Starblazer
Encyclopedia
Starblazer - Space Fiction Adventure in Pictures was a British
small-format comics anthology
in black and white published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
.
, and the last published on 1 January 1991. The front cover was printed in colour while the back page featured an ongoing subject that was relevant to the space programme. This included pictures of astronauts and brief details of the missions they were on, other subjects were satellites and the planets and planetoids of the solar system
. Issues 1 - 3 were issued on a 1 issue per month basis. From issue 4, there were two issues a month, this continued until the series reached its end in 1991.
Partway through its run, from issue 168 onwards, the anthology changed format. Instead of a single front cover and a black and white subject on the back, a new all-colour 'wrap around' cover was instituted, most of the time showing a collage
of subjects from that issue's storyline. The subject matters also appeared to have a more adult emphasis and there was a heavier focus on Fantasy
storylines. The cover title also changed format slightly to Starblazer - Fantasy Fiction in Pictures, despite the title change, there were still a considerable number of Science Fiction
storylines up till the final issue.
Prior to the new format, there had been several issues that had been classed as interactive fiction, with the title Starblazer - Space (or Fantasy) roleplaying game in pictures similar in idea to the then popular Fighting Fantasy
and Lone Wolf
gamebooks, but this idea was quietly dropped after a few issues when it proved unpopular.
comics from the same publisher that have enjoyed countrywide widespread distribution since their origin in the 1960s. Also, a slump in the Science Fiction genre would not have helped sales either.
There have been rumours that DC Thomson would release an anthology, basically a reprint of the old issues, but whether this is true or not, and whether this would be the complete print run is, as yet, unknown.
In May 2007 Cubicle 7 Entertainment announced that they were producing a licensed Starblazer role-playing game
using the FATE 3.0 system. The game was released by Cubicle 7
in August 2008, at Gen Con
Indianapolis .
A hard cover version of the licensed Starblazer role-playing game
was released by Cubicle 7
in June 2009.
The Starblazer role-playing game
was nominated for three Ennies
in July 2009.
An exhibition was held in Dundee in 2009 to mark the 30th anniversary of the title and attracted comics creators like Alan Grant and Warren Ellis
.
, Walter Cyril Henry Reed, John Smith
, Mike Chinn
, Mike McMahon
, Colin MacNeil
, Cam Kennedy
, John Radford and John Ridgway
. There were also a number of European and South American artists who did other work in British comics like Enrique Alcatena
.
Other recurring characters include:-
The Suicide Squad. Not to be confused with the DC Comics
group of the same name
, this series of stories, by W. C. H. Reed, follows the team of Lieutenant
Steve Martin and his squad of misfits. Martin himself apparently was disgraced and his active military career was finished. The remainder of his crew, Gunner Gee, Vidop (Computer operator) Bello, and Navigator Henry also had issues. The first appearance was in issue 49-Rigel Express. Steve Martin was called Steven Terry in that issue. The Terry surname was also used in a couple of early pages in issue 75 Doomrock but it changed by the end of that issue. Later issues used the Martin surname and no explanation was ever given for the change. As the issues went on, Martin became increasingly sickened by war
, especially the human cost. Issue number 31, Starstrike, featured a character called Steve Martin, though he is not the same character.
The Planet Tamer. Formerly known as Jubal McKay, a member of the United Planets Security Service who was rebuilt by cyberneticist Dr Hans Verringer. The whole side of his body was practically destroyed by a bomb
that had been planted by a criminal by the name of Trent. The resulting damage left him effectively unable to live a normal life. Verringer rebuilt his body, integrating weapons and computer systems into his suit. Completely self-sufficient in space, he had a sled built at a ship engineers that he can control remotely. Armed with a wide variety of weapons the Planet Tamer operates outside the normal jurisdiction of the law.
Matt Tallis. One of the more irregular and short lived of the reused characters, Matt Tallis is an investigator/agent for the Galactic Security Service. He is stronger than the Earth normal, because his home world is a heavier gravity world. Tallis has his own ship, the Taurus, complete with a robot
named Isak which can remotely control ship functions. Due to an implant that Tallis has, he can establish a telepathic style link with Isak.
