Line #36 ComicBook/Starlight


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4	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/starlight_06.jpg]]
5	Meet Duke [=McQueen=], former Air Force pilot, father to two sons, widower, and former intergalactic hero of the planet Tantalus.
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7	It's been forty years since Captain [=McQueen=] was whisked away to another planet via wormhole, and he's living a pretty crestfallen life afterwards, especially after the death of his wife thanks to breast cancer. Nobody believed Duke when he claimed he visited an alien world and was hailed its hero, but he didn't mind the scrutiny when he had a pretty decent life to live. With the death of his wife, [=McQueen=]'s nostalgia for the glory days have caught up to him. Fortunately, destiny came to him one rainy night.
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9	A twelve-year-old (in Earth time) Tantalus resident named Krish Moor has literally come to his doorstep, seeking his help in dealing with a new threat to Tantalus's freedom named the Kingfisher. Despite his plea that he is an old man, [=McQueen=] nonetheless suits up in his iconic spacesuit and travels to Tantalus, aiming to help the Resistance take down the telekinetic tyrant.
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11	Written by Creator/MarkMillar and drawn by Goran Parlov, the miniseries is not only ''ComicStrip/FlashGordon'' mashed up with ''Franchise/TheIncredibles'' but yet another story from Millar where he defies the DarkerAndEdgier tone he had become associated with.
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13	A film adaptation is in the works at 20th Century Studios, with Joe Cornish (''Film/AttackTheBlock'', ''Film/TheKidWhoWouldBeKing'') set to direct.
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16	!!''Starlight'' provides examples of:
17	%% * AcePilot: Duke
18	%% * AlcubierreDrive: The warp drive is implied to work this way.
19	%%More of an example of InsignificantLittleBluePlanet* AlienNonInterferenceClause: Played for laughs. While there is no protocol dictating that Tantalus residents cannot come to Earth due to its primitive nature, nobody visits because it's ''boring''.
20	* ApatheticCitizens: The people of Tantalus mainly sit watching [=TV=] and tablets while a dictator rules them.
21	* BadassBoast:
22	-->'''[=McQueen=]''': How many goons am I looking at here?\
23	'''Mook''': Ten thousand soldiers in the Castle Without Doors. Another two thousand patrolling the skies.\
24	'''[=McQueen=]''': Shouldn't be a ''problem''.
25	* BigDamnHeroes:
26	** The resistance breaks [=McQueen=], Krish, and another prisoner named Wes out of prison just as Admiral Pindar was going to interrogate them.
27	** [=McQueen=] arrives at the Castle Without Doors to rescue the resistance with the help of all of Tantalus.
28	* BigEntrance: Duke's arrival on Tantalus involved getting into a fight with the local police and generally making a ruckus that told everyone on the planet that he has returned. However, he and Krish had barely fled ten feet before Duke is forced to stop to catch his breath due to his old age. Then he gets run over by a car and thrown in jail.
29	* CaptainErsatz: [=McQueen=] is clearly supposed to be an aged Franchise/FlashGordon following his original adventures and return to Earth.
30	* CasualInterstellarTravel: The warp drive that's fitted on every ship only seems to take a few seconds to travel between Earth and Tantalus.
31	* CombatPragmatist: Kicking your opponent in the groin in a sword fight. Ungentlemanly? Yes. Effective? Absolutely.
32	* DisneyVillainDeath:
33	** Possibly subverted in that while his death is similar to being crushed, [[spoiler:the Kingfisher was killed by a bunch of swords and knives falling on him]]. Still lacks any gore, though.
34	** [[spoiler:Wes]] falls to his death, but we don't see the impact.
35	* DragonRider: Duke is seen doing this in a flashback.
36	* DudeWheresMyRespect: Duke [=McQueen=] is a legendary warrior on the alien planet of Tantalus. On Earth, people believe he is lying about his adventures and shrug him off as a phony (it doesn't help that the main proof of his adventures, his spacesuit and medal, are made of polyester and aluminum respectively). That seems to change when Duke lands Krish's ship on the White House lawn. The series also ends with a shot of Duke's hometown's sign displaying "Home of Duke [=McQueen=]."
37	* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: After Duke saves Tantalus a second time, Krish makes sure that this time, he gets his reward - he reveals his ship to the American Government and Duke's sons, giving hard proof that his exploits where real all along. The final shot reveals Duke's hometown now bears the sign "Home of Duke [=McQueen=]."]]
38	* FalseFriend: [[spoiler:Wes pretends to be an enthusiast on Earth culture so he can gain Duke's trust]] and follow him to the Resistance. In reality, he's pretty annoyed by the things he was forced to study and even demands that the extermination of the Resistance be given a go when faced with [[spoiler:more American pop culture.]]
39	* FishbowlHelmet: Duke has to wear one because his head can't fit into the more realistic modern helmets.
40	* FishPeople: The Charybdis, dwellers of the Sea of Karkinos.
