Jack Kirbry’s Starr Warriors Review

Jack Kirbry’s Starr Warriors Review

“Faithfully adapted from the original Solar Legion Stories, characters, and artwork created by Jack Kirby as they appeared in Crash Comics #1-3.”

Love them or hate them. You have to respect Image Comics for honoring one of the greats, without whom you might not have ever enjoyed comics the way you do today. That great I’m talking about is Jack Kirby, and for $9.99 you can capture a piece of his original work adapted from the Crash Comics mini-series. Jack was such an iconic artist and storyteller that he made it onto the Britannica website under their arts and culture.

The fact that we’re talking about a recent comic book adaptation that he’s solely the basis of is a feat of accomplishment that even the most famous could only hope to attain, resembling anything close to immortality. Now that might sound egotistical or fanboyish of me to say, but Jack Kirby’s influence on the business of comics is, in my opinion, just as impactful as Walt Disney‘s on animation. That being said, how well does a Jack Kirby comic read in the modern era, where most comics are digitally illustrated and painted?

What makes Jack Kirby so enigmatic amongst fans and colleagues isn’t his unwavering dedication to his craft—it was his mind. His perceptions of space, politics, and socioeconomic accounted for a lot of the themes that exist within the science fiction and space operas of today. Cast a stone at any science fiction property, and you’ll find shades of Jack Kirby, whose mind was also shaped by the writers of the era around him.

So if you asked me how well Adam Starr and The Solar Legion read today, I have to be honest, because not only do I need to know what happens to Cyclone Burke, but I also need to know if Adam Starr finally did in the space pirate Black Michael and if any other Solar Legion characters ever got any important roles. When you think of space operas or adventures, you think: Star Trek? Star Wars? Firefly? Titan AE… Heavy Metal 2000? Shit, even Gundam, Fifth Element, Flash Gordon, or the modern-day Guardians of the Galaxy, right? They could have used Adam Starr in GOG3, huh?

So, I believe Image is looking to inspire interest surrounding Jack Kirby’s Adam Starr and the Solar Legion, which I would love to see redone. If blasting things into eternity, hunting space pirates, and protecting the galaxy are your cup of tea, then grab a cup and pop that pink finger up, my good fellow. The title is actually not just a running issue like modern comics, but more of a short anthology that really captures the formation and organization of the founding of the Solar Legion.

Adam Starr travels to Venus from the Jupiter system, then to Mars and Saturn not in that order. You really get to see where the perception of the wonders of space was during the peak of the space age among the working man. Kirby still manages to inspire imagination within my last page turn, showing me how fun and adventurous you can be in just a few pages, cementing his mastery as a storyteller.

Less is more, but I believe more is the idea here with this release. Even if Image doesn’t pursue a new title featuring Kirby’s story, it was completely worth it as a comics creator to experience the structure and flow of a classic art form. How glorious it must have been to be in the presence of a DC or Marvel writing room to experience the excitement of what would be the powderkeg to the greatness we get to experience today.

With that being said, it is now that we give praise to all the hard work and imagination that creators across the world have given to the rest of us and still give to this day in one of the oldest storytelling traditions in our inherited unified culture of human existence. Don’t forget to support your local comic store or visit your favorite artists and creators at cons. As always, stay geeky, share the network, and don’t forget to catch the latest on Fueled By Weird. Pickle Rick!