Hadron Halley. A member of the Fi-Sci (Fighting Scientists), a part of Earths Galac Squad. The Fighting Scientists are a small group of scientists who are extremely intelligent, but also enter combat areas, having been fully trained in combat and survival techniques. Hadron Halley first appeared in issue number 50-Moonsplitter, which also saw the first appearance of General
Larz Pluto who would later become Halley's commanding officer and friend. Issue appearances are as follows.
Mikal R Kayn. A former police officer
who was invalided out of the force after an explosion burned out his eyes. Without the aid of special glasses
he can only see in the infrared
spectrum. He eventually meets Cinnibar, the female warrior
from the planet of Babalon who helps him in a case to the abandoned research
city
of Valhalla Nova on the ice planet of Thrymheim. Curiously enough, Kayns first appearance in Issue 45-Operation Overkill makes no mention of his accident, or his disability, only that he is a former law enforcement officer. However. it is obvious that it is the same character.
Cinnibar. A fierce female warrior
from the frontier planet of Babalon. Her character started in the Kayn stories. She had three spin off stories involving herself and her brother Rulf who also had made his first appearance in a Kayn story. Cinnibar is a tall statuesque, but slender woman who looks human. The most distinctive features of her, is her extremely long hair, and three striped marks on her face which could be tribal style tattoos. She favours combat with traditional style weapons like sword
s, although she is not averse to using ranged weapons like laser blasters. As Kayn once remarked, he remembered that "Babalonians had found methods to kill practically anything that moves". She has a cousin, Vivanna, who also became a semi-recurring character in two of the Cinnibar issues.
Grok and Zero. One of the earlier series with a lighter tone to it. While some of the stories themselves are serious in nature, they do have a touch of humour to them. Grok is a humanoid
alien, an experienced Space Policeman. His partner is injured in the first appearance and he gets assigned a new partner by the name of Smith, who he dubs 'Zero' which is derived from his service number. In this universe, Earth is not the origin of the human race, it is in fact a planet called Cappella VI, Earth having been the location of a crash of a colony ship some centuries before, from which the present population has descended, although it has regressed somewhat.
Frank Carter. More commonly referred to as just 'Carter', he is a mandroid, in effect, part robotic, but not quite enough to be called a cyborg
. His background is revealed in a later issue. Frank Carter was a perfectly normal police officer until he received a gun
blast to the head. The severe head wound meant that pioneering cybernetic surgery was tried. He was given enhanced strength and reactions, but the part of his brain that contained emotions had been destroyed. His basic no-nonsense attitude to lawbreakers, and some would say overly brutal methods are constantly bringing him into conflict with his superiors.
Starhawk. An intergalactic freelance troubleshooter, his real name is Sol Rynn. He answers distress calls from those in need who use a special card which slots into a computer
interface. Starhawk was one of the flagship stories in the short-lived DC Thomson comic The Crunch
. Starhawk also made a number of brief appearances in DC Thomsons Hotspur annual. His companion is a robot that goes by the simple name of Droid. He has a starship that he can remotely summon. The setting is the crumbling Earth Empire which has been ravaged by years of raiding from the alien Krell. Strangely enough, little background is given to the Krell themselves and the backstory of conflict between the Krell and that of Earth is never elaborated on. The result, instory though, is that much of the galaxy is in a state of lawlessness.
Skald. The Skald series of stories initially is set in the region of a castle where the population are enslaved by powerful 'warlocks'. The warlocks use energy weapons to dispense their own brand of justice and keep the population enslaved by fear. When Skald, a young herder finds out that he is to receive the 'collar of manhood', basically a life sentence in the mines performing hard labour, he rebels. Lashing out in anger, he kills one of the warlocks and flees the area. Later he meets with Linx, the Amazonian warrioress, a member of the matriarchal Yaba-Kel tribe. Many elements of the Skald stories centre around the fact that an Earth colony ship crash landed on the planet and advanced technology found its way into the hands of a select few people, and the constant struggle for this technology.
