“The one freedom the Starman cannot grant us is the freedom not to have to look to the stars.”
Elizabeth Sandifer
AXE: Starfox was written by Kieron Gillen. Its art was done by Daniele Di Nicuolo with colors by Frank William. Letters were done by Joe Sabino
Mark: Since Gillen, Ribić, et al’s Eternals ended, Gillen has been stealth continuing the series, not only as one third of the AXE: Judgment Day event, but also more proximately in AXE: Eve of Judgment and AXE: Death to Mutants. And while those have effectively acted as issues #13-16 of that series, here we’ve got something more conceptually like the three Eternals specials that were interspersed with that numbered issues.
Sean: I’m going to be honest, I don’t really have that much love or knowledge for Starfox. He’s certainly a superhero who exists and was a supporting character in The Infinity Gauntlet (which might be the only thing prior to Gillen that I’ve read featuring him). The reason I’m here is because I saw that cover and wanted to do things to him that were censored in the name of good taste the last time I talked about him. And I’m glad I did because I think this might be the strongest issue of the whole AXE event.
Lady Stardust Sang His Songs of Darkness and Dismay
Mark: The flashback portion of this story starts between the pages of Gillen and Weaver et al’s Eternals: Thanos Rising special. There, we saw the story of A’Lars and Sui-San creating Thanos and the civil war that rocked Eternal society, as well as their subsequent punishment. What we didn’t see was the origin of Eros, which led to a lot of questions among readers. Well, here we are more than a year later with the answers.
Sean: Those answers turn out to be the desperate ploys every Baron Frankenstein or Prof. Quatermass has when faced with the failure of their vision: Let’s do it better next time. All things considered, Starfox isn’t too bad of a result. The only problem (from their perspective) is that he doesn’t much care for the whole “Let’s change the unchanging people” plan and simply wants to get drunk and live fabulously.
It’s interesting seeing the contrast between young Starfox and his older self. There’s not that much difference in terms of designs, but the approach both have towards the world feels different. Focusing on the younger as the next part will do the older, there’s a termerity to Starfox and a degree of fear. Look at how he reacts to Sui-San when she tells him he will be the Eternal Messiah. He doesn’t want to be Space Jesus. Being Space Jesus sounds like a terrible thing to be.
He’d much rather be a Starman.
Mark: How ya gonna keep him down on the farm (Olympus), once he’s seen gay Paree (Deep Space Party Zone XII)? The flashback scenes move from Starfox learning about Thanos’ destruction of Titan to him being put in exclusion, effectively glossing over his entire Marvel comics career up until his death in Cates and Shaw’s Guardians of the Galaxy. And that seems like something of a missed opportunity to me. Imagine leaving your home and learning that your home’s been destroyed and your parents are serving life sentences when they were expecting you to be there to help? There’s got to be a tremendous burden of guilt you carry with you. And while that feeling permeates the issue like a background motif, I could have used some more exploration of that period in his life.
Sean: At the same time, there are the limitations of doing this as a one-shot tie-in to an event crossover with fifty moving parts. Especially one about as long as a traditional comic book issue. There’s certainly a lot of space with the character of Starfox to explore his entire life story as a space adventurer turned superhero (complete with “YOUR PARENTS ARE DEAD AND IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT” guilt). But one would hope that would be in the pages of The New Adventures of Starfox rather than shunting the rest of the book in favor of that.
They Burn You With Their Radiant Smiles
Sean: Especially considering the parts where Starfox is trying to save people’s lives is the strongest part. For a lot of it, the sequence is a traditional “Superhero saves lives” scene. But Di Nicuolo’s art pushes things to eleven with an energy not often seen in American cape comics. The use of speed lines, expressive faces, and compositions truly makes the tie-in amazing. I can’t wait to see what he (and colorist Frank William) do next.
Mark: I agree that the art team does a fantastic job in the Starfox saving the world (or maybe just a small corner of it) sequence. The expressiveness of movement, the flaming skull meteor, the fabulous flying cape man, it’s much more Nicuolo’s forte, whereas I think the quieter moments, like A’Lars and Sui-San’s little scene at the beginning felt somewhat flat to me. Starfox creating nuclear fission through the power of love is just a delightful thing to see. But of course, it’s not enough. It’s never enough, because there’s just one of him and a whole world self-destructing around him.
Sean: And this is where I’m going to have to disagree with your point. Because I found the scene where Starfox comforts a dying man to be one of the book’s highest marks. Just everything about those two pages from Gillen’s words to the way Nicuolo draws the dying man’s comfort all the way to the shame on Starfox’s face when he realizes that Starfox isn’t enough.
