One of the things that DC has not been very good at since their properties started appearing on the CW is having comics that feature the characters we see on television appear in their comics. And while a one-shot, falling between seasons of a television series, isn’t exactly the best solution to this problem, it is at least a step in the right direction.
But that’s not all this comic is; this comic represents a reintegration of some of DC’s most iconic heroes, and it feels very much like a love letter to a bygone era of comics. And, despite being quite pleasant, it represents some of the least forward-thinking writing of ‘Infinite Frontier’ and, perhaps, of DC in general over the past five years.
Written by Geoff JohnsCover by Todd Nauck
Illustrated by Todd Nauck, Bryan Hitch, and Fred Hembeck
Colored by Hi-Fi and Alex Sinclair
Lettered by Rob LeighLegendary comics writer Geoff Johns returns to his breakthrough hero, Stargirl, in this special one-shot illustrated by Todd Nauck!
Courtney Whitmore’s spring break plans aren’t like your average high schooler’s. Instead of hanging out with friends, she’s heading out on an adventure with her stepfather, Pat Dugan, a.k.a. S.T.R.I.P.E., and teaming up with his former team, the Seven Soldiers of Victory! The Soldiers are forced to reunite again to unearth the secret eighth Soldier of Victory, but what other secrets lie buried, and what does it all mean for Courtney’s future as Stargirl?
If you have read Geoff Johns and Todd Nauck’s previous work on “Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.,” the “Stargirl Spring Break Special” feels like slipping into an old pair of shoes that are very comfortable. The team manages to replicate the tone of that series, with a few continuity upgrades, in a nearly exact way.
Nauck’s work has always felt very much his own, with a kinetic and high-energy style that paints emotion across the faces of his characters. This has always worked best for characters like Stargirl, whose youth and inexperience lead to her facial expressions telling so much of the story. She’s not collected and measured like her fellow Justice Society members; instead, we see her eyes bugging out of her head and her mouth agape at the situations that she finds herself in. Nauck manages to temper those instincts while drawing the rest of the cast here, which manages to nicely spotlight Courtney through her more emotive visuals.
The story, involving the Seven Soldiers of Victory, feels very much like an attempt to connect Stargirl into the ‘Infinite Frontier’ era of comics. While Shining Knight has been a key part of the television series, a different iteration of the character has been in DC stories in the rare occasions that they’re dug out. This version of the Seven Soldiers has not been a going concern in a very long time, except on our TV screens, in a show executive produced by Johns. The synergy isn’t surprising, and as we’ll see in the backmatter, it will continue to attempt to drag the comic towards the series.
The most interesting piece of the story is the heavy lifting that Johns does to explain how Oliver Queen could’ve been in the Golden Age, but also still be young-ish today. There’s a story about being sent backwards in time to fight with the Seven Soldiers, and then the other heroes were sent forward in time. This isn’t too different from the ‘traditional’ version of Stripsey’s story, but it seems like an odd thing to bring up in 2021. Why? Well, because DC has re-committed to the idea of Hypertime, and Hypertime is basically the perfect, elegant, and totally malleable answer to any continuity shenanigans. But Johns ignores that, which seems indicative of just how out of step with the rest of DC this issue feels.
Johns has not been an active part of the bigger DC Universe since the New 52 ended in 2016. Sure, he’s popped up here and there, but everything he’s done has been incredibly siloed from the rest of the line, whether it was the impossibly delayed “Shazam,” or the even more impossibly delayed “Doomsday Clock.” The true irony here is that “Doomsday Clock” and its shifting sense of time would perfectly set up the time-travel shenanigans here. But instead, Johns is writing like it is 2003 again, and really digs into that.
Continued belowThe rub is this: Johns is really good at this. His run from “Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.” to “Flashpoint” is one of the truly great runs of one writer at one company in comics history, even if it falls off pretty hard in the last year or so. But his work with the Justice Society and their connected properties is really special and, personally, among my favorite comics of all time. And so, while it is maddening just how out of touch this feels, it still works really well.
But there’s no new ideas here at all. This is the equivalent of a band coming back with a new song that sounds exactly like their old stuff. It’s a nice bit of a nostalgia, but nothing else.
Except for the fact that this issue teases two new series, spinning out of this.
A new “Stargirl” series makes a ton of sense, both for corporate synergy, and also because Courtney is a great character. A new Justice Society series, similarly, makes a ton of sense, as there hasn’t been a JSA ongoing in over a decade now, which seems insane. But if both of these titles will see Johns doing a greatest hits lap, it isn’t nearly as exciting as it could be. There’s something so sad about a creator returning to the well one time too many. And not just that, but cravenly bringing his changes from Stargirl into the comics just seems like Johns is just flexing his past clout and his current gig, and not caring much about being a part of the current DC landscape.
The JSA pages with Bryan Hitch look great, and have a lot of characters that I want to see more stories from. But all of this just seems so lazy. Many of these characters have sat dormant for so long, there could be creative, exciting new stories to tell with them. But if the new JSA stories will just be echoes of the past, that’s a real disappointment.
Final Verdict: 6.1 – A well crafted story that rings hollow in just about every way. Oh, but there’s a fun Fred Hembeck page!
