Stan Lee is a legend in his own lifetime. When one of the most successful and creative minds in comics decides to create a new comic book series, you really have to sit up and take notice. However, if you have no idea who Stan Lee is, you are sure to recognise some of his creations. Stan Lee is responsible for co-creating the following Marvel action heroes, Spiderman, X-Men, The Fantastic Four, The Avengers, The Incredible Hulk, Daredevil, Iron Man and Thor.

Even the most reclusive of people are sure to recognise that impressive list of names!

Lee has done little other than cameos over recent years. With the recent boom in the movie market for comic book adaptations Stan has managed to find a new career as a cameo actor. He has featured in blink or you’ll miss it scenes in nearly every Marvel movie released in recent years. (X-Men, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Hulk, Spider-Man2, Fantastic Four, X Men: The Last Stand, Spider Man 3, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and even upcoming cameos in Captain America and The Amazing Spider-Man) With such a long list of blockbusters over the last 11 years, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Lee needn’t bother going back to comics and risking his legendary status with more character creations. But, after years of riding the wave of his character creation creative explosion in the sixties, he has now created three new characters, and three very exciting new comic book series.

Stan has teamed up with Boom! Studios  to produce three new comic book series. Starborn, The Traveler and Soldier Zero. All of these mark the first notable work for Stan in comics for years, and all are pretty exciting projects.

Out of these three new comics – all started in late 2010 – it is Starborn that really shines.

Starborn tells the story of a character we can all relate to, a guy called Benjamin Warner who is bored with his office job and dreaming of bigger and better things. In his part time, Ben is a budding science fiction writer, and the comic opens with the crushing news that Ben is destined to remain in his office job forever, his manuscript has been rejected. Ben’s life is suddenly shaken up with the reappearance of the girl of his dreams and accompanying her, a whole hoard of attacking aliens. As the story progresses we get elements of The Matrix (bored office worker has his life turned upside down) and elements of Halo (multiple attacking alien species, space marines with suits of armour, over shields and even distant galactic systems.)

So far so interesting! The main character certainly isn’t complaining of boredom as the comic’s progress through episodes 1-4. As usual with these types of story, the main character becomes our means of finding out about all of the amazing worlds and alien species and all of the incredible technology on offer in these comics. As the story progresses, we learn long with Ben about his past, and hints at his destiny. In a nice twist it is revealed that all of the characters that start cropping up and trying to attack Ben and seemingly kill him are all characters from his rejected manuscript. But how can these characters from his written words be real? And does that mean that everything from his un-published book is real? Only time will tell. But for a plot you couldn’t ask for a more intriguing and gripping story.

But why does Dragon Zoo like these comics so much? What would we have to do with such a comic book and why would we be reading it and reviewing it if there weren’t dragons in it? Well, it turns out that there are dragons and that’s why it’s so cool!

If you don’t see how a dragon can fit into a story that resembles a cross between The Matrix and Halo, then I guess you’ll just have to buy the comics to find out. On the face of it, you’d think that these stories seem pretty crazy and a little incomprehensible. The main character’s all action, ass-kicking girlfriend that never was, the incredibly complex groups of different alien species (some friends, some foes) out to either aid or destroy Ben and the scenes set out in space on other distant worlds away from earth. It’s all a big old mix of intrigue, action and wtf? factors that make this comic book so cool and so readable. Luckily, our hero to be Ben asks a lot of questions, so we get to learn all about the different characters that appear as and when they show up.

When compared to Stan Lee’s two other recent offerings, Starborn is the standout as it doesn’t reveal all of its cards at once. The alien species and dragons and weird weaponry all arrive fully formed with little explanation. Providing the reader with instant action and a lot of questions! This allows the comics to delve deeper into the story elements that they have introduced and provide the reader with more and more info and insight into the different characters and worlds as the story progresses, not least Ben’s main journey.

Being a website called Dragon Zoo, we have to check out the dragons in the comics, and to be honest, they’re pretty darn cool! These dragons are represented as vehicles really and are seemingly an alternative to the usual spaceships often used in sci-fi. Throughout their appearances, they are referred to as “demon-class starcraft” with the ability to carry humans beyond earth and into the “void beyond”.

The military use these trained dragons as an aerial attack force, flying in space, breathing fire on enemies etc. The panels that feature dragons are all incredibly well drawn and the artwork really offers a great new set of imagery for dragon fans. Dragons normally do battle against knights and castles so it’s nice to see them in a different context, going head to head with laser guns and un-identifiable alien species and weaponry.

For dragon fans and sci-fi fans alike, this new comic series really has everything to offer for those seasoned and newcomers to comics. If you’re just getting into comics, or you know a ten year old who is yet to discover the joys that comics can bring, Starborn is really recommended.

Verdict: As you could have probably guessed from the title to this Dragon News story, we absolutely love Stan Lee’s Starborn, go out there and buy it from your local comic store or from the official website here. Check out all of the cool dragons (or demon-class starcraft!) and have a blast!

See all Starborn issues here

All Images in this news story are copyright of Boom! Studios and are not to be reproduced. All rights Reserved.

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