Starman/Congorilla 1

If you have a comic starring a blue alien superhero who also happens to be a bit of a slut, a giant, talking gorilla and Rex the Wonder Dog, then you expect it to be entertaining and a bit surreal. You expect in fact, something like a Grant Morrison comic. This isn’t quite what you get.

That’s not to say it’s entirely devoid of pleasurable moments, but they are moments of pleasure stolen between huge, pages-long swathes of exposition. Yes, this is a one-off comic, a tie-in with Darkest Night, DC’s latest multi-series crisis-cum-crossover.

Reader, I did not have a fucking scoobie what was going on, from beginning to end. From what I can gather this is what happens: Congorilla comes rushing into Starman’s bedroom, who has just enjoyed a night (or nights) of debauched passion with Dmitri, some ne’er-do-well he’s picked up. There follows the aforementioned and entirely incomprehensible exposition involving the JLA, an energy dome, a Lazarus pit, a missing gorilla and several fountains of youth. For some reason our titular heroes are joined by Rex the Wonder Dog and Animal Man, get involved with an all-out battle, and are saved by the appearance of Tasmanian Devil, who looks like a refugee from a Thundercats cartoon. Confused? I was.

I’m not convinced this over-elaborate plotline isn’t intentional, an attempt to push the events taking place into the realms of out-and-out absurdity, but if so, it doesn’t work. What saves the comic is what you would expect from James Robinson: solid characterisation and sharp, humorous dialogue. The unlikely pairing of Starman and Congorilla is effective too, their personalities simultaneously playing off and complementing each other.

Where the writing is confusing, Brett Booth’s art is well laid out, crisp and clean. It’s not hugely distinctive – the characters are overly muscular and have a tendency to leap about with outstretched arms during the battle scenes, which you could equally say of just about every other superhero artist out there. He’s very strong on facial expressions though, which suits the quirky nature of the comic, and he draws a mean Rex the Wonder Dog. That just about makes up for his habit of massively undersizing character’s heads when they’re seen in long shot, a habitual and very distracting weakness.

Overall, this felt as if it was a bit of a lost opportunity, swallowed up in the complexities of a labyrinthine crossover. Despite its many flaws, there’s enough here to suggest there’s a decent comic to be realised and I’m rather hoping an ongoing series may emerge, one that’ll realise the potential this issue fitfully suggests.