The Anglerre Series. This series of issues set in the fantasy kingdom of Anglerre follows the royal family
and their conflict against various aggressors. The first appearance, in issue 200 of Prince
Veyne was followed by a later issue which was a prequel showing Veyne's father, King Iagon. King Iagon had been vaguely referred to in Issue 200, both by saying that Veyne had just ascended to the throne on the death of his father, and a ship named the 'Royal Iagon'. Much of the storyline of the Royal House of Anglerre is entwined with the god Vishena and the Demon Sword, Cerastes, who will make its user invincible, but will also kill its wielder after an unspecified period of time. The nature of Anglerre's opponents seems to make heavy use of Demons. A recurring character within this series is that of Myrdan, a seemingly immortal figure of unspecified power who could said to have been inspired by both Gandalf
from The Lord of the Rings
and King Arthur's court adviser, Merlin. In the issue Demon Sword, Myrdan at one point seems to merge with Vishena, which hints that he could be an avatar of the god.
Solo. This series charts the adventures of Solo, the sole human survivor of a cryogenic sleeper ship. The charter of his vessel, the Telurian Quest, grants him ownership of a planet. Unfortunately, he finds that his planet is already inhabited as faster than light capable ships were launched some years after the Telurian ships. Solo was reared by an onboard android who educated him with tales of chivalry
. Therefore Solo has a rather archaic way of looking at things and is also naive.
The Robot Kid. One of the more humorous series of stories that later appeared. The initial Robot Kid story was set on a frontier planet under attack from bandits. The whole story had a quasi-western feel to it. The initial story had the townsfolk try to buy a Kelso Deathmek, a war robot, to protect them. What they got was a reprogrammed cinema usher. It's computerised mind had been loaded with all sorts of clichés and popular saying from Western
films. Indeed, there were homages throughout the issue with a character by the name of Angel Eyes, and another character who bore a resemblance to Lee Van Cleef
in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
. With its body destroyed at the end of the story, the replacement body was manufactured by the Japanese arm of the company and was a parody of the many martial arts
movies. The third and final appearance was a parody of the Rambo-style movies.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
small-format comics anthology
Comics anthology
Comics anthologies collect works in the medium of comics that are too short for standalone publication.- U.S. :- UK :British comics have a long tradition publishing comics anthologies, often weekly...
in black and white published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, is a publishing company based in Dundee, Scotland, best known for producing The Dundee Courier, The Evening Telegraph, The Sunday Post, Oor Wullie, The Broons, The Beano, The Dandy and Commando comics...
.
History
There were 281 issues, the first published in April 19791979 in comics
-Year overall:* The "Demon in a Bottle" storyline, by David Michelinie, Bob Layton, and John Romita, Jr., runs through Iron Man ....
, and the last published on 1 January 1991. The front cover was printed in colour while the back page featured an ongoing subject that was relevant to the space programme. This included pictures of astronauts and brief details of the missions they were on, other subjects were satellites and the planets and planetoids of the solar system
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
. Issues 1 - 3 were issued on a 1 issue per month basis. From issue 4, there were two issues a month, this continued until the series reached its end in 1991.
Partway through its run, from issue 168 onwards, the anthology changed format. Instead of a single front cover and a black and white subject on the back, a new all-colour 'wrap around' cover was instituted, most of the time showing a collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
of subjects from that issue's storyline. The subject matters also appeared to have a more adult emphasis and there was a heavier focus on Fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
storylines. The cover title also changed format slightly to Starblazer - Fantasy Fiction in Pictures, despite the title change, there were still a considerable number of Science Fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
storylines up till the final issue.
Fighting Fantasy
Fighting Fantasy is a series of single-player fantasy roleplay gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The first volumes in the series were published by Puffin in 1982, with the rights to the franchise eventually being purchased by Wizard Books in 2002...
and Lone Wolf
Lone Wolf (gamebooks)
Lone Wolf is a series of 28 gamebooks, created by Joe Dever and initially illustrated by Gary Chalk. The series began publishing in July 1984 and sold more than 10.2 million copies worldwide....
gamebooks, but this idea was quietly dropped after a few issues when it proved unpopular.
End of run and the future
The Starblazer issues suffered from poor distribution, being rare in parts of Scotland and almost unknown in the rest of the United Kingdom. Due to a downturn in the general comic market, many newsagents never stocked them, or later would only take subscriptions. This contrasts sharply with the CommandoCommando Comics
Commando For Action and Adventure, formerly known as Commando War Stories in Pictures, and colloquially known as Commando Comics, are a series of British comic books that primarily draw their themes and backdrops from the various incidents of the World Wars I and II...
comics from the same publisher that have enjoyed countrywide widespread distribution since their origin in the 1960s. Also, a slump in the Science Fiction genre would not have helped sales either.
