Let me just start by saying, the premise for this comic is great: a teenage girl, Courtney Whitmore, discovers that her stepdad used to be a superhero, and steals his equipment to become one herself. In an attempt to keep her from getting herself killed, Pat, the stepdad in question, becomes her sidekick, who happens to wear a giant robot outfit.
It's really the stuff classic comics are made of. There's plenty of superheroing and all that, but the dynamic of a teenage girl being forced to team up with her stepdad of all people is where this shines, and it's truly so smart and rich it makes me jealous.
I guess I just wish the two lead characters were a little less... annoying? For the vast majority of this book (which collects issues 0-14 of Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E., in which Courtney is not yet Stargirl, but hey, ya gotta move books I guess), Courtney is an utterly reprehensible teenage archetype: she never listens to anyone but herself, snarks at everyone within earshot except for her only friend, and utterly hates her parents and teachers. She is just an absolute brat for the first half+ of this, and it was at times hard to get past.
Similarly, Pat is at times a literal helicopter parent, even though he isn't Courtney's real dad. He never lays off of her for even a second, and comes across just as unreasonable as Courtney. It's just a lot of a team hating each other, rather than being kind of lightly and realistically annoyed by each other, as step-parents and step-kids can be.
Luckily, this starts to remedy itself deeper into the book. Courtney becomes more appreciative of Pat, and he gives her some more leeway. However, by the time that dynamic finally begins to emerge, the book is suddenly over. I know there's a lot more of Courtney to come in the JSA, but I was kind of bummed when this ended right when it was really finding its stride.
In any case, this is definitely an interesting read in terms of origins, both Stargirl's and Geoff Johns'. This was the first monthly comic he ever wrote, and it's cool to see the beginnings of what would become a storied comics career. There are clear flashes of brilliance in here, it's just tough that it didn't get the chance to continue shining the way it could have.