We all loved the revolutionary classics of the 80′s, like WATCHMEN, AMERICAN FLAGG, LOVE AND ROCKETS, MIRACLEMAN, and DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, but I think STARSTRUCK was better than any of them. It skipped that one-note aggro angst for a richer palette of fun, surreality, and chaos. It was far deeper and more devious than the macho books, and got overlooked then -and now- accordingly. Only when Alan Moore loosened up into the fun phase of his ABC titles years later did anything even come close to it, and that took an entire line to do it.

The new STARSTRUCK is even deeper, funnier, and still better than anything else out. Lee, Kaluta, and Moyer are kicking everyone’s asses flat. Again.

Riot Grrrls and Guys unite. This is smart art for hip people. Catch up to the better revolution and read STARSTRUCK today!

I’m glad you’re enjoying my painting. While I’ve painted covers (and interiors and even animation) of Mw Kaluta’s for years, Starstruck is my favorite work he’s ever done, as well as being the most complex. I just finished painting the cover of Issue 12, and though it’s a single image it is 7 layers deep from foreground to back!

Elaine, Michael and I are knocking ourselves out over Starstruck each and every day – adding new art to each and every page, shaping and reshaping, editing and writing, and, of course, painting. This is the chance to finally cover Starstruck in the glory I feel it deserves.

Issue 7 is where it really starts to come together, and I hope you’ll enjoy the rest of the ride!

Lapham is awesome, Young Liars was excellent and Sparta USA looks.. interesting, but the most useful comparison might be his work on 30 Days of Night. His mini series was effective and grim, nice tight piece of work, but also not very deep at all. Hopefully he digs deeper for his CROSSED spin off. Lord knows there’s more to work with in this horror-verse.

“Rags Morales is the best penciller working in mainstream comics. That guy draws doughy, floppy people perfectly.”
No way dude! Rags is great (and firstwave would have looked better in b/w with washes) but Doug Mahnke is the fucking tits.

Lapham on CROSSED is kind of a surprise… I’m pretty sure this is the first time Ennis has ever let another writer go solo on one of his creator-owned series. I wasn’t 100% thrilled with issue #9, now that I’ve read it – a little too much reciting of the series’ central metaphor, without the narrative backing in earlier issues to make it kick as storytelling… and of course as soon as I start talking about the series as nihilistic and opposed to the ‘gross comedy’ Ennis, we get a final issue all about searching for flickering embers of human warmth, and a death-by-penis. Ah, there were a few funny bits in earlier issues too (shit, there was comedy in THE PUNISHER, like the MAX issues too), though it’s not a huge element…

I will say this: I really liked how the last wrap cover ‘replies’ to all the earlier ones, in a way that ties into the series’ denouement. It’s gotta feel a little like screaming into the void with a bunch of variants for people to choose from, but… nice.

Written by David Lapham! That’s gonna be great.

as far as the comics mentioned go, STARR was surprisingly enjoyable- Daniel Way’s writing sometimes become quite fun to read if he’s got an amazing artist to collaborate with (see DARK WOLVERINE and giuseppe camuncoli’s awesome shit)

CROSSED has been a fucking thrill ride, even with the occasional quieter issues. I’m looking forward to seeing how it “ends” (there’s already a spin off series announced?).