Starlight: The Return of Duke McQueen

The other day Scott opened a box that arrived in the mail (this is a regular occurrence for us. Usually the box contains something like a knife or shoe wax or jeans or a gardening book) and only held up the contents, sheepishly, when I insisted: several comic books. A few days ago while I was sitting listlessly on the couch bemoaning my fate (also a regular occurrence) Scott flung one at me and commanded me to "read!" That was Trillium. I'll review that later. The next day he did the same thing with Starlight.


Starlight: The Return of Duke McQueen came out as a series of 6 comics either this year or last year. The star of the comic is, you guessed it, Duke McQueen, who is sort of a has-been super hero (Birdman anyone?). When we meet him he is mourning the loss of his wife and encountering a general lack of support from his children. He also has the teeny little problem of no one on earth believing that he saved an entire alien planet forty years prior when his airplane entered a space-time warp or something. So here we have a man dealing with very relatable issues: grief, aging, identity, not being believed when he claims he met aliens (this has happened to you, right?).

Reasons I enjoyed this read:

1. Imaginative artwork
2. Duke McQueen kicks some serious alien ass
3. Deals with real human issues: identity, grief, etc.
4. There's a precocious kid whose name I don't remember because Duke McQueen keeps calling him "space-boy"
5. There's an alien obsessed with American culture who looks like the Fonz.

Yet there are a few things I did not like about this comic:

1. Most portrayals of women show them scantily clad (or not at all clad)

Well, I guess that was the only thing I didn't like about it. Overall, I am enjoying my foray into the comic world. Next up: a review of Trillium!