Me and my friends were regular readers of EPIC Magazine as well as its awesome storyline METAMORPHOSIS ODYSSEY, written and painted by Jim Starlin, (who we’d already loved for his work on WARLOCK), and so I was justifiably excited when a classmate pulled out a new comic he’d picked up just the other day- a comic by Jim Starlin called DREADSTAR!
There was Oedi, the cat/man friend of Vanth’s who was the lone survivor of his race, the wild and woolly (and not just a little bit Hank McCoy-ish) Skeevo, and last but not least, the pretty telepath, Willow.
Willow actually had appeared in the Metamorphosis Odyssey strip, although she looked quite a bit different then- She wasn’t a redhead, and her brown hair looked styled more like Bonnie Franklin in One Day at a Time! But she changed, as many people do (or, rather, was re-vamped for the series), and I for one, was all for it!
Willow seemed to be the character that was the most “human” of the bunch- unlike the warrior-type mentality of the other members, she had a lot of emotional issues to deal with, and this made her the most accesible person the reader could relate to.
Willow was put through so many overwhelming trials, from dealing with blindness to the loss of her mother, and though it is quite commonplace now, I believe Dreadstar was one of the first comics to deal with the pain of sexual abuse, bothy physically and mentally.
Every time she overcame an obstacle, she grew stronger, and we actually see her getting wiser as the series progresses!
PS: I’ve always been a fan of Jim Starlin’s art, and always loved his depictions of the female of the species, (see entry for Heater Delight for more on THAT) But it wa in a issue with guest penciller Jim Sherman in issue #24 that I found myself really liking how Willow looked- a lot less stern and a bit more girly, if that’s a good thing…some may disagree! Ahahahaha!
Willow
Dreadstar
by Jim Starlin
