If there’s one DC character I miss it’s Jack Knight. I will, however, attempt to fill the void with appearances by other Starmans (most recently Starman #81, a “Blackest Night” crossover), especially if they’re written by James Robinson. Prior to last week I couldn’t’ve told you that Mikaal (the blue alien Starman) was featured in JLA, but this team-up with Congorilla occurs between issues #52 and #53 of that series. It’s titled “Now & Then” and is told via a series of progressive flashbacks which alternate with “now” until the action is caught up to the present about half way through the book. What makes this technique interesting is that each flashforward to the present reveals a new participant in the ongoing battle, such as Rex the Wonder Dog, Animal Man, Malivar or the Tasmanian Devil.
It’s not enough to compel me to buy JLA each month, but it will make a welcome addition to my “Starman” box and I enjoyed the issue very much.
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I was always fascinated by the blue alien Starman from First Issue Special. He had an interesting story, had uniquely non-human traits, a great logo (which DC used for the next Starman [III] in Adventure) and had a cliffhanger ending that never ended! I was pleased that James Robinson revived him and amazed that he's in Justice League!
Thanks to those 100 page Tarzans, I'm more familar to Congo Bill than Congorilla. Has DC ever reprinted any Congorilla tales?
I kind ofliked this issue. In some bizarre way, I really do like Brett Booth's artwork (which I got to see in Larfleeze Christmas Special #1 also), and the guest-stars really ended up making this issue for me. Not really sure why this isn't just an issue of Justice League, but who cares, really.
I really didn't expect to see Animal Man, Rex the Wonder Dog, and Tazmanian Devil when I picked this up, so it was pretty fun when I finished reading this issue. I'm now looking forward to the Robinson/Booth Eclipso arc coming up on JLA.
Probably in some other 100-pagers. I know I've read a few somewhere, but I can't imagine where else I would have seen one.
Mmmmm...
Despite the Congo Bill/ Starman stuff in JLA: Cry for Justice being the only parts of that mini I enjoyed, my extreme dislike of the current JLA comics colored my view of this issue, and I ended up skimming it after the first few pages. Brett's pencils were outstanding, but I just couldn't get past the "this is part of that awful storyline in JLA" in my head.
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