Stargirl: The Lost Children #5 – Geoff Johns, Writer; Todd Nauck, Artist; Matt Herms, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: Geoff Johns is back in fine form with this series, which I actually think is significantly better than his much-hyped JSA relaunch. It combines the charm of his very early Stars and STRIPE series with the larger ensemble of his Teen Titans run, while still grounding it in a compelling group of leads. Last issue revealed that the master of the Child-Minder was supposedly the mysterious robotic Hourman—but both of them are talking about a mysterious third master. They make a good villain pair—Child-Minder is straight out of a horror movie, while Hourman is inscrutable—but it’s the heroes who steal the show here. Split between the island and the prison, they’re all united with one cause—well, mostly. Because as Stargirl struggles to lead her fellow young heroes to dodge the egg robots, Salem and Cherry Bomb quickly come to blows and the entire mission starts to splinter.
I quite like that this book shows teen heroes more as unpredictable and sometimes chaotic figures, and it’s great to see just how many deep cuts Johns pulls in. My favorite has got to be Greta Hayes, aka Secret—the forgotten friend of the original Young Justice crew, who seems to have her powers back. Some of the battle scenes here are truly of a huge scale, and Todd Nauck—the iconic Young Justice artist—does a great job of realizing them. Despite that, the best moments here are the little ones where our young heroes come close to the edge and then find hidden strength. The bond between Emiko and Judy Garrick, as well as Courtney and Emiko’s emotional reunion, nearly had me cheering. My one hesitation is that with only one issue to go, there is so much more story to reveal. Of course, I’m just hoping that this means Johns will be taking these characters to another project after this!
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
