Writers: Gardner Fox, Alfred Bester and unknown Artist: Jack Burnley Publisher: DC Comics
This attractive volume collects the first sixteen short adventures of the original Starman from Adventure Comics #61-76 (1941-42). For those who are unaware, the original Starman was Ted Knight, and he’s the father of today’s Starman, Jack Knight.
Readers of DCs Archives will know that each volume begins with a foreward, and this collection is no exception: it is introduced by Burnley, the artist on all these stories and, it seems, the co-creator of the character. While I enjoy many of these introductory essays, I am especially fond of those written by one of the creators or editors of the original stories, as opposed to those written by writers whose connection to the tales is as a fan. Fortunately, this is one of the former, and readers are treated to Burnley’s recollections of the creation of the stories and his own assessment of their strengths and weaknesses. Burnley’s insightful, honest and, above all, interesting.
As for the stories themselves, they are of the Golden Age of comics. This means, of course, that modern readers should know beforehand that they are likely to be much shorter, more action-oriented than introspective and overall less complex sophisticated than today’s comic book stories, having been consciously written for a readership 7-11 years old. It also means that women, foreigners and persons of colour are portrayed in ways consistent with stereotypes and xenophobia with which the modern reader might be uncomfortable. Knowing these things, the reader can judge these stories in their proper context.
The fact is, of course, that these are not sophisticated tales. They are, however, at least as imaginative as they are simple. The villains in these tales, besides the predictable saboteurs, spies and generally menacing foreigners, also include hypnotists, pirates, animal men, incoporeal thieves (yes, Jack Knight fans, the Mist), invaders from the future, and a gang with costumes and gimmicks based on celestial bodies (the moon, Saturn, comets, Mercury). They rely on shrinking rays, artificially-induced lightning and earthquakes and magic spells. These science fiction elements make for fantastic stories indeed.
Ted Knight seems an unoriginal creation. He seems to me a conscious amalgam of Bruce Wayne – wealthy playboy who’s a costumed hero by night, and who responds to a signal device controlled by a law enforcement officer – and Clark Kent – apparently sickly and weak. Perhaps this is unsurprising: according to Burnley, the creators were trying to emulate the success of Superman and Batman, and the publishers were definitely aiming for the level of popularity achieved by those early icons.
Some interesting elements of Ted (Starman) Knight’s story circa 1941: his gravity rod worked only at night (when the stars are out, get it?) in those days, and it gave him super-strength in addition to the powers its modern equivalent manifests today. Starman was also more of a street brawler in his day, and more of a wisecracker, than the modern reader might expect (perhaps dues to the dictates of the editors of the day that stories be filled with the kind of action that would appeal to young boys).
Burnley’s art is something to behold. Modern readers may not notice at first, but there was a sophistication to his work that was ahead of its time in 1941.
All in all, not only is this Archives volume a very attractive package, its pages burst with creative imagination. Modern readers can have a lot of fun with these stories and characters, so long as they’re prepared to set aside their 21st century standards of narrative and characterization. Starman fans, in particular, can bear witness to the roots of the legacy on which James Robinson is building today.
