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Starling
POWERLESS?
For Amy Sturgess, life in the big city comes with trouble. Her marketing career is being derailed by a conniving coworker stealing her accounts. Her family crises range from her down-and-out brother running afoul of the law to her mother's growing affections for the house cats. And Amy's love life just flatlined thanks to an unexpected reunion with the one that got away--who's now engaged.
When Xanax and therapy fail to relieve her stress, Amy does what any young woman in her position would She uses her superstrength, speed, flight, and ability to generate 750 volts from her hands to fight crime as the mysterious masked vigilante Starling. But while Starling is hailed as a superhero, will Amy remain a super-zero?
For Amy Sturgess, life in the big city comes with trouble. Her marketing career is being derailed by a conniving coworker stealing her accounts. Her family crises range from her down-and-out brother running afoul of the law to her mother's growing affections for the house cats. And Amy's love life just flatlined thanks to an unexpected reunion with the one that got away--who's now engaged.
When Xanax and therapy fail to relieve her stress, Amy does what any young woman in her position would She uses her superstrength, speed, flight, and ability to generate 750 volts from her hands to fight crime as the mysterious masked vigilante Starling. But while Starling is hailed as a superhero, will Amy remain a super-zero?
208 pages, Paperback
First published December 3, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
November 20, 2014
Being a superhero is logistically tricky! You have to leave at a moment's notice, whenever disaster strikes!
Amy finds herself needing to save the world all the time in the middle of important events. This has lead to her gaining a reputation as a flake, and her career is on the line!
Interesting concept, but ultimately a meh for me. Not particularly illuminating or memorable.
Office Space (the annoyance, not the hilarity) + Sex & the City (less shoes) + Superheroics
Which might sound awesome, but lower your expectations or you might be disappointed.
Amy finds herself needing to save the world all the time in the middle of important events. This has lead to her gaining a reputation as a flake, and her career is on the line!
Interesting concept, but ultimately a meh for me. Not particularly illuminating or memorable.
Office Space (the annoyance, not the hilarity) + Sex & the City (less shoes) + Superheroics
Which might sound awesome, but lower your expectations or you might be disappointed.
May 22, 2019
I feel very mean writing this, but this just felt amateurish. Everyone's a stereotype and the protagonist's lack of a backbone was really frustrating.
November 19, 2017
this was sooo good, a superhero on Xanax. Combines Supergirl w/Carrie Bradshaw.
February 17, 2014
I've always enjoyed graphic novels, but I've found that there are very few in the United States aimed at women past their teens - particularly not superhero comics. Thus, STARLING was a bit of fresh air. Sage Stossel is a cartoonist whose work has appeared in many publications, including The Atlantic. I wasn't into the art at first, since it looks like magazine-cartoon style. But it grew on me.
Amy Sturgess is Starling, a popular superheroine. (Although she might be more popular with one of the more revealing costumes she refused, in one of the graphic novel's funniest sequences.) She's also an employee at an ad agency, where she's on the rise despite her frequent absences due to "Irritable Bowel Syndrome." She has to pay the bills, but she's also determined to help as many people as possible even when it affects her sleep and personal life. (Also funny: Starling going out to fight crime in her comfy pizza-eating clothes because she can't be bothered to change.) Unfortunately, a slimy coworker is attempting to steal Amy's accounts, using her work.
There's also a romance to go with the drama of balancing work and unpaid work. Amy is hung up on a former boyfriend, which becomes complicated when she meets and likes his wife. She's also meet a new guy, one who might be able to understand her life as Starling. And to make things even more complicated, Amy's hapless younger brother is in trouble. It's pretty standard superhero stuff, but it's nice to see it happening to a normal, not rich, not super sexualized woman.
STARLING is a charming graphic novel. It's also the first book I've read from Penguin Random House's InkLit graphic novel imprint. I might have to check out more of their books if they're all of this quality. STARLING is a terrific choice for readers searching for a low-key superhero comic and for DC fans (and Marvel fans) fed up with how their favorite superheroines have been treated.
Amy Sturgess is Starling, a popular superheroine. (Although she might be more popular with one of the more revealing costumes she refused, in one of the graphic novel's funniest sequences.) She's also an employee at an ad agency, where she's on the rise despite her frequent absences due to "Irritable Bowel Syndrome." She has to pay the bills, but she's also determined to help as many people as possible even when it affects her sleep and personal life. (Also funny: Starling going out to fight crime in her comfy pizza-eating clothes because she can't be bothered to change.) Unfortunately, a slimy coworker is attempting to steal Amy's accounts, using her work.
