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Star Brand #2 - “Taking Charge!”
Cover Date: November 1986
Publication Date: August 12, 1986
Story: Jim Shooter
Art: John Romita, Jr. & Al Williamson
Timeframe: August 20-22, 1986
Exulting in the simple joy of flight, Ken experiments with just how high he can go. Leaving the atmosphere, he briefly panics, even though neither the cold not lack of air bother him. Re-entering the atmosphere, it takes him a while to actually find his way back to Pittsburgh. Flying outside of his girlfriend's Barbara's house, he sees her undress through the window, and finally has enough self-awareness to realize how creepy he's being.
(Wait, so that's the second time someone has responded to someone else knocking on their door by saying the word 'door' out loud. Is this a New Universe thing, or just a Pittsburgh thing?)
It's Debbie, who passes on a message from Myron to come over the following evening, and she winds up staying the night. The next day, as the two drive to Myron's home, he stops to make a phone call to Barbara to belatedly let her know that he won't be seeing her that evening.
Seriously, Debbie, you deserve better than to be treated like this. A little injection of self-esteem would do wonders for you.
When they arrive at Myron's place, they find out there are others there, as part of a therapy group. This includes Jan, who used to date Ken. Her son misses him, as he looked up to Ken during the time the two dated. Jan notes that Ken's been busy, assuming that Debbie is his girlfriend. “This one's very pretty, Ken. Congratulations.”
Man, the way women seem to fall for Ken for no apparent reason is at least as much of a power fantasy as his super powers. So far I've yet to see anything to contradict my 'cocaine dick' theory.
Ken isn't happy about the therapy group thing, but Myron convinces him to stay. At least, until Myron brings up the 'theoretical' question to the group of what would you do with the power to control or destroy the world. Ken storms off, bristling at what he perceives to be blatant manipulation from Myron. Debbie doesn't understand why Ken is so upset, and he reveals his new abilities to her. She says that he'll know the right thing to do when the time calls for it.
Ken flies off to rescue the kid, although it takes him a while to get there, since finding a specific area when you're flying at a high altitude isn't easy. Once there, he's uncertain how to help, especially as he doesn't want to deal with the world knowing his secret. He tries to tunnel underground, but this doesn't go well since he can't see where he's going as he does so.
As it turns out, his presence isn't needed, as Spitfire shows up and uses her powered suit to go into the well and rescue the child. When she leaves, he follows, and finds the area where the Troubleshooters are hanging out/laying low at. He leers a bit when Jenny gets out of the armor, but opts not to make his presence known to them, second-guessing himself as he flies home.
At his apartment, he calls up Janet, asking what the other people at the therapy group responded with to Myron's question. Jan's response was that everyone already has the ability to change the world, but that they aren't obligated to, as they also have a right to their own lives. She adds that people who are convinced about what is right and what is wrong scare her, “like those terrorists sailing the cruise ship toward New York with that nuke aboard – they think they're the good guys!”
Suited up, Ken flies over to Norfolk, and then follows a military plane toward the direction of the cruise ship. Scoping out the ship once he arrives, he sees over 1200 hostages being watched by Middle Eastern terrorists with machine guns. He manages to knock out a couple of wandering guards, but clearly still doesn't what he's doing, and didn't have much of a plan for what to do when he arrived.
He finally spots a trio of terrorists with the nuke and a detonator switch. The presence of one of the guards he tied up is discovered, and the terrorists appear to be debating over whether or not to trigger the nuke now, even though they are not yet near their target of New York. He considers powering up “like a star” and vaporizing the bomb and the terrorists...
(Really like what Romita did with this page)
Just then, commandos show up, shooting the terrorists, but not before the detonator switch is triggered. As it turns out, there's a safety delay in case it was accidentally pushed, but they can't get the override code out of the surviving terrorist. The commandos throw the nuke overboard, hoping against hope, knowing that the ship can't get clear in time to save themselves or the hostages. Ken follows the nuke underwater, pushing it as far down as he can as fast as he can. He makes it to the bottom of the ocean, into the muck, reminding him of his earlier tunneling mishaps, pissing him off. It's deep enough that the nuclear explosion doesn't harm the ship, and being angry seemingly helped Ken survive being at the heart of the blast.
Later, in New Hampshire, Jenny is making some last-minute modifications to the MAX suit, planning on going after the terrorists, when Ken shows up. They talk for a bit, and after Jenny admits that they currently have a bit of misunderstanding with the law, Ken warns them about the possible ramifications of well-intention interfering, and that they should think about what can go wrong and what the consequences might be if they choose to do so. He's about to leave, but Jenny and the others have questions of their own for him. Ken's response, because macho dick-waving is always in fashion...
Not a great issue, but not a bad one either – overall probably better written than the previous issue, a mixture of Shooter hitting his stride a bit more and fewer plot elements being introduced and having to be juggled. We get to see what Shooter feels would be the sort of difficulties a real-life superhero would have to contend with, as well as the struggle to balance the responsibility of power versus the responsibility to oneself, in a manner that might be more honest than what more four-color heroes usually acknowledge. Ken's presence on the cruise ship arguably makes things worse, since the commandos might have been able to take out the terrorists without giving them warning, preventing them from triggering the detonator switch.
It's pretty clear that Ken is having sex with Debbie, but apparently that's not the case with Barbara - his reaction to seeing her undress seems to indicate he's ever seen her naked. I guess that's part of the reason why he's keeping Debbie on the side.
Crossover Elements counter: 1 – meeting Spitfire and the Troubleshooters.
