Review: Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E

As my first post (mentioning Power Pack) indicated, my tastes don't always fully run to the norm. To that, I have only one answer. Nyaaa.

Ahem, and now that I have that silliness out of my 38 year old blood, on to business.

As I was saying, my tastes run a bit different. I'm not hugely fond of "grim n gritty," for instance. Oh, I'll read some of that now and then, but honestly, those sorts of things leave me a bit meh. On the other hand, one thing that I really do like is books that are fun, with an overlay of innocence to them. Power Pack (the original) of course is the ultimate example of that, and one of these days I'll expound on the brilliance that my favorite sibling team brings to the printed page.

So, Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E is another book that is in something of the same mold (fun, a bit light, and with a bit of innocence and discovery). I just got the complete series today (thank you eBay), and while we were having some storms, took the time to read them.

Now, I was a fan of Stargirl/Star Spangled Kid already, from her JSA appearances, so this was a series I wanted.

I won't go through issue by issue, but bring out some of the things I really liked (and some things that leave me a bit flat). Overall, for the series, I'd have to give it a nice solid B, or even a B+. It's not brilliant, but it has some great moments.

The overall premise of the book is a bit of a stretch, I'll admit right out. "Angry teenaged girl finds out her new stepdad used to be a superhero, and has nifty power belt lying around. She steals the belt and goes off to annoy him to no end. Oh, and he has a flying 'bot that he follows her in, trying to keep her head and shoulders attached to one another." Heh, of course, you can make anything sound lame if you want to write a summary that way.

The first issue (#0) is rather interesting, and would have served well to set up the characters. I already knew Courtney, so I didn't need to be introduced to her. Still working on getting the Starman graphic novels, so no comment on Jack in this book (if he's good or bad).

Issue #1 brings us to what is easily the largest plot hole in the series. All of these kids are disappearing and being brainwashed into the baddies private army. But they are the "middle" kids, so no one will notice. Um, not even their parents? Sorry, you'd have had the FBI, Director Bones' outfit (I forget their name) and probably half the superteams in the DCU going over the town inch by inch.

I found the two "Young Justice" issues to be a huge disappointment. The best moment was when the resident supervillian blew up the invaders, just because no aliens would invade his town.

As a general rule, a book is only as good as the villian that's running around, and in this case, that's not a strong suit. The "breakout" villian of the series is obviously meant to be Shiv, and she just never quite "resonates" for me. I think one of the biggest things is the artwork. She honestly doesn't look like she's Courtney's age. She looks like she's 30, maybe 35. Still, she makes a fairly good protaganist, both as supervillan, as well as the school's popular girl.

Doesn't sound like I liked it all that much, does it? Well, I did, because the thing that I really liked in this book was the personal development and relationships. As I said before, those are the things that really "hold" me in a book. I can go past the big fights and not ever really worry about it. "Oh, neat, Cyclops pinged his eyebeam off of 5 mirrors before hitting Toad in the butt. Nice shot." It's there, but very, very rarely is it what grabs me in a book. The way that character's relate to one another? That's what I really am around for. Wonder Girl hugging Robin after he reveals his dad has just been murdered is worth more than 50 scenes of her going medieval with her lasso. For instance, in recent comics, my favorite scene (by a fair margin) was in Birds of Prey a few months back, where first of all, Dinah went to Bats, and acted as a real "momma bear" defending Helena and Babs to his face, and then later on, when she said what she'd like to do to the Joker. Too bad the chemistry between Helena and the others went to pot after that, but we'll see how that story comes out.

Anyway, back to Stars, what really held me was the development of the relationships, especially the "triangle" of Courtney-Pat-Mike. It's wonderful to see Courtney come to respect and actually like Pat Dugan. The scene where she "hugs" S.T.R.I.P.E (in 13) after having torn it apart a few moments earlier is just great.

Issue 14 was a really good way to end the series for all of those reasons. The return of Courtney's biological Father was a really well done moment. I'd already seen him in JSA All Stars (more on that a bit later), but this was great. Her father showed himself to be utter scum, tracking down his daughter, just so that he could get her to give him a family heirloom (which presumably was hocked within the hour). What's great is the scene where Mike and Pat are down in the garage, and check the security monitors. Seeing Pat irate at the vision of Courtney crying on the porch was good enough. Seeing Mike looking no less upset is even better. You can get a real sense of this "family" bonding. I don't have the entire Degaton Arc in JSA (yet), but I can see how "killing" Courtney's family would have really hit her. Having read S&S brings the scene where she rushes home even more impact.

When I finished issue 14... I was reminded of the Stargirl short in JSA All Stars, where Courtney meets her dad again. Without digging it up, the line that she uses to Pat at the end. "You're doing it again. Every time I don't think I have a father, you remind me that I do."

Wow.

For all of the limitations of the series, that's why I really enjoyed it.