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<HEAD><TITLE>Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Starman </TITLE> <script language="JavaScript"></script> <META name = "author" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "description" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "subject" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "keywords" content = "comic books animated cartoons animation comics comix syndicated comic strips"> <META name = "publisher" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "format" content = "text/html"> <META name = "language" content = "EN"> </HEAD><BODY> <body onload="if (self!= top) top.location = self.location"></body> <BODY BGCOLOR="FFFFFF" TEXT="000000" LINK="0000EE" VLINK="551A8B"> <TABLE><TR><TD WIDTH=310 VALIGN="CENTER"><IMG GALLERYIMG="NO" ALIGN="LEFT" HEIGHT=381 WIDTH=300 ALT="Typical Starman cover. Artist: Jack Burnley." SRC="starman1.jpg"> <TD VALIGN="CENTER"> <H1>STARMAN</H1><FONT SIZE=4> <B>Medium:</B> Comic Books <BR><B>Published by:</B> DC Comics <BR><B>First Appeared:</B> 1941 <BR><B>Creators:</B> Gardner Fox (writer) and Jack Burnley (artist)<FONT SIZE=3> <! BEGIN DONATION CODE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2 COLOR="993366"><CENTER> If this site is enjoyable or useful to you, <BR>Please contribute to its necessary financial support. <BR><A HREF="http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T1237L0BCY25QA" TARGET="_blank">Amazon.com</A> or <A HREF="https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=don%40toonopedia.com&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_cod e=USD" TARGET="_blank">PayPal</A> </FONT></CENTER><HR> <! END DONATION CODE> <P><A NAME="cont"> By 1941, the takeover of the American comic book by <A HREF="glossary.htm#superhero">superheroes</A> was well advanced. In fact, Starman, a creation of writer  <P ALIGN="RIGHT"><A HREF="#cont"><FONT SIZE=2><I>continued below</A></FONT> </TABLE> <CENTER><! BEGIN ADSENSE "LEADERBOARD" CODE> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <! END ADSENSE CODE></CENTER> <P><TABLE><TR><TD VALIGN="TOP"> Gardner Fox (<A HREF="flash1.htm">The Flash,</A> <A HREF="fate.htm">Doctor Fate</A>) and artist Jack Burnley (a DC regular who had already drawn <A HREF="superman.htm">Superman,</A> <A HREF="batman.htm">Batman</A> and other high-profile features), was no less than the third of that genre to head up <A HREF="dc.htm">DC's</A> <I>Adventure Comics.</I> <P> Starman was millionnaire Ted Knight, whose life didn't seem to have much purpose or direction, unless you count his activities as an amateur astronomer. That interest led to his invention of what he called a "Gravity Rod", which could harness that universal force in various ways, and which was powered by cosmic radiation. He decided to use his invention for the benefit of mankind — not in any ordinary, time-tested way like founding an industrial empire to hire thousands of workers and create billions of dollars in new wealth, but in the rather inefficient way of keeping it to himself and becoming a superhero. He wore the usual flashy skin-tights, but eschewed a mask, possibly on the theory that even with his face hanging out, nobody would ever associate the fearless adventurer Starman with a useless fop like Ted Knight. <P> Starman's series began in DC's <I>Adventure Comics</I> #61 (April, 1941), where he immediately displaced <A HREF="hourman1.htm">Hourman</A> from the cover. A few months later, in <I>All Star Comics</I> #8, he replaced Hourman again, as a member of <A HREF="jsa.htm">The Justice Society of America,</A> simultaneous with <A HREF="mid-nite.htm">Dr. Mid-Nite</A> replacing <A HREF="lantern1.htm">Green Lantern.</A> Clearly, the publisher fully expected the new character to live up to his name and be a star. <P> And so he was — for about a year, after which he lost his cover spot first to a relatively minor character called <A HREF="manhntr1.htm">Manhunter</A> and then to a resurgent version of <I>Adventure's</I> first costumed character, <A HREF="sandman1.htm">The Sandman.</A> Starman continued in the back pages until #103 (April, 1946), after which characters from <I>More Fun Comics</I> (<A HREF="aquaman.htm">Aquaman,</A> <A HREF="superboy.htm">Superboy,</A> etc.) moved <I>en masse</I> into <I>Adventure</I> and most of those already there moved to the land of defunct comic book heroes. Starman lost his Justice Society membership at the same time, as he and <A HREF="spectre.htm">The Spectre</A> were replaced by <A HREF="mrterrif.htm">Mr. Terrific</A> and <A HREF="wildcat1.htm">Wildcat.</A> <P> He was gone until the August, 1964 issue of <I><A HREF="jla.htm">Justice League of America,</A></I> where he participated in the second annual team-up between that group and the Justice Society. The following year, he and another JSA member, <A HREF="bcanary.htm">The Black Canary,</A> had a two-issue adventure in <I>The Brave & the Bold,</I> which was then being used for team-ups between DC characters chosen pretty much at random. After that, he appeared sporadically as a JSA member, or as a guest star with various other DC heroes. At one point early in the revival, he upgraded his Gravity Rod to a more powerful "Cosmic Rod". Also, Ted Knight was <A HREF="glossary.htm#retcon">retconned</A> into a cousin of Sandra Knight, who went by the superhero name <A HREF="phanlady.htm">Phantom Lady.</A> <P> He retired from superheroing about 1973, when the JSA got a new ongoing series, and passed his Cosmic Rod on to <A HREF="s-s-kid.htm">The Star Spangled Kid,</A> another '40s relic who had recently returned to DC's superhero milieu. Later on, he modified the Cosmic Rod so the Kid (now calling himself "Skyman" after <A HREF="skyman.htm">the old Columbia Comics character</A>) could wear it on his belt instead of having to tie up one of his hands carrying it. <P> This Starman had nothing to do with the <A HREF="starman2.htm">Starman</A> that ran a dozen issues in <I>Adventure Comics</I> starting in 1980, or with the <A HREF="starman3.htm">Starman</A> who had his own DC title in the late '80s. But he was the father of the <A HREF="starman4.htm">Starman</A> who operated during the '90s. He continued as a retired superhero and founder of a superhero dynasty until the December, 2000 issue of his son's comic, when DC finally killed him off. <P ALIGN = "RIGHT">— DDM <P><A HREF="index.htm">BACK</A> to <I>Don Markstein's Toonopedia</I> Home Page <BR><A HREF="today.htm">Today in Toons:</A> Every day's an anniversary! <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE BANNER CODE><CENTER> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </CENTER><! END ADSENSE CODE> <TD WIDTH=10><TD WIDTH=180 VALIGN="TOP"> <! BEGIN ADLINKS CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! END ADLINKS CODE> <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE REFERRAL CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! 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