There's also a romance to go with the drama of balancing work and unpaid work. Amy is hung up on a former boyfriend, which becomes complicated when she meets and likes his wife. She's also meet a new guy, one who might be able to understand her life as Starling. And to make things even more complicated, Amy's hapless younger brother is in trouble. It's pretty standard superhero stuff, but it's nice to see it happening to a normal, not rich, not super sexualized woman.
STARLING is a charming graphic novel. It's also the first book I've read from Penguin Random House's InkLit graphic novel imprint. I might have to check out more of their books if they're all of this quality. STARLING is a terrific choice for readers searching for a low-key superhero comic and for DC fans (and Marvel fans) fed up with how their favorite superheroines have been treated.
May 8, 2018
This is a tough book to review. It accomplishes what it sets out to, but I can't stand it mostly because the author doesn't get superheroes on a fundamental level.
Amy is an ordinary young woman who is also the superheroine Starling, and part of a secret group of superheroes who deal with crises as the come up. However, her own personal life is a mess; she's in therapy, her hero work is more like a very annoying temp job, she's estranged from her brother, and her primary job isn't the best. The story is more about how she deals with her life more from the idea of a young, rather stereotypical, urban woman who just happens to deal with minor heroing on the side.
For the slice of life aspects, it's decent. The author nails Amy as a single young urban professional, and all of her harried, rather frenetic life. It gets a little annoying, but not newspaper comic Cathy levels of annoying. The art style is more indie comic/newspaper strip fare than heroic, though lovely in full color and in a trade paperback.
Now the controversial part of the review.
Imagine picking up a Superman comic, and reading the entire thing to find out it spent more time on Clark Kent and his dealing with that bitch Rachel in Accounting, as he goes to therapy to resolve issues from smelling like chickenshit due to being raised on a farm. Oh, and Jimmy Olsen is his little brother who seems to be going down the wrong path, and there is this sexy woman called Lana lang who shows up on her motorbike now and then to add affirming, non-threatening support as on occasion, Superman captures bank robbers only to let them go because the poor men are on hard times, and here take some money because I'm guilty it could be me. That's Starling.
The actual aspects of heroing; the idea of fighting for truth, justice, and the American way or the joy in or strangeness of the superpowers the hero has is not only not present, it seems to not even pop up. There's not a single supervillain in the book, and barely any other superheroes, with most of Starling's doings really about mundane villains if at that. Heroing really could be substituted in this game for being a detective, or even a temp job of another kind, and nothing would suffer much. This isn't really a deconstruction, because it barely touches on heroing at all, save for a crack about who designs their costumes.
In one sense, it does get that heroing is a power fantasy, but the power fantasies are incredibly mundane. Beating up annoying guests at a wedding, and getting back at that smarmy coworker who steals your ideas. The idea of a superhero as larger than life isn't even present in this book; it's more about the mundane wishes and fantasies of some harried urban office worker than that. It even transgresses the idea of heroes as heroes by having Starling just constantly help "good" criminals and doesn't even really glance at justice.
You can even see this in the art. Comics in general have exaggerated musculature, large panels, and often breathtaking vistas on which the hero broods down over his city. Every single page in Starling has 6 or so panels, all of the same box size, kind of like a 4-Koma, and the art is soft, fuzzy, and intimate. Every single panel seems to have Starling or the person she is speaking to in it, or both. It's like anti-heroic art.
But there's nothing, well, transcendent about this book. It's just all mundane power fantasies. Of course the love interest is a slightly dangerous but always affirming motocycle-rider who looks good in a leather jacket, because that's as mundane a romantic interest as you can find in romantic fiction. It would be one thing if this had pitched itself as a deconstruction, but usually those have transcendent ideas too, just focused on criticizing the idea of the hero. This book doesn't even seem to care about that all that much, positive or negative.
So it's really frustrating to read. Starling could just be a bail bondsman instead of a superhero and the book wouldn't lose all that much. The author doesn't get heroes enough to make a good hero story; it's just a device to distinguish a rather mundane tale about a harried basic girl and her dull real life.
Amy is an ordinary young woman who is also the superheroine Starling, and part of a secret group of superheroes who deal with crises as the come up. However, her own personal life is a mess; she's in therapy, her hero work is more like a very annoying temp job, she's estranged from her brother, and her primary job isn't the best. The story is more about how she deals with her life more from the idea of a young, rather stereotypical, urban woman who just happens to deal with minor heroing on the side.
