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What do you get when BOOM! Studios and Stan Lee have a love child? You get some of this year’s hottest new titles, that’s what!! The Traveler, Soldier Zero, and the very latest to release, Starborn!

Starborn #1

Writer: Chris Roberson
Artist: Khary Randolph
Colors: Mitch Gerads
Cover: Various

By now you had to have heard about Stan Lee and BOOM! Studios’ team-up to deliver three brand new titles. We have already been privy to two releases, one in a time-hopping adventure titled The Traveler, and the other an alien soldier drama labeled Soldier Zero. The last to debut is Starborn, brought to us by Chris Roberson (iZombie) and Khary Randolph (Spider-man).

Our lead character, Ben Warner, works an office job. He partakes in the 9-5 life, but dreams of grander and larger adventures. He allows his mind to roam free in adventures with battling aliens, human colonies on distant planets, and tons of action. It’s a lot different from his regular life, so he writes it all into a novel, and hopes to one day be called an author. Don’t we all kind of do this? Have dreams of grandeur, living in another world? Well one day, when Ben spots his non-reciprocating childhood sweetheart, his entire world gets turned upside down. All of those aliens he created, all of those worlds he dreamed…turns out they are a bit more than just fiction.

Chris Roberson is a relative newcomer on the scene. He has been writing for years, but only got into the comic book scene recently and it is clear he is a natural. Roberson wrote a character that nearly any fanboy can appreciate. We all daydream, and I would assume that most of us comic readers a little more so than others. We have all wished, at least once, that we could just fly away or run at the speed of light or go invisible where no one can see us. Roberson gets you hooked on the main character in no time by allowing us to connect with him almost immediately. The alien world and conflict that our dreamer imagines is a fairly simple concept, but also has the potential to be a huge story. I’m intrigued to see “what comes next” in that interstellar war. Lastly, I also wanted to point out that Roberson did a solid with the whole “Kirk Allen came before me” sub-plot, which could turn out to be a huge thing within the Starborn lore.

Khary Randolph is a perfect artist for this story. Coupled with Gerads’ colors, Starborn has a “pulp” feel to it that just works. When you’re dealing with content like this (aliens, distant planets, and explosions), a certain amount of exaggeration is necessary and Randolph does just that. His dynamic take on certain limbs at times really adds to the emotion and action of a scene. When Tara (Ben’s sweetheart) bursts onto the scene, her actions really popped. The alien drones really had a “horde” feel, which added to the excitement of the whole scene. Even though these action scenes really stood out, Randolph was also able to portray Ben’s sadder moments well. You knew exactly how Ben felt from panel to panel. Another little treat was Gerads’ change in color when we were looking at flashbacks into Ben’s life. I’m looking forward to seeing what this art team can do when it comes to more space elements in future issues.

Roberson and Randolph really make for a good team. Starborn looks like it can be a great space opera, with all the elements of character, aliens, and action that a sci-fi comic needs. I really felt that Randolph read Roberson’s mind when he drew the characters and their expressions. Gerads’ colors added a “pulp” feel that added a different dimension that we haven’t seen in comics much lately. I think the hook for Starborn, which is every fanboy’s dream come true, will really pull an audience in for the long haul. I know I definitely will be.

Mike Parente
mike@comicattack.net