Jim Starlin | |
---|---|
Born | James P. Starlin October 9, 1949 Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
Area(s) | Writer, Penciller, Artist, Inker, Colourist |
Pseudonym(s) | Steve Apollo |
Notable works | Batman Captain Marvel Cosmic Odyssey Dreadstar Silver Surfer The Thanos Quest The Infinity Gauntlet Marvel Graphic Novel Adam Warlock |
Awards | Full list |
James P. Starlin (born October 9, 1949) [1] is an American comics artist and writer. Beginning his career in the early 1970s, he is best known for space opera stories, for revamping the Marvel Comics characters Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock, and for creating or co-creating the Marvel characters Thanos, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Nebula, and Shang-Chi, as well as writing the acclaimed miniseries The Infinity Gauntlet and its many sequels including The Infinity War and The Infinity Crusade , all detailing Thanos' pursuit of the Infinity Gems to court Mistress Death by annihilating half of all life in the cosmos, before coming into conflict with the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and the Elders of the Universe, joined by the Silver Surfer, Doctor Strange, Gamora, Nebula, and Drax.
Later, for DC Comics, he drew many of their iconic characters, including Darkseid and other characters from Jack Kirby's Fourth World, and wrote the seminal storyline A Death in the Family which featured the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin, during his run on Batman . For Epic Illustrated , he created his own character, Dreadstar.
Jim Starlin was born on October 9, 1949, in Detroit, Michigan. [2] He had a Catholic upbringing. [3] In the 1960s, Starlin served as an aviation photographer in the US Navy in Vietnam. [4] [5] During his off duty time, he drew and submitted various comics. [6]
After leaving the navy, Starlin sold two stories to DC Comics. [6]
After writing and drawing stories for a number of fan publications, Jim Starlin entered the comics industry in 1972, working for Roy Thomas and John Romita at Marvel Comics. [7] 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." [8]
Starlin's first job for Marvel was as a finisher on pages of The Amazing Spider-Man . [9] He then drew three issues of Iron Man which introduced the characters Thanos and Drax the Destroyer. [10] He was then given the chance to draw an issue (#25) of the "cosmic" title Captain Marvel . [11] Starlin took over as plotter the following issue, and began developing an elaborate story arc centered on the villainous Thanos which spread across a number of Marvel titles. 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). [12]
After working on Captain Marvel, Starlin and writer Steve Englehart co-created the character Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, [13] [14] though they only worked on the early issues of the Master of Kung Fu series. Starlin then took over the title Warlock , [15] 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. Comics historian Les Daniels noted that "In a brief stint with Marvel, which included work on two characters [Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock] that had previously never quite made their mark, Starlin managed to build a considerable cult following." [16]
In Fall 1978, [17] Starlin, Howard Chaykin, Walt Simonson, and Val Mayerik formed Upstart Associates, a shared studio space on West 29th Street in New York City. The membership of the studio changed over time. [18]
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.
Starlin occasionally worked for Marvel's chief competitor DC Comics and drew stories for Legion of Super-Heroes [9] and the "Batman" feature in Detective Comics [19] in the late 1970s.
