FSC: DREADSTAR #1

In 1982, the comic book marketplace was expanding. The Direct Sales network of comic book specialty shops had proven itself as a viable alternative to mainstream newsstand distribution, and so suddenly all sort of publishers were jumping into this new market with a variety of releases, some more polished than others. It was an exciting time to be a reader. One of those who were most aggressive about the new marketplace was Marvel, and it’s no wonder. At this point, Marvel’s sales made up close to 70% of this market, so it’s no surprise that the organization would tailor new initiatives to take advantage of that success. One of those initiatives was the creation of Epic Comics, an imprint spun off from the regular EPIC ILLUSTRATED magazine in which creators could retain the rights to their own work. It was seen as a way of winning back key creators who had left the fold in part due to changes in copyright law, giving them a place where they could bring their ideas to market backed by Marvel’s bankroll and clout in the industry. The first Epic Comics release was DREADSTAR #1, the continuation of a storyline that creator Jim Starlin had initially spooled out in the pages of EPIC ILLUSTRATED.

I had been a regular reader of EPIC ILLUSTRATED and Starlin’s METAMORPHOSIS ODYSSEY had in particular grabbed my attention. It seemed more sophisticated and adult than most of the rest of what I was reading–and that wasn’t just down to the bare breasts that appearing in EPIC ILLUSTRATED permitted. The strip was presented primarily in black and white, with certain chapters painted in full color, and I found it to be a gripping cosmic saga. So when Starlin decided to continue to produce material with the surviving characters, first in the one-off graphic novel THE PRICE for Eclipse and later in a MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL dedicated to Vanth Dreadstar, I was there for both of them. There was an additional DREADSTAR story that saw print in a later issue of EPIC ILLUSTRATED but which had been created to run as the lead feature in BIZARRE ADVENTURES, Marvel’s black and white magazine. But BIZARRE ADVENTURES changed format, and the decision was made to run that one story in EPIC ILLUSTRATED and instead launch DREADSTAR as the first of the new line of creator-owned Epic Comics.

And it has to be said, DREADSTAR #1 was an attractive package. It cost more than a typical comic book of the era, priced at $1.50, but it was on much better paper with much brighter coloring. And the story took up the entire issue, a whopping 32 pages. However, not everything was a plus-up, not in my opinion. As i said earlier, I liked the fact that METAMORPHOSIS OSYSSEY and its offspring felt more sophisticated than a typical Marvel comic. That all went away with this issue. Rather than being painted, the artwork was delivered in the typical pen and ink style. What’s more, there was a subtle shift in the manner in which the characters were depicted. To be blunt, they started looking and feeling more like typical super heroes, like figures that wouldn’t have seemed out of place in DC’s OMEGA MEN or the like. This shouldn’t have been a big problem for me as I liked super heroes, but it really was. It felt like the specific flavor that I came to DREADSTAR for had evaporated overnight. And so this first issue was the only one that I bought, at least as it was coming out.

The truth is that METAMORPHOSIS ODYSSEY and its offspring weren’t really as worldly and adult as my younger self had thought them. Looking back, they really do feel like a hybrid, a cross between Jim Starlin’s typical cosmic sagas and the prevailing influence of STAR WARS upon popular culture. The main thrust of the ongoing comic book, at least at the outset, was a return to one of Starlin’s favorite themes: overthrowing an oppressive religious regime, in this case the Instrumentality, a political/mystical/religious order that owes a little bit to the Jedi/Sith. Dreadstar and his gang were cast as an opposition to this power, as a rebel alliance one might say. This was all delivered with Starlin’s typical storytelling aplomb, but to me, when place din contrast to his WARLOCK series of some years earlier, it paled in comparison. It felt more populous, more dumbed down, more action-forward. I knew a few of my fellow fans who absolutely adored it, but the dividing line seemed to be whether or not they’d previously read WARLOCK. I had, so I remained underwhelmed. In many ways, DREADSTAR felt like the dividing line between the loosie-goosey mind-expanding Marvel of the early 1970s and the more rigidly quality-controlled Marvel of Jim Shooter’s era. DREADSTAR was a competent product, but it lacked the anarchic spirit and the philosophy of Starlin’s earlier series.

So what did DREADSTAR #1 have to offer? Well it began with an extensive recounting of the story so far, a recap which took up a full ten pages, even if it was all told entertainingly. In it, we learn of the decades-long war between the Instrumentality and the Monarchy that has plagued the galaxy, and how an ill-considered decision to attack the planet that he’d settled on resulted in Dreadstar’s wife being killed and Dreadstar himself once again taking up his sword to sort out the mess. Prior to this, Dreadstar had been the only survivor of the Milky Way Galaxy, which he’d helped to destroy in order to eliminate a prodigious evil, so he was used to committing genocide on a massive scale. And now, alongside the sorcerer Syzygy Darklock, the cat-hybrid Odie and the telepathic Willow, Dreadstar has already lopped off the head of the Monarchy, putting the remains of it under his control, and turns his attention to the Instrumentality.

In this issue, that takes the form of Dreadstar and company striking against one of the Instrumentality’s Treasury Stations, where the stolen wealth of the galaxy is kept. The place houses a tenth of the Church’s wealth, and Dreadstar intends to use that money to finance the Instrumentality’s overthrow. But first he’s got to get it. Which he does by fighting his way through waves of enemy combatants, with Willow guarding his back and Odie playing “man in the chair” back on their ship. So this is primarily an action comic, and when the Instrumentality sends in a Destroyer to eliminate the threat to the Church’s bankroll, it’s simply one more obstacle that Dreadstar needs to overcome through guts and moxie and strategy and superior firepower. There isn’t a whole lot of philosophy or introspection on display here–this is Starlin hitting hard and striking fast, which is probably why I didn’t care for it. The action is expertly delivered, but I was seeking something with a bit more meat on its bones.

As the issue wraps up and Dreadstar’s group reconvenes on their ship, Vanth opines that with as much money as they now possess, they’ll be able to begin work on “Plan M”, their master strategy for taking out the opposition. What Plan M was all about would comprise the first major storyline of the series. Elsewhere, the big villain of the series, the Lord High Papal, having learned of Dreadstar making off with the Treasury earnings petitions his dark gods to grant him the power to obliterate this threat to their church. He’s rewarded for his pleas with cosmic power, and it’s clear that Dreadstar and company will be the target of his wrath. To Be Continued. But not for me. As I’ve indicated earlier, this wasn’t what I wanted from the series, and between the high cover price and the bevy of alternatives as well as the fact that any appeal this sort of story had for me was already being scratched by other series, I left DREADSTAR by the wayside.