Star Reach #1-14, 16-18 (1974-1979)

I hope someone has Issue #15. :)

English | CBZ | 17 Issues

Star*Reach #1-14, 16-18 (1974-1979)
Publisher: Star Reach Publications
Published: March - May 1984

Star*Reach began in the early 1970s in response to the editorial restrictions of those times in mainstream comics. There were virtually no opportunities for heroic stories outside of the superhero form. CONAN had just begun publication and was still fighting an uphill battle for acceptance on the newsstands. That was it for fantasy; there was literally no science-fiction, except that which was shoe-horned into the superhero strips.

April 1974 is usually cited as the beginning of Star*Reach, since that was the release date of the first issue of this comic. However, the company can trace its beginnings to about two years earlier, when Mike Friedrich began discussions with pioneer comics store owner Bob Sidebottom in San Jose, California about publishing their own comic for the then-nascent specialty store and convention circuit.

A little known fact is that the first comic they were going to do was a secondary Robert E. Howard character to be adapted by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith. But one thing and another came in the way (no doubt not the least of which was justifiable caution on Roy and Barry's part about making a deal with a 23-year old kid who was talking about competing with Marvel and DC) and that project eventually wound up being published in a Marvel black-and-white magazine.

In the fall of 1973, Mike Friedrich journeyed to New York to renew friendships and acquaintances among the writers and artists there. He was staying with Jim Starlin in his Hell's Kitchen apartment. They'd worked together on IRON MAN and CAPTAIN MARVEL by this time. Jim was going through one of his disputes with somebody and he had these stories he wanted to do. Mike Friedrich stepped in and offered to publish them. At the same time another good friend of Mike Friedrich's, Howard Chaykin, was developing his "Cody Starbuck" idea. Jim and Howard put the two stories together into a package, which was expanded at the last minute with some mindless but delightful fluff from a newcomer named Walt Simonson and the wry wit of Steve Skeates.

Jim Starlin was one of the major forces behind the formation of the Marvel "Epic Comics" imprint, contributing his DREADSTAR series. The "death" theme begun in these early stories continued through many guises and culminated in Jim's widely acclaimed DEATH OF CAPTAIN MARVEL graphic novel.