Advanced Review: Stan Lee’s Starborn #9

By / Thursday, August 4, 2011 - 12:24AM
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In the BOOM! Universe (of Stan Lee properties, at least), the alien Beastie Boys army is still striding the Earth in search of heroes to devour. And while we have seen these same circumstances all last month, this is one of the books that gets it right.

Starborn has been a pleasure to read as its pace is always frenetic and yet it is not that hard for a new reader to catch onto the starship and keep on going. (I should know. Because of illness, I have had to do it more than once!)

Issue #9 sees our boy, former wishy-washy sci-fi novelist Benjamin Warner, back on Earth with his friends as he tries to both prevent an invasion that might not only destroy he and his friends but the entire planet (ours, that is) as well. He also seeks the keys to his complicated past, a past he thought he himself had created in childhood make-believe.

One key may lie in the person of very successful sci-fi writer (and a true inspiration for Warner in times past) Kirk Allen, whom we have learned is in fact Cur Kalon, a political dissident who was exiled from the human civilization in Warner’s world for standing up for oppressed aliens.

Although the stories are straight-forward and simple, the plot and characterizations are anything but. Writer Chris Roberson has set a great and fun pace for these adventures and has come to know these characters well. Issue after issue, they introduce themselves to us in new and intriguing ways. Even in a TPB, I think I would love this comic.

The lines of Khary Randolph give life to Roberson’s script and capture Benjamin’s wide-eyed openness to this world he once thought was just in his mind. Even though he has seen happenstances dark and deadly, there is still something of the comic book fanboy in Ben that I love and cherish. And kudos to the bright hues of Mitch Gerads, spectacular colors that make Randolph’s art literally jump off the page.

If you are looking for that one book out there that satisfies on so many levels and welcomes fans old and new, Starborn #9 is it!