Starman #4 (December 1988)

Legacy is a big deal in the DC Universe. Mantles are often passed around like candy there. For example, Barry Allen is actually the second man to wear the Flash mantle, having succeeded Jay Garrick, and himself being succeeded over the years by his nephew Wally West and grandson Bart Allen. Not to mention all the Flashes of various future timelines.

Among those heroes that have passed down their mantles is Starman. Ted Knight, the original Starman, debuted in Adventure Comics #61 (April 1941). Created by Gardner Fox and Jack Burnley (sort of. Editor Whitney Ellsworth conceived the character, but Fox expanded the concept), Ted Knight was an astronomer and inventor. He created a "cosmic rod" that could collect energies from the stars in the sky (Including the Sun presumably, as the Sun is a star). This device allowed Starman to fly and shoot energy beams. 

With the 1950s, Ted and his fellow Golden Age heroes fell into obscurity as superhero comics fell from popularity. However, Detective Comics #247 (September 1957) saw a brief appearance of a new Starman that would become known as the "Starman of 1951". This was originally Batman taking up a new persona after being hypnotized to fear bats. That Starman would be retconned to be Charles McNider/Dr. Mid-Nite I and David Knight, older brother of future Starman Jack Knight.  

with the rise of the Silver Age, new versions of Golden Age heroes like Green Lantern, the Flash, and the Atom were introduced. Starman himself was revived, but it took longer for a new one to show up: Mikaal Tomas. First introduced in 1st Issue Special #12 (March 1976), he was a member of an alien race of conquerors who would end up turning against his people and defending Earth. He would be regarded as one of DC's first LGBTQ+ characters, established to be gay, then bisexual in later stories. 

The 1980s would see another Starman introduced: Prince Gavyn. Debuting in Adventure Comics #467 (January 1980). He was a playboy alien prince who could survive in space unaided, as well as absorb and process stellar energies. Gavyn didn't last very long, ending up seemingly killed off in the Crisis on Infinite Earths maxiseries...although later on, it would be established that his actual fate was...a bit weirder.

After the Crisis, DC was focused on the new. A new Justice League, a new history for Superman and Wonder Woman, etc. And among that wave of "new stuff"...was a brand-new Starman. This one being Will Payton, an editor who got hit with a beam of energy and got superpowers from it. Created by Roger Stern and Tom Lyle, Will would actually be the first Starman to get his own comic series. This series lasted 45 issues, from 1988 to 1992. So, with that out of the way, let's look at Starman #4!

The cover is a Tom Lyle piece. It's pretty good, depicting the titular hero being surrounded by the Power Elite, the enemies he'll face here. It gives the impression our man is in big trouble.

"Baptism of Fire"
Writer: Roger Stern
Penciler: Tom Lyle
Inker: Bob Smith
Colorist: Julianna Ferrer
Letterer: Bob Pinaha
Editor: Robert Greenberger
Executive Editor: Dick Giordano

The story begins with Will doing what a superhero does best: save the day. The Norchemco chemical plant is ablaze, and our man is doing what he can to get people out so the firefighters can concentrate on putting out the fires. He manages to rescue the foreman, but she tells him that there's still one other man trapped in there. Naturally, he succeeds. 

"Here I come to save the dayyyyyyyy!"

He gets them to an ambulance so they can get treated for smoke inhalation. The fire chief tells Starman there's still plenty do to, as the factory is still burning, but then the whole thing goes kablooie.

The night passes, revealing that Will has spent the whole night helping to keep the fire from spreading. The plant couldn't be saved, but at least the fires are out. Not to mention those two plant workers Will saved will be fine. 

The firefighters are amazed by Will's powers. After all, it's not often that the southwestern US gets a superhero of their own. Will points out that they're the real heroes. After all, they willingly choose to fight fires with no superpowers, just their equipment. 

One firefighter asks how he doesn't sound hoarse after going in and out of smoke all night. He must have breathed quite a bit of it in. Will tells him that he doesn't have to breathe if he doesn't want to. 

Later, he goes to bathe in Roosevelt Lake. This allows him to think about the effect he has on people as Starman. He even, in the classic cliche, starts to wonder if he or Starman is the real person. The scene then changes to a man showing a satellite.

It took twelve billion LEGO bricks to make that.

This satellite is the reason Will Payton has his powers in the first place. A man named Melrose gives as the 411 on it. Sent up four years earlier by the Hutchings Institute, the purpose of the satellite was to collect energy and use it to give a person powers. The powers were meant to go to a group of people presumably working for the Institute. However, as it goes in these things, something went wrong. A piece of space junk hit the satellite, wrecking it. Yeah, evidently it was made from tissue paper.

