Starstruck: Old Proldiers Never Die

[asri]

Old Proldiers Never Die [OPND] is the follow-up volume to the collected edition of previous Starstruck material which was published by IDW in 2011 (from now on referred to as „Starstruck“ or the first volume). OPND was crowdfunded via Kickstarter in 2013, but it took a while to actually finish and publish the six issues, which only happened in 2017. It was worth the wait.

This review is about the Kickstarter edition hardcover here. I'm not aware of any differences between the Kickstarter hardcover and the non-KS "regular" IDW hardcover, except the cover art. Both have 176 pages. Size and even ISBN seem to be the same.

KS cover:
 

Regular cover:

Compared to the previous collection, the story of OPND is comparatively coherent: It all happens around Rec 97, a huge recreation station already seen in Starstruck, over the course of a few days. It picks up right where we were left at the end of Starstruck. This means there‘s no skipping time like in the first volume (but a few flashbacks), and all locations are close to each other, although the various decks of Rec 97 are quite different from one another. Despite these differences to Starstruck, OPND smoothly continues the narrative. The artwork is as excellent (inks by Michael Wm. Kaluta, color by Lee Moyer) and the writing (by Elaine Lee) is as much on point as Starstruck fans will expect.

Readers learn more about Rec 97 and the lives of main characters from the first volume. OPND explores themes of transhumanism and identity, all while telling a detective story on a space station filled with action and intrigue. And it looks amazing.

The collected hardcover edition includes the glossary (with new entries), a two-page addendum that summarizes the lead-up to OPND (useful if you haven‘t read the first Starstruck volume, or want to refresh your memory), a cover gallery, and a gallery of extra art.

Highly recommended!

Elaine Lee (Author) Michael Kaluta (Artist, Cover Artist) Lee Moyer (Artist) James Ratcliffe (Colorist): Starstruck: Old Proldiers Never Die. IDW Publishing 2017.
ISBN: 978-1-68405-018-5
IDW page about the comic

You can read the first volume and the first chapter of the second volume (Old Proldiers Never Die) online at http://starstruckcomics.com/