Title: Starlight #1 Author: Mark Millar Artist: Goran Parlov Publisher: Image Comics / MillarWorld Rating: 18+ Release date: March 5, 2014 Verdict: Start of Something New! Mark Millar hit the comic book scene in the latter half of the 1990’s, but didn’t really hit it with North American audiences until he started writing The Authority after Warren Ellis left, as well as Ultimates and Ultimate X-Men in the early 2000’s. From there, Millar started making his name by doing big fun comics that had a “wide screen” feel to them. In other words, his stuff felt like kick-ass action movies most of the time, and his writing was a breath of fresh air. Now, in 2014, Mark Millar is still known for his movie-style books, but now he’s famous, and exclusively doing creator-owned work…and his writing isn’t as fresh as it once was. But that’s ok! Not everyone can be cutting edge their whole careers. Mark’s stuff is still quite fun, and the array of artists he’s currently working with is stellar. This week saw the release of two Mark Millar books, both from Image and both under his “MillarWorld” banner. The first, Jupiter’s Legacy with Frank Quitely, was fantastic! I can’t get enough of that book, even though only 4 issues have come out since last April. It’s supposedly his Super-Hero Opus, but I will reserve judgement until the last issue comes in. The second book, Starlight, is the important one. Starlight is supposedly the beginning of a new era for MillarWorld books, wherein #1 is the beginning of the shared universe that Millar is creating. It’s possible I read this wrong online…I’m not sure if his other creator-owned series like Kick-Ass, Nemesis, Supercrooks, Jupiter’s Legacy, or MPH are officially part of this shared universe, but either way, it’s always exciting when someone tries to launch something as ambitious as a super-hero universe being written by one writer. If Kick-Ass is the real world, and Nemesis is a “what if Bruce Wayne was the Joker instead of Batman”, and Jupiter’s Legacy is a Super-hero family epic, then Starlight is analogous to Adam Strange meets Flash Gordon…40 years after he came home. This first issue introduces us to Duke McQueen, former USAF Captain, and a man who claims that he went through what was most likely a wormhole, and was propelled to an alien world where he helped overthrow a tyrant and free an entire civilization. He was a hero…and no one back on Earth believed him. Now, 40 years later, and he’s still kind of a joke. His kids are nice enough, but aren’t really there for him…his wife is dead…he doesn’t really have much going on in his life, and he’s not even sure that these crazy things ever truly happened to him; and then the damnedest thing happened. A space ship shows up in his backyard…and our story really kicks off. I love this idea, but I would be lying if I said it felt very original. I’m a fan of both Millar and Parlov, so I’ll be around for the next few issues either way. The covers by John Cassaday also don’t hurt one bit! I think it’s going to be a fun ride. No word on how long this series is supposed to be. Millar usually works in arcs of no more than 7 or 8 issues, and sometimes as low as 4 issues. This feels like at least 6-8 issues if I was guessing. What did you all think? Are you still reading Mark Millar’s work in his post-Marvel days? What did you all think of the artwork? Sound off in the comments section and let us know. See you all next time
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 15:23:27 +0000
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