The Darkstars #34

Stranger in a Strange Land

Michael Jan Friedman ~ Writer
Mike Collins ~ Penciller
Ken Branch ~ Inker
Bob Pinaha ~ Letterer
Stu Chaifetz ~ Colorist
Jason Hernandez-Rosenblatt ~ Stranger than truth
Paul Kupperberg ~ Stranger than Jason
Darkstars created by Michael Jan Friedman and Larry Stroman

Our lackluster cover by Collins and Branch gives us Supergirl, Darkstar, Green Lantern, Minion, and (very small in the background) Terra, Mirage, Arsenal, and Damage. And that is everybody in the New Titans except for Impulse, who missed out on the whole Siege of Zi Charam because he forgot his Game Boy.

And since Impulse does not partake in the space adventures, I won't really talk about them. Just know that it's full of Collins' disappointing art, and Friedman takes an inordinate amount of time to tell a completely non-related side story involving a Darkstar named Colos. The Titans have lots of fun on their space adventure, and only toward the end of the issue does anyone bring up Impulse. Once again it's Green Lantern, saying, "Too bad Impulse is missing all the fun." Damage then gloats at the prospect of telling Bart about the great mission he missed out on. Oh, Damage! What did Bart ever do to you? I'll tell you what he did — he saved your angsty butt several times without expecting anything in return. So be nice!

Anyway, on Page 20, we return to the Titans headquarters in New Jersey, where Annie Bonelli and her two boys are attacked by her ex-husband. I suppose Donna arranged for Annie to stay with the Titans to protect her from this deranged lunatic, who has pulled a gun on his own children to make a point. I am quite disappointed by the Titans security. You'd think they would have beefed things up after the possessed Changeling nearly killed them all. But I suppose security isn't necessary when you've got Impulse around ... oh wait, he's busy playing a video game.

But don't worry about those little boys. In a later issue, Rose Wilson will pop out of nowhere to save the day. Impulse isn't in that issue, so I figured I'd tell you now.





And thus ends perhaps the worst Impulse appearance I've covered so far. This issue itself is mildly interesting, but the handling of Impulse is inexcusable. He's only seen in one panel, actively removing himself from a threatening situation. I can't imagine that video game being so loud as to drown out Annie's cry for help. He could have heard her and disarmed the guy before he realized what was happening. I know they wanted to set up Rose to be a hero, but I wish they would have not done so at Impulse's expense. Just say he went home to Alabama.

There's only one very long letter in Mugla Mail, and it doesn't mention Impulse. So here are the new ads:

The devil and the devourer. Darkseid vs. Galactus: The Hunger. Written and drawn by John Byrne.

Star Trek: The Next Generation. Friedman, Purcell, Pallot. Once, the entire Federation was brought to its knees by a single threat — the Borg. The Borg return.

Sins of the child. Starman. Robinson, Harris, Von Grawbadger.

Mega City's most wanted. Judge Dredd action figures.

Next time, we get more Michael Jan Friedman in ... The Flash #105.

The Darkstars #32

The Crimelord-Syndicate War – Part III: The Night They Burned Ol' Dixie Down!

Michael Jan Friedman ~ Writer
Mike Collins ~ Penciller
Ken Branch ~ Inker
Bob Pinaha ~ Letterer
Linda Medley ~ Colorist
Jason Hernandez-Rosenblatt Passing the Bucket
Paul Kupperberg Toasting Marshmallows
Darkstars created by Michael Jan Friedman and Larry Stroman

This issue's cover was pencilled by Mike "the Welshman" Collins and inked by Ken "Hershey Bar" Branch. John Wren and Curtis King played fiddle and watched Dallas burn. It's not a bad image of Darkstar, Deathstroke and Supergirl — I just wish they were featured more in this issue. Although this is the third part of the Crimelord-Syndicate War, Friedman basically treated it like a backup story to all his other dangling plot threads.

So since it's been a while, let's recap a little bit. In light of reports that Crimelord had a nuclear bomb, Sargent Steel sent Deathstroke and the New Titans to Dallas to investigate. Instead, they found a Syndicate space ship, loaded with plenty of aliens and robots ready to attack. And then, in the thick of the battle, Crimelord sent his elite Force-Troops — a random collection of low-level super villains. And this issue begins in the midst of this chaotic battlefield.

Everybody is attacking everybody and no real progress is being made, except for Darkstar beginning to suspect that someone might have set them up. A military helicopter gets caught in the crossfire, and Darkstar and Minion save the soldiers inside. A newscopter then goes down, and Terra and Impulse save the reporters, taking the time to crack a few jokes.

We then get page after page of a completely unrelated and uninteresting side story before returning to the main fight in Dallas. Impulse cracks another joke, saying, "Hey, didn't anybody tell you? My hand ... is quicker than your eye?" And everybody keeps fighting the three-way conflict to a complete standstill, until one of the Syndicate leaders attempts to broker a truce with Darkstar by giving her the location of Crimelord's six nuclear bombs. But before Donna can agree, John Stewart shows up with six more Darkstars to save the day.

