By: Tony Bedard (writer), Claude St. Aubin (penciller), Scott Hanna (inker), Rich and Tanya Horie (colorists)
The Story: The return of Starro the Conquerer! Or, more technically, the return of the return of Starro the Conquerer! By the way, it’s raining Czarnians.
The Review: There are generally two kinds of villains: your garden-variety, day-to-day thugs who might end up occupying our heroes for half a day, if they’re lucky; and then you have your big-momma, criminal masterminds who will push the good guys to the brink of defeat before inevitably giving way. No matter which you end up, they all end up like bad houseguests: no sooner gotten rid of before they’re back again.
Starro the Conquer certainly fits the bill; since his introduction, he’s served as the main baddie of now three story arcs in R.E.B.E.L.S. Considering the series is still relatively young, at twenty-five issues, this feels like one arc too many. Although the initial concept of a humanoid Starro offered some interest at first, by now we all know that besides a giant axe and super-strength, he follows the same M.O. as all Starro plots: possessing people by throwing starfish in their faces.
It all boils down to predictability. Bedard writes the issue competently enough, but you just can’t help having a “been there, done that” attitude about the whole thing. After all, Starro is still after taking Brainiac 2 for his own, and he’s still all about galactic conquest. Since his motivations aren’t any different than before, and neither are his means for carrying them out, half the premise has been recycled from previous stories—not exactly thrilling. Still an army of Lobo clones (male and female, interestingly enough) has some potential for thrills, though it’s unclear how they’ll be used in this arc.
There are other weak spots besides the redundancy of the storyline. Bedard has always been a serviceable writer, but prone to some annoying habits—like in-story recaps. Nothing quite drags down the pace of an issue than one character rambling about what’s happened to him since the last time he showed up. Considering DC offers editorial footnotes for that kind of thing, it just seems unnecessary for Starro to spend a page and a half recounting half of a previous story arc to Brainiac 2, who—let’s be honest here—can’t care less.
The biggest flaw to this issue, and what has always been a big flaw to R.E.B.E.L.S. is how stunted the entire cast is, besides Bedard’s favorites in Dox and Lobo. You have Adam Strange, Captain Comet, Starfire—cosmic comic legacies—not to mention several other promising characters, and they literally get to do nothing the whole time except try to get their dear leader out of another mess. A team comic can’t support itself when most of the team gets relegated to support duty.
The art remains mediocre. There’s just a chunky quality to the way St. Aubin draws things that make them seem unconvincing. You can forget all that in his tight panels, where the detail and expression really sell, but mostly it all looks pretty static and lifeless. There’s also something off about the Hories’ colors; the settings look too pale next to the bold characters.
Conclusion: Shortcomings in both the writing and art make DC’s only non-Green Lantern dedicated cosmic title unappealing and a bit dull. If improvements don’t show up soon, I may just drop it altogether.
Grade: C
- Minhquan Nguyen
Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews Tagged: | Adam Strange, Brainiac, Brainiac 2, Captain Comet, Claude St. Aubin, Czarnian, DC Comics, Lobo, R.E.B.E.L.S., R.E.B.E.L.S. #25, R.E.B.E.L.S. #25 review, Rich and Tanya Horie, Scott Hana, Smite, Starfire, Starro, Starro the Conquerer, Storm-Daughter, Tony Bedard, Vril Dox
Some Musings: – First rule in the book of villainy: never try the same tactic twice. Which is why Storm-Daughter’s attempt to once again pheromone Lobo into submission seems stupidly repetitive. But then, what do you expect from a Starro devotee?
- Do you suppose that liquid trickling down the Psions’ chins is their drool or Starro juice?
- Starfire’s hair gets bigger and crazier every time I see it. No wonder she doesn’t really bother with clothes; her own weave will cover her up in time.