Is Fate Really Written In The Stars? ‘Star-Crossed’ #1 Advance Review
by Olly MacNamee
Summary
Space bandits Thena Khole and Cody Blue return in a new crossover series for the summer, Star-Crossed. Having stolen from a tyrannical monarchy, the girls just want to party. But any tyrant who’s been wronged is never going to let it go. And so the girls have a bounty on their heads they naively think they can escape. Best of luck, girls. From Mark Millar and Corrado Mastantuono.
Overall
10/10When you’re robbing the richest royal dynasty in the known universe, and those self-same royals are portrayed as vulgarly decadent, then your sympathies will immediately be transferred over to the crooks. Especially when you witness the price the matriarch’s daughter has to pay for being robbed. It’s suitably and horrifically shocking, but then, this is Mark Millar. He likes to shock. Horrifically if he can. Even Shylock only asked for a pound of flesh. Here, Her Royal Highness demands her daughter carve off enough to feed her until the ne’er-do-well bandits are captured. Something tells me we will be returning to witness this long-drawn out torture in future issues. It’s enough to make you shudder.
And from this savagely opulent opening scene, beautifully laid out by artist Corrado Mastantuono, we meet up, once again, with Thena Khole and Cody Blue, from Millar’s previous series, Space Bandits. On the run and out for fun. And fun they have, crashing a party full of loathsome socialites loving on Earth TV staples like Friends and Cagney and Lacey. The joke being that while these snooty-nosed partygoers think they are the height of fashion in following these decades-old shows, the reader recognises they are well out of date. Another bunch of elites the reader loathes from the get-go. With more love for our space bandit girls who just wanna have fun.
The shock and humour are staples of Millar’s writing, as is the well-choreographed fight scene that captures the reader’s attention as much for the scripting as the art. In recent years, Millar has looked to Europe for inspiration, and come up trumps every time. Mastantuono is an artist clearly brought up on the realistic art of the bande dessinée tradition, with the influence of artists such as Jean-Claude Mézières (Valerian), Hugo Pratt (Corto Maltese) and many more coursing through his pen and onto the printed page. It’s what I would refer to as the European Style, one that’s heavy on attention to detail and anatomy that, when presented in a US floppy copy, always elevates the story. Adding his own colours, along with Nico Mastantuono, also allows more control over the final art; bright, bold and beautiful.
It’s a fast-paced issue with an interesting cliffhanger that’s sure to make long-time Millar fans happy. The title suggests these two thieves have a date with destiny. But can they outrun it? Only time will tell in this witty and energetic first issue, which sets up a game of cat-and-mouse set in the stars and spanning galaxies in the telling. Truly cosmic, man!
Star-Crossed #1 is out on Wednesday, 8th July from Dark Horse Comics.
