I Can’t Believe DC Finally Brought Back Its Most Underrated 90s Hero

Warning: contains spoilers for Zero Hour: Crisis in Time 30th Anniversary Special!

I cannot believe DC brought back one of its most underrated cult heroes from the 1990s. The legacy of comics in the 1990s is a complicated one, full of excesses that nearly destroyed the industry. Yet at the same time, it saw some breakthrough characters and titles debut, and one of DC’s best cult heroes of all time has returned to the Zero Hour: Crisis in Time 30th Anniversary Special.

The Zero Hour: Crisis in Time 30th Anniversary Special was written by Dan Jurgens and drawn by a roster of artists. Kyle Rayner Green Lantern, has been pulled to a mysterious Earth where Superman stayed dead and Batman’s back never healed. This world is slowly being destroyed, and some of its biggest heroes have been summoned to save it. Among the assembled heroes are the Ray, Azrael, Connor Hawke Green Arrow, Guy Gardner (in his Warrior incarnation), and Jack Knight, who was once Starman.

The heroes band together to save their world.

Starman’s DC Comics Origins, Explained

Jack Knight Was Very Much a Reluctant Hero

The original Zero Hour: Crisis in Time saw massive changes sweep the DC Universe. Existing heroes saw their backstories tweaked and legacy heroes, including members of the legendary Justice Society of America, step down. During the five-issue miniseries, the villainous Extant accelerated the aging of the Society’s members. Some, such as Hourman, were killed, while Jay Garrick (Flash) and Ted Grant (Wildcat) retired. Also caught up in the wave of aging was Ted Knight, the first Starman. In Zero Hour #1, Ted gave his costume and equipment to his son David, while David’s brother Jack looked on, almost in disgust.

Yet fate had other ideas for the Starman legacy. David was killed on his first day on the job, as part of a coordinated revenge campaign against his father by one of his oldest adversaries: the Mist. The Mist’s family had sworn to kill every member of the Knight clan, including Jack. The Mist dispatched his son Kyle to kill Jack, but Jack was successful in escaping. Jack, now forced to fight, uses his father’s equipment, including the trademark Cosmic Rod, to protect his family. And then, DC struck gold.

Starman Was DC’s Best Title of the 1990s

Jack Knight Was Unlike Other DC Heroes At the Time

Starman, written by James Robinson and drawn in its early and formative issues by Tony Harris, was perhaps DC’s premiere cult title of the 1990s. It was unlike anything else DC was publishing at the time. Starman himself did not wear a garish outfit, instead opting for a low-key black leather jacket and goggles. Jack Knight was not a scientist or a police officer–he ran an antique store. Jack Knight was also a geek at a time before geek culture went mainstream, as issues were regularly peppered with obscure pop culture and literary references.

Starman did something else, something special and something that has not been duplicated since. Although Jack Knight may be the best known Starman, there have in fact been several others throughout the history of the DC Universe. Just a few years prior to Jack Knight’s first appearance, DC published stories of another Starman, named Will Payton. Before that, Steve Ditko created Prince Gavyn, who also went by the name Starman, and before him, there was Mikal Tomas, a blue-skinned alien whose appearance and gimmick were influenced by David Bowie.

Jack Knight’s Story Came to a Beautiful, Poignant End

Wildly enough, none of these Starmen had any connection to the other–all were seemingly independent characters, but under the direction of Robinson and Harris, all of that changed. Every character who had ever had the name Starman appeared in the series, receiving development they never got before. Robinson and Harris took these seemingly disparate characters and fashioned them into a solid and cohesive legacy. Robinson and Harris’ Starman also gave DC one of its best anti-heroes: the Shade, a Golden Age villain they repurposed into a morally ambiguous character who took a big interest in Jack Knight.

Jack Knight is currently MIA from the DC Universe, as all of his appearances must be approved by his creators. His story came to an end in 2001, as he retired from the superhero business and moved to San Francisco with his family to be a painter. For years, Robinson and Harris have teased a return for Jack Knight, stating there is “one more” story to be told. Whether it happens or not remains to be seen, but DC has revived Jack Knight, albeit temporarily, for the Zero Hour: Crisis in Time 30th Anniversary Special.

Jack Knight Needs To Return to the DC Universe

Jack Knight is Too Cool a Character to Go to Waste

Jack Knight left a huge impression on comic readers. There is at least one active fan group on Facebook, and Starman continues to find new readers, 30 years after it debuted. At a time when comics were gritty and “extreme,” Starman was a breath of fresh air, a dark and quirky respite from the big guns and big pouches. Jack Knight is DC’s best cult hero of the 1990s, and arguably any decade. I cannot believe DC brought him back. I also hope James Robinson and Tony Harris get to revive him as well.

Zero Hour: Crisis in Time 30th Anniversary Special is on sale now from DC Comics!