Herr Starr

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Herr Starr is a fictional character from the comic book Preacher. He is a former German special forces soldier and a member (later leader) of the secretive organisation known as The Grail.

He also starred in his own one-shot, "Preacher: One Man's War"

[edit] Character biography

The child who would become Herr Starr was always quiet and studious. Very shy he had hoped to avoid the unwanted attention of bullies by keeping to himself. Unfortunately a gang of children, led by one particularly brutal child, targeted him because of this. This bullying ultimately led to an attack where they gave "A star for Starr" and with a broken bottle carved 5 jagged lines into his right eye. As well as blinding him in that eye the stress from this event caused all his hair to fall out and his cries forever turned his voice into a harsh grating sound. After that Starr's life (until meeting Jesse Custer) would become dedicated to seeking order in the world.

One by one the children responsible for his attack died in a series of accidents and unfortunate tragedies. Their deaths were always at least one year apart, although two were brothers and together were burned to death in a house fire. The last, the gang leader, died on Starr's 10th birthday from drinking herbicide, the result of which caused his spine to contract until the back of his head touched his heels. Starr, though obviously responsible, was never implicated in these deaths.

Herr Starr began his career as an agent of the German Special Forces unit dedicated to anti-terrorism. He excelled in all fields of training, except unarmed combat. During this class the instructor, a bully well known for victimizing and humiliating his students, challenged Starr to a sparring match, in response Starr pulled out his handgun and shot the instructor in the knee-caps. When challenged as to how he would survive without training in unarmed combat Starr replied that he had "no intention of being unarmed."

In the late 1970's, Starr was recruited into the Grail, the most secret and powerful organization on Earth. The Grail's legend is that Christ did not die at all but was drugged in a death like state, eventually marrying and having children. The Grail protect the bloodline, planning to set off a partial Armageddon in 2000, with the descendant of Christ now the new Savior. As such, the Grail went about controlling the world, making all decisions for all leaders.

Starr proved his worth to the Grail when assigned to eliminate a former member now in a mental hospital: Starr blows up the entire hospital so the member is lost with the other inmates. When questioned as to the innocent deaths, he replies "How many children died at Sodom and Gomorrah?"

Starr rises quickly in the ranks of the Grail, eventually becoming Sacred Executioner, second only to the Grails leader Allfather D'Aronique. He becomes notable for his ruthlessness and the fact he doesn't care for relationships, simply sex. In 1990, he comes to the conclusion the Grail is doomed for he sees what almost no one else does. After 2000 years of in-breeding "to keep the bloodline pure", the would-be savior is a mentally retarded and physically gawky figure who frequently urinates and defecates in public. Starr knows the world will never accept this and decides to kill the child and find someone more acceptable. When he hears of Jesse Custer and his power of "the Word," Starr decides to get him for himself.

In "Proud Americans," Starr murders his way to the position of Allfather, (he pushes D'Aronique out of a helicopter) giving him control over the Grail. So much so, in fact, that he is able to commandeer a United States army tank division to attack Jesse and the Saint of Killers in Utah and then order a nuclear warhead dropped on the Saint.

Throughout the course of the series, Starr undergoes one humiliating injury after another:

• When an underling is ordered to find him a hooker, he accidentally hires a male prostitute who sexually assaults Starr. (It is never explained why Starr did not use his gun in self defense.)
• He has his left ear shot off by Tulip.
• Jesse cuts a massive gash across his bald scalp so Starr's head resembles a penis. He spends the rest of the series hiding it with a Panama hat.
• When a nuclear bomb knocks his helicopter out of the sky, Starr wakes up in the company of three inbred hillbillies who turn out to be cannibals who have already eaten his right leg. Starr tricks a mentally retarded cannibal into handing over his gun by wiping the man's overly sloppy rear end ("For what I am now forced to do, I will one day wreak vengeance on God Himself.") He manages to shoot and kill all three cannibals...only to have two of them land on top of him.
• Getting out from under them, Starr hops one-footed across the desert, falling all the way. He finally calls for rescue and when ask what he wants answers "A hot bath, a week's sleep, a prosthetic limb and Armageddon, in that order."
• When a member of the Grail Council gets close to proving Starr's treason, Starr kills him and his Russian bodyguard only to be attacked by the man's savage Rottweiler. He manages to shoot it but not before it has chewed off his genitalia.

All this takes its toll on Starr's mind and he decides the Grail and its dreams of control and order are not worth what he's sacrificed. He kills the Grail Council, assembling a private army and hunting down Jesse at the Alamo. He finally ends up charging Tulip, who shoots him several times, finally jamming the gun under his chin and blowing the entire top of his head off. (Amusingly, Starr has time to utter a final disgusted 'shit' before collapsing dead.)

Trivia: Starr was named "Comics' Best Villain" for 1998, by Wizard Magazine.