Starlight #6 (Image)

via Comic Vine

writer: Mark Millar

artist: Goran Parlov

The conclusion of the story is pretty formulaic to a certain degree, so in some ways, I didn't have to worry so much about potentially missing it.

The human who became a hero on an alien world, Duke McQueen, does it again, saves the day.  Pretty straightforward.

The ending I'd been wanting doesn't happen, exactly, either.  The wish-fulfillment factor from that first issue of Jeph Loeb's Nova had to instead give way to Mark Millar's Starlight:

The alien kid who, unlike Duke's human children, never stopped believing in him, arranges for a spectacular demonstration that turns the whole story on its head.  Dropping Duke back home on Earth, he arranges for dramatic flybys in his spaceship that can't help but be noticed, and even contacting the grown men so they must.  Then he goes a step further and lands right on the lawn of the White House.

Boom.  Humans, acknowledge the existence of aliens!

But Millar doesn't end the story bothering with whatever Duke's kids or the president think about all this.  It ends with a hug between the only two characters who really matter.

It is a great ending.