by Steve Englehart (Author, Contributor), Chris
Claremont (Author, Contributor), Doug
Moench (Author, Contributor),
Publisher : Marvel (July 9, 2014)
Softcover, 390 pages
“I conceived something very large. My hero would go from
being an unpleasant, introverted jerk to the most cosmic being in the universe,
and I would tie it into my then-new interest in astrology. After his earthbound
beginning, his mind would be opened step by step, with a fast-action story on
Mercury, a love story on Venus, a war story on Mars, and so on out to the edge
of the solar system, and then beyond. But—after his earthbound beginning, where
I established him as an unpleasant, introverted jerk, I left Marvel, so no one
ever saw what he was to become” Steven Engleheart, co-creator of Star Lord.
Many people won’t know the character Star Lord outside
of the two Guardians of the Galaxy films, and I must admit to being one of
them. He was a minor character for most of my time collecting comics from the
Marvel Universe. From what I can tell from these early issues of the magazine
Marvel Preview he really wasn’t meant to be. It was an attempt by the company
to tap into the rapidly expanding science fiction market. As such none of the
stories here reference any other part of the Marvel Universe and are pretty
straight forward science fiction fare, with an extremely powerful protagonist
who has a living ship and other advanced gadgets at his command. Most were
written in the ‘70s - except for the
mini-series from 1997 at the end of the book - and the writing reflects that
time period. After these appearances, the character disappeared until the 2004
Annihilation event where he finally becomes part of the 616 standard Marvel
Universe.
Written by a young Chris Claremont, pre-X-Men days,
what really stands out here is the amazing artwork. Perhaps the only thing
which is memorable about the character is the amazing array of artists who
worked on his title. John Bryne, Bernie Wrightson, Bill Sienkiewicz, Gene Colan,
Carmine Infantino, along with a host of others. The authorial duties were taken
over by Doug Moench for a few issues of Marvel Spotlight. These are the best Star Lord stories in the
book.
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