There have been rumours that DC Thomson would release an anthology, basically a reprint of the old issues, but whether this is true or not, and whether this would be the complete print run is, as yet, unknown.
In May 2007 Cubicle 7 Entertainment announced that they were producing a licensed Starblazer role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
using the FATE 3.0 system. The game was released by Cubicle 7
Cubicle 7
Cubicle 7 Entertainment is a UK based company primarily concerned with the gaming and media markets.They publish a variety of games based on both original and licensed backgrounds...
in August 2008, at Gen Con
Gen Con
Gen Con is one of the largest and most prominent annual gaming conventions in North America. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card-style games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, board games, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, non-collectible...
Indianapolis .
A hard cover version of the licensed Starblazer role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
was released by Cubicle 7
Cubicle 7
Cubicle 7 Entertainment is a UK based company primarily concerned with the gaming and media markets.They publish a variety of games based on both original and licensed backgrounds...
in June 2009.
The Starblazer role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
was nominated for three Ennies
ENnies
The Annual Gen Con EN World RPG Awards are annual, fan-based awards for role-playing game products and publishers hosted at Gen Con in Indianapolis, Indiana...
in July 2009.
An exhibition was held in Dundee in 2009 to mark the 30th anniversary of the title and attracted comics creators like Alan Grant and Warren Ellis
Warren Ellis
Warren Girard Ellis is an English author of comics, novels, and television, who is well-known for sociocultural commentary, both through his online presence and through his writing, which covers transhumanist themes...
.
Featured artists and writers
British comics creators to have worked on Starblazer include Grant MorrisonGrant Morrison
Grant Morrison is a Scottish comic book writer, playwright and occultist. He is known for his nonlinear narratives and counter-cultural leanings, as well as his successful runs on titles like Animal Man, Doom Patrol, JLA, The Invisibles, New X-Men, Fantastic Four, All-Star Superman, and...
, Walter Cyril Henry Reed, John Smith
John Smith (comics)
John Smith is a British comics writer best known for his work on 2000 AD and Crisis.Smith's work is characterised by intricate, sometimes obscure plots and an interest in taboos and the occult, told in an elliptic, fractured narrative style reminiscent of Iain Sinclair or the cut-up technique of...
, Mike Chinn
Mike Chinn
Mike Chinn is a horror, fantasy and comics writer from Birmingham, England.Chinn has been nominated for the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection and Best Short Story....
, Mike McMahon
Mike McMahon (comics)
Michael McMahon is a British comics artist best known for his work on 2000 AD characters such as Judge Dredd, Sláine and ABC Warriors, and the mini-series The Last American....
, Colin MacNeil
Colin MacNeil
Colin MacNeil is a British comics artist, best known for his work on 2000 AD and in particular on Judge Dredd and other stories within his world like Shimura and Devlin Waugh....
, Cam Kennedy
Cam Kennedy
Campbell Kennedy is a Scottish comics artist. He is best known for his work on 2000 AD, especially the flagship titles Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper.-Biography:...
, John Radford and John Ridgway
John Ridgway (comic artist)
John Ridgway is a British comics artist.-Career:Ridgway began his career initially as a hobby, drawing D.C.Thompson's Commando War Stories alongside professional work as a design engineer...
. There were also a number of European and South American artists who did other work in British comics like Enrique Alcatena
Enrique Alcatena
-Biography:Alcatena became famous in his country during the 1980s collaborating for local magazines like Skorpio and Nippur. He also worked for the children's magazine Anteojito where his work was mostly surreal fantasy full of mythology...
.
Artistic peculiarities
It was not uncommon for artwork to differ from frame to frame for something like a spacecraft. An item like this could look very different in one frame than it does in other parts of the same issue. There also seems to have been a reuse of artwork. For example, some character poses were reused with different faces and clothing, but the pose itself has been used in a previous issue.Recurring characters
Although each issue was intended to be a 'one-off' storyline, a number of characters made reappearances in subsequent issues. The first of these was Matt Crane, who appeared in issue number 5-The Shipeater. He subsequently reappeared in issue 26-Alien Contact.Other recurring characters include:-
The Suicide Squad. Not to be confused with the DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
group of the same name
Suicide Squad
The Suicide Squad, also known as Task Force X , is a name for two fictional organizations in the DC Comics Universe. The first version debuted in The Brave and the Bold #25 , and the second in Legends #3...