But the core moment is when Starfox comforts the man. Everything about this scene hinges on the subtleties of this moment. From the weak smile that tells you how much Starfox wants to believe these words to be true to the way the wind billows behind him to the fact that the background is a softer color to contrast the sharp pain of the moment–to soothe both men. It works brilliantly.
Yes, there’s a degree of distance and flatness towards the opening, but it’s a flatness that feels right for how Starfox, and even Eros, feels about his parents. Their relationship–even as he embraces their desires for him with the camp and hedonism he holds dear–will always be fraught. He is the second child whose older brother is King Bastard the Genocide Lover.
Mark: Oh, I absolutely agree about the comforting the dying man scene. Maybe it’s because I recently watched the Netflix series, but it’s reminiscent of Death from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman; Kind, bringing comfort to the dead and the dying. It’s somewhat ironic, considering the embodiment of Death in the Marvel universe and her biggest fan, Thanos, are nothing like the Sandman universe’s Death. But here, Starfox stands in contrast to that kind of heartless death and murder that revels in suffering. Here, he’s the kind face that helps you along.
How Many People Lie Instead of Talking Tall?
Sean: So, when faced with everyone dying horrible, unspeakable deaths at the hands of a Mad God, Starfox does the only sensible thing one can do: Just let the people the safe space for safety. Zuras doesn’t take this well.
In some regards, this was a long time coming. The man whose existence is predicated on the desire to change the world facing off against the man who believes changing the world is inherently evil and always ends badly. The Starchild vs the Angelus Novus. And most of the fight–outside of some pretty enthralling dodging and power beams–is found in this debate.
Mark: It’s always nice when a philosophical debate is accompanied by a superhero fight. While Zuras is an absolute piece of shit, I can understand where he’s coming from. The status quo has largely worked for the Eternals. When they deviate, there’s attempted omnigenocide and civil wars. Still, though, he talks about how everything has gone to shit since he was voted out, and that Thanos was bad and Druig is worse, but I can’t ignore that he was the one leading the psychic assault on the Quiet Council of Krakoa. Did he do that out of his sense of duty? Even though he thought Druig was a bad leader? Why not aid in Eros’ plan, considering Eros was rightly elected, the same as Druig (ie, in a highly manipulated election of dubious merit)?
Sean: Of course, there’s the simple fact that, right up until the end, Druig was a relatively decent leader of the Eternals–by the standards of a race whose existence is to commit genocide when the creatures of the Earth get too uppity. It was only at the end, when he started to lose, that things went sour.
Equally, it’s worth considering the numerous civil wars, acts of genuine hostility to the Earth, and other things I’m sure someone with an extensive knowledge of the History of the Eternals could point out.
Point is… Genocide is bad and arguing that the alternative is dying horribly is a false dichotomy. And Eros knows this. The story of fathers killing sons to prevent their own irrelevancy, of the young replacing the old, is an old one, especially in superhero comics. For all the camp violence, cosmic destruction, and strange sci-fi gadgetry, the story of AXE: Starfox is that of a young (queer) person trying to find his place in the world. About broken families and the damage they wrought. And it’s about growing up. To no longer be the eternal (and, indeed, Eternal) bastard of the family and do something worthwhile with your life.
Mark: There’s one last thing I’d like to point out, and it’s that, with the agreement between Eros and Zuras, with Zuras taking back the throne of Prime Eternal (and Eros continuing to serve as an inspiration for the power of change), we’re starting to see a putting away of the toys in the Eternals toybox. I don’t know if Gillen will continue to write in this corner of the Marvel Universe after this event, but this points to him relinquishing that authorship. Personally, I understand it’s a part of writing in a shared universe, and Gillen/Hans’ Journey Into Mystery #645 is the best final word on that tension between change and staticity as explored through American superhero comic books. Still, it’s a bittersweet feeling. I guess the hope is that a good enough run becomes defining, like happened with Journey Into Mystery, and future runs have to take it into account. Or not, I’m not their boss.
Let the Children Boogie
- Ok, now that the serious discussion is over, can I just say that Starfox is gender. He’s gender. He’s pure, unadulterated gender.
- I just love the background extra at Party Zone XII who’s drinking out of a silly straw. Not enough aliens drink out of silly straws.
- The Machine That Is Earth reverting to a joyless, personality-free default setting is kind of like seeing your witty best new friend get Flowers For Algernon-ed.
- “Even now, when he’s not literally here, Thanos is…” Surprisingly charming when Gillen does it in comparison to other post 2017 writers who have tried to riff on the implications of that.
- “Eros wins battles. Thanos wins wars.” is one of those obvious yet still gut punching lines that Gillen has mastered in his WFH stuff.
- I really hope Eros will help out his poor, excluded parents when all is said and done. Justice for Sui-San.
