Jim Starlin

Jim Starlin

Jim Starlin in 2006
Born James P. Starlin
Nationality American
Area(s) Writer, Penciller, Inker
Pseudonym(s) Steve Apollo
Notable works Captain Marvel
Cosmic Odyssey
Dreadstar
Infinity Gauntlet
Marvel Graphic Novel
Awards Full list

James P. "Jim" Starlin (born October 19)[1] is an American comic book writer and artist. With a career dating back to the early 1970s, he is best known for "cosmic" tales and space opera; for revamping the Marvel Comics characters Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock; and for creating or co-creating the Marvel characters Thanos and Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu.

Contents

Biography

Early career

After writing and drawing stories for a number of fan publications, Jim Starlin got his break into comics in 1972, working for Roy Thomas and John Romita at Marvel Comics. Brought in by fellow artist Rich Buckler,[2] Starlin was part of the generation of artists and writers who grew up as fans of Silver Age Marvel Comics. At a Steve Ditko-focused panel at the 2008 Comic-Con International, Starlin said, "Everything I learned about storytelling was [due to] him or Kirby. [Ditko] did the best layouts."[3]

Starlin's first job was as a finisher on pages of The Amazing Spider-Man. He then drew three issues of Iron Man, introducing the character Thanos. He was then given the chance to draw an issue (#25) of the "cosmic" title Captain Marvel. Starlin took over as plotter the following issue, and began developing an elaborate story arc centered on the villainous Thanos, and spread across a number of Marvel titles. This eventually led to a complex cosmology that has remained a part of the fictional "Marvel Universe" continuity. Starlin left Captain Marvel one issue after concluding his Thanos saga.

Concurrently in the mid-1970s, Starlin contributed a cache of stories to the independently published science-fiction anthology Star Reach. Here he developed his ideas of God, death, and infinity, free of the restrictions of mainstream comics publishers' self-censorship arm, the Comics Code Authority. Starlin also drew "The Secret of Skull River", inked by frequent collaborator Al Milgrom, for Savage Tales #5 (July 1974).

After working on Captain Marvel, Starlin co-created the character Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, though only working on a few issues himself. Starlin then took over the title Warlock, starring a genetically engineered being created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the 1960s and re-imagined by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane in the 1970s as a Jesus Christ-like figure on an alternate Earth. Envisioning the character as philosophical and existentially tortured, Starlin wrote and drew a complex space opera with theological and psychological themes. Warlock confronted the militaristic Universal Church of Truth, eventually revealed to be created and led by an evil evolution of his future–past self, known as Magus. Starlin ultimately incorporated Thanos into this story.

When Marvel Comics wished to use the name of Captain Marvel for a new, different character, Starlin was given the rare opportunity to produce a one-shot story in which to kill off a main character. The Death of Captain Marvel became the first graphic novel published by the company itself. (Lee & Kirby's reunion for a Silver Surfer graphic novel a few years earlier was published by Simon and Schuster). It was well-received critically and commercially.

Death and suicide are recurring themes in Starlin's work: Personifications of Death appeared in his Captain Marvel series and in a fill-in story for Ghost Rider; Warlock commits suicide by killing his future self; and suicide is a theme in a story he plotted and drew for The Rampaging Hulk magazine.

1980s

Starlin occasionally worked for Marvel's chief competitor DC Comics and drew stories for Legion of Super-Heroes and the "Batman" feature in Detective Comics in the late 1970s. He co-created the supervillain Mongul with writer Len Wein in DC Comics Presents #27 (Nov. 1980).[4] The new decade found Starlin creating an expansive story titled "the Metamorphosis Odyssey", which introduces the character of Vanth Dreadstar (Epic Illustrated #3). Originally running in Marvel Comics' comics magazine Epic Illustrated, the initial story was painted in monochromatic grays, eventually added to with other tones, and finally becoming full color. "Metamorphosis Odyssey" featured many of Starlin's hallmarks: a cosmic scope, death, sacrifice, politics, religion. The storyline was further developed in The Price[5] and Marvel Graphic Novel #3 [6] and eventually the long-running Dreadstar comic book, published first by Epic Comics,[7] and then by First Comics.[8]

In the late 1980s, Starlin began working more for DC Comics, writing a number of Batman stories, including the four-issue miniseries Batman: The Cult (Aug.-Nov. 1988), and the storyline "Batman: A Death in the Family", in Batman #426-429 (Dec. 1988 – Jan. 1989), in which Jason Todd, the second of Batman's Robin sidekicks, was killed. The death was decided by fans, as DC Comics set up a hotline for readers to vote on as to whether or not Jason Todd should survive a potentially fatal situation. For DC he created Hardcore Station.

Later career

Returning to Marvel, Starlin began scripting a revival of the Silver Surfer series. As had become his Marvel norm, he introduced his creation Thanos into the story arc, which led to the Infinity Gauntlet miniseries and its crossover storyline. Here, Starlin brought back Adam Warlock, whom he had killed years earlier in his concluding Warlock story in Avengers Annual #7 and Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 in 1977. Infinity Gauntlet proved successful and was followed by the sequel miniseries Infinity War and Infinity Crusade.

