I first discovered Vanth Dreadstar in the pages of EPIC Magazine, as my friend was a big fan of the serial, but it wasn't until a regular comic came out (under EPIC Magazine's new line Epic Comics) that I really became a huge fan myself! Ifollowed the comic for its whole initial run, including its' jump to First Comics, until writer/creator Jim Starlin kind of moved away from illustrating it and finally giving up writing it as well.
I never got into the later Peter David written stuff (though I'm a big fan of his), but the Starlin stories are a joy to return to and re-read every so often, and I felt it was the time to re-life the exploits of Vanth Dreadstar and his Galactic Crew!
Back in Intermediate School, I had a friend who was a BIG fan of the Jim Starlin strip "Metamorphosis Odyssey" in EPIC Magazine, and through him I learned the basics of the anti-hero Vanth Dreadstar and his mystical sword of power. When Epic decided to branch off into a comics line and one of the flagship titles was going to be new adventures starrring Dreadstar, I jumped at the opportunity to get in at a "jumping off point"!
Well, I LOVED that comic throughout all my years in High School, (being a bi-monthly book, it had only reached 26 issues by the time I graduated) but by the time Dreadstar moved onto FIRST comics (after Epic Comics shuttered its doors) with its first issue numbered at "27" to continue the Epic Comics storyline, I had largely moved onto other things. New writers and strips filled my time, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Los Bros Hernandez were all things I was more into, so my Dreadstar collection got put away, only to be visited from time to time when I felt nostalgic.
Well, one of those nostalgic times came this past month, I took out all 27 of my beloved Dreadstar issues and re-read them again from start to finish. Man, they still hold up after all this time, and in fact, looking at it as an adult I can see how much the storylines and artwork have influenced MY storytelling style and art! Amazing, they're still as good as I remember them!
In fact, I made me curious as to how the FIRST Comic line did. Like I said, I only bought issue #27 (since it was the conclusion to a story started in the Epic Line) but didn't venture further. I remember reading that Jim Starlin passed off his writing and art duties to others anyway, so there wasn't much reason to check it out.. but how many fo those issues DID he do before handing ove rthe reins?
Going online and doing a bit of research, i was stunned to find dthat Starlin had done a good 11+ more issues- these were issues I NOW wanted to read very badly!
I made a quick trip to online comic store sellers Lone Star Comics, and was happy to see they had ALL the Starlin penned issues I was missing, issues 28 all the way to 38 (though not the final issues of the last story, issues 39 and 40, which Starlin wrote, but didn't illustrate) so I didn't waste time sending in that order!
Just today, my shipment arrived, and I have to tell you, it's pretty freaking exciting seeing all these "new" Jim Starlin illustrated Dreadstar covers! Can't wait to read them and catch up on the years I'd been away! along with my order, i'd also picked up a new collection of Dreadstar collection ALL of his old Metamorphosis Odyssey stories form Epic Magazine so I'm Totally gonna be in Dreadstar Heaven this weekend!
After reading al of these, who knows? I may even be excited enough to check out the issues that came AFTER Jim Starlin's departure- Peter David scribed those issues, and I DO love his work on X-Factor and that classic run on the HULK- so best to never say never!!
