''Starslayer: The Log of the Jolly Roger'' was an American

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. ...

series created by Mike Grell.

Publication history

Grell originally created ''Starslayer'' for

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with their f ...

, but plans to publish it were halted after the mass cancellation of titles known as the

DC Implosion The "DC Explosion" and "DC Implosion" were two events in 1978 – the first an official marketing campaign, the second a sardonic reference to it – in which DC Comics expanded their roster of publications, then abruptly cut it back. The DC Explos ...

. Instead, he offered it to

Pacific Comics Pacific Comics (PC) was an American comic book publisher that was active from 1981 to 1984. It was also a chain of comics shops and a distributor. It began at a San Diego, California, comic book shop owned by brothers Bill and Steve Schanes. Alo ...

, who released it as a six issue series in 1982. It was originally intended as an ongoing series per Pacific Comics's publisher

Bill Schanes William D. Schanes (born 1958) is an American publishing executive, active for many years in the comic book industry. One of the founders of Pacific Comics, Schanes later worked for many years for Diamond Comic Distributors. Career Bill and his b ...

but Grell's developing relationship with the new

First Comics First Comics was an American comic book publisher that was active from 1983 to 1991, known for titles like '' American Flagg!'', '' Grimjack'', '' Nexus'', ''Badger'', '' Dreadstar'', and '' Jon Sable''. Along with competitors like Pacific Comic ...

and previous working relationship with their editorial director Mike Gold (who had been Grell's editor at DC) swayed him to release future issues with First. In August 1983

continued the series, starting with issue #7, with Grell writing and providing breakdown art with finishes by Lenin Delsol. Grell left the series after issue #8, and was replaced by writer John Ostrander and Delsol as sole artist. Later contributors to the series were Tim Truman, Hilary Barta, and Tom Sutton. The final issue, #34, came out November 1985. Grell has stated that the character was created as the inverse of his

character

Warlord A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...

. Issues 2 & 3 saw the introduction of Dave Stevens' Rocketeer as a back-up feature. In issue #10, the character Grimjack was introduced in the same fashion; he would later receive his own title. Another character that appeared as backup feature was Groo the Wanderer, who also later received his own title at Pacific. In 1995 Grell released an expanded version of the original limited series through Acclaim Comics. The expanded version, titled ''Starslayer: The Director's Cut'', ran for eight issues.

Series overview

The first six issue limited series introduces the main character Torin Mac Quillon, a

Celt The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...

ic warrior from the time of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Medite ...

. Just before he is killed while fighting a group of Roman soldiers, he is pulled into the distant future by Tamara, a descendant of his wife after she remarried. Torin is asked to join the crew of the spaceship ''Jolly Roger'' in their fight against the oppressive regime that is ruling the Earth. Torin agrees, and he and his new shipmates successfully save the Earth's dying sun by the end of the first series. When First Comics restarted the series, Torin and his crewmates travel throughout the galaxy and end up in

Cynosure Cynosure (from Greek Κυνοσούρα ''kunosoura'' "dog's tail") may refer to: *Polaris, in its role as pole star *metaphorically: :*a guiding principle :*a focus of attention *Cynosura (nymph), nymph in Greek mythology *Cynosure (comics) Fir ...

, the nexus of all realities for First Comics, and gain a crew of pirates. At some point Torin travels back to the solar system with a device that can cause a star to implode into a black hole. He uses this weapon on the sun in the course of battle to destroy his enemies. Just at the point of implosion Torin speaks the name of the Celtic goddess of death, Morrigan, effectively sacrificing the star to her, which brings her back into existence. She proclaims Torin to be her avatar and orders him to go into the galaxy and kill in her name. Torin rebels, which is the basis of the remainder of the title's run.

Notes

{{reflist

External links

''Starslayer''
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Archived
from the original on October 23, 2017.
Starslayer at the Grand Comics Database
Pacific Comics titles First Comics titles 1982 comics debuts Comics by John Ostrander Dystopian comics Science fiction comics Comics about time travel