You thought this was the end of Manhunter 2070?
For twenty years, you would've been correct, except for a cameo in the revived Showcase's 100th issue, during a multiverse and time-spanning tale featuring almost every character who headlined a strip in the comic* (and considered "out of continuity" even then by the authors and DC), Starker had disappeared from the Multiverse.
But in 1990, Howard Chaykin and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez did Twilight, a mini-series combining and "updating" an assortment of DC Comics' 21st Century-based characters including (from left-to-right) Star Hawkins & Ilda, Tommy Tomorrow, Karel Sorenson (and the rest of the not-pictured Star Rovers), and Manhunter 2070, who apparently survived the ambush, along with the Space Cabbie, Knights of the Galaxy, Space Ranger, and even the Space Museum!
It was also revealed that private eye Star Hawkins was actually Axel Starker, brother to Manhunter 2070, whose full name was Jon Starker, contradicting the only-child storyline from the Showcase series.
(Note: Star Hawkins was co-created by artist Mike Sekowsky [who, as a writer/artist/editor created Manhunter 2070] and writer John Broome, so the two characters were "brothers" sharing a "father", as it were.)
Chaykin had already radically re-envisioned several other characters, including
Blackhawk, and
The Shadow, and while his controversial
Shadow updating (continued by Andy Helfer,
Bill Sienkiewicz, and Kyle Baker) wasn't considered "official", the changes he introduced into
Blackhawk became part of post-
Crisis on Infinite Earths canon.
As to where
Twilight stands in terms of continuity...well, we're not sure.
The events in the story have never been referenced in any other
DC titles, nor has it ever been reprinted.
Which may be just as well, since Jon Starker dies during the tale.
But,
Manhunter 2070 still had one more life left...as you'll see Tuesday!
*One character didn't appear...James Bond, who appeared in an adaptation of Dr No in Showcase #43 (1962).
You can read the reason 007 popped up at DC HERE.
