This is the second (following Howard Chaykin's American Flagg!) in a series of posts spotlighting less-often-read (by me) runs of three of my favorite series. Whenever I'm in the mood to re-read Dreadstar, I will generally go to the "Metamorphis Odyssey" (from Epic Illustrated to Eclipse Comics and back), or the beginning of the ongoing series (first at Epic, then at First). But there's another run I seldom re-read. I'll bet you thought I was going to say the Peter David/Angel Medina run, but it's not. No, the run I seldom get to is from First Comics, after Luke McDonnell took over the art but before Jim Starlin stopped writing, IOW #32-40. Actually, this time I started with #31, which basically recaps the entire saga up to this point. At the very end, Vanth Dreadstar amoc raey-owt a morf snekawa.
Jim Starlin provides the art for the first issue of the new direction, just long enough to introduce the new status quo. Vanth Dreadstar and company were responsible for the ovethrow of the Lord High Papal and the Instrumentality, but have been left completely out of the history books due to a general distrust of powered individuals. Oedi is now in charge of a clandestine group tasked with hunting down super-powered war criminals. Oedi runs the organization, but Skeevo is its nominal head. Sysygy Darklock is still around, but his physical and mental health is deteriorating rapidly. He is obsessed with rescuing Dr. Delphi from the other dimension he fell into and with the return of the Twelve Gods. Willow is a recluse due to inability to control her increased mental powers. Tueton, Ultra Violet and Omni are also part of Oedi's organization. New members include Iron Angel (a cyborg) and Fixx (a "Guy Gardner" type). Oedi offers Dreadstar a job on his team.
Other than Dreadstar, Luke McDonnell is best known for his work on Iron Man, the "Detroit" era of the Justice League of America, and the Suicide Squad. (I wrote a letter to Marvel shortly after McDonnell came to Iron Man and I am happy it wasn't published.) More recently he has been the colorist on IDW's Popeye and has written the introductions to Marvel Masterwoks Iron Man volumes 16 & 17. He comes across as a nice, likeable, humble guy.
During the course of the first few missions, Ultra Violet commits suicide, Sysygy Darklock retrieves Doctor Delphi's body from the dimension it was trapped in, and Willow meges her consciousness with the heart of Central computer, sacrificing her mortal body in order to unite her consciousness with the machine, giving the real source of power in the Empirical Galaxy a much-needed conscience. I found Doc Delphi's fate particularly disappointing. He disappeared during the Epic Comics days, but after it was announced that Jim Starlin would take his creator-owned property to First, the home of the pan-dimensional city of Cynosure. Naturally I assumed Dreadstar and company would reconnect with Delphi there at some point. It may have been predictable, but satisfying. Instead, it was revealed that Dr. Delphi had starved to death after having been trapped in a dimension with no food or water for more than two years. After that, in his finest moment, Syzygy Darklock found and defeated the Twelve Gods of the Instrumentality, but lost all belief in himself in the process and he, too, perished. Then Dreadstar's next assignment leads him to the pan-dimensional city of Cynosure and the crossiver series Crossroads.
As soon as Dreadstar arrives in Cynosure, his role in the destruction of the Milky Way Galaxy in his home dimension bring him to the attention of the alien Merk, and thus to Nexus. For those who may not know, Nuxus dreams of mass murderers and is then compelled by the Merk to seek tham out and assassinate them. Crossroads #5, the last issue a a series of standalone crossovers is, in my estimation, the best (or at least my favorite). It is written by Mike Baron, pencilled by Luke McDonnell, and features Dreadstar and Nexus and Grimjack. Because it is written by Nexus scribe Mike Baron, one might expect that it fits well within the continuity of that title, and it does, but it fits equally well within the continuity of Grimjack. If fact, if Crossroad #5 had been pencilled by Tom Mandrake, I might well consider it to be more of a Grimjack story than a Dreadstar one.
