Star(man) of wonder - Starman #18

Your Mother Should Know

Starman #18

Cover Date: January 1990

Released: 28th November 1989

⋅ Writers: Roger Stern

⋅ Pencilers: Tom Lyle

⋅ Inker: Scott Hanna

⋅ Colourists: Carl Gafford

⋅ Letterer: Bob Pinaha

⋅ Editors: Brian Augustyn / Katie Main 

Continued from Starman #17.

You can sometimes tell just how week-to-week this is by the stupid decisions that I make about how to handle the material, like how the last issue I completely skipped the soap opera parts of the story.

The thing is those aspects make up some of the best parts of the story, though the superheroic aspects (and Power Girl) are incredibly solid as well. So to make amends for such an oversight I'll try to cover both halves of the story this time around.

The first half of the soapy part is Starman's mom worrying about where William, Starman, is after being missing for almost half a day. His sister, Jayne, who knows about his secret, is trying to cover for him being missing, Also his mom is also still getting over the death of her husband, who she sees as a bit of a deadbeat husband. Even though she says she's over the death it affecting her work at an electronics warehouse. It's pure soap opera and I can't help but love it!

Meanwhile, in the superhero part of the story, we have Doctor Polaris having the two heroes captured and bound. After teasing he then leaves allowing Staman and Pee Gee, who had been feigning unconsciousness. She explains that Doctor Polaris has a split personality, she describes it as a Jekyll and Hyde, with the poor original Doctor Emerson being subsumed by Doctor Polaris. What is interesting here is that Kara shows concern and empathy for the villains, a far cry angry Pee Gee that we sometimes get.

On a similar note, it's Pee Gee that figures out that the bounds that Doctor Polaris used are not his power but a device instead. We also (or I do) learn that Starman can impersonate voices, and faces, something to remember for later. After trying to shut things down they instead use Starman's energy powers to melt the device, building tension if Power Girl can take the punishment. Whilst it obvious she'd be fine it is really well set up and pays off beautifully. Of cause, you can ask why she doesn't use her laser eyes, but we'll let that one slide in this case.

We then have a final showdown with Doctor Polaris, which again goes badly with Starman being enclosed in metal and apparently killed. Again we have Pee Gee, who Doctor Polaris allows out of a force field to check on Starman, who shows concern for the other hero. Starman is fine and melts the metal revealing the face, and voice, of Emerson, chasing down Doctor Polaris and insisting he's the real deal, which allows Doctor Emerson to gain back control of his body over Doctor Polaris.

As the Doctor is taken away by the army Pee Gee apologizes for eavesdropping on Starman's call to his sister during Invasion, remembering it from the dial tones of all things! She then again encourages Starman for doing a good job and gives him a kiss before flying away.

We end the issue with more soapy goodness, after losing his temper he has to reveal to mom that he's Starman, showing off his powers and explaining everything. It all goes fine until he mentions that he also told his dad, which upset her resulting in her throwing him out of the house! 

There is a universe in that Pee Gee doesn't join the JLE but instead is a character in this Starman series, and as much as I love the JLE I kind of wished we could have seen that series. With a superteam, you have an ensemble, which means you often have to boil characters down to one or two quirks, something that gets really bad for poor Pee Gee much later in the JLE run. In Starman, we get a Kara that feels like a full character that seems to flawlessly fit in with the rest of the people in the story.

Really I want more of this, but alas that will have to wait for a little while...