, this series of stories, by W. C. H. Reed, follows the team of Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
Steve Martin and his squad of misfits. Martin himself apparently was disgraced and his active military career was finished. The remainder of his crew, Gunner Gee, Vidop (Computer operator) Bello, and Navigator Henry also had issues. The first appearance was in issue 49-Rigel Express. Steve Martin was called Steven Terry in that issue. The Terry surname was also used in a couple of early pages in issue 75 Doomrock but it changed by the end of that issue. Later issues used the Martin surname and no explanation was ever given for the change. As the issues went on, Martin became increasingly sickened by war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
, especially the human cost. Issue number 31, Starstrike, featured a character called Steve Martin, though he is not the same character.
- 49-Rigel Express
- 75-Doomrock
- 122-Alien Invasion
- 154-The Suicide Squad
- 162-The D Team
The Planet Tamer. Formerly known as Jubal McKay, a member of the United Planets Security Service who was rebuilt by cyberneticist Dr Hans Verringer. The whole side of his body was practically destroyed by a bomb
Bomb
A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...
that had been planted by a criminal by the name of Trent. The resulting damage left him effectively unable to live a normal life. Verringer rebuilt his body, integrating weapons and computer systems into his suit. Completely self-sufficient in space, he had a sled built at a ship engineers that he can control remotely. Armed with a wide variety of weapons the Planet Tamer operates outside the normal jurisdiction of the law.
- 40-Planet Tamer
- 57-Galactic Lawman
- 90-Return of the Planet Tamer
Matt Tallis. One of the more irregular and short lived of the reused characters, Matt Tallis is an investigator/agent for the Galactic Security Service. He is stronger than the Earth normal, because his home world is a heavier gravity world. Tallis has his own ship, the Taurus, complete with a robot
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
named Isak which can remotely control ship functions. Due to an implant that Tallis has, he can establish a telepathic style link with Isak.
- 42-The Immortals
- 52-The Mask of Fear
- 94-The Megaloi Menace
Hadron Halley. A member of the Fi-Sci (Fighting Scientists), a part of Earths Galac Squad. The Fighting Scientists are a small group of scientists who are extremely intelligent, but also enter combat areas, having been fully trained in combat and survival techniques. Hadron Halley first appeared in issue number 50-Moonsplitter, which also saw the first appearance of General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
Larz Pluto who would later become Halley's commanding officer and friend. Issue appearances are as follows.
- 50-Moonsplitter
- 54-The Torturer of Triton II
- 62-Terror Tomb
- 77-Fortress of Fear
- 81-The Serpents of Sirius
- 109-The Sword of Solek
- 121-Nightmare Ship
- 146-Knight of Darkness
- 185-The Warlord of Laama
Mikal R Kayn. A former police officer
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
who was invalided out of the force after an explosion burned out his eyes. Without the aid of special glasses
Glasses
Glasses, also known as eyeglasses , spectacles or simply specs , are frames bearing lenses worn in front of the eyes. They are normally used for vision correction or eye protection. Safety glasses are a kind of eye protection against flying debris or against visible and near visible light or...
he can only see in the infrared
Infrared
Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
spectrum. He eventually meets Cinnibar, the female warrior
Warrior
A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:...
from the planet of Babalon who helps him in a case to the abandoned research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
of Valhalla Nova on the ice planet of Thrymheim. Curiously enough, Kayns first appearance in Issue 45-Operation Overkill makes no mention of his accident, or his disability, only that he is a former law enforcement officer. However. it is obvious that it is the same character.