Ugh. Can't this stupid war end already? I liked the idea behind this big crossover, but it was poorly handled right from the get-go, and it really felt like none of the people working on this book had any interest in it. Impulse had a couple of little moments, but he and the rest of the Titans were reduced to nothing more than a couple of jokes and cheap, meaningless action scenes. I like humor and I like action in comic books, but I need to have a direction, a purpose for it. All the fighting in this issue felt like Friedman was stalling for the war to be wrapped up next issue. And he could have accomplished that task in an interesting way by showing off the diversity of Crimelord's Force-Troops.

None of the letters in Mugla Mail mention Impulse, so let's head straight to the ads.

Star Trek: The Next Generation Beginnings. The early voyages ... The original six-issue miniseries collected in trade paperback.

Blood Syndicate #28. You can't fight city hall! By Milestone.

Across an ocean, Nightwing battles to save his oldest friend. Gotham City never seemed so far away. Nightwing: Alfred's Return. By Alan Grant & Dick Giordano.

The deal of steel. DC subscription form. Interestingly, I can't find The Darkstars under the list of available titles. Perhaps DC new this book only had six more issues left.

The Dark Knight is just the beginning. Batman Chronicles. A closer look at the heroes and villains of Gotham City. An all-new 48-page quarterly.

Rage. The Werewolf: The Apocalypse. Collectible trading card game.

Next time: The conclusion of the Crimelord-Syndicate War in Deathstroke #49!

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.

The Darkstars #28

The Captive Heart

Michael Jan Freidman ~ Writer/Creator
Mike Collins ~ Penciller
Ken Branch ~ Inker
Bob Pinaha ~ Letterer
Linda Medley ~ Colorist
Jason Hernandez-Rosenblatt Former Green Lantern
Paul Kupperberg Former Greengrocer

The cover is by Mike Deodato Jr. It is unique in that it shows four different images, but for the purposes of this blog, we really only care about two of them. First and foremost is two characters we know and love, Minion and Donna Troy, surprisingly fighting each other. Well, actually it's not that surprising when you get into the story, but it is rather disheartening. In the bottom left corner, kneeling in a city in ruins, is John Stewart, who I first encountered as the Green Lantern of the Justice League cartoon show in 2001. I have to remind myself that in 1994, Kyle Rayner was the only Green Lantern, meaning John Stewart had to find work as a Darkstar.

Our story begins with John Stewart on Talyn, the home world of Jarras Minion, which was destroyed by Psimon. Much to everyone's surprise, there are actually a handful of survivors scattered among the rubble, including Jarras' dad, Kellad. We then cut to Donna Troy, thinking about how great it is to be a member of the Titans again.

Sadly, that is our only image of Impulse in this issue — just a vague thought bubble. But some stuff involving Minion here is quite important to the New Titans series, so I'll focus on that, ignoring the subplots of the Crimelord's war with the alien Syndicate and lots of other people and things I don't know.

Minion, who had helped the Titans defeat Psimon with the intent to kill him, has resolved again to exact his revenge. He attacks the Darkstar prison ship with his Omegadrome, and Donna is sent to try to stop him. She first appeals to reason, telling Minion that if he kills Psimon, he'll only add one more soul to Psimon's victims — his own. Minion coldly responds with one word: "So?"

He begins to attack Donna, and it quickly becomes apparent that she is not able to defeat him alone. A distress call goes out to the other Darkstars, including John Stewart with Kellad, who recognizes the Omegadrome. The Darkstars are able to patch him through to the prison ship, and Kellad speaks with his son. He tells Jarras that not everyone on Talyn died, and those who survived desire peace, not revenge. Kellad is able to eventually talk Jarras out of killing Psimon, but the poor kid is still struggling with his newfound hatred, and he flies out toward the stars to sort out his feelings.

Any issue with basically no Impulse is always a bit of a downer, but I still loved all the stuff with Jarras Minion. He's quickly become one of my favorite characters because of his emotional turmoil. In fact, that turmoil, that angst, runs so deep, he's unable to immediately reunite himself with his father. He's too ashamed of what he attempted to do, but also mad at himself for not being able to do it in the first place. The best thing for him right now is to get some alone time. But I hope I get to do a few more Minion stories before he fades away into comic book oblivion.

The letter column, Mugla Mail, naturally doesn't mention Impulse, so I'll move ahead to the few new ads.

Blood Pack. Like heroes with attitude?! These guys are nothing but!! The latest. The hottest. A 4-issue miniseries with attitude!!!! In your face in January!

"Tis now the very witching time of night when churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out contagion to this world." –Shakespeare. Starman #5. Robinson, Harris, Von Grawbadger.

Batman Mitefall. Knightfall, Knightquest, Knightsend, now see what MITE have been. One-shot prestige format. Alan Grant, Kevin O'Neill.

Next time, we will see a bit more Impulse in Green Lantern #59.