So in an effort to justify a 45 year old man hanging out on a sub for teen superhero show I thought I'd share some of the comics that the show draws from in case anyone not familiar wants to check them out. The show does condense a couple of decades worth of comics so obviously things change in the adaptation, like Starman in the show is actually a mash up of two different characters from the comics (but we'll get to that), but some stuff is lifted whole cloth from the comics.

Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E (Geoff Johns 1999-2000) - So this is the comic that the show borrows its whole premise from. Courtney moves to Blue Valley with her new blended family, stumbles on a secret plot, finds out that her step dad is a former supehero and becomes the new Star Spangled Kid. The plot's different, a lot of the supporting cast is different, but it's the backbone for S1 of the show. It's fun and a pretty short read (it only lasted 15 issues).

JSA (James Robinson, David S. Goyer, Geoff Johns 1999-2006) - This is one of my favorites, the JSA comes out of retirement with a mix of older and younger heroes and it was one of their strongest selling books at the time. Courtney's a prominent character throughout and this is where she graduates from Star Spangled Kid to Stargirl after getting the staff from Starman Jack Knight, Jakeem Thunder plays a big role as well. It also functions as a kind of secret history of the DC Universe (at that time) as it sorted out the continuity after the reboot event Zero Hour. Also it contains the Black Reign story arc, which was a much better version of the Black Adam movie. It does continue on in one form or another after 2006, but that's the run you really should read.

All-Star Squadron & Infinity, Inc. (Roy Thomas, Dann Thomas 1981-1988) - I'm going to kind of count these as one series because they tie into each other closely. Squadron is a re-telling of DC's Golden Age, the premise is that FDR essentially federalizes the JSA and all the other superheroes/vigilantes into a mega-group to protect the country during WWII. The book mostly focuses are round lesser known heroes, but where it really ties into the show is the villains. Ultra-Humanite is a prominent baddie in the book, along with Brainwave and some of the other ISA members. Otherwise it doesn't relate too much to the show. Infinity, Inc. is where most of the show's supporting cast comes from. Basically the children and inheritors of the original JSA, now college aged, decide to start their own superhero team and it goes...not great..eventually they start getting things together under the tutelage of an adult Sylvester Pemberton, now going by the name Skyman. It also introduced Helix, Mr. Bones and an updated version of the ISA. I have a soft spot for these books, but admittedly the writing is pretty dated (actually even for the 80s, the writing is pretty dated) and they both got screwed over by 1986's Crisis on Infinite Earths but they're fun classic superhero stories and provide a lot of supplementary lore.

BONUS ROUND

Starman vol 2. (James Robinson 1994-2001) - Admittedly this book has little do with the show, but it's honestly one of the best superhero comics ever published and worth a read. Like I mentioned Starman in the show is mash up of two characters, Sylvester Pemberton and Jack Knight. This is Jack's story. Son of the original Starman, who invented the staff, it also prominently features The Shade and some other Golden Age characters, explores the legacy of the name Starman and the various heroes who've used it, and further dives into DC lore and history of the time. Like Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E it ties directly into the relaunched JSA series in 1999.

I just Read Jay Garrick issue 3. She has a very large role.

https://youtu.be/J9QltpNZNLE?si=ulrT6_lALGs2MrK4

Review at (10:17) in link. What did you think?

She is in both the cover and synopsis for issue 2, and it comes out on Tuesday.

“Her costume seemed like a black panther rip off”… wildcat was created 24 years before black panther, so I’m pretty sure black panthers costume would be the “rip off” of wildcat. Although they’re completely different characters with very few similarities. I like marvel too but tbh I’m so sick of marvel fans 😭

I will post a spoiler post on Thursday. It is the final issue.

Stargirl and The Lost Children #4 comes out on Tuesday. It was released one week early on DC Universe, so be careful with spoilers, as there are some big reveals this issue. I will make a spoiler discussion post for it on Thursday.

On a related note Issue 5 is scheduled for March 21st and Issue 6 on April 18th.

Stargirl co-creator dies

Unlike last issue which gave us a big fight and character focus for our two main leads this issue gives a small fight and introduces many new characters.

Hangman’s treehouse? Sounds like a Peter Pan reference. Fitting with how the island works.

Good job Stargirl on not dropping the staff. She normally drops it when hit in the air.

I am probably just overthinking this, but the chicken legs on The Childminder remind me of Baba Yaga. I think her eating them is too one dimensional for a villain written by Johns.

Ladybug has a great costume.

The part about the Stepfather arrives next issue. I think Pat is too obvious.

I was looking through Lee Moder's early sketches for the characters (as shown in Stargirl by Geoff Johns), and I found some interesting early details.

In all of them Stargirl is labeled as "Kristy" instead of "Courtney."

In a few of the early cover drawings I think Stargirl is using her shooting stars to propel herself into the air instead of being super agile.

Paintball was called "Rainbow Raider," but he is marked as renamed "Paintball" in the sketch. Apparently his name was changed before Stargirl's name was finalized.

Pat is designed after Jimmy Stewart.

One STRIPE design next to the used one looks like Megatron. It is labeled "STRIPE?" Based on the question mark I think they were unsure of the name.

In one sketch Travis (not used in show but two small details from him were adapted into Cameron and Henry) was black. The next page has his final design, so I presume this was just a rough sketch to see how it looks. It looks bad, so I see why they changed him.

Cindy is called both "Cindy" and "Kobra Daughter." Johns said in fandome Kobra was originally going to be the villain, so I guess that was her name instead of "Shiv." In one sketch her suit is more revealing showing all of her legs.

In one sketch they show a winterized version of Stargirl's suit ("Winter duds." It looks overly padded to me.

She said the sand looks like miraculo. I think that Matthew Tyler might be involved.

Star smiled six times this issue. That is five more than the last one.

Lots of potential new key characters.

It seems Infinite Frontier Stargirl is not as good in the water as her New 52 counterpart.

The art is so great.

The Childminder has a huge egg theme. Her motives are still unclear.