Star Reach
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Star Reach (also spelled Star*Reach) was an influential science fiction and fantasy comics anthology published by Mike Friedrich. It is unrelated to the early MS-DOS computer game of the same name.
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[edit] Overview
Significant as one of the first mainstream independent comic books, and the first with any significant distribution, Star*Reach bridged the gap between the countercultural underground comics and traditional Marvel/DC Comics fare, providing mature genre stories for an adult audience. Along with such other examples as Flo Steinberg's Big Apple Comix, published in 1975, and Harvey Pekar's naturalistic Everyman series American Splendor, first published in 1976, Star*Reach was an important forerunner to the late-1970s rise of the modern graphic novel, and of the 1980s' independent comics.
Eighteen issues were released between 1974 and 1979. Most of the content was intended for an adult audience. Contributors included such Marvel and DC writers and artists as Howard Chaykin, Jim Starlin, and Barry Windsor-Smith. It also included prose short stories by such respected authors as Roger Zelazny, who wrote the 13-page "The Doors Of His Face, The Lamps Of His Mouth", with illustrations by Gray Morrow, in issue #12 (March 1978).
Friedrich's company grew into a small publishing house, also called Star*Reach, that published the comic book series Quack; Imagine; and Lee Marrs' Pudge, Girl Blimp, along with a number of one-shot comics. The company ceased publishing in 1979.
Eclipse Comics repackaged some of the original Star*Reach material as Star*Reach Classics in 1984.
[edit] Contributors
Johnny Achziger • Neal Adams • Jeff Bonivert • Frank Brunner • Howard Chaykin • Mark Cohen • Gene Day • Steve Englehart • Fabio Gasbarri • Michael Gilbert • Dick Giordano • Sitoshi Hirota • Robert Gould • Eric Kimball • Paul Kirchner • Steve Leialoha • Lee Marrs • Al Milgrom • Gray Morrow • Dean Motter • Masaichi Mukaide • Michael Netzer (Nasser) • P. Craig Russell • Dave Sim • Walt Simonson • Steve Skeates • Mary Skrenes • Bob Smith • Ken Steacy • Jim Starlin • Joe Staton • Mike Vosburg • Mal Warwick • Len Wein • Barry Windsor-Smith • Mark A. Worden • John Workman • Roger Zelazny
[edit] Critical appraisal
Richard J. Arndt, "The Star*Reach Bibliography" [1]: "[I]t was an independent comic, long before anyone seriously mentioned or had even really conceived of an indy market that could challenge the major publishers. At its beginning, Star*Reach sold though the few comic shops around, as well as head shops, or via subscriptions and mail order. ... Star*Reach published mostly science fiction and fantasy stories, at a time when the conventional wisdom was that those genres didn't sell. Plus, they were intelligent science fiction stories. If you read Tolkien or Heinlein or Bester or Le Guin, these stories fit right in. ... Michael Gilbert, John Workman, Lee Marrs, Robert Gould, Dave Sim, Ken Steacy, Dean Motter, Gene Day and Paul Kirchner got their first major exposure here. ... Howard Chaykin's Cody Starbuck and Gideon Faust characters both demonstrated what Chaykin was really capable of, long before the mainstream allowed him the same creative freedom. Frank Brunner did some of his last and best work for comics here. Sim wrote (his art was still on a learning curve) some great stories for artist Fabio Gasbarri and illustrated at least one strong one himself."