For the slice of life aspects, it's decent. The author nails Amy as a single young urban professional, and all of her harried, rather frenetic life. It gets a little annoying, but not newspaper comic Cathy levels of annoying. The art style is more indie comic/newspaper strip fare than heroic, though lovely in full color and in a trade paperback.
Now the controversial part of the review.
Imagine picking up a Superman comic, and reading the entire thing to find out it spent more time on Clark Kent and his dealing with that bitch Rachel in Accounting, as he goes to therapy to resolve issues from smelling like chickenshit due to being raised on a farm. Oh, and Jimmy Olsen is his little brother who seems to be going down the wrong path, and there is this sexy woman called Lana lang who shows up on her motorbike now and then to add affirming, non-threatening support as on occasion, Superman captures bank robbers only to let them go because the poor men are on hard times, and here take some money because I'm guilty it could be me. That's Starling.
The actual aspects of heroing; the idea of fighting for truth, justice, and the American way or the joy in or strangeness of the superpowers the hero has is not only not present, it seems to not even pop up. There's not a single supervillain in the book, and barely any other superheroes, with most of Starling's doings really about mundane villains if at that. Heroing really could be substituted in this game for being a detective, or even a temp job of another kind, and nothing would suffer much. This isn't really a deconstruction, because it barely touches on heroing at all, save for a crack about who designs their costumes.
In one sense, it does get that heroing is a power fantasy, but the power fantasies are incredibly mundane. Beating up annoying guests at a wedding, and getting back at that smarmy coworker who steals your ideas. The idea of a superhero as larger than life isn't even present in this book; it's more about the mundane wishes and fantasies of some harried urban office worker than that. It even transgresses the idea of heroes as heroes by having Starling just constantly help "good" criminals and doesn't even really glance at justice.
You can even see this in the art. Comics in general have exaggerated musculature, large panels, and often breathtaking vistas on which the hero broods down over his city. Every single page in Starling has 6 or so panels, all of the same box size, kind of like a 4-Koma, and the art is soft, fuzzy, and intimate. Every single panel seems to have Starling or the person she is speaking to in it, or both. It's like anti-heroic art.
But there's nothing, well, transcendent about this book. It's just all mundane power fantasies. Of course the love interest is a slightly dangerous but always affirming motocycle-rider who looks good in a leather jacket, because that's as mundane a romantic interest as you can find in romantic fiction. It would be one thing if this had pitched itself as a deconstruction, but usually those have transcendent ideas too, just focused on criticizing the idea of the hero. This book doesn't even seem to care about that all that much, positive or negative.
So it's really frustrating to read. Starling could just be a bail bondsman instead of a superhero and the book wouldn't lose all that much. The author doesn't get heroes enough to make a good hero story; it's just a device to distinguish a rather mundane tale about a harried basic girl and her dull real life.
September 20, 2019
In this graphic novel, Amy Sturgess is a modern day superhero, who receives text messages on her phone from the Vigilante Justice Organization, a non-profit funded by the United States government, when they need her to volunteer to go out to help at a crime scene. Sturgess' super powers resulted from exposure to toxic substance when her mother worked at a chemical plant while pregnant with her. Sturgess' superhero name is Starling. She is a very reluctant superhero. She holds an office job and just wants to have a normal life and a boyfriend, but she has to fly off at all hours of the night and day - often leaving her job using the excuse that she has Irritable Bowel Syndrome since she does have to run into the bathroom anyway to change into her costume. Sometimes she procrastinates, fixing up her hair and makeup or doing other tasks before heading out. She flies, is strong, and has electric currents coming out of her hands. Her life gets complicated at work when her boss, who finds her unreliable because of her sudden disappearances, gives her one more chance at a project with threats to fire her if she doesn't complete her job. And one person to help her succeed is the girlfriend of a guy she has a crush on, while she also needs to dodge a coworker whose aim is to make himself look good at Sturgess’ expense. There is a lot going on in this story and it is just a lot of fun to read.
January 21, 2019
Starling is a superhero (in a world with other superheroes, although they hardly feature in the book at all), but all her most important conflicts happen to her secret identity. Work, romance, family life, all seem to be getting worse and taking their toll -- and the late night superhero calls aren't helping. Stossel doesn't push the concept hard enough, and we end up with happy endings for all with very few, if any, surprises. It would have been nice to have some chapter breaks, too. Recommended, perhaps, for young adults but not much meat here for a more mature audience.
