Origin: The origin of Starman was never related during the Golden Age. Presumably Starman was like many other millionaires in the comic books (among them Batman, Sandman, and Hawkman) who elected to fight crime. In Starman's case, his decision to battle the forces of evil as a mystery man may have been precipitated by his development of the gravity rod, a device which could draw upon the power of the stars. Obviously in the world of Golden Age National comic books there was a need for champions with such technological wonders. In Starman's first adventure he battled the mad scientist known as Dr. Doog, who planned to use a device to steal electricity from several large cities. Starman's greatest opponent, however, would be a supervillain known as The Mist. The Mist was a scientist who invented an invisio-solution, which could make anything coated with it invisible. When the U. S. government rejected The Mist's offer to sell it to them, he turned to crime--using the solution on himself! With villains such as The Mist and Dr. Doog around, someone had to invent a gravity rod and stop their evil schemes. That man was Ted Knight.
Powers: With the gravity rod, Starman was one of the more powerful superheroes during the Golden Age of DC Comics. Using the rod Starman could fly, fire energy blasts, generate energy fields, and perform several other miraculous feats. Starman kept a holster on his belt in which to place the gravity rod when not in use.
History:  In creating Starman, Jack Burnley must have drawn inspiration from the science fiction stories and comic strips of the day. Obviously, even today the idea of a hero who develops a rod which can draw upon cosmic energy is science fiction; however, the influence of science fiction can even be seen in Starman's costume. Perhaps more than any other superhero costume of the day, Starman's garb looks like something from a Flash Gordon comic strip or a  Captain Future pulp story.
Starman debuted in Adventure Comics #61, April 1941. He soon became one of National's more popular characters. No doubt part of this was due to the fact that he was one of the first superheroes to battle supervillains on a somewhat regular basis (in the early Golden Age many superheroes were still fighting gangsters and Nazis). Besides The Mist and Dr. Doog, Starman would battle other supervillains, often with such colourful names as The Light, Cuthbert Cain, Prince Ahmed, and The Sun and His Satellites. Starman proved so popular that when Hourman took a leave of absence from the Justice Society of America, Starman filled his place as a member.
Starman continued to be a popular character for much of the Golden Age. In fact, when he left the Justice Society of America it was not due to fading popularity, but corporate politics. In the mid-Forties a disagreement developed between Jack Liebowitz (co-owner of National Periodical Publications with Harry Donenfiled and All-American Comics with Max C. Gaines) and Max C. Gaines (co-owner of All-American Comics).  The disagreement would even affect the line-up of the JSA. In All-Star Comics #24, spring 1945, the Justice's Society's two members from National were replaced by two guest stars, Wildcat and Mr. Terrific. The next issue Starman and The Spectre were permanently replaced by two All-American characters--The Flash and Green Lantern.
It was perhaps just as well that Starman lost his membership in the Justice Society of America, as his own comic strip would not last much longer. In 1946 National Periodical Publications decided to move several characters from More Fun Comics (Superboy, Johnny Quick, Aquaman, and Green Arrow) to Adventure Comics. Naturally this meant that they would have to drop characters already featured in Adventure Comics to make room for the new arrivals. For that reason the Starman series, as well as the Sandman series, ended with Adventure Comics #102, March 1946.
Starman would return in the Silver Age in the second team up between the JSA and the JLA (Justice League of America issues 29, August 1964 and 30, September 1964). He was teamed up with The Black Canary in two issues of The Brave and the Bold (issues 61, September-October 1965, and 62, November-December 1965). Throughout the next few decades several attempts were made to revive the Starman name (the characters were never linked to Ted Knight in any way) and the original Starman continued to appear in JLA-JSA team ups and other comic books (such as All-Star Squadron). Finally, in 1994 the original Starman would provide the inspiration for James Robinson's Starman series, in which a retired Ted Knight passes the baton (or rod, as the case may be) onto his son, Jack, who carries on the Starman tradition.

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