Starlin co-created the supervillain Mongul with writer Len Wein in DC Comics Presents #27 (Nov. 1980). [20]
The new decade found Starlin creating an expansive story titled "the Metamorphosis Odyssey", which introduced the character of Vanth Dreadstar in Epic Illustrated #3. From its beginning in Epic Illustrated, the initial story was painted in monochromatic grays, eventually added to with other tones, and finally becoming full color. [21] The storyline was further developed in The Price [22] and Marvel Graphic Novel #3 [23] [24] and eventually the long-running Dreadstar comic book, published first by Epic Comics, [25] [26] and then by First Comics. [27] [28]
Starlin was given the 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 Marvel itself. [29] [Note 1]
Starlin and Bernie Wrightson produced Heroes for Hope , a 1985 one-shot designed to raise money for African famine relief and recovery. [30] Published in the form of a "comic jam," the book featured an all-star lineup of comics creators as well as a few notable authors from outside the comic book industry, such as Stephen King, George R. R. Martin, Harlan Ellison, and Edward Bryant. [9] In 1986, he and Wrightson produced a second benefit comic for famine relief. Heroes Against Hunger , featuring Superman and Batman, was published by DC and like the earlier Marvel benefit project featured many top comics creators. [9] [31]
Starlin became the writer of Batman, and one of his first storylines for the title was "Ten Nights of The Beast" [32] in issues #417–420 (March – June 1988) which introduced the KGBeast. Starlin then wrote the four-issue miniseries Batman: The Cult (Aug.–Nov. 1988) drawn by Wrightson, [33] and the storyline "Batman: A Death in the Family" in Batman #426–429 (Dec. 1988 – Jan. 1989), [34] in which Jason Todd, the second of Batman's Robin sidekicks, was killed by the Joker. The controversial storyline was suggested by editor Denny O'Neil and lined up with Starlin's well-known desire to remove the Robin character from Batman's storyline. [35] 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. Starlin was fired off the Batman title soon afterward. [36]
Other projects for DC included writing The Weird drawn by Wrightson [9] and Cosmic Odyssey drawn by Mike Mignola. [37] Starlin wrote and drew Gilgamesh II in 1989 before returning to Marvel. [9]
Back at 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. [38] Here, Starlin brought back Adam Warlock, whom he had killed years earlier in his concluding Warlock story in The Avengers Annual #7 and Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 in 1977. The Infinity Gauntlet proved successful and was followed by the sequel miniseries The Infinity War and Infinity Crusade . [39]
For DC he created Hardcore Station in 1998. [9]
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. [9] Starlin then worked for independent companies, creating Cosmic Guard (later renamed Kid Cosmos) published by Devil's Due and then Dynamite Entertainment in 2006. [9]
Starlin returned to DC and, with artist Shane Davis, wrote the miniseries Mystery in Space vol. 2, featuring Captain Comet and Starlin's earlier creation, the Weird. [40] In 2007–2008, he worked on the DC miniseries Death of the New Gods [41] and Rann-Thanagar Holy War, [9] as well as a Hawkman tie-in which altered the character's origins. [42] He wrote the eight-issue miniseries Strange Adventures in 2009 [43] and in 2013, became the writer of Stormwatch , one of the series of The New 52 line, beginning with issue #19. [44]
In 2016, Starlin's drawing hand was injured in an accident, which limited him to writing stories without the opportunity to illustrate them. "It takes me two minutes to write the sentence and will take the artist a day and a half to draw the scene. But there is a certain satisfaction to the drawing part … you get up from the drawing board at the end of the day and there’s this image there that wasn’t there before. That’s very satisfying and I miss that." [45] [46]
In early 2020 it was announced that Starlin had rehabilitated his drawing hand and would be publishing a new Dreadstar graphic novel, Dreadstar Returns, backed by a successful Kickstarter campaign. The book was published in June 2021. [47]
Hardcover
Softcover
Bernard Albert Wrightson was an American artist, known for co-creating the Swamp Thing, his adaptation of the novel Frankenstein illustration work, and for his other horror comics and illustrations, which feature his trademark intricate pen and brushwork.
Adam Warlock is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Fantastic Four #66–67 created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, originally named Him. The character would later be significantly developed by Roy Thomas and Jim Starlin. Debuting in the Silver Age of Comic Books, the character has appeared over several decades of Marvel publications, and starred in the titles Marvel Premiere and Strange Tales as well as five eponymous volumes and several related limited series.
The Infinity Gauntlet is an American comic book storyline published by Marvel Comics. In addition to an eponymous, six-issue limited series written by Jim Starlin and pencilled by George Pérez and Ron Lim, crossover chapters appeared in related comic books. Since its initial serialization from July to December 1991, the series has been reprinted in various formats and editions.
Thanos is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-artist Jim Starlin, the character first appeared in The Invincible Iron Man #55. An Eternal–Deviant warlord from the moon Titan, Thanos is regarded as one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe. He has clashed with many heroes including the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Fantastic Four, the Eternals, and the X-Men.