In 2003, Starlin wrote and drew the Marvel Comics miniseries Marvel: The End.[9] The series starred Thanos and a multitude of Marvel characters, and subsequently, Starlin was assigned an eponymous Thanos series. However, Starlin left Thanos after a few issues, citing "irreconcilable creative differences",[10] and it was canceled shortly thereafter. In the story, Starlin made what some readers saw as a thinly veiled comparison between the philosophy of Galactus and the foreign policy of the United States, going so far as to draw the starscape behind Galactus as the Stars and Stripes.[11] In 2006 he stated, "At this point in time I do not see myself working for Marvel on any project."[12]

Starlin then worked for independent companies, creating Cosmic Guard (later renamed Kid Cosmos)[13][14][15] which was published by Devil's Due and then Dynamite Entertainment in 2006.,[16] 2006.

Starlin returned to DC Comics and, with artist Shane Davis, wrote the miniseries Mystery in Space vol. 2, featuring Captain Comet and Starlin's earlier creation, the Weird.[17] He also revisited Hardcore Station, and worked on the DC miniseries Death of the New Gods[18] and Rann-Thanagar Holy War,[19] as well as a Hawkman tie-in that became the latest of many stories to have altered the character's origins over the previous two decades.[20] He also wrote the eight-issue miniseries Strange Adventures.[21][22].

Other work

Starlin co-wrote four novels with his wife Daina Graziunas (whom he married in October 1980)[23]: Among Madmen (1990, Roc Books), Lady El (1992, Roc Books), Thinning the Predators (1996, Warner Books; paperback edition entitled Predators); and Pawns (1989, serialized in comic book Dreadstar #42-54).

In November 2010, IDW/Desperado published a 312-page career retrospective The Art of Jim Starlin (ISBN 1600107702), written by Starlin and edited/designed by Joe Pruett. The book was also published in a signed & numbered edition limited to 250 copies (ISBN 1600107710).

Awards

Bibliography

Comics work includes:

DC

Marvel

Other publishers

Covers only

Collections

Hardcover:

Softcover:

Portfolios

References

  1. ^ Miller, John Jackson (June 10, 2005). "Comics Industry Birthdays". Comic Buyer's Guide. Archived from the original on October 29, 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5trAbNQWw. Retrieved December 12, 2010. 
  2. ^ "Gangway, World! Madcap Marvel Marches Merrily On!" (Marvel Bullpen Bulletins page in Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos #104 and other Marvel Comics cover-dated November 1972)
  3. ^ "CCI: The World of Steve Ditko", Comic Book Resources, August 5, 2008
  4. ^ Manning, Matthew K.; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1980s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p. 188. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. "Artist Jim Starlin displayed his penchant for portraying powerful cosmic villains with the debut of Mongul, a new threat to plague Superman's life, in a story written by Len Wein." 
  5. ^ The Price October 1981 Eclipse Comics at the Grand Comics Database
  6. ^ Marvel Graphic Novel #3 (Dreadstar) 1982 Marvel Comics at the Grand Comics Database
  7. ^ Dreadstar Epic Comics series at the Grand Comics Database
  8. ^ Dreadstar First Comics series at the Grand Comics Database
  9. ^ "Marvel Universe: The End", Newsarama, October 30, 2002
  10. ^ "Starlin Leaves Thanos", Newsarama, November 19, 2003
  11. ^ [1]
  12. ^ "Newsarama's Jim Starlin Interview 1", Newsarama, July 15, 2006
  13. ^ "Back to The Cosmos - Starlin on Cosmic Guard", Newsarama, May 7, 2004
  14. ^ "Jim Starlin: Looking at The Kosmos", Newsarama, May 13, 2005
  15. ^ "Getting Cosmic With Jim Starlin I: Kid Kosmic", Newsarama, July 13, 2006
  16. ^ "Dynamite Collects Starlin's Cosmic Guard", Dynamite Entertainment press release via Newsarama, March 25
  17. ^ "Getting Cosmic With Jim Starlin II: Mystery in Space", Newsarama, July 14, 2006
  18. ^ "Jim Starlin: Ferryman of the New Gods", Newsarama, July 11, 2007
  19. ^ "Jim Starlin on the Coming Holy War", Newsarama, March 5, 2008
  20. ^ "Jim Starlin: Hawkman - The Special and Beyond?", Newsarama, July 31, 2008
  21. ^ http://www.dccomics.com/dcu/comics/?cm=11310
  22. ^ "Exclusive DC Preview - Strange Adventures #1", Newsarama, March 1, 2009
  23. ^ Shooter, Jim. "Bullpen Bulletins," Marvel comics cover-dated July 1981.
  24. ^ 1973 Academy of Comic Book Arts Awards
  25. ^ Kid Kosmos homepage

External links

Preceded by
N/A		 Dreadstar writer/artist
1982–1989 (writer)
1982–1987 (artist)		 Succeeded by
Peter David (writer)
Luke McDonnell (artist)
Preceded by
Max Allan Collins		 Batman writer
1987–1989		 Succeeded by
Jim Owsley
Preceded by
Tom DeFalco & Ron Frenz		 Thor writer
1993
(with Ron Marz)		 Succeeded by
Ron Marz
Creator
Jim Starlin
Storylines
Team affiliations
Related items
Cosmic Cube · Heart of the Universe · Infinity Gems (and the Infinity Gauntlet)
Other Media
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