Cover Date: November 1986
Publication Date: August 12, 1986
Story: Jim Shooter
Art: John Romita, Jr. & Al Williamson
Timeframe: August 20-22, 1986
Exulting in the simple joy of flight, Ken experiments with just how high he can go. Leaving the atmosphere, he briefly panics, even though neither the cold not lack of air bother him. Re-entering the atmosphere, it takes him a while to actually find his way back to Pittsburgh. Flying outside of his girlfriend's Barbara's house, he sees her undress through the window, and finally has enough self-awareness to realize how creepy he's being.
(Wait, so that's the second time someone has responded to someone else knocking on their door by saying the word 'door' out loud. Is this a New Universe thing, or just a Pittsburgh thing?)
It's Debbie, who passes on a message from Myron to come over the following evening, and she winds up staying the night. The next day, as the two drive to Myron's home, he stops to make a phone call to Barbara to belatedly let her know that he won't be seeing her that evening.
Seriously, Debbie, you deserve better than to be treated like this. A little injection of self-esteem would do wonders for you.
When they arrive at Myron's place, they find out there are others there, as part of a therapy group. This includes Jan, who used to date Ken. Her son misses him, as he looked up to Ken during the time the two dated. Jan notes that Ken's been busy, assuming that Debbie is his girlfriend. “This one's very pretty, Ken. Congratulations.”
Man, the way women seem to fall for Ken for no apparent reason is at least as much of a power fantasy as his super powers. So far I've yet to see anything to contradict my 'cocaine dick' theory.
Ken isn't happy about the therapy group thing, but Myron convinces him to stay. At least, until Myron brings up the 'theoretical' question to the group of what would you do with the power to control or destroy the world. Ken storms off, bristling at what he perceives to be blatant manipulation from Myron. Debbie doesn't understand why Ken is so upset, and he reveals his new abilities to her. She says that he'll know the right thing to do when the time calls for it.
Ken flies off to rescue the kid, although it takes him a while to get there, since finding a specific area when you're flying at a high altitude isn't easy. Once there, he's uncertain how to help, especially as he doesn't want to deal with the world knowing his secret. He tries to tunnel underground, but this doesn't go well since he can't see where he's going as he does so.
As it turns out, his presence isn't needed, as Spitfire shows up and uses her powered suit to go into the well and rescue the child. When she leaves, he follows, and finds the area where the Troubleshooters are hanging out/laying low at. He leers a bit when Jenny gets out of the armor, but opts not to make his presence known to them, second-guessing himself as he flies home.
At his apartment, he calls up Janet, asking what the other people at the therapy group responded with to Myron's question. Jan's response was that everyone already has the ability to change the world, but that they aren't obligated to, as they also have a right to their own lives. She adds that people who are convinced about what is right and what is wrong scare her, “like those terrorists sailing the cruise ship toward New York with that nuke aboard – they think they're the good guys!”
Suited up, Ken flies over to Norfolk, and then follows a military plane toward the direction of the cruise ship. Scoping out the ship once he arrives, he sees over 1200 hostages being watched by Middle Eastern terrorists with machine guns. He manages to knock out a couple of wandering guards, but clearly still doesn't what he's doing, and didn't have much of a plan for what to do when he arrived.
He finally spots a trio of terrorists with the nuke and a detonator switch. The presence of one of the guards he tied up is discovered, and the terrorists appear to be debating over whether or not to trigger the nuke now, even though they are not yet near their target of New York. He considers powering up “like a star” and vaporizing the bomb and the terrorists...
(Really like what Romita did with this page)
Just then, commandos show up, shooting the terrorists, but not before the detonator switch is triggered. As it turns out, there's a safety delay in case it was accidentally pushed, but they can't get the override code out of the surviving terrorist. The commandos throw the nuke overboard, hoping against hope, knowing that the ship can't get clear in time to save themselves or the hostages. Ken follows the nuke underwater, pushing it as far down as he can as fast as he can. He makes it to the bottom of the ocean, into the muck, reminding him of his earlier tunneling mishaps, pissing him off. It's deep enough that the nuclear explosion doesn't harm the ship, and being angry seemingly helped Ken survive being at the heart of the blast.
Later, in New Hampshire, Jenny is making some last-minute modifications to the MAX suit, planning on going after the terrorists, when Ken shows up. They talk for a bit, and after Jenny admits that they currently have a bit of misunderstanding with the law, Ken warns them about the possible ramifications of well-intention interfering, and that they should think about what can go wrong and what the consequences might be if they choose to do so. He's about to leave, but Jenny and the others have questions of their own for him. Ken's response, because macho dick-waving is always in fashion...
Not a great issue, but not a bad one either – overall probably better written than the previous issue, a mixture of Shooter hitting his stride a bit more and fewer plot elements being introduced and having to be juggled. We get to see what Shooter feels would be the sort of difficulties a real-life superhero would have to contend with, as well as the struggle to balance the responsibility of power versus the responsibility to oneself, in a manner that might be more honest than what more four-color heroes usually acknowledge. Ken's presence on the cruise ship arguably makes things worse, since the commandos might have been able to take out the terrorists without giving them warning, preventing them from triggering the detonator switch.
It's pretty clear that Ken is having sex with Debbie, but apparently that's not the case with Barbara - his reaction to seeing her undress seems to indicate he's ever seen her naked. I guess that's part of the reason why he's keeping Debbie on the side.
* * *
Crossover Elements counter: 1 – meeting Spitfire and the Troubleshooters.