March 9, 2019
A cute cartoon about an unwilling superhero who fakes irritable bowel syndrome when she gets batcalls at work. The drawing is not all that great, but it’s easily recognizable as the author’s.
February 13, 2017
This was a really fun graphic novel. Borrowed it from a friend and I definitely see why they like it so much. Amy is a superhero. Her regular life isn't so super and having to run off in the middle of important meetings and events cause all kinds of problems for her. Usually problems. Especially at work where she has to deal with the coworker from hell. I hated that guy. I love3d see9ing Starling stand up for herself as a hero and as a business woman in this graphic novel. She did not mess around and still almost gets derailed in a workplace. It really makes you think.
Loved the romance Arc in the story. Don't love Amy being hung up on a guy from her past or even contemplating going after a guy who has a girlfriend. I do like that there was a love what comes out of that plotline by the end. Women supporting women instead of competing is always great.
Starlings parents might actually be the worst. How can they be so oblivious? Starling shouldn't have to do all she does for her brother. If the parents were more attentive he would not have ended up where he is at the point of this comic.
Matt would be an awesome sidekick. He should really get a mask, though. Otherwise, everyone is going to know who Starling is in no time. Honestly really liked his character. That surprised me.
Great Graphic novel.
Loved the romance Arc in the story. Don't love Amy being hung up on a guy from her past or even contemplating going after a guy who has a girlfriend. I do like that there was a love what comes out of that plotline by the end. Women supporting women instead of competing is always great.
Starlings parents might actually be the worst. How can they be so oblivious? Starling shouldn't have to do all she does for her brother. If the parents were more attentive he would not have ended up where he is at the point of this comic.
Matt would be an awesome sidekick. He should really get a mask, though. Otherwise, everyone is going to know who Starling is in no time. Honestly really liked his character. That surprised me.
Great Graphic novel.
March 2, 2014
Imagine Ally McBeal or Bridget Jones with superpowers, and you have a sense for where this fits in the pop culture firmament. Given the author's roots in cartooning, the comic strip style and rhythms aren't a surprise, but it also lends the story an all-ages gentleness and good humor that's missing from most "realistic" superhero tales. It's the rare superhero tale that gives equal weight to the civilian and super alter egos, and weaves its many subplots between the two identities together quite well. It's also the rare female driven superhero tale that isn't an excuse for oversexualized costumes or generic superhero antics in which the hero's sex is irrelevant. Underneath the breeziness of a superhero chick lit surface, there's ample material for rich discussion of gender roles, politics and pop cultural depictions thereof.
March 5, 2014
I wanted to like this graphic novel about an everyday woman who moonlights as a superhero, and finds the superhero part of her life the more annoying, more than I ended up doing. Lots of feminist humor in both Stossel's art and in her story (love the sequence where our heroine rejects several overly revealing potential superhero costumes before settling on her own signature style), but Amy's own ability to assert herself on the job in the face of a bullying male colleague comes rather late in the game (and gets undercut by the arrival of potential boyfriend/famous wrestler, whose presence woos her potential clients as much as Amy does). The romance storyline also proved pretty bland, relying too heavily on overheard conversations rather than honest discussions for its HEA. Still, a pleasure to read a graphic novel featuring a female protagonist older than a teenager...
August 17, 2019
Second time reading this. I still love it! I was re-reading it before donating it, but I think it's one to keep.
Having read the other reviews, I think it's unfair to call it a superhero comic and then claim it's rubbish.
It's about a woman dealing with her life and a creepy guy at her office who wants her job, with the added complication of having powers and a responsibility to use them for good. I like that she has "IBS" as a cover story and that sometimes she really can't be bothered so goes crime fighting in sweatpants. Who hasn't got up for work one day and thought "urgh, I can't be arsed to deal with all the faff of professional clothes. I just want to be comfortable"?
To me, it's more a story of juggling all the parts of your life than a 'superhero' story.
Having read the other reviews, I think it's unfair to call it a superhero comic and then claim it's rubbish.
It's about a woman dealing with her life and a creepy guy at her office who wants her job, with the added complication of having powers and a responsibility to use them for good. I like that she has "IBS" as a cover story and that sometimes she really can't be bothered so goes crime fighting in sweatpants. Who hasn't got up for work one day and thought "urgh, I can't be arsed to deal with all the faff of professional clothes. I just want to be comfortable"?
