Review: Starlight
“What if Flash Gordon, after his years of interstellar adventures, after coming back to Earth to live out a happy life with his best girl and raise a family, went out in his Golden Years for one last adventure?”
Mark Millar tells us this heartfelt story in Starlight.
Title: Starlight
Written by: Mark Millar
Art by: Goran Parlov
Published by: Image
Starlight tells the story of Duke McQueen, an aging United States Airforce pilot who once flew through a wormhole and arrived on the alien planet Tantalus. Upon arriving he learned of the planet’s plight; that it was being ruled by an evil dictator. Being a good soldier he answered the former queen’s plea for help and proceeded to liberate the planet. After completing his quest, and despite the queen and her citizens wishing for him to stay and rule alongside her as king, he left Tantalus to return to Earth, stating that he “Had a girl back home”. His final moments on Tantalus were spent watching a statue of the dictator being torn down while being told that the people were going to build one of him in its place.
Unfortunately for our hero Duke, upon returning home he was rendered a laughing-stock, no one believed his story and he was forced to live out his years in shame, eventually becoming a version of ‘That crazy old guy who lives on the corner’. However, that never really mattered to Duke, because he was happy so long as his wife, Joanne, believed him. We never get 
to view much of their life together however, since the opening pages of Starlight feature the 61-year-old Duke waking up on the morning of Joanne’s funeral. This has striking similarities to Disney’s Up and sets Starlight up as something apart from Millar’s usual work.
As the opening issue moves on, we see Duke living in the wake of Joanne’s funeral, sad and lonely now but looking forward to having Christmas dinner with his family. Images of Duke’s new daily routine are interspersed with visions of his past, some of happier times with Joanne, some of his exciting adventures in Tantalus. It’s a technique that’s been used before, but it’s unusual to see it in this context, coming from Millar who is normally better known for violence and vulgarity. As the day in Duke’s life passes, the timelines being visited start to mirror each other more and more. His preparation for Christmas dinner are mixed with a happy night out with Joanne and his lonely drive home flickering with images of him riding on the back of a dragon. It all culminates in a call from his kids, each telling him they can’t make it while he stands of a shrine to his space-faring journey. One made primarily of newspaper clippings calling him a fool. As he stands alone, drinking from a bottle of whiskey, there’s a loud commotion out back. A spaceship has landed. Tantalus needs him once more.
From out of the incredibly retro-looking ship comes a plucky, young scout named Krish. Krish informs Duke that Tantalus 
has been overrun yet again. Initially reluctant as he mulls over the idea of joining Krish, we can see that there’s a lot of fight in Duke yet, even though he worries about the limitations of his body due to his advanced age. After fighting with his conscience, Duke decides to help the young Tantalian(?), shimmies back into his space-faring duds and then sets sail for adventure in the vintage craft. Before engaging warp drive he makes sure to make a show of flying over his local township to show off.
Right from the start Starlight puts itself forward as a heartfelt story rather than a Sci-FI epic and this continues through the introduction of Krish, with whom Duke forms and instant bond. Again there are parallels between Starlight and Up; Duke’s wife has died in the introduction and now there’s a young sidekick to lead the expedition. There aren’t any talking dogs, so things never get too similar. That said, Millar does take the opportunity in Starlight to revel in some tropes. It never feels forced however, as the sentimental nature of Starlight allows them to be pulled in with ease. The book would have suffered in its attempts to be a love letter to Flash Gordon and other 80’s Sci-Fi kitsch had these been left out. If there was one piece of negative criticism to give Starlight it would be that the story is a predictable fare with Duke’s family falling into the trope of estranged sons. 
That said, the book is meant to be a trip down memory lane and it makes perfect sense for it to feel more in line with the Feel Good Hit of the Summer than dystopian cutting edge Sci-Fi.
Starlight’s art, done by Goran Parlov, does just as much as Millar’s
writing to evoke feelings of Sci-Fi nostalgia in readers. The book has a great retro aesthetic with Duke’s ship looking like something torn straight from the screen of Flash Gordon and the architecture on Tantalus harking back to Forbidden Planet. There are a few jokes thrown around about things being special ‘retro models’ on Tantalus, but there’s never too much effort to show off their cutting edge equipment. Indeed, many attempts to push it would have taken away from the nostalgia that Starlight is trying to tap into. Apart from the style used, the art itself is also fantastic with everything looking like it was originally done in bright primary colours, with plenty of gold and brass for the space age materials, and then afterwards filtered to add just a little bit of Sepia. It all comes together really well to visually turn Starlight into a great trip down memory lane to the silver screens of yore.
With Starlight, Millar proves that he can write a heartfelt story despite normally focusing on ultra-violence and grit to sell a book. Everything in Starlight pangs of nostalgia. The setting and art tap into Sci Fi nostalgia, but more than that, Duke’s journey into his own former glory is nostalgia actualized. He goes from hero to zero and back again. While he does it he also gets to live out other memories, such as quality time bonding with Krish that he missed with his own children. There have been numerous links between Up and Starlight outlined above, but if there was one other work it might be comparable to, in terms of bucking writing trends, it would be Ricky Gervais’ Derek. Gervais is usually known for crass, cringe-worthy humour, but when he made Derek he shunned all that in favour of something best described as a lovely little tale. Here Millar is doing the same and having seen the result it’s a wonder that he’s never tried it before. Personally I’d love to see a lot more of this side of Millar if more work like Starlight is on the cards. Beyond that, this is one book that should make its way onto the shelf of every fan of Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers or Forbidden Planet.
With Starlight set to make its way to the big screen, and with some of the writers of Star Wars on board, it’ll be interesting to see how a literary tribute to silver screen legends will turn out when it finally makes its way back to the silver screen.
A trip down Sci-Fi memory lane, a must read for fans of Flash Gordon and the like! 7/10
