Airboy #4
Written by James Robinson
Art by Greg Hinkle
Image Comics
It is with the heaviest of hearts I come to issue #4 of Airboy, sadly the final chapter of a four-issue mini-series.
The first and most important thing I must say here is that I want MORE!
Image Comics get the team of writer James Robinson and artist Greg Hinkle together, hand them a satchel full of greenbacks, and get them working on an ongoing Airboy series.
Airboy, and his flying comrades Skywolf, The Flying Dutchman, Iron Ace, Black Angel and Valkyrie deserve to fly again.
There have to be tales of battling weird Nazi war walkers that can still be told.
Having Hinkle and Robinson entwined into the stories is just an added bonus in that it is a refreshingly interesting way to go.
The ending here was a little unsatisfying, a bit too clean, leaving the story with less possibility of it being real than I liked, but Robinson can clean that up easily enough in the ongoing Airboy series that I am dreaming of. It may actually be on the top of my list to Krampus.
Starlight: The Return of Duke McQueen TPB
Written by Mark Millar
Art by Goran Parlov
Shades of Buck Rogers and John Carter of Mars, this is a pretty solid description of Mark Millar’s Starlight.
This is the stuff of swashbuckling space opera sci-fi from Saturday morning TV of 40, or so, years ago.
A more modern comparison might be a more toned down Fear Agent.
Of course Millar does manage a twist.
Duke McQueen ends up getting caught in some kind of temporal rift when flying an air force plane. He ends up on the world of Tantalus where he saves the populace from an evil tyrant.
While a hero on Tantalus McQueen chooses to return to Earth, where even his kids don’t believe his story.
But that’s all in the past.
As the story starts McQueen is bray-haired, retired, his wife has just died, and his sons, grown, visit rarely.
Then a ship shows up with a young native of Tantalus. His world has been enslaved, and he has come for McQueen to once more save the day.
It’s a great take on an old story line, and it works.
The only flaw is that the traitor in this book, and there is always a traitor, is obvious from the first panel he appears in.
That is not a disaster because this is a highly formulaic story. The hero is an oft told one. He faces challenges, gets caught, and overcomes. Is betrayed and overcomes. It’s not a new story, but it sure is a fun one from Millar.
Goran Parlov’s art has a sort of 1950s/60s- look on Starlight, and that fits too.
Not many surprises here, but a darned fun tale just the same. I’d love a prequel.
