The Darkstars #31

Loose Ends!

Michael Jan Friedman Writer
Mike Collins Penciller
Ken Branch Inker
Bob Pinaha Letterer
Linda Medley Colorist
Jason Hernandez-Rosenblatt Armagetto Blaster
Paul Kupperberg Ol' Pucker Lips
Darkstars created by Michael Jan Friedman & Larry Stroman

Our cover by Collins shows one of DC's most powerful and most prominent villains, Darkseid. He's holding a torn piece of a Darkstar uniform in his hand, and he looks really cool and menacing as always. I just wish there wasn't this huge promo to the subplot of Colos — whoever he is. If that was a separate backup story, that'd be one thing. But it's not, and I think it doesn't deserve that much real estate on the cover, especially when you got someone like Darkseid to fill it up.

This story starts with John Stewart leading a group of Darkstars to Apokolips to find a missing fugitive. Remember, at this time, Kyle Rayner was the only Green Lantern, so guys like John Stewart had to find work elsewhere. Well, anyway, John's quest takes him to the dreaded Armagetto District, where Darkseid himself lives. And you'd never guess who he meets! That's right, most of this issue is a big fight between John and Darkseid, and John doesn't stand a chance. Turns out, Darkseid really was just curious as to how much punishment a Darkstar can take. Once he found that out, he gave John the fugitive and let him go.

There are a number of subplots going on at the same time, including Colos and the enslaved Jenuwynians, but the only one we care about involves Donna Troy and the Titans. Donna's friend, Annie Bonelli needs a place to live for whatever reason, so Donna offered up the New Titans headquarters in New Jersey to Annie and her two young boys. As they move in, they are startled to see their boxes suddenly disappear. But just as Donna suspected, Impulse got a little excited and did all the unpacking himself. Impulse is particularly fond of the boys' Flash action figure, and he asks when they'll make one of him.

And that's all the Impulse we get here. The last two pages of the issue deal with the Crimelord-Syndicate war, which we'll see a lot more of soon. The Syndicate is an alien force that is upset with how the war has been going. So in this issue, they killed the guy in charge and replaced him with an even bigger, tougher guy. I'm sure we'll learn more about them in the upcoming issues. As for Crimelord, we haven't seen him yet, but we have seen plenty of his terrorist group. They were the first mission for Impulse and the New Titans, and they've been a constant threat through all of Marv Wolfman's books, as they framed Deathstroke for the assassination of several senators.

None of the letters in Mugla Mail mention Impulse, and none of the ads are new, so I'll leave you until next time, when the Crimelord-Syndicate war goes into high gear in Deathstroke #48.