Starlord

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Starlord was a shortlived weekly British science fiction comic published by IPC in 1978 as a sister title to 2000 AD, which had been launched the previous year to capitalise on the science fiction boom that followed Star Wars.

Starlord was planned as a monthly or fortnightly title for older readers, with longer stories and higher production values than 2000 AD and the rest of the IPC boys' comics stable, but this proved too ambitious. Episodes were shortened, the number of colour pages was reduced, although the better quality paper and printing were retained, and Starlord was published weekly at a higher cover price than 2000 AD.

Like 2000 AD, Tornado and Scream! it had a fictional editor, also called Starlord, and each issue was supposed to be a primer for survival in the galaxy.

[edit] Stories

Stories included:

• Strontium Dog, a series about a mutant bounty hunter created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra
• Ro-Busters, a robot disaster squad created by writer Pat Mills and artist Kevin O'Neill, although it was more usually drawn by Carlos Pino or Dave Gibbons
• Mind Wars, a series about two psychic teenagers in the middle of a galactic war, written by Alan Hebden and drawn by Jesus Redondo
• Timequake, featuring a tramp steamer skipper reluctantly recruited into Time Control, an agency which fought to prevent anyone tampering with time
• Planet of the Damned, a passenger jet vanishes in the Bermuda Triangle and the passengers find themselves on a hostile alien world. Written by Pat Mills (as RE Wright).
• Holocaust, Carl Hunter, a private detective, discovers a government cover-up of an alien invasion. Written by Alan Hebden.

[edit] Publications

As well as 22 regular issues there was one Summer Special, and also three Annuals dated 1980-1982.

[edit] Merger

IPC found that publishing two weekly science fiction titles split the market, and Starlord, with its higher cover price, was cancelled after 22 issues and merged with 2000 AD in "prog" (issue) 86 of that title. Its last issue was dated 7 October 1978. 2000 AD's line-up was strengthened by the merger: Strontium Dog became one of its most popular and long-running series, and Ro-Busters led to an enduring spin-off, ABC Warriors, which still features today. Timequake also briefly featured.