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Shooting Star


Shooting Star is the quintessential blonde-haired, blue-eyed, rough-and-tumble, bronco-bustin’ Texas rodeo gal. Combining the flawless aim of Hawkeye with the dauntless courage of Captain America, she is the heart and soul of the Western superhero team called the Rangers.


In her first appearance in Incredible Hulk #265, Shooting Star was presented as a brash but highly competent sharpshooter, whose pistols had been tricked out by her father to fire special paralyzing bullets. She and her partner Texas Twister leave the rodeo circuit to answer a distress call from Rick Jones. Together with other western-themed heroes, they faced down a mind-controlled Hulk and establish the Rangers. 

Besides her modified pistols, Shooting Star’s creators clearly intended her to have the power of flight. Artist Sal Buscema shows her flying in multiple panels, and writer Bill Mantlo expressly mentions her “stellar powers.” (It’s also right there in her name, which was originally a pun—she is a woman named Victoria Star who shoots, and also flies through the sky like a shooting star.)

When you're this good, who needs super powers anyway??
Unfortunately, two years later in the original Marvel Universe Handbook, Shooting Star’s flight powers were retconned away. (It is unclear who exactly made this decision, but it must have been approved by continuity guru Mark Gruenwald.) Her flight was now explained by special gyroscopes in her boots (like her guns, these came from her father), which allowed her to soar on the winds generated by Texas Twister. In other words, all her powers now came from men. 

The Rangers have broken up and re-formed at least twice over the years, with slightly different line-ups, but thanks to her unshakeable courage and natural leadership skills, Shooting Star has always remained front and center. Also, Star and Texas Twister have remained romantic partners over the years -- his great love for her once even saved her from a demonic possession! Marvel fans are long overdue for a Rangers miniseries, headlined by these two superheroic Texas lovebirds. 
Mini-sized Rangers, 1992
Rangers lineup after the superhero Civil War, 2007.

Finding the right base figurine to create Shooting Star gave me more trouble than I anticipated. The problem is that many of the Eaglemoss figurines are off scale—the DC figurines especially tend to drift larger and larger in scale. My first two choices for Shooting Star were the DC Harley Quinn and Batwoman figurines, but when I obtained them, I realized that both were too large for my tastes—Batwoman especially is nearly as tall as Thanos!


Some customizers are ok with discrepancies like these, but I am obsessive about scale, so I kept looking. Finally I settled on Marvel’s Elektra as a base figurine, but I exchanged her left arm for Harley Quinn’s, and I also replaced her head for the one from DC’s Saturn Girl (whose body I had already used for Lilith), because her bright smile and blue eyes fit Shooting Star perfectly.

With all these various parts glued together I set about sculpting the pistols in her hands, as well as her boots, gun-belts, holsters, and other costume details. The pistols were definitely the hardest part, and they may have turned out a little too big and heavy, but the overall effect is roughly what I hoped for. Shooting Star was finally ready to fly!
Shooting Star and Texas Twister - defenders of the American Southwest!
For the Eaglemoss-style cover, I used artwork from Scarlet Spider #9 (Nov. 2012) by Khoi Pham. The Shooting Star logotype is from the back cover of Marvel Comics Presents #45 (Mar. 1990).


* ESSENTIAL READING *

1. Incredible Hulk #265 (Nov. 1981). With her partner Texas Twister and three other western heroes, Star forms the Rangers after battling a brainwashed, rampaging Hulk.

2. Marvel Comics Presents #45 (Mar. 1990). In her only solo outing, Star outwits and outguns a gang of Texas kidnappers led by a chauvinist blowhard named Black Billy.

3. Avengers: The Initiative #19 (Jan. 2009). With other Initiative recruits, Star prevents Skrull invaders from triggering a massive doomsday weapon during the Secret Invasion.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Next up: Marvel's malevolent, mind-controlling mutant monkey -- Mandrill!


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