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A review by lunchlander
Starlight Volume 1 by Mark Millar
4.0
I'm honestly kind of surprised I liked this one, because Mark Millar's shtick tends to grate on me, but this had Goran Parlov art and a premise (Unforgiven, but with Buck Rogers, more or less) that I liked. Basically, Duke McQueen, now in his 70s, was once a test pilot who became a hero on an alien world. He returned home and nobody, except his wife, who has just died, believed him. Now he's left alone with two ungrateful sons and bratty neighborhood kids who taunt him for his "delusions." Until a young boy shows up in a rocketship, telling Duke that he's needed once again. (That's the first issue... I haven't spoiled anything, I promise.)
The execution of it is pretty damn good. Oh, sure, Millar's annoying tics like horrific violence by the bad guys and a cynical outlook on people in general are in full effect, but this is not about a good guy succumbing to the temptations of being bad.
Instead, it's about realizing you're not as used up as you thought you were, becoming an inspiration and getting to be the hero again. I kept waiting for the cynical twist where our hero, Duke McQueen, would be revealed to be terrible, or would just be shot in the face by the cackling bad guy, but it never came. In fact, the ending is so sweet and lovely it actually brought a tear to my eye.
As did the art throughout. Man, Parlov is good. In order for this to work, you needed to buy both McQueen's mundane retiree life *and* the splendor and scope of the alien world equally, and Parlov more than delivers the goods.
The execution of it is pretty damn good. Oh, sure, Millar's annoying tics like horrific violence by the bad guys and a cynical outlook on people in general are in full effect, but this is not about a good guy succumbing to the temptations of being bad.
Instead, it's about realizing you're not as used up as you thought you were, becoming an inspiration and getting to be the hero again. I kept waiting for the cynical twist where our hero, Duke McQueen, would be revealed to be terrible, or would just be shot in the face by the cackling bad guy, but it never came. In fact, the ending is so sweet and lovely it actually brought a tear to my eye.
As did the art throughout. Man, Parlov is good. In order for this to work, you needed to buy both McQueen's mundane retiree life *and* the splendor and scope of the alien world equally, and Parlov more than delivers the goods.