With the third installment of projects developed by Stan Lee, new heroes are formed from three different titles! I think out of all three stories (Soldier Zero, The Traveler, and this comic here), Starborn has been the most interesting. While yes all three are totally original, I like how the Starborn story plays through. In Soldier Zero, we’ve got a disabled man named, Stuart, who gets the power to fight crime. In the Traveler we’ve got a mysterious man from the future that has a dark past, but with Starborn it’s totally different. The main protagonist of Starborn, Benjamin Warner, is just an average guy who wants his ideals to be (publically) made known, but when life smacks him in the face another door opens up. This door (his past life) is what makes Benjamin’s Starborn stories interesting.
The beginning of this first issue opens up with Benjamin writing a part of his sequel graphic novel for Human Civilization. When his buddy comes in and talks about him not getting caught by their boss because of working on “personal” projects, he decides to eventually leave and think about a good sequel to his first novel. Already the story turns interesting as Ben thinks of different ideals that might make a better second novel. However, these ideals could actually be his imagination telling him secrets about his origin! When Ben has a flashback about when he paid a Published Novelist for a critique he found out that he borrowed to many ideals from Kirk Allen’s Blue Moon.
Eventually, Ben explains that he has never read any of Kirk’s books and finds out that Kirk has been making books before Ben was even born! He eventually arrives at his apartment to find out the most depressing news; his article was rejected! As life couldn’t get any more worse. Seeing an old friend, Tara Takamoto, could cheer Ben right up! When aliens controlling co-workers in Ben’s work area come to capture him, things get a lot worse before they get better. In the end, Ben finds out that his dead-end job would look a lot better now.
Writer Chris Roberson is great for this series. His work on iZombie and “Do androids dream of electric sheep?” was awesome. I can see a lot in his writing that he is trying to take an ordinary character and mold them, either into or out of something. His work with molding Ben into Starborn is great because of how his past might be the real job he has always wanted. The directing by Stan Lee is always cool to see. I’m always (and will) be amazed by his work on comics.
Artist Khary Randolph is a terrific artist. I’ve never seen his work on any Marvel projects (although he has worked on a few: Amazing Fantasy, Mutant 2099), but I’m glad that I saw his artwork on this issue than on any other artwork. I believe that artist learn or improve their drawings from past comics that they work on, I try not to pick up some of the older comics that artist might work on so I don’t give a bad impression on his/her artwork skills. Khary’s work on Starborn is awesome I like how his sketches blend with the colors, and I can’t wait to see Ben in his Starborn suit.
Starborn is definitely a must have! If you’ve seen Stan’s work on either or both, Soldier Zero or The Traveler, then pick this up! Starborn is new hero with a unique past, but with one mission, be the hero! Starborn #1 will be released this week on 12/8/10.
Overall Score - 10/10
