Review - Starborn #2


Stan Lee is sticking around BOOM! Studios to work on a few things. The latest is Starborn #2, written by Chris Roberson and illustrated by Khary Randolph. I've felt that this series is the weakest of the three that are all tied together but it also has the most room to grow since it's essentially based on pure imagination as a plot device. Does the second issue stack up to the first though?

Benjamin Warner has learned much since Starborn #1, where he was thrust into the world that he thought he had created for a previously unpublishable book. The second issue opens with the intergalactic council meeting about the Hive's recent foray onto Earth. Namely, because they're worried about a new emperor rising up and doing whatever intergalactic empererors are wont to do. That's part of the problem with Starborn #2: it essentially sums up the entire origin of Starborn in this issue.

Tara Takamoto (longtime friend of Benjamin) has been watching Ben as he's grown up and protected him. She also somewhat conveniently explains the entire plight of the universe as it pertains to the story that Ben has written. We're not told whether or not he is the actual creator and if he has any control over it, but what we are told is that he's being enlisted in the action against the Hive. It's a little unclear as to why the council fears Ben so much, but at the rate the story is being unfurled we'll probably find out next issue.
 
Roberson has decided that it's best to just get it all out there and, in an issue with lost of running, has given Tara the bulk of the dialogue. She takes this dialogue and just lays it all out there. Randolph's art is fine for the tale, but I feel like I'm watching a Saturday morning cartoon play out in panels. Mitch Gerads stuck with the same few distinctive colors that represent a minimal palette as a whole. Ed Dukeshire must have been busy with all the lettering since there was so much dialogue.
 
Where's the suspense? I worry that with Ben knowing all this is damages the relationship the reader was building with him. See, we're thrust into this world just as much as Ben was and were just as curious and in the dark. Now? We pretty much know that Ben is a saviour of some sort that the galaxy fears because of his dad's legacy. What we don't know is how the Crimson Hand will play into Ben's life from here on out and whether or not something awakens inside of him. The book is in stores now with interiors below.






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