- 45-Operation Overkill
- 127-The Death Reaper
- 167-Mind Bender
- 173-The Vegas Murders
- 177 The Midas Mystery
- 199-Nether World
- 203-Wipe Out
- 207-Citizen Kayn
- 211-The Dream Machine
- 219-Till Death Do Us Part
- 225-Supercop
- 247-Kayn's Quest
- 252-Head Case
- 256-Convict Kayn
- 258-Computer Killer
- 266-Badlands
Cinnibar. A fierce female warrior
Warrior
A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:...
from the frontier planet of Babalon. Her character started in the Kayn stories. She had three spin off stories involving herself and her brother Rulf who also had made his first appearance in a Kayn story. Cinnibar is a tall statuesque, but slender woman who looks human. The most distinctive features of her, is her extremely long hair, and three striped marks on her face which could be tribal style tattoos. She favours combat with traditional style weapons like sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
s, although she is not averse to using ranged weapons like laser blasters. As Kayn once remarked, he remembered that "Babalonians had found methods to kill practically anything that moves". She has a cousin, Vivanna, who also became a semi-recurring character in two of the Cinnibar issues.
- 216-Trouble in Babalon
- 253-Revolt on Babalon
- 264-Banished From Babalon
Grok and Zero. One of the earlier series with a lighter tone to it. While some of the stories themselves are serious in nature, they do have a touch of humour to them. Grok is a humanoid
Humanoid
A humanoid is something that has an appearance resembling a human being. The term first appeared in 1912 to refer to fossils which were morphologically similar to, but not identical with, those of the human skeleton. Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it...
alien, an experienced Space Policeman. His partner is injured in the first appearance and he gets assigned a new partner by the name of Smith, who he dubs 'Zero' which is derived from his service number. In this universe, Earth is not the origin of the human race, it is in fact a planet called Cappella VI, Earth having been the location of a crash of a colony ship some centuries before, from which the present population has descended, although it has regressed somewhat.
- 176-Grok and Zero
- 184-The Return of Grok and Zero
- 217-The Pirates of Penz-Anz
- 221-Beastworld
- 244-Double Trouble
- 278-Zero's Hour
Frank Carter. More commonly referred to as just 'Carter', he is a mandroid, in effect, part robotic, but not quite enough to be called a cyborg
Cyborg
A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
. His background is revealed in a later issue. Frank Carter was a perfectly normal police officer until he received a gun
Gun
A gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew-served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol,...
blast to the head. The severe head wound meant that pioneering cybernetic surgery was tried. He was given enhanced strength and reactions, but the part of his brain that contained emotions had been destroyed. His basic no-nonsense attitude to lawbreakers, and some would say overly brutal methods are constantly bringing him into conflict with his superiors.
- 179 Mandroid
- 191-Carter's Law
- 215-Carter and the Killer
- 220-Time Warp
- 228-The Secret of Ice Mountain
- 237-Rough Justice
- 239-Desolation City
- 243-Death Run
- 245-Rogue Mandroid
- 260-Carter Breaks Loose
- 265-The Termination
- 272-Carter's Fury
- 280 Carter and the Crazies
Starhawk. An intergalactic freelance troubleshooter, his real name is Sol Rynn. He answers distress calls from those in need who use a special card which slots into a computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
interface. Starhawk was one of the flagship stories in the short-lived DC Thomson comic The Crunch
The Crunch (comic)
The Crunch was an A4 British comic that ran from 20 January 1979 to 26 January 1980 after which it merged with The Hotspur. Its strips included:*The Kyser Experiment*Clancy and the Man*Arena*The Mantracker*Hitler Lives*The Walking Bombs...
. Starhawk also made a number of brief appearances in DC Thomsons Hotspur annual. His companion is a robot that goes by the simple name of Droid. He has a starship that he can remotely summon. The setting is the crumbling Earth Empire which has been ravaged by years of raiding from the alien Krell. Strangely enough, little background is given to the Krell themselves and the backstory of conflict between the Krell and that of Earth is never elaborated on. The result, instory though, is that much of the galaxy is in a state of lawlessness.
- 186-Starhawk
- 201-Return of Starhawk
- 222-Target...Starhawk
Skald. The Skald series of stories initially is set in the region of a castle where the population are enslaved by powerful 'warlocks'. The warlocks use energy weapons to dispense their own brand of justice and keep the population enslaved by fear. When Skald, a young herder finds out that he is to receive the 'collar of manhood', basically a life sentence in the mines performing hard labour, he rebels. Lashing out in anger, he kills one of the warlocks and flees the area. Later he meets with Linx, the Amazonian warrioress, a member of the matriarchal Yaba-Kel tribe. Many elements of the Skald stories centre around the fact that an Earth colony ship crash landed on the planet and advanced technology found its way into the hands of a select few people, and the constant struggle for this technology.
