Seventeen-year-old Mandy Koriand'r is not her mother. In I Am Not Starfire, Mandy absolutely lives up to our expectations.From New York Times bestselling author Mariko Tamaki (Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass) and artist Yoshi Yoshitani (Zatanna and the House of Secrets) comes a story about Mandy, the daughter of super-famous superhero Starfire, and her desperate attempts to get out from under her shadow. Highlighting functional teen friendships has been a strength of DC’s YA offerings in the past few years, such as in the Beast Boy and Raven graphic novels, and I hope it stays a focus for the imprint. I’m sure it is partly because I yearn for more mom superhero narratives, but I finished I Am Not Starfire wanting a companion book that shows this same plot from Starfire’s point of view.
![starfire daughter starfire daughter](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/35/2a/9f/352a9f8de396e924afcf3465e181b5f6.png)
![starfire daughter starfire daughter](https://nerdreactor.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Kotobukiya-Zatanna-08.jpg)
To Mandy, she can seem larger than life, relentlessly positive and unavoidably alien, but she has her own issues she’s dealing with, depicted deftly by Tamaki and Yoshitani. Unlike many parents in YA, Starfire feels like a fully realized character. Seeing an adult’s functional support system is refreshing in a YA graphic novel. Less expectedly, perhaps, we also see glimpses of Starfire interacting with the other Titans in ways that convey how much they rely on each other. We see Mandy texting her BFF constantly, crushing on a beautiful classmate, and avoiding the snide snobs unfortunately present at every high school. With the range of physical depictions of characters, I appreciated that Starfire and Mandy both have friends and family. Any page from this book could be blown up and framed as pop art. The settings are nuanced enough to feel real without being distracting. The character designs are distinct and iconic, while still offering an excellent range of facial and physical expressions. Yoshi Yoshitani’s beautiful art is a joy, and certainly part of what makes the book succeed. That’s a character arc I’ve certainly seen in YA before, but new iterations are always welcome, and I Am Not Starfire feels fresh and fun. Mandy is a teenager who learns to value herself and realizes she is loved by her hard working immigrant mom. Mariko Tamaki is treating a more well-worn story here than she was in Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass, my reigning favorite DC title by Tamaki. The extreme lengths required to show Mandy that neither is true shape the plot of I Am Not Starfire, in a somewhat predictable but also entirely satisfying way. Mandy is therefore convinced that anyone who seems interested in her is only interested in her mom and that her mom is disappointed in her. Mandy also remembers from her childhood how much her mom seemed to be looking out for her powers to manifest. Starfire is constantly sought by fans who frankly discuss her looks and her fashion choices (bikinis) as well as her activities with the Titans. Mandy’s childhood was shaped by her mom’s fame as much as her mom’s personality. Mandy assumes they have nothing in common and that her mom could never understand her.
![starfire daughter starfire daughter](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/17/a6/cc/17a6cc2b547726bf8ad8ca5fb91dc808.jpg)
Mandy, on the other hand, is a chubby goth underachiever with no superpowers and not much social clout. She and her fellow Titans save the Earth, like, a lot. Starfire is a beautiful and kind hero, strong and compassionate, enormous and famous.
![starfire daughter starfire daughter](http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/40100000/Teenage-Daughter-robin-starfire-40169582-736-841.jpg)
Mandy has grown up in the shadow of her luminescent mom, Starfire. I Am Not Starfire Aditya Bidikar (letters), Mariko Tamaki (writing), Yoshi Yoshitani (art) Not the “daughter of a superhero” part, but everything else. In I Am Not Starfire, Mandy Anders, the teenage daughter of superhero single mom Starfire, is pretty damn relatable.