Issue 5 of Darkstars was written by Michael Jan Friedman, pencilled by Travis Charest, inked by Scott Hanna and colored by Julianna Ferriter.  The lettered was Bob Pinaha and edited by Ruben Diaz and Brian Augustyn.  This issue was cover dated February 1993 and was on the stands January 5, 1993 (Mike’s Amazing World of DC Comics).

   “Slaves and Other Prisoners” opens with Colos and Mo handing over Evil Star to the authorities.  Mo is in awe that he is in space and as the two return to earth, Colos muses about Mo’s obvious awe and thinks that he is working out better than he expected.  Flint on the other hand who is not with them is another story entirely.  Colos now decides that he needs a base of operation on Earth so he does not have to hop back and forth to his ship.

   Meanwhile, Flint returns to the Dallas Police Department.  The chief asks Flint where he has been for the last twenty four hours.  Flint insists that he has not been drinking, but he is unable to give a better excuse for his whereabouts.  The chief thinks that Flint had been out drinking and used mouthwash to hide his breath. 

   The chief puts Flint on a kidnapping case connected with Pappas, the Loco kingpin.  A foxy black woman was seen with Pappas in a warehouse and she did not look happy about it.  The police was  able to get a warrant to raid the warehouse and Flint is to lead the bust.  While the chief is talking to him, Flint decides to go ahead in his Darkstar gear to prevent any officers from getting killed if they run into aliens like the last time.  Flint however answers his chief by saying that he is not sure he can lead a team basically admitting that he had been on a drinking binge.  Flint now leaves the office saying that he will get his life together.

   At the warehouse, Pappas is with Carla and some thugs.  Pappas is going to give Carla to the aliens as a slave for spilling champagne on him in the previous issue.  Carla continues to fight.  Carla however thinks that Pappas is selling her to a Middle Eastern sheikh.  An alien comes up and tells her that she is really going off world.  The aliens take her to cargo bay delta.  Carla thinks to herself, wandering if it would have been better to ignore the truth and be a good lawyer.  She decides that she did make the right decision and self pity will get her nowhere.  She decides to fight and find a way to escape.

   Flint returns to Colos’s ship to gear up.  He is unable to get in contact with Colos so he programs his suit to broadcast his message every hour regardless of his condition.  He is going after Pappas alone to prevent his fellow Dallas police officers from stumbling into a group of highly armed aliens.

   Later Colos and Mo discover Flint’s message.  Colos tries to raise Flint to no response.  Colos and Mo take off tracking Flint’s path to try to bring him back in one piece.  Colos grumbles about Flint’s decision but Mo says that he chose to do this to save the lives of others and he thinks that is courageous.

   In the warehouse, Flint discovers the alien’s ship wondering what is going on.  Out of the corner of his eyes he sees someone approaching and opens fire with his masers.  Hawkman and Hawkgirl are the two that Flint attacks and they scatter.  The two return fire on Flint and the battle gets the attention of the aliens who open fire on the Hawks as well.  Flint sees this and questions why the aliens are fighting among themselves and wonders if he blew it by attacking the Hawks without getting the information first.  The Hawks move in to fight the aliens.  Flint also attacks the aliens still questioning which side the Hawks are on.  The launch sequence of the ship is initiated and the ship takes off.

   This issue transitions from the Evil Star subplot back to the Pappas main plot.  One of my favorite moments in comics is not just the action and adventure but the character beats.  This issue is full of them.  We mainly get insight into Flint here.  We find that he was so embedded in his job that he sometimes decides to go above the law to bring the criminals in.  His constant failures even drives him to drink and now that he has the weapons and the power to make a difference, he cannot wait for Colos.  Mo even defends Flint’s actions to Colos.

   The other element I like is the appearance of Hawkman and Hawkgirl.  I am personally a fan of these characters and it was fun to see them show up here.  I would like to see a team up with the Hawks and the Darkstars in the next issue, which I have not read as of this writing.

   For the character beats I give this issue a 4 out of 5 power rings.  It was a little slow but the cliffhanger makes me want to grab the next issue.  See you next time

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