The Past Comes Back to Haunt You in More Ways Than One
This is a review for Northstar #1-4. Northstar is a character I have been getting into recently and so I was really excited to see that he had a mini series. Going into this comic I had a certain amount of hype and anticipation and overall it didnt disappoint too much. The story is basically that Weapon Prime has been tasked with removing Northstar because they dislike him representing the country as a crime fighter. I presume because he is a mutant and gay though its left kind of vague as to why they are persecuting him. He is later framed for a death he didnt commit which causes them to intensify their hunt against him. Amongst this he learns that an old friend of his has been kidnapped. Soon he learns that Arcade was the one responsible for this. Northstar must confront his emotional demons from his past and threats from all sides. One thing I really liked about this series was it trying to flesh out more about his past and also establish him more as a character. He seemed to be written mostly well and from the books Ive read with him he didnt really seem to be out of character. I also like how it shows that he can work well as a solo character and in my opinion deserving of more chances to be showcased. It was a mostly enjoyable story with Northstar attempting to evade and overcome persecution. Arcade also made for a pretty cool villain and liked seeing him challenge Northstar. This was the first comic I have read with him and thought he was pretty cool. Probably my biggest issue with this series is that it feels pretty dated and seems to fall prey to a lot of the bad tropes of the era. The art in it is pretty terrible and made it a little harder to enjoy the book. The plot seemed to be kind of convoluted at times and too action oriented at times. Also some of the character interactions felt kind of over the top in the way many 90s comics were. I think had you removed a lot of these 90s-isms the series could have been a good story about Northstar confronting his past and overcoming persecution that showcases how he can work well as a solo character. Overall, I enjoyed this book and want to see more of Northstar.