To me, it's more a story of juggling all the parts of your life than a 'superhero' story.
May 7, 2016
Amy Sturgess became a superhero crimefighter while in her teens. She's kept doing it while going through college and landing her dream job. Her secret life as Starling often sabotages her work life, though, and let's not even talk about relationships. Now things are getting even more complicated. The job is finally getting away from her. Her brother's trouble with the law may collide with her crimefighting. And the boyfriend that got away is back, but possibly not in a good way.
This is the sweetest little book about trying to make life work, which all of us have trouble with even though we can't generate electricity with our hands.
This is the sweetest little book about trying to make life work, which all of us have trouble with even though we can't generate electricity with our hands.
April 15, 2015
Totally enjoyable. I think some critics were way-the-f overthinking things. I love the reality of the office politics, the idiocy of the superhero organization (no pay and a 12 year old boy designs women's outfits to show maximum boob), the reality of juggling real life with superhero life and how the world tries to shame you that one time you wear sweatpants and no makeup outside (a uniquely feminine shame- male superheroes don't put on mascara before they save the day).
And ok yeah there's stuff about being single in the city, being a loving sister, and meeting the guy of your dreams. Can't beat that.
And ok yeah there's stuff about being single in the city, being a loving sister, and meeting the guy of your dreams. Can't beat that.
November 14, 2016
I really enjoyed this unique and entertaining graphic novel. A young woman, Amy, when she reaches puberty suddenly finds herself with the ability to fly, run at superspeed, has superstrength,and can produce 750 volt bolts of electricity from her hands. What could be bad? How about a jerk at work undermining all her efforts. Parents who just aren't normal. An ex-boyfriend showing up engaged to somebody else. A brother in trouble with with a drug lord. And yet, it seems like everything MIGHT come together. Sage Stossel has done a fantastic with this graphic novel aimed at adults.I enjoyed reading it, and hope the saga of Starling (Amy's hero name) will continue.
April 26, 2014
I really enjoyed this graphic novel about a woman in marketing who uses her super powers to fight crime. She bemoans how fighting crime interrupts her work, often causing trouble with her boss (her coworkers think she runs off suddenly because she has IBS). I don't usually like superhero stories but I really liked this one because the focus is on the main character's troubles, thoughts and life, not on fighting crime.
December 14, 2014
This graphic novel explores some aspects of life as a superhero that comics tend to gloss over. It does not dig deep and it is comedic in tone, but it explores how there is only so much time in a day and that anyone juggling normal life and super heroics will have trouble not seeming incompetent or flaky. It also touches on the moral grey area of certain crimes. It's amusing.
July 30, 2015
An enjoyable super-hero comedy. Protagonist Amy has typical chick-lit work/family/romance challenges, plus being a super-hero forces her into action at the worst possible moments. Can she pull things together? Can she get her kid brother out of trouble? I've seen other writers try this with nowhere near as much success.
August 14, 2015
As a graphic novel about a harried, well-intentioned female superhero, it's fairly conventional stuff, but it has heart, and enough realistic detail and originality to be thoroughly enjoyable. It combines a cartoonish look with real, complicated problems like how to pull your own life together without stepping on the lives of others. Looking forward to more from the same author.
July 10, 2016
Read as part of the St Mary's County Library Summer Reading Challenge: Graphic Novel.
A graphic novel geared towards females, not of the violent or Anime type. Starling is a single young woman who tries to balance her career and love life with fighting crime. A cute quick read.
A graphic novel geared towards females, not of the violent or Anime type. Starling is a single young woman who tries to balance her career and love life with fighting crime. A cute quick read.
February 2, 2017
The premise is interesting but I found it totally meh.
December 2, 2013
That was fun! Review forthcoming.
August 2, 2014
Cute love story. Interesting how Starling is heroic in non traditional ways sometimes. Fun story.
January 27, 2014
First graphic novel I've ever read. It went really fast. Enjoyed the breezy but interesting concept. Super powers would be great.
February 26, 2014
Very nice story. Is it terribly retro of me to say I loved that there was no cursing in this book? Well there, I said it.
June 7, 2014
Chick lit superhero story! Got exactly what I expected.
May 25, 2015
Quick story about an everyday woman with superpowers. There's nothing bad about this one, but unfortunately not much good either.
September 4, 2014
Witty, funny and entertaining (I actually laughed out loud a few times!), with a cute but not overly sappy ending. Overall a solid, pro-female-power read. Enjoyed it very much!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews