Kirby’s second book for Pacific in the 1980s was SILVER STAR. Starting life as a screenplay proposal co-written with Steve Sherman, which is quite different from what the comic ended up as. It’s been a few years since I’ve read it, so I’ll be interested to see what I think of the series now. I recall it having some really good moments, especially towards the end, but not quite managing to tie everything together.

In the opening chapter we meet Tracy, a young girl with some sort of mental connection to Morgan Miller, a 21-year old soldier in Vietnam. Morgan develops super-powers during a battle, tossing an enemy tank around. He also slips into and out of a coma-like state, and is given a silver outfit as shielding. While he’s in the coma, he meets Tracy in a dream-like realm.

Sensing danger, Morgan tells Tracy to leave that realm, and is attacked by Darius Drumm. While that goes on, we find out, through a doctor and a government agent, that the powers these people have are the result of experiments conducted by Morgan’s father on post-atomic survival.

It’s an interesting, but not captivating, start. The best thing is probably the villain, Darius Drumm, and the battle scene in Vietnam in the beginning. The art is a bit of a mixed bag, too. A few strong bits, but overall just slipping a bit from most of this other work.

Some very strange dialogue in this issue, in particular the classic “don’t rattle your gonads in my ears”.

Mike Royer inks the 20-page story and cover. The song Tracy sings at the beginning is credited to Kirby’s daughter Susan.

Published 1983