The cover of One-Star Squadron #1 offers readers a thesis statement for the story begun inside. Colorfully costumed heroes from DC Comics C-list (or below) reach ecstatically for falling dollar bills, most of thems ones and fives, while only Red Tornado looks up with arms crossed in skepticism. For all of the rhetoric found in superhero comics about doing good, there’s very little of that ethos reflected in the stories, industry, or culture that produces these superhero comics. Instead, superhero narratives are formed by whatever is perceived as profitable and the same goes for the treatment of creators and anyone else who contributes. Whether one describes it as being hypocritical or paradoxical, it’s troubling because “good” has nothing to do with these morality plays. That’s what two of the most critically-acclaimed humorists in the medium, artist Steve Lieber and writer Mark Russell, aim to address in One-Star Squadron #1, and the debut suggests they’ll succeed in delivering equal amounts of laughter and desperation in this black comedy.
