckily this obscures what he looks like so after stopping the crooks he can fly off (with the grateful thanks of the locals because this is the old DCU, not Marvel or the DCnU)
So Will calls one person he knows he can rely on for help, and arranges a meeting near home...
It's perhaps worth noting that Jayne is NOT a love interest, in anything other than the fraternal sense, she's his big sister!
I like that he doesn't want to become a superhero, he's freaked out enough about being super at all.
They head to the family home, where Jayne lives and Will was putting in time, their mother is still a very present force in their lives, but their father left long ago.
First thing to go has to be the beard, Mrs Payton disapproves of such things (I've known mothers with weirder rules), and Will discovers there's one more thing he can do.
And alas, most of them have since fizzled out, that was a recurring theme of the first year or so of stories, Will trying to find himself a career again.
A few days pass and Will is adapting to life at home... also an excuse to show a good looking man in the shower, and perhaps the first depiction of Comic Code Authorty approved butt-crack! Never say I'm not good to you... :D
Yellow, purple and white? It's certainly a... unique look, I'll give it that, but the asymmetric look and the deliberately odd colour choices actually work for me. Oh, and check out the poster on the wall behind Jayne in the last panel, it's relevant...
But Jayne is listening to the local news, this time it's not a crime that's happening, it's an accident on a construction site, and that makes it a very different thing to Will. Jayne turns around to find that he, and the costume, are gone.
And very shortly, downtown...
And work it does, though "Starman" soon discovers that there is a difference between being strong, and being properly braced to deal with lifting weights, however, he's a fast learner, and though the crane DOES fall over and land on him, he's able to melt his way out without it being a big deal, and more importantly to Will, the civilian is safe.
He quickly leaves... and I love this next scene a lot...
Will's uncertainty about what his life would become, and what he'd do both as Will AND as Starman made for an excellent series. It often became a standard classic solo superhero story, but there's nothing wrong with that, and it's not like there were a lot of those around in the 1980's (or so it felt like). Also, as Will discovered more about his origins (We had not, as you might imagine, heard the last of Dr Melrose) and his powers, some interesting issues were addressed, but that's perhaps a post for another time...
Hope you enjoyed!
But every now and again, there were glimmers of hope (again, for me at least), a couple of everyman heroes (for a fairly white, straight, male value of "every" I grant you)
Marvel gave me Quasar, which I've posted in the past, and in 1988 DC gave me a new use of an old name, with Roger Stern and Tom Lyle creating a new spin on....
We start at one of those top secret research bases which litter your average comic book universe. In it the head scientist, one Dr Melrose, is expounding on his plan to create superhumans, using stellar energy being gathered by a specially designed satellite.
But as it turns out, the beam doesn't hit a populated area, well, not a VERY populated area, it hits in an isolated area in the Rockies, but, as we cut to a month later, it may have found a target, as a couple of hikers find...
So we have a dead John Doe who is heavier than he should be.... and who, as one might imagine in an origin story, isn't as dead as he appears, as evinced by him sitting up, much to the chagrin of the poor medic who had just confirmed he was dead.
But he suddenly leaps about thirty feet from a standing start, which carries him right through the window, and down....
Coping rather well, all things considered, our mystery man manages to steer himself onto the top of a truck on the freeway, where he lands and lets it take him to a town, which has a diner, where he tries to sort things out in his head... (and we find out why he had no obvious ID earlier)
And so our hero, one Will Payton by name, tries to sort things out for himself, though he's assisted in that by accidentally walking into the scene of a bank robbery (remember when criminals in comics robbed banks? It's an old school crime too, with guns, stocking masks and bags of cash. Will discovers the hard way that he's also invulnerable, and very, VERY strong, as well as being able to generate both blinding light and heat. Luckily this obscures what he looks like so after stopping the crooks he can fly off (with the grateful thanks of the locals because this is the old DCU, not Marvel or the DCnU)
So Will calls one person he knows he can rely on for help, and arranges a meeting near home...
It's perhaps worth noting that Jayne is NOT a love interest, in anything other than the fraternal sense, she's his big sister!
I like that he doesn't want to become a superhero, he's freaked out enough about being super at all.
They head to the family home, where Jayne lives and Will was putting in time, their mother is still a very present force in their lives, but their father left long ago.
First thing to go has to be the beard, Mrs Payton disapproves of such things (I've known mothers with weirder rules), and Will discovers there's one more thing he can do.
And alas, most of them have since fizzled out, that was a recurring theme of the first year or so of stories, Will trying to find himself a career again.
A few days pass and Will is adapting to life at home... also an excuse to show a good looking man in the shower, and perhaps the first depiction of Comic Code Authorty approved butt-crack! Never say I'm not good to you... :D
Yellow, purple and white? It's certainly a... unique look, I'll give it that, but the asymmetric look and the deliberately odd colour choices actually work for me. Oh, and check out the poster on the wall behind Jayne in the last panel, it's relevant...
But Jayne is listening to the local news, this time it's not a crime that's happening, it's an accident on a construction site, and that makes it a very different thing to Will. Jayne turns around to find that he, and the costume, are gone.
And very shortly, downtown...
And work it does, though "Starman" soon discovers that there is a difference between being strong, and being properly braced to deal with lifting weights, however, he's a fast learner, and though the crane DOES fall over and land on him, he's able to melt his way out without it being a big deal, and more importantly to Will, the civilian is safe.
He quickly leaves... and I love this next scene a lot...
Will's uncertainty about what his life would become, and what he'd do both as Will AND as Starman made for an excellent series. It often became a standard classic solo superhero story, but there's nothing wrong with that, and it's not like there were a lot of those around in the 1980's (or so it felt like). Also, as Will discovered more about his origins (We had not, as you might imagine, heard the last of Dr Melrose) and his powers, some interesting issues were addressed, but that's perhaps a post for another time...
Hope you enjoyed!
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