Dreadstar Definitive Collection: Part 1

Dreadstar #1-6

by Jim Starlin

The first complete chapter of Jim Starlin's epic saga, collected in two volumes, chronicling the adventures of Vanth Dreadstar, last survivor of the destroyed Milky Way Galaxy. Dreadstar finds himself transported to the Empirical Galaxy, where he is recruited by the sorcerer Syzygy Darklock to help bring an end to the 200-year-old war between the corrupt Monarchy and the fanatical Instrumentality.

Genres: Graphic Novels

192 pages, Paperback

Published August 31, 2004

About the author

James P. "Jim" Starlin 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. 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.

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).

When Marvel Comics wished to use the name of Captain Marvel for a new, different character,[citation needed] 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. (

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.

Reviews

[Tiag⊗ the Mutant · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's nothing here that Jim Starlin didn't do better for Marvel and DC, but it's still good campy fun.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting sf story about the eponymous Vanth Dreadstar. The hero assembles a team of outcasts and heroes to protect the citizens of the galaxy from the war between the church and the monarchy.

It feels rather colour by numbers, and might have been one of the more sophomoric items in Epic Illustrated.

I'm going to admit, the sequence between Willow and Zyzygy was rather disturbing and seemed a pretty clumsy handling of the subject.

I'll definitely pick up the second volume to see how it ends.

[Jdetrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jim Starlin has done some great things, but I definitely think Dreadstar has his best art and probably his best story. This can be a little exposition heavy, but the characters and plot are strong.