Kori’s really getting the hang of this – in her own way.
Creative Staff:
Story: Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti
Art: Emanuela Lupacchino, Ray McCarthy
Colors: Hi-Fi
What They Say:
Is Dick Grayson here to stay? Starfire has tackled some big threats during her stay in Key West-from hurricanes to intergalactic bounty hunters, from insane murderers to gargantuan monsters from the deep and everything in between. But our hero’s biggest challenge may be choosing between an ex and a new love interest.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Starfire works its crossover appeal here in a way that at least makes sense considering the history she has with Dick Grayson. While I absolutely could not get into his new book in the slightest, one of the biggest regrets of a purchase I’ve had in a few years, his involvement here is a bit more tolerable since it’s more about his interactions with Kori. The whole undercover agent thing makes a lot of sense but the main series just didn’t execute it for me. Here, he gets to be Dick, and that’s what’s needed. It also doesn’t hurt that Lupacchino makes him look very, very good – especially alongside Kori.
With the events on boat largely dealt with, and one heck of a kiss involved at the end, there’s a moment where whatever organization is involved in the trigger swap watches from a distance via helicopter and gets ready to take Dick down with a sniper rifle. It ends weirdly with how the chopper blows up and Kori saves those on board, but it all feels like it’s part of something so unrelated to this book that it’s hard to care. It’s all simply a vehicle for getting these two crazy kids back together for a few hours. And there is a lot of fun in that weird kind of familiarity, albeit one that I’m all pre-Crisis with never mind post-New 52, but just enjoying the two of them in this form is nice. Especially since Dick is trying to make sure she knows there’s nothing more going on here, just a reconnecting that happened in a surprising manner.
A lot of the time here is spent with just the two of them hanging out and his really enjoying the way she’s become a lot more attuned to human nature and all sorts of sayings and feelings that he never expected. She’s very much living in the moment and he realizes that in a good way, helping to redirect her towards Sol once he discover what was interrupted. It’s good to see these two in this way and I like that we get some time from Kori’s point of view about what Dick is like and how he’s always going to be heading off to something else. It reinforces that live for the now thing, but at the same time there’s this touch of her wanting something more as well. Which in turn makes the time with Sol all the more meaningful at the end.
Sol has his own interesting turn this time around with Raven as they end up heading out to pick up the guys that Dick and Kori took out on the boat. Hauling them in the for the feds is a basic enough job but it lets the two of them have a sunrise together that has her really making it clear and in no uncertain terms that she’s into him. He’s in a different place, unfortunately, and lets her down easily even though he admits he would be totally into her if not for Kori. His reasoning is a little amusing in that he sees Kori as being even more lost than he is, still hung up on what happened to Maria, so you can see why he does keep Rave at a distance and want to be something of a rock for Kori amid all her craziness. It’s not a pairing that works long time, but I also think both of them need that here and now thing.
In Summary:
Starfire shows Dick the door and I’m all for that since it was a mildly interesting interlude that didn’t add a whole lot overall to the bigger picture. Guest appearances are the name of the game though and the team did a solid enough job with it. The series looks to be ready to move onto other things, including following through on Atlee’s adventures down in the earth with Kori and the sheriff, so I’m hopeful that comes together sooner rather than later as a good ladies event down under is what the book needs. Spa days ahead indeed.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: January 13th, 2016
MSRP: $2.99
