Superstar writer Mark Millar is not just a shock merchant with books like Kick Ass, he can turn his hand to almost any genre from superheroes to spies, and he’s about to prove that point with his new series Starlight arriving from Image Comics in March. Mark Millar’s Starlight with art from Goran Parlov  is a swashbuckling pulp-style space adventure that couldn’t be further from the gritty world of Kick Ass or Wanted, but we’re sure will contain all of Millar’s trademark originality!

So much for retirement! This March, meet Duke McQueen, a man who has long since settled down and left his days of saving the Universe and operating as the space hero everyone depended on—at least that’s what he thought. His wife long passed and his kids off embarking on their own adventures, Duke lives a quiet, solitary life until he receives an unexpected call from a distant world, calling him to action one last time.

This March begins an all new ongoing series with Starlight #1, Mark Millar (Jupiter’s Legacy, Kick-Ass, Wanted) and Goran Parlov’s (Fury MAX: My War Gone By, Punisher MAX) much-anticipated first salvo in an intergalactic adventure that will have fans leaning in as they read.

STARLIGHT kicks off the inter-linked Millarworld Universe titles that will launch out of Kick-Ass 3’s conclusion. “Plain and simple, this is the book that starts it all and you’re getting on the ground floor here for a three years plan I have featuring nine or ten titles with the biggest artists in the comic-book industry,” said Millar. “Goran has been my favourite artist for the last couple of years and getting to work with him on a project that’s so pivotal to my plans, the beginning of what I hope is something enormous, is really exciting to me.”

For Starlight #1, Millar was inspired by the old science-fiction serials from the ’40s and ’50s, and he has long wondered what would happen next in them. “One day they’d come back to Earth and settle down and have kids and that’s exactly what Starlight is… the story of a space-hero who returned and nothing exciting ever happened to him again until he reached retirement age and he had this call back to the stars. I’ve always been a fan of old gunslinger stories… the idea of this man who had been famous for his excellence getting one last chance to show what he can do. Applying that myth to a space-hero, to an iconic sci-fi character, seemed really interesting to me and the character is so warm and likeable as well as gruff and, I suppose, bad-ass that he really just wrote himself. Goran and I are very proud of this book.”

Starlight will be available on ComiXology and the Image Comics app and store in March.