“No, no, Spider-Man isn’t supposed to show up until issue #3. It’s an old Marvel tradition.”
Starriors #2
Marvel Comics (December, 1984)
“Under Fire!”
WRITER: Louise Simonson
PENCILER: Mike Chen
INKERS: Akin & Garvey
COLORIST: Juil Ferriter
LETTERER: Joe Rosen
EDITOR: Ann Nocenti
Slaughter brings his army to destroy the Protector renegades, and Sawtooth isn’t the only one questioning his actions. Crank’s fractured memory recalls seeing a battlestation but not remembering where it was. Thinktank tries to interface with Crank but the spy in their ranks reveals their location to Slaughter, who manages to capture Crank. He plans to use the transfer ring to wipe his mind completely but the Protectors need it to restore Thinktank to Crank’s body. Sawtooth gets the ring to learn what Crank’s group is up to, and learns they’re trying to reawaken mankind. Our heroes manage to rescue both Crank and the ring with the “help” of giant “fire-spiders” living in a volcano and Slaughter has Sawtooth killed in Crank’s place to keep his secret.
What they got right: Only the lead villain is purely evil. The others are just psycho or following orders unaware of what Slaughter Steelgrave is really up to. We have some hint of who the traitor might be, or could it be a red herring? The spiders threat not only makes for extra danger but we also learn that it’s these mutations, born of the solar flares that forced man into hibernation in the first place, that they’re supposed to be fighting. So I guess they were prepared for mutations as the Protectors rebuilt their cities.
What they got wrong: Not telling us that last part in issue #1, unless I missed it. Also, Sawtooth is one of the figures from the line. Sucks for the kid who bought this toy because if it wasn’t for the minicomics you wouldn’t be seeing much of him.
What I think overall: This is proving to be a very interesting adventure. I’m going to have to find #3 in a scan because this is a four issue miniseries and it’s the only issue I’m missing. So hopefully I can fill in the gap for the review at least.
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