Shooting Star #3

Posted: Tuesday, May 4, 2004
By: Darren Schroeder

Cover of Shooting Star #3 Creator(s): Sean Taylor
Publishers: Shooting Star Comics
From: USA
Price: $4.95(US)

Another issue of the anthology that packs in all the action any fan o f fisticuffs comics want, but did they leave any room for plots?

Aym got game A bunch of ageing action heroes beat up a sneaky gang of youngsters in a fight on the side of a cliff. The blows are accompanied by introductory narration telling al we never wanted to know about the characters. Looks really good, reads like a million other action comics.

Wilde Magick gun toting female detective goes on the trail of some missing children and finds a pack of skin-walkers (werewolves). The pacing is rushed to fit the story into the pages available. This hints at a possibly more interesting comic if give a few more pages.

Thrill Seeker Comics A golden age hero finds that his friends ages 50 years in the blink of an eye. Clichéd, but pretty.

Bed Bug A slightly hopeless hero finds a way to give hope to a prospective suicide victim. Paced just right for the format and manages to even get a moral across.

Rex Soloman Two 30's pulp heroes arrive home and find themselves under attack from the butler. Nice character designs. Part of longer story that might be tempting to track down.

Passing in the Night Two teen superheros love each other but can't find the right words or opportunity to tell the other their true feelings, so they act like a couple of idiots and create phantom dates to make the other jealous. It ends badly for this couple of saps.

Looking for Lou Feminist western with great characters and setting but a rather naff plot.

The artists get the best deal with this format, where a short story has to work to fit something interesting into a limited number of pages, while the artists get to show off on a piece they have no excuses for getting in on time. Not all the writers manage the task, so victory goes to the artists.

In a Word: Cramped.



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