3 out of 5

The title is an amusing bit of hyperbole, but Alan Hebden’s and Redondo’s early Starlord strip – the first part of which is reprinted in a Megazine floppy – is a pretty solid slice of space soap opera.  Twins Arlen and Ardeni are weaponized against Earth by the evil Jugla empire, which can now remote operate the two to apply some devastating mind-zappy powers.  …When they can maintain contact, that is.  In an amusing bit of fist-shaking villainy, head Jugla baddie keeps yelling at his troops to do this or that with Arlen’s / Ardeni’s powers, mainly trying to get them on a ship to blow up Earth, but due to vague variations on ‘interference,’ they can’t keep the link open, allowing the twins the leeway to find some friends willing to help them gain control on their abilities and take the fight to the Jugla.

Hebden works in an interesting angle with Earth’s leaders half wanting to kill the twins themselves and half hoping to get their own remote-controllin’ thing happening, and, surprisingly, no punches are pulled when it comes to who lives and who dies: when Jugla’s are commanding Arlen and Ardeni, characters who’ve been introduced as principles are all fair play for slaughter.  But the explanation of how this all works is left wide open, as is the logic of: if Jugla has the ability to grant mind powers and control them from afar, why they’re reliant on two resistant kids to get the job done.

Redondo’s art is dense and emotive, but the black and white printing does not serve his blotchy blacks very well, and the more detailed designs – the Jugla – become rather hard to discern.  The general page flow is maintained, thanks to smart paneling and lettering, it just takes some extra studying time to ferret out some specifics.