by Joe Iconic, Reporter
Starfire #1 gives us a Starfire we can finally love. Thank you, Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, for taking the arguably most controversial, over-sexualized character of DC Comics New 52, and making her fun. If you cheer for Harley Quinn and the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, this comic is for you.
Starfire #1 finds Kori/Starfire not interested with the superhero game, and in the office of Sherriff Stella Gomez in Key West, Florida. Kori, after all, is an alien, so where better to start a new chapter on her adopted world than a variation on “take me to your leader?” Her motivations are explained fully in the online preview that shows Kori asking the advice of various colleagues. The rest of the issue sets the stage for her new home and supporting cast in Key West, and a hurricane on the way.
Although the controversy surrounding Starfire is relatively new, Starfire’s original purpose in the previous DC continuity was to be a love interest of Dick Grayson/Nightwing. Her most beloved incarnation was in animation, in both the Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go series, where her enduring lack of understanding of Earth customs and good heart make her a fan favorite.
The Red Hood and the Outlaws created the highly sexualized version of Starfire, both in art and action. The interesting contribution of this iteration of Starfire was that her behavior was justified by her species evolution from a cat-like species.
Conner and Palmiotti take the best of all the Starfires for Starfire #1. Her dialogue has the same cadence of the animated Starfire. The comparison is reinforced by the use of cartoonish images of her attempted visualizations of odd English idioms. Many students who learn English as a secondary language make fun of our odd sayings (i.e. “turn a corner”,) so this detail in Kori makes her more relatable, more real.
Starfire #1 also reinforces the crucial contribution of artists to a concept. Emanuela Lupacchino drawings of Kori steers far away from the photo-shopped Swimsuit Illustrated Model, and as a result gives us the most beautiful Starfire to date. Ray McCarthy’s inks complement the Key West setting perfectly.
However, Starfire #1 is more PG-13 than an all-ages book. The (tastefully done) nearly naked scene is for fun, not shock. Kori is still scantily clad, and her sexuality is part of who she is, but these elements are no longer over-the-top (no pun….OK, you knew that pun was intended!)
If you need a little summer fun, Starfire #1 should be on your pull-list. The new direction of the DCU is off to a great start. After one issue, this Starfire is my favorite, and this series is worth checking out.
Rating: 
ComicsOnline gives Starfire #1 5 Big Orange Supergirls out of 5 Big Orange Supergirls
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