After Crossroads, Willow disbands the group of bounty hunters he had been working with and has Skeevo arrested for embezzlement. Dreadstar briefly contemplates suicide, but untimately decides to bust Skeevo from jail and flee the galaxy (and Jim starlin decides to turn the series over to Peter David and Angel Medina). All in all, this run of Dreadstar (#32-40) is fairly depressing, what with the deaths of Ultra Violet, Doc Delphi and Syzygy Darklock, plus the fate of Willow. Reading these all in a sitting reminds me of why I don't often revisit this run. Jim Starlin explains.
"I finally had to break my contract with Marvel for non-payment and took Dreadstar over to First Publishing. I finished my 'Monarchy/Imstrumentality' storyline at a publisher different from the one it had started at. To my knowledge, this situation is unique to Dreadstar. But I was thoroughly burt out from the horrible disappearing paycheck experience, and couldn't stick with the title long after the transfer to First. Initially, I gave up only on the art, but finally, couldn't get it up enough to write Dreadstar, either. Not because of anything that happened at first comics. No, Marvel had finally turned me off to doing comics, altogether. Peter David came on to Dreadstar as its new writer and did a fine job on it. Myself, I finally decided the time had come to explore publishing possibilities outside of the comic book world."
Jim Starlin finally returned to the character in Dreadstar Returns (2021) from Ominous Press. At the time it was announced that Dreadstar vs. The Inevitable would be "Coming Soon," but so far nada.
This discussion continues in DREADSTAR RETURNS.
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"Dreadstar vs. The Inevitable" was published. There was a Kickstarter in early 2023 and apparently the book itself was published in April 2024.
While I am at it, I may as well mention that IIRC First Comics also had a brief meeting of Dreadstar and Nexus (explicitly after Crossroads) in a one-shot. I think it was late 1990's "The Gift".
While I am at it, I may as well mention that IIRC First Comics also had a brief meeting of Dreadstar and Nexus (explicitly after Crossroads) in a one-shot. I think it was late 1990's "The Gift".
I'll check that out later. I have read The Gift only once, when it was originally puiblished. Nexus (and Thanos, too) made cameo appearances in Dreadstar Returns.
If anyone reading this can give me some help fining a copy of Dreadstar vs. The Inevitable (at a realistic price) I'd greatly appreciate it.
Here is a VIDEO I found about Dreadstar vs. The Inevitable (apparently the second of five Dreadstar graphic novels he is working on), but I still haven't figured out how to actually get one.
THE GIFT:
I may not have read this since it was first released. Here's what I remember about it. In 1990, I saw it as little more than First's ploy to use it's best-know characters (Nexus, Grimjack, Badger and Grimjack) to promote some of its new series (Squalor, Meta 4 and Zero Tolerance). The framing sequence is by John Ostrander and Joe Staton, and each individual chapter by the current creative team of each respective series. The story is linked tenuously by the framing sequence, but none of the individual chapters are actually necessary. I remember there was a contest to win the cover art (by Matt Wagner), but I didn't really want it. I suppose now I could have cut off the top half. (jk)
Re-reading it today, however, I realize this "holiday special" does convey the Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Druid and Pagan beliefs of its sundry characters. I think it fits best in Grimjack continuity, as it features Dys (from Grimjack #53-54 & #64). I recently re-read all of Grimjack and was remembering one scene I didn't encounter; I realize now it was from The Gift. Regarding Dreadstar, he and Nexus do meet again in Munden's bar at the end of the story, but avoid each other. Dreadstar thinks, "Here's hoping Nexus doesn't recognize me," and Nexus thinks, "He looks like Dreadstar, bit i killed Dreadstar, so he can't be Dreadstar... unless it's Dreadstar before I killed him, in which case I'd better do nothing. I hate time travel!" Yet they are depicted as having a beer together at the same table in the comic's concluding "jam" pin-up. Now there's a piece of artwork I'd like to own.
At this point I have had no luck finding a copy of Dreadstar vs. The Inevitable, but I've got some feelers out there.