41	* ForgottenPhlebotinum: Duke tells Krish that he couldn't use his spacesuit or medal to convince people he'd been to another planet because they were made from materials that were also found on Earth but he doesn't mention the RayGun that's hanging on his office wall.
42	* GenericDoomsdayVillain: The Kingfisher has no characterization other than "he has telekinesis and is evil".
43	* GenreThrowback: To the pulp stories of the 30s, specifically ''ComicStrip/FlashGordon''.
44	* HereThereWereDragons: Tantalus used to have fairies, goblins and giants until the Kingfisher wiped them out.
45	* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
46	** Once the population of Tantalus rises up against the Kingfisher, Duke quips that maybe they should have built doors to the castle after all.
47	** The Kingfisher has Tantalus surrounded by an impenetrable orbital defense array that gets turned on his fleet [[spoiler:once he's dead and the array's targets changed.]]
48	* InexplicablySpeaksFluentAlien: [=McQueen=] has no problem communicating with the aliens on Tantalus. He is able to speak with them ever since he arrived on their planet and it's never explained.
49	* InsignificantLittleBluePlanet: People from Tantalus haven't visited Earth before because they find it boring.
50	* IronicEcho: Pindar murders Krish's parents, and when one of his mooks asks what's going to become of the kid, he throws some coins on the ground and says "Learn to beg." When Pindar is grievously wounded and asks what he's going to do now, Krish throws the line back in his face.
51	* JumpedAtTheCall: When Duke [=McQueen=] asks for your help in overthrowing the monarchy, you grab a weapon and help him overthrow the monarchy.
52	* LighterAndSofter: Another story by Millar in his attempt at "lightening up" the comic scene.
53	* MakeWayForTheNewVillains: Typhon, [=McQueen=]'s old nemesis, is all-but-forgotten in the Kingfisher's reign.
54	%% * MindOverMatter: The Kingfisher.
55	* TheMole: [[spoiler:Earth-enthusiast Wes.]]
56	* MonumentOfHumiliationAndDefeat: The Kingfisher redecorates the palace ceiling with the swords of the Royal Guards. [[spoiler:He ends up crushed under them after Duke collapses the ceiling.]]
57	* NoodleIncident: There are a bunch of giant, viking armored skeletons scattered throughout the Kingdom of the Wood Giants. The only explanation for this is that they were wiped out by the Kingfisher's forces during the invasion.
58	* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: [=McQueen=] manages to kill all of the seafaring [[FishPeople Charybdis]] on his own, off-panel.
59	%% * OldSuperhero
60	* OurWormholesAreDifferent: The one that brought Duke to Tantalus isn't due to open for another ten thousand years.
61	* PlanetaryRomance: Tantalus is like this in flashbacks. In the modern day most fantasy creatures have been wiped out and the people are ApatheticCitizens.
62	* PointyEars: A lot of the people on Tantalus have them.
63	%% * PreMortemOneLiner: See IronicEcho above.
64	* {{Reconstruction}}: Of the pulp adventure Flash Gordon type of stories. While the dangers are clearly real, [=McQueen=] has spent decades being accused of insanity by everyone except his wife when he spoke of his adventures, and the premise is how even after saving Tantalus the planet was taken over all over again with [=McQueen=]'s old allies being dead now, the comic plays the story completely straight. [=McQueen=] is a heroic RetiredBadass who, after some reluctance, agrees to return and save Tantalus because it's the right thing to do, the rebellion is made up of good people risking their lives for a noble cause, and [[spoiler:while difficult [=McQueen=] does save Tantalus again and restore democracy, and this time he's able to prove to Earth that he told the truth all along]].
65	* RetiredBadass: [=McQueen=] has been this since returning to Earth, and quickly proves that while a bit slower he's still as badass as he was in his youth.
66	* RetroRocket: Played straight in the flashbacks but Krish tells him that his own present day ship is a nostalgia model and most modern spaceships look different.
67	* ShoutOut: The Kingfisher's name is a reference to the Fisher King, a wounded monarch who watched over the Holy Grail in Arthurian legends.
68	* ShroudedInMyth: Duke [=McQueen=] has become a legendary hero on Tantalus. His mere presence gives its people enough confidence to rebel against the Kingfisher.
69	* SpiritualSuccessor: It's basically a sequel to ''Franchise/FlashGordon''.
70	* TraitorShot: [[spoiler:Wes]] is revealed to be a spy for the Kingfisher via a shot of him at a corner of a bar and looking smug as all hell as hetells his boss to send the armies.
71	* WingDingEyes: Duke after being hit by a car before he's arrested.
72	* JustForFun/XMeetsY: Being about a retired CaptainSpaceDefenderOfEarth character, Mark Millar described it as ''ComicStrip/FlashGordon'' meets ''Franchise/TheIncredibles''.
73	%%* YouKilledMyFather: Krish with Admiral Pindar.
74	* YoungerThanTheyLook: Sort of. Krish is relatively eighty-six years old due to Tantalus's orbit around its sun, but is twelve and a half on Earth.

Context ComicBook / Starlight