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Marvel
Writer: Greg Weisman
Artists: Domo Stanton with Daniele Di Nicuolo
Color Artists: Jordan Boyd with Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Starbrand and Nightmask #4 feels like a comfortable old sweater from high school that still fits you. This is classic kids-in-college as super heroes comic book fare. It feels like Spider-Man from his time at ESU, which is where former Avengers,Kevin (Starbrand) and Adam (Nightmask) have also enrolled. I had a good time reading this book for all of the old-timely stuff that it did, as well as the more space-time continuum far-fetched content that it also spooled.
Starbrand and Nightmask were intricately involved in the final results of Secret Wars, with the Beyonder who killed Starbrand bringing himself close enough to be destroyed when Kevin unleashed the Starbrand power being the tip-over point for the eventual victory of the good guys. Now back on current-time earth, Starbrand is still in perpetual danger of exploding himself, unleashing the Starbrand force on the earth, and rending it into so much dog food. Nightmask helps keep watch over him as they both try and find their way together in a new continuity.
As I opened with, the dialogue and script of this issue feels very warm and familiar. It smells like Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. Kevin and Adam find themselves involved in potentially
Starbrand and Nightmask #4 is an enjoyable post-adolescent romp that hurtles through space, time, and college. The pacing and nuanced transitions from one of those locales to the other is handled superbly. The book never felt disrupted or fragmented. And just the right amount of levity is applied at the right time (“Not a word”, “It’s the thought that counts”, “I hope Maria Hill thinks so”). Seeing Sunspot in this book is refreshing, as I have absolutely loved Sunspot and Canonball as Avengers. This is a solid book and feels like it is not a bad idea for interested readers to give this one a shot in their pull-list. It’s a college-buddy super-hero comic, and who does not like one of those?