Starman the Libertarian is a comic book superhero published in South America during the 1980s. (It should not be confused with the various other characters also named Starman.) Created by the same people who made Kalimán, this series was similar except with the Science Fiction (and Fanservice) factors ramped up to 11.
The premise was that, in the back-then distant future of 2005, a nuclear war mutated most of the human race, turning them into hideous creatures called "tarhumans". On top of that, the Earth came under the rule of the tyrannical Moloch. However, a prophecy claimed that a savior would arrive exactly 30 years later to free the people. And he did: the superhero Starman, genetically engineered by the followers of Liberio (Moloch's old foe) to have great powers derived from solar energy. Aided by his sidekick, the robot Gatonico, and his love interest, Doctor Hana, Starman eventually achieved his goal of freeing the Earth. And then he continued having adventures across the galaxy.
The Starman series was not as well-known as Kaliman or other comics of the time, and after about 200 issues, was cancelled, and has since faded into obscurity, becoming a collector's item.
Starman el Libertario provides examples of the following tropes:
- Cool Starship: The StarNao, Starman's Star-shaped spaceship.
- Darker and Edgier: compared to other comics of the day.
- Elemental Powers: Starman's heat-based powers.
- Fanservice: To embarrassing levels. Poor Doctor Hana was always being stripped or threatened with torture or molestation. She wasn't the only one, though.
- Femme Fatale: The sorceress Lala.
- Meaningful Name: Starman, Moloch, Gatonico, Liberio, Demon.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Moloch, which is a demon's name.
- Also, Demon's.
- Primary-Color Champion: Most of Starman's outfit is blue, but his boots, gloves, belt, and the star on his chest are red.
- Nuclear Mutant: As if homaging old Science Fiction, the war created mutants instead of corpses.
- Robot Buddy: Gatonico, a robot cat (whose name is a combination of "gato" (cat) and "electronico".)
- Shout-Out: To popular science fiction of the day, mainly Star Wars (Moloch is obviously Darth Vader, Hana is Princess Leia, and Gatonico is R2D2.)
- Symbol Motif Clothing: Starman's costume.
- 20 Minutes into the Future: The setting.
- Warrior Poet: Like Kaliman, Starman would expound on human rights whenever given the chance.
- What Measure Is A Nonhuman?: Played with; the comic actually treated the tarhumans with respect, reminding the audience that they were people despite looking, for the most part, like Starfish Aliens. However nearly the entire main cast were normal humans (and pretty ones too.)
