A magnificent return to form for James Robinson, and a feeling like coming home for me as a reader. Back in the day Starman was MY book, in that I picked it up from issue 0 when no one was paying attention to it, I had letters published in it and it just hit as I was in my mid teens and looking for something that would really open my eyes. The Shade is firmly back in that world, and not only that it feels like a natural extension of that old series. Robinson sticks to his mandate of leaving Jack Knight alone, but everyone else involved, the supporting cast that made the series so special, they're all fair game and they're all here to read about. I can't tell if Robinson has dialled back his style of writing, or if it just feels a little less unnatural because it's all about the Shade. He has this tone and flow to his writing that's very English and in some books can seem a little flowery. Here it just seems kind of lyrical, and I was taken in by the ruminations on October and the melancholy in superheroing. This is a character whose company it's just pleasant to be in, as if we're a third party to his conversations with Mikaal and Hope (okay with the second one that seems a little creepy!). Most of the first issue is about those conversations, but there's a satisfyingly Robinsonian interlude with a private detective named William Von Hammer which is a brilliant way of alluding to the danger heading Shade's way. Then there's a final fight scene that's both brilliantly executed and ends with a superb cliffhanger. The Hamner art is sumtuous, recapturing familiar old Opal in all it's glory, and depicting the characters in a way that recalls everything Tony Harris, Peter Snejberg et al did back in the day. So in all, a brilliant reintroduction to a much loved character and setting, a promise of a fun ride for the next year wrapped in a suitably beautiful cover by Harris himself. You can go home again.