- 190-The Power of the Warlocks
- 241-Revenge of the Warlocks
- 267-Skald-The Saga Continues
- 274-Skald-The Ultimate Conflict
The Anglerre Series. This series of issues set in the fantasy kingdom of Anglerre follows the royal family
Royal family
A royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term imperial family appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate to describe the relatives of a reigning...
and their conflict against various aggressors. The first appearance, in issue 200 of Prince
Prince
Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...
Veyne was followed by a later issue which was a prequel showing Veyne's father, King Iagon. King Iagon had been vaguely referred to in Issue 200, both by saying that Veyne had just ascended to the throne on the death of his father, and a ship named the 'Royal Iagon'. Much of the storyline of the Royal House of Anglerre is entwined with the god Vishena and the Demon Sword, Cerastes, who will make its user invincible, but will also kill its wielder after an unspecified period of time. The nature of Anglerre's opponents seems to make heavy use of Demons. A recurring character within this series is that of Myrdan, a seemingly immortal figure of unspecified power who could said to have been inspired by both Gandalf
Gandalf
Gandalf is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In these stories, Gandalf appears as a wizard, member and later the head of the order known as the Istari, as well as leader of the Fellowship of the Ring and the army of the West...
from The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
and King Arthur's court adviser, Merlin. In the issue Demon Sword, Myrdan at one point seems to merge with Vishena, which hints that he could be an avatar of the god.
- 200-Demon Sword
- 224-Rune
- 231-Godstone
- 250-Sun Prince
- 271-The Triune Warrior
Solo. This series charts the adventures of Solo, the sole human survivor of a cryogenic sleeper ship. The charter of his vessel, the Telurian Quest, grants him ownership of a planet. Unfortunately, he finds that his planet is already inhabited as faster than light capable ships were launched some years after the Telurian ships. Solo was reared by an onboard android who educated him with tales of chivalry
Chivalry
Chivalry is a term related to the medieval institution of knighthood which has an aristocratic military origin of individual training and service to others. Chivalry was also the term used to refer to a group of mounted men-at-arms as well as to martial valour...
. Therefore Solo has a rather archaic way of looking at things and is also naive.
- 202-Lord of the Far Planet
- 229-Solo's Quest
The Robot Kid. One of the more humorous series of stories that later appeared. The initial Robot Kid story was set on a frontier planet under attack from bandits. The whole story had a quasi-western feel to it. The initial story had the townsfolk try to buy a Kelso Deathmek, a war robot, to protect them. What they got was a reprogrammed cinema usher. It's computerised mind had been loaded with all sorts of clichés and popular saying from Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
films. Indeed, there were homages throughout the issue with a character by the name of Angel Eyes, and another character who bore a resemblance to Lee Van Cleef
Lee Van Cleef
Lee Van Cleef was an American film actor who appeared mostly in Western and action pictures. His sharp features and piercing eyes led to his being cast as a villain in scores of films such as High Noon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Good The Bad and the Ugly.-Early life:Van Cleef was...
in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach in the title roles. The screenplay was written by Age & Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni and Leone, based on a story by Vincenzoni and Leone...
. With its body destroyed at the end of the story, the replacement body was manufactured by the Japanese arm of the company and was a parody of the many martial arts
Martial arts film
Martial arts film is a film genre. A sub-genre of the action film, martial arts films contain numerous fights between characters, usually as the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often as a method of storytelling and character expression and development. Martial arts are frequently...
movies. The third and final appearance was a parody of the Rambo-style movies.
- 204-The Robot Kid
- 232-The Return of the Robot Kid
- 273-The Robot Kid Strikes Back
External links
- Issues list
- Pictures of some of the covers
- A review of Starblazer
- Grant Morrison's Starblazer's, Fish1000 Comics
- A Starhawk tribute site features 3 Starblazer comics
- Blazing through the secrecy, Down the Tubes
- Starblazer checklist, Down the Tubes
- Starblazer: From the Command Deck, Down the Tubes, 20 July 2009
- Cubicle 7 Entertainment home of the licensed Starblazer roleplaying game