With years spent reading single issues here and there, juggling storylines of dozens of titles, I decided it was time to find a better way to read comics. So, it was off to the back issue bins armed with the longest want list you’ve ever seen! Putting together series after series and reading them in their complete goodness, I was reborn as the Retro-Reader!
Publisher: Devil’s Due & Dynamited
Number of Issues: 6
First Issue: July 2004 ($2.99)
Last Issue: December 2005 ($2.99)
Writer: Jim Starlin
Artist: Jim Starlin
Ray Torres is a teenage orphan who feels that suicide is his only way out. That is, until he finds himself imbued with the Cosmic Guard power. Along with the power comes a dead super-hero’s spirit who speaks with him inside his head. This hero is the Dark Paladin, who despite being the previous holder of the Cosmic Guard, was unable to stop the Genociders from destroying his home planet. Now they’re headed towards Earth and the Dark Paladin has to train Ray Torres so that he is capable of defeating this deadly alien force. Ray’s first mission? Destroy the Genociders’ Z-10 Kilbot herald.
The Bad: This is the beginning of a much larger story that has yet to be told …. and unfortunately, hasn’t been continued for the past 5 years.
The Good: Jim Starlin knows how to tell a cosmic hero story.
The Verdict: Jim Starlin is the master of cosmic super hero stories … and here’s another one! Sure we’ve seen some of these concepts before – in fact, the Cosmic Guard power brings to mind Marvel’s Uni-Power – but Starlin always manages to keep it fun and exciting. I wish this story would have had more of a threat than just a robotic probe but as I mentioned earlier, there’s a much bigger story waiting to be unfolded here. However, since that bigger threat has yet to be realized, there’s nothing here that puts this series over-the-top in terms of cool concepts, designs or action.
On Ebay: Cosmic Guard | Jim Starlin