Gamora is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/artist Jim Starlin, the character first appeared in Strange Tales #180. Gamora is the adopted daughter of Thanos, and the last of her species. Her powers include superhuman strength and agility and an accelerated healing factor. She also is an elite combatant, being able to beat most of the opponents in the galaxy. She is a member of the superhero group known as the Infinity Watch. The character played a role in the 2007 crossover storyline "Annihilation: Conquest", becoming a member of the titular team in its spin-off comic, Guardians of the Galaxy, before becoming the supervillain Requiem in the 2018 crossover storylines "Infinity Countdown" and "Infinity Wars".
Drax the Destroyer is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Jim Starlin, the character first appeared in The Invincible Iron Man #55.
The Infinity Crusade is a six-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics in 1993. The series was written by Jim Starlin and penciled by Ron Lim, Ian Laughlin, Al Milgrom and Jack Morelli and also the third and final chapter of the Infinity Saga.
Alan Davis is an English artist and writer of comic books, known for his work on titles such as Captain Britain, The Uncanny X-Men, ClanDestine, Detective Comics, Excalibur, JLA: The Nail and JLA: Another Nail.
Howard Victor Chaykin is an American comic book artist and writer. Chaykin's influences include his one-time employer and mentor, Gil Kane, and the mid-20th century illustrators Robert Fawcett and Al Parker.
Paul Gulacy is an American comics artist best known for his work for DC Comics and Marvel Comics, and for drawing one of the first graphic novels, Eclipse Enterprises' 1978 Sabre: Slow Fade of an Endangered Species, with writer Don McGregor. He is most associated with Marvel's 1970s martial-arts and espionage series Master of Kung Fu.
Allen L. Milgrom is an American comic book writer, penciller, inker and editor, primarily for Marvel Comics. He is known for his 10-year run as editor of Marvel Fanfare; his long involvement as writer, penciler, and inker on Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man; his four-year tenure as West Coast Avengers penciller; and his long stint as the inker of X-Factor. He often inks Jim Starlin's work. Milgrom is the co-creator of DC superhero Firestorm.
Mike Friedrich is an American comic book writer and publisher best known for his work at Marvel and DC Comics, and for publishing the anthology series Star*Reach, one of the first independent comics. He is also an artists' representative.
Marvel Graphic Novel (MGN) is a line of graphic novel trade paperbacks published from 1982 to 1993 by Marvel Comics. The books were published in an oversized format, 8.5" x 11", similar to French albums. In response, DC Comics established a competitor line known as DC Graphic Novel.
Dreadstar was the first comic-book series published by American publisher Epic Comics, an imprint of Marvel Comics, in 1982. It was centered on Vanth Dreadstar, sole survivor of the entire Milky Way galaxy, and an ensemble cast of crewmates, including cyborg sorcerer Syzygy Darklock, and their struggle to end an ancient war between two powerful, evil empires: The Church of The Instrumentality, run by the Lord Papal; and the Monarchy, administered by a puppet king.
John Costanza is an American comic book artist and letterer. He has worked for both DC Comics and Marvel Comics. He was the letterer during Alan Moore's acclaimed run on Swamp Thing. The bulk of Costanza's art assignments have been for anthropomorphic animal comics and children-oriented material.
Bob Almond is an American comic book inker whose credits include the Marvel Comics publications Warlock and the Infinity Watch, Black Panther and Annihilation: Conquest: Quasar. Almond is also known for his spearheading of the Inkwell Awards to honor comics inkers.
Shane Davis is an American comic book artist best known for his work on Superman and Batman for DC Comics.
Silver Surfer or The Silver Surfer is the name of several series of comic books published by Marvel Comics featuring the Silver Surfer.
The Silver Surfer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character also appears in a number of movies, television, and video game adaptations. The character was created by Jack Kirby and first appeared in the comic book Fantastic Four #48, published in 1966.
Heroes Against Hunger is a 1986 all-star benefit comic book for African famine relief and recovery. Published by DC Comics in the form of a "comic jam" or exquisite corpse, the book starred Superman and Batman. Spearheaded by Jim Starlin and Bernie Wrightson, all proceeds from the comic went to hunger relief in Africa.
"In [Iron Man #55], scripted by Mike Friedrich, plotter and penciler Jim Starlin introduced a miniature mythos of his creations.
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has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)...and another Batman adventure by writer/layout artist Jim Starlin and finisher P. Craig Russell.
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has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)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.
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