Starman: James Robinson deserves more credit

[Winghead]

This series is a masterpiece from start to end, it's every bit as literary as Sandman, but more humorous and a lot more fun.

[JackDaw]

I always get puzzled how any series can reasonably be evaluated as over or under-rated...there's no objective rating that I know of!

When I read Starman, like you I enjoyed it even more than Sandman.

But I don't think it's remotely under-rated. It's really well known, and consistently gets highly praised when really good/great super hero series are discussed. I think anybody setting out to read best received super hero series would almost quickly identify as a "must read".

[Winghead]

I think Robinson as a writer is right up there with Morrison, Moore, Ellis etc., but he doesn't get quite the same level of respect. Also anything Neil Gaiman writes is automatically praised just because he wrote Sandmam. I don't feel it's the same for Robinson

[Bor]

I think Robinson as a writer is right up there with Morrison, Moore, Ellis etc., but he doesn't get quite the same level of respect. Also anything Neil Gaiman writes is automatically praised just because he wrote Sandmam. I don't feel it's the same for Robinson

I am sorry but that is just not true. Not everything he writes gets praised, plenty of it comes out and then is largely ignored. And when he gets praised its certantly not just for Sandman, his career as a author is a huge reason to. It also helps when they adapt his work for tv/movies like the recent American Gods show.

It also helps that unlike Starman Sandman is always in print and more often then not in several different formats. Starman? No so much.

[AJpyro]

How do we get DC to cough up the rest of those reprints?

[Ilan Preskovsky]

I think Robinson as a writer is right up there with Morrison, Moore, Ellis etc., but he doesn't get quite the same level of respect. Also anything Neil Gaiman writes is automatically praised just because he wrote Sandmam. I don't feel it's the same for Robinson

I love Starman (though not as much as Sandman, which keeps being compared to it for some reason) but Robinson is way too erratic to be on the same level as the giants you mention. His best stuff (including the recent Airboy) is indeed brilliant but when he's not working at top form or when his heart clearly isn't all that into it, the result borders on flat out bad. And he's not consistently good enough for that to not be a problem.

EDIT: Oh yeah, he also wrote Comic Book Villains, a truly hateful piece of crap, and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen screenplay. Even Neil Gaiman wouldn't get a pass for those two atrocities.

[Flash Gordon]

Robinson's STARMAN (and his THE SHADE mini) is fantastic comics. It should be up there with Gaiman's SANDMAN for sure (though I'm way more into STARMAN).

[MRP]

Starman is great. I like Leave it to Chance by Robinson better, and Golden Age is also magnificent. When he's on, he does great work. But he can be hit and miss, and outside of those 3, most of his other work in comics has been a miss for me. On the strength of those 3, he was a writer who I would check out no matter what project he was on, but as the years passed and more and more of his work appeared that I didn't groove to, that status was lost for me. I haven't checked out a lot of his most recent work though (aside form the Shade mini he did in 2012ish which I dug), as I have a limited budget and there is a ton of stuff out there I do groove to, but I m always open to suggestions for stuff of his I should check out that might be a hit with me.

Gaiman however, still has the status of someone I will check out no matter what he is doing as I have even grooved to his children's books like Wolves in the Wall and the Day I traded My Dad for Two Goldfish, so for me, his body of work has a more consistent track record of quality and appeal to me than Robinson.

-M

[awayne83]

Gets a ton of love. Not underrated, just under-collected

[TomSlick]

I think Robinson as a writer is right up there with Morrison, Moore, Ellis etc., but he doesn't get quite the same level of respect. Also anything Neil Gaiman writes is automatically praised just because he wrote Sandmam. I don't feel it's the same for Robinson

Robinson's Starman is probably in my Top 10, maybe Top 5 reads ever. That said, he's written some ****. And I mean ****. Same goes for Gaiman as well, but most people are too scared to admit it in fear they'll be chastised. The whole "emperor has no clothes" thing. Same goes with Moore.

I'm sure Ellis probably wrote something that's no good but I've yet to find it. Heh.

[Balakin]

Robinson's Starman is probably in my Top 10, maybe Top 5 reads ever. That said, he's written some ****. And I mean ****. Same goes for Gaiman as well, but most people are too scared to admit it in fear they'll be chastised. The whole "emperor has no clothes" thing. Same goes with Moore.

I'm sure Ellis probably wrote something that's no good but I've yet to find it. Heh.

I didn't care for Lost girls and Nightmare in Silver was a huuuuge disappointment. Also I didn't finish Trigger warning, most of the stories didn't do it for me. There, I did it, do I get a treat?
But other than these I love Moore and Gaiman and none of these works are on the same level of awfulness as Cry for Justice was (no not even the Black Dossier I actually really liked it).

I agree though that Robinson is undercollected, especially Starman.

[Bor]

Robinson's Starman is probably in my Top 10, maybe Top 5 reads ever. That said, he's written some ****. And I mean ****. Same goes for Gaiman as well, but most people are too scared to admit it in fear they'll be chastised. The whole "emperor has no clothes" thing. Same goes with Moore.

I'm sure Ellis probably wrote something that's no good but I've yet to find it. Heh.

I have no problem saying Gaiman has had some misses to, both in comics and books, but I have yet to read anything by him I disliked as much as Cry for Justice by Robinson.

[SJNeal]

I'm sure Ellis probably wrote something that's no good but I've yet to find it. Heh.

No worries, I found it for you.

Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Box.

[Judge Dredd]

Gets a ton of love. Not underrated, just under-collected

Yes that omnibus vol 3 has been a killer tease, waiting for it to be solicited and canceled again.

[awayne83]

No worries, I found it for you.

Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Box.

I couldn't get thru global frequency myself. I typically dont care for 1-and-done stories anyways, but these were particularly forgettable even tho the premise was cool. Didn't bother finishing the trade