Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #0

History

Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #0 was the first major comics work by writer Geoff Johns, then working as a production assistant for director Richard Donner; Johns leveraged his film-industry contacts to get his submissions read at DC, and the series was green-lit as part of a broader late-1990s editorial effort to revitalize DC's Golden Age characters alongside the Justice Society. James Robinson — whose Starman series had been running since 1994 and was deeply invested in the same Golden Age milieu — co-wrote the zero issue with Johns and contributed Jack Knight as a guest character, expressly to funnel Starman's established readership toward the new title. Artist Lee Moder handled the contemporary storyline pages while Chris Weston drew the flashback sequences, and Dan Davis provided inks throughout the series; the issue's story, titled 'A Chilly Day in Opal,' took place in Robinson's beloved Opal City and pit Courtney and Pat Dugan alongside Jack Knight against the second Icicle, weaving in a Ted Knight flashback involving the original Star-Spangled Kid, Sylvester Pemberton. The zero-issue format was itself a deliberate marketing choice of the era, used to establish character and world before a numbered first issue arrived.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Courtney Whitmore (Star-Spangled Kid / Stargirl), created by writer Geoff Johns and artist Lee Moder; cover date July 1999, on-sale date May 12, 1999.
• First appearance of Pat Dugan in his S.T.R.I.P.E. armored suit; the armor is noted in DC continuity as being based on the designs of the old Star-Rocket Racer built by Dugan (as Stripesy) in the 1940s.
• Co-written by Geoff Johns and James Robinson, with interior art split between Lee Moder (present-day sequences) and Chris Weston (flashback sequences), inked by Dan Davis and John Stokes.
• The issue served as a backdoor pilot, teaming Courtney and Pat with Jack Knight (Starman) in Opal City to attract Robinson's Starman readership to the new ongoing series.
• Courtney Whitmore was modeled by Johns after his younger sister, also named Courtney, who died in the explosion of TWA Flight 800 in July 1996; her name, personality, and spirit were a direct tribute.
• The story title is 'A Chilly Day in Opal'; the antagonist is the second Icicle (Cameron Mahkent), with a flashback involving the first Icicle (Joar Mahkent) and the original Star-Spangled Kid (Sylvester Pemberton).
• The issue has been reprinted multiple times: in the trade paperback JSA Presents: Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. Vol. 2, in Starman Omnibus Vol. 5, in the Starman Compendium Two, and in the 2020 DC collection Stargirl by Geoff Johns.
• The series ran for fifteen issues total (including #0), and Courtney subsequently became a core member of the JSA ongoing series also launched in 1999, eventually adopting the Stargirl name after receiving Jack Knight's Cosmic Staff.

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Variants (1)