Hope He Doesn't Blow Our Minds

This isn't my main post for the day, but I wanted to let my great relief wash over the land like a soothing balm:


STARMAN.

Yes, many of you may already be aware (perhaps through one of my favorite blogs, Collected Editions) that there's a hardcover, all-the-bells-and-whistles Starman book coming out, Starman: The Complete Saga, Volume 1. I'm so very very excited over this, for a few reasons.

One, for those who aren't familiar with the Jack Knight saga, allow me to break it down: this run of Starman, written by James Robinson and drawn mostly by Tony Harris, focuses on the son of the original Starman, Ted Knight, as he fights crime in Starman's hometown of Opal City. Along the way, Jack Knight must deal with the death of his brother, a sour relationship with his ex-hero father, and the entire legacy of Starman, including all the alien incarnations. The series also dealt with the relationship between a superhero and the city he chooses as his home, and in so doing, Robinson gave Opal City a life of its own, and so it was always a great read when an issue left the ongoing storyline in order to focus on the city's history. There were no "filler issues" of this book: every one was a complete joy, and fit into the mythos exactly where it should.

And that's due in no small part to Robinson's philosophy: Starman was set up to have a beginning, and an end. It was a journey that had to end when it did, despite high readership numbers. It helped to keep the series fresh, and you actually felt that you were going somewhere with this - that there wasn't just a single mystery to solve and then you'd be on to the next, but that you were inextricably moving toward a final goal, an endgame. It was like playing The Legend of Zelda, except you were reading comics, and there were no Moblins.

It also helps that Starman was produced between 1994 and 2001, an era where entertainment seemed to be focused more around the idea of "family" than around individualism. Take a look at the two Star Treks, Deep Space Nine and Voyager, if you don't believe me.

Boy, that went on longer than I wanted it to.

The second reason I'm excited? I don't actually own any of the individual issues, and now I don't have to hunt down the trade paperbacks. This might not seem like such a big deal, and it probably wouldn't be, if it weren't for two more things:

i) the paperbacks don't collect the entire Starman saga - there are a few issues missing that didn't fit into the story-arcs.

ii) this:

Fucking Wicked Inclination. That shit is impossible to find at a decent price. I don't want to have to spend over fifty bucks for this. Now, I can get about three times the amount of material for the same price. Fuck you, Ebay!

And those are my thoughts, and my implorations to you to buy this so we're guaranteed the second volume.

I'll have something tonight, most likely. If I don't suffer another mind-crunching migraine.

ADDENDUM: I totally lied. This is my main post today. Surprise!