“From the writers of the outrageous smash hit HARLEY QUINN comes former Outlaw Starfire in her all-new ongoing series! She’s an alien warrior princess trying to find peace on Earth, and she’ll fight anyone and anything to get it!”
Starfire #1 from DC Comics is the start of a new age for DC and a number of its properties. I’m sure many people will complain about this soft reboot of many characters we’ve come to know, but I for one will give DC the benefit of the doubt. You see, I had spent a long time away from comics once I stopped reading just after the Death of Superman and Knightfall storylines. I kept up from time to time, but for the most part I had moved on.
It wasn’t until DC and its New 52 reboot did I finally get back into the world of comic books. This was because over the years I felt so far behind that jumping into a book that was on something crazy like issue #476,472 was a scary proposition. So, with this new jumping on point I can see many other people in the same position I was in. But does Starfire #1 come out swinging, or does it fall flat? hell, at the very least it has to be better than the terrible Convergence event that led to all of this.
I know a fair bit about Starfire thanks in part to her time with the Teen Titans and with following her exploits in the very less than stellar Red Hood and the Outlaws. You’ll be happy to know that this Starfire is more cute than sexy. That’s not to say that she isn’t quite beautiful, but you aren’t going to be seeing her breasts and butt contorted so as to cover every panel. Her design has been toned down while still keeping her unique style. She isn’t going to go around wearing pants, but neither is she going to fight baddies in dental floss, something that the book pokes fun at early on.
Issue number 1 gives us Starfire already on earth giving small details about her past to a Sheriff that she has befriended. It’s a great way to set up just enough about her past, while allowing us to get to see the kind of character interaction we can expect. The team on writing duties keep everything pretty lite and inject a lot of humor that I appreciate. Starfire is really played as a fish out of water, and while this has always been the case, this time around it is kept lite and fluffy.
This issue lacks any action or serious altercations, but that works in its favor. Instead of going full-bore with lots of action beats, the book works to set up Starfire and the secondary characters that will play a role in this run. Even better is that all of this is happening as a hurricane is developing just off the Florida coast. This not only serves to provide some tension, and give said secondary characters something to do, but by the end of the book you’ll realize that it serves as an analogy for things to come.
Starfire #1 is a solid start for a new book ,and while it isn’t action focused, the focus it places on character building is really appreciated. Not only that, but it leaves us readers with a decent cliffhanger ending that gives us enough to want to see what comes next. I recommend this book and say you should give Starfire #1 a shot, as you won’t be disappointed.