As regular Scoop readers know, during the disruption caused by the COVID-19 virus, we’ve featured reviews of individual back issues, runs, collected editions, and original graphic novels that captured and held our attention over the long haul. Now that “new comics Wednesday” has returned in some form for many around the country, we’ve decided to continue including great older comics among our features. Remember, once your store is open, checking out their back issue bins is a great way to #BackTheComeback. 

Star Slammers: The Complete Collection
IDW Publishing; $50

The marketing cliché is “It doesn’t get any better than this!” But in the case of Star Slammers: The Complete Collection, it’s not just a cliché, it’s an evaluation that’s hard to discount.

Writer-artist Walter Simonson may be better known for his lengthy runs on Marvel’s Thor and DC’s Orion or for his legitimately legendary collaboration on Manhunter with Archie Goodwin, but even with relatively few installments over the past 32 years his creator-owned Star Slammers still commands a lot of attention.

This single volume shows why.

Action, adventure, nobility, treachery, relationships, dreams, shoot-outs and actual science fiction combine at Simonson’s behest to make for a rockin’ good time. First printing copies the hardcover edition have a bound in signature plate, each signed by Simonson.

Star Slammers: The Complete Collection includes the story from Marvel Graphic Novel #6, the subsequent miniseries published by Malibu’s Bravura imprint and Dark Horse, and Simonson’s first, art school version of the property, which has never been published before in collected form.

The original graphic novel and the Malibu/Dark Horse miniseries have been beautifully recolored, and the production values of this collection are stellar. What, we ask you, is not to love about it?

– J.C. Vaughn