Ted Knight
70 years ago - Ted Knight is born.
52 years ago - 18-year-old Ted goes to college to study astronomy.
48 years ago - 22-year-old Ted begins graduate study in cosmic energy.
45 years ago - 25-year-old Ted focuses his research on the original Starman's Cosmic Rod.
40 years ago - 30-year-old Ted builds his own Cosmic Rod & becomes the second Starman.
39 years ago - 31-year-old Ted first confronts Richard Swift when he returns to Opal City.
38 years ago - 32-year-old Ted joins the All-Star Squadron to stop Vandal Savage from taking over all the world's communications.
36 years ago - 34-year-old Ted marries his long-time sweetheart Adele Drew. He tries to stop a system malfunction at Star Labs in which a robber, Kyle Nimbus, is subjected to a photon cascade and loses his matter cohesion.
34 years ago - 36-year-old Ted's son David Knight is born.
30 years ago - 40-year-old Ted's son Jack Knight is born.
29 years ago - 41-year-old Ted falls in love with another woman, Doris Lee, and begins an affair with her.
25 years ago - 45-year-old Ted has a nervous breakdown when his wife Adele Drew leaves him and Doris Lee is killed by Kyle Nimbus. Richard Swift recognizes this and chooses to end their conflict.
15 years ago - 55-year-old Ted retires from adventuring when he grows too weak.
9 years ago - 61-year-old Ted is diagnosed with cancer. the discovery leads to a break thru in David Knight's research, allowing him to become the new Starman.
6 years ago - 64-year-old Ted insists that his son Jack Knight become the new Starman after the death of David Knight.
3 years ago - 67-year-old Ted's grandson David is born, the son of Jack Knight & Sadie Nash. He sacrifices himself so that Jack can save his family when Kyle Nimbus tries to destroy Opal City, telling his son to live his life. He forgives Nimbus before he dies.
The name "Starman" is actually one of the most expansive legacies in DC comics. No fewer than TEN different characters have used the name, and several of them are actually really important to the overall history of the DC universe. Our goal was to focus on the most important versions of Starman, and to find a way to make each new iteration visually and creatively distinct while still making sure we honor the overall history of the name. To that end, we've created five different heroes that use the name, each from a different era. some of them are directly from the comics, others are amalgams of more than one version of Starman.
In this case we are transposing the original Starman, Ted Knight, into our redesigned All-Star Squadron team so that he can be the patriarch of the modern versions of Starman, most notably his sons David and Jack. We really wanted the World War II version of the character (who we redesigned with the Price Gavyn origins) to wear the original costume, which means our version of Ted needs a whole new costume all his own. Thankfully, the internet loves redesigning superhero costumes.
In this case we are transposing the original Starman, Ted Knight, into our redesigned All-Star Squadron team so that he can be the patriarch of the modern versions of Starman, most notably his sons David and Jack. We really wanted the World War II version of the character (who we redesigned with the Price Gavyn origins) to wear the original costume, which means our version of Ted needs a whole new costume all his own. Thankfully, the internet loves redesigning superhero costumes.
Ted Knight's Comic HistoryTed Knight appeared for the first time in 1941 in Adventure Comics, a creation of Gardner Fox. He was one of the major pantheon of DC superheroes at the time, alongside Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. While those three characters continued to be popular even after World War II, and others would be redesigned with new backstories like the Flash or Green Lantern, heroes like Starman (such as Hourman) remained forever associated with that era.
Still, these characters had a huge effect on the tone and style of the stories that followed. We've seen so many other versions of Starman over the years, and while some of them have no connection to Ted Knight at all, most of them are at least in some way related to this hugely important part of comic history. When James Robinson wrote his Starman series featuring Ted Knight's son Jack he handled the vast expansive legacy of this character with incredible care, depicting him as a very human figure with very human failings, but still a good person in his heart who always wanted the best for his family and for the world. We want do do our best to feature Robinson's version of Ted Knight, and to make sure that story rings true as part of the larger story of Starman. |
Our Ted Knight StoryFor our timeline to work, it was important to move Ted out of World War II and the Justice Society, and instead make him a member of the All-Star Squadron, a contemporary of other heroes whose children have modern legacies, like Johnny Quick or the original Black Cannary. He won't be wearing his original costume (because we really want the original version of Starman to wear it) but it works exceptionally well for the alien refugee version of the character anyway. There are quite a few costume redesigns to pick through online, although we're partial to the one on the top of the page which was done by Daniel Govar for the website Project: Rooftop.
Ted is now a scientist that made some breakthroughs with the original Starman's technology and invented his own Cosmic Rod, but that actually doesnt diminish his story at all. The most important role for Ted to play is that of Jack Knight's father. Jack is often defined by the expectations he feels from his father's heroic legacy. He harbors resentment toward his father for some of his failings, but ultimately loves him because he is a good man. This character is a real gift, and making him work within our story is an absolute pleasure. |