But before it was destroyed, the satellite did discharge a beam of energy. That energy beam hit Will, and that's why he's now the then-newest Starman. Melrose recaps Will's previous adventures to a group of superhumans that the Institute created:

- Olivia Hardy, the super-strong powerhouse
- Samantha Morgan, the shape-shifter (she mainly prefers taking the form of a super-strong muscular giant)
- Frank Donovan, the plasma pyrokinetic
- Dennis Blake, who can fire concussive blasts from his hands. 
- David Winters, the Cyclops expy of the bunch. He can shoot radioactive beams from his eyes.  
- Stanley Hale, the telekinetic.

Meet the Power Elite. These folks were empowered by the Institute for the purpose of creating a new team of superheroes to protect American interests. 

Melrose wants the power the Starman has back, and he's brought this group of superhumans, his Power Elite together to go get him.

Back home, Will is doing some editing work for a novelist. He then gets himself a visitor.

"Shut up, Will! This is all I can afford!"

Meet Jayne Payton, Will's sister. He has a good laugh about her outfit, as it makes her look like an old-fashioned school marm (Jayne is a junior high school teacher). She asks him if anything is wrong, and Will has to admit, there is. He hasn't been sleeping much, but then again, h doesn't seem to get tired that often anymore. And when he does sleep, he gets...strange dreams. Dreams of being around faceless people that chase him down and seemingly kill him. But he's not really dead despite a doctor declaring him so. And he wakes up with Starman's face. 

Jayne thinks it's just Will's subconscious messing with him. He's been through a lot. After all, he's only human. But that leads Will to wonder if he still is anymore. He woke up as Starman, not Will. It makes him wonder if Starman is taking over. Jayne finds it ridiculous. Which she isn't wrong about. Will may not have chosen to get powers, but he certainly did choose to use them to be a superhero. Jayne is pretty proud of him for that. 

Later, Will buys a newspaper, feeling good about his new job. He then notices a want ad from a research lab asking for Starman's help in testing some new heat shielding they developed. Unknown to our man, this want ad is a trap.

That afternoon, the Starman is flying towards the lab when he hears a cry for help.

I'd make a Hush joke, but it's 15 years too early.

Naturally, being a superhero, of course Starman is going to see if he can help anyone out here. The little girl tells Will the car flipped over because her dad tried to avoid a jackrabbit that jumped onto the road. She was thrown out, but her parents are still trapped in the car. Will naturally gets them out, believing that they're just shaken up, thankfully. However, the "mother" has a nasty surprise for our hero. 

"Ah! Stranger Danger!"

Yeah, it's a swerve that would have made Vince Russo proud. 

The members of the Power Elite have set up an ambush for our man. The group manages to give Starman a beatdown, knocking him cold.

The story ends with the knocked-out Starman being loaded into a truck. They're going to find out what makes him tick.

This was a pretty enjoyable comic. Roger Stern and Tom Lyle are a very good team. I have read a bit of this series before, and I think it was one of DC's hidden gems. It's not revolutionary, it isn't a groundbreaking series, but it still is a darn good comic. It has good writing, good artwork, everything you want in a comic. And that's perfectly okay. It has a nice mix of action and character stuff, and the scene with Will and Jayne made me chuckle and smile. I also liked the little bits of personality the Power Elite showed, like Olivia's bloodlust, Denny's cockiness. Helps show they are more than just disposable mooks.

So, what happened to Will Payton? Well, after his series was cancelled, he was killed off in the 1992 crossover Eclipso: The Darkness Within. The 1990s Starman series that focused on the Jack Knight incarnation of the character revealed that the beam of energy that empowered Will contained the essence of Will's predecessor Prince Gavyn, possibly causing them to fuse into one being. In 2020, Scott Snyder resurrected Will in his Justice League run. With his return, Will's origin was further tweaked (he was now empowered by a cosmic energy source) and was given a couple additional powers: the ability to create star-shaped portals a la America Chavez, and the power to see into alternate universes. And as far as I know, Will is still back in action. 

Sadly, the Will Payton Starman series has never been collected in trade format, you'll have to scour your local comic shop's back issue bins and hope you find some issues. Maybe now that DC has their DC Finest trade line going, that will change. After all, it did collect some of the Detroit-era JLA in the past. If you do find issues of this comic in your comic book shop's back issue bins, pick them up. You'll be glad you did. Thanks for reading his blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!