more free comics?!

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big box of comics, comic books, Dreadstar, Eclipse Comics, Epic Comics, Jim Starlin, MiracleMan, Neil Gaiman, review

Just when I’d wrapped up a series of posts about the big box of free comics I got thanks to readers who used my affiliate links to find books at MyComicShop.com, another note from the retailer arrived to say I’d earned an additional $80 in store credit. That same week, I’d found a good deal on eBay to replace one of my favorite (and previously sold) action/crime series, DC/Vertigo’s The Losers, so I was left with very few holes in my collection. The Dark Horse Conan stories I’d like to read again were either too pricey or currently out of stock, so I dug around in my short boxes until it hit me: I still don’t have the complete original Miracleman series!

Over the years, I’d tracked down affordable copies in respectable condition of issues #1–20, and this quest was aided near the end by Marvel’s reprints of the original series. As Marvel made new, high-quality reprints available, the ridiculous prices for the original books decreased. Issue #15, one of the last gems to enter my collection, used to run from $150 up to several hundred bucks. Now I have a copy in wonderful, though not perfect, condition — and it didn’t cost an arm and a leg.

I didn’t worry too much about collecting issues #21–24 because Marvel reprinted #21 and 22 in their repackaging of Neil Gaiman’s Golden Age storyline, and it seemed that Gaiman was slated to finish the Silver Age story that ended with a cliffhanger and was never completed due to Eclipse Comics’ demise. But here we are, years later, and we still haven’t seen the end of that story. I’m glad for Gaiman’s recent success with American Gods, but it isn’t a project that interests me. The gods I want to read about have “Miracle” in their names!

So, armed with some store credit, I picked up issues #21-23 of the original series, leaving me with only the rare (and still a bit pricey) #24 on my wish list. I’ve read them all before, thanks to scans posted online, but it’s just a different and more satisfying experience to read the physical copies.

Those three books ate up most of my store credit, but I had just enough left over to pick up another story I’ve read before but was partially incomplete in my collection: The Price by Jim Starlin. Sure, I have the color “remastered” version that was the Dreadstar Annual, but I have never seen nor owned the original magazine-sized black-and-white edition, and I just love the black-and-white painted art of the original Metamorphosis Odyssey that appeared in Epic Illustrated and started the whole Dreadstar saga.

The original art reveals just how much the coloring/painting process enhanced the artwork’s mood and the story’s vibrancy. The original feels cold compared to the color version. It lacks the brilliant reds of the robes worn by members of the Church of the Instrumentality, the eye-popping colors that bring various cosmic and mystical energies to life on the page, and the powerful emotions suggested by the reprint’s color artwork.

However, the front and back-cover paintings are rendered in their original full-color and full-size glory, unlike in the reprint where they are shrunk and surrounded by additional cover elements that distract from their beauty—a complaint that at least one reader expressed in the original letters column of Dreadstar when the Annual was discussed.

I’m pleased to now have both versions of The Price in my Dreadstar collection, and the original was the one piece I’ve felt was missing over the years. How I assembled, lost, and re-assembled the entire original series four times is a saga of collector triumph and tragedy, but I’m happy to now have every issue I ever wanted from one of my all-time favorite stories in any medium.

Now if we could just see the end of Miracleman, all would be right with the universe.

Thank you, readers and fans of sequential art for visiting this site and using it to find the books you want!

Collectors’ Guide:

Miracleman #1-24 (original 1985 series, Eclipse Comics)

Miracleman (reprint series by Marvel Comics, includes original issues #1-16)

Miracleman Golden Age (reprint series by Marvel, includes original issues #17-22 )

The Price (original magazine-sized b&w edition, Eclipse Comics)

Dreadstar Annual #1 (full-color reprint of the original, Epic/Marvel comics)

Jim Starlin’s Psychic Battle Motif: Dreadstar 2

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Dreadstar, Epic Comics, Indie Comics, Jim Starlin, Willow

We include this scene from Dreadstar #2 in our Psychic Battle series even though it is not formally a battle. What we see here is different side of Starlin’s theme of psychic union or merger. Here, our protagonists are not vying for supremacy but seeking to cooperatively merge. Jim Starlin depicts their faces merging, so that they become one being together on the psychic plane.

While there is a scene within this scene in which Syzygy asserts his dominance over Willow to get at what is obstructing her powers, his goals are far different than what we saw yesterday in the battle between Willow and Monalo. Syzygy seeks to empower her. To this end, he brings her to a white light. It embodies the pure, unsullied essence of the human spirit — an image to which Willow would return for strength and comfort many, many times.

Collector’s Guide: From Dreadstar #2; Epic, 1983. Reprinted in Dreadstar and Company #2.

Jim Starlin’s Psychic Battle Motif: Dreadstar 29

Tags

Dreadstar, First Publishing, Indie Comics, Jim Starlin, Monalo, Willow

In Dreadstar #29, two telepaths battle on the psychic plane. As the metaphorical violence escalates, they become locked in a battle for supremacy of identity. Monalo, the evil telepath, attempts to absorb or erase his opponent’s ego boundaries. He wants to take over her entire being. The good telepath, Willow, asserts herself against this onslaught — and the battle threatens to tear them both apart.

Jim Starlin depicts their bodies in a merged being, spilt down the center, with characteristics from both. You can see the many similarities between this page from 1987 and yesterday’s page from 2002, a battle between Moondragon and Doctor Strange in Infinity Abyss.

Collector’s Guide: From Dreadstar #29; 1987, First Publishing

Power – Like All Things in Life – Has Its Price!

Tags

Dreadstar, Jim Starlin, Metamorphosis Odyssey, Syzygy Darlock, The Price

Behold the tale of Syzygy Darklock, cursed with saving the galaxy! We found color scans of Jim Starlin’s The Price and thought you might enjoy them. Eclipse published the original in black and white — the only chapter of Starlin’s Metamorphosis Odyssey not published under the Epic imprint. Here, in the pages of the only Dreadstar Annual, Jim’s painted artwork comes to life in color.

In this scene, Syzygy confronts the demon who murdered his brother. The demon reveals he was bound by another and forced to commit the killing. The demon takes Syzygy to a plane of mystic power so that Syzygy can exact revenge for both of them. But, the gaining of this power has painful consequences.

In later scenes, Syzygy must gain even more power, and the sacrifices become even more terrible. Dude, this is one twisted story! But, it taught us a very important lesson: Power, like all things in life, has its price.

Collector’s Guide: From Dreadstar Annual #1; Epic. Originally printed in black and white in The Price graphic novel; Eclipse.

Fans of Syzygy Darklock will enjoy Jim Starlin’s earlier, unrelated character Darklon the Mystic as explored on Diversions of the Groovy Kind. Darklon’s first adventure was also called The Price. Groove has the black and white originals. You can also buy the color reprint of Darklon’s complete saga.

Metamorphosis Odyssey Chapter 3: Juliet!

Tags

Aknaton, Dreadstar, Epic Illustrated, Jim Starlin, Juliet, Metamorphosis Odyssey

What can we say about Metamorphosis Odyssey? This is why Guttenberg invented the printing press! It’s what the ancient Egyptians hoped for when they first put words and pictures together on a piece of papyrus! The Iliad? A warm-up. Beowulf? Amateurs. The Brothers Karamazov? Not even close. So read it, buy it, and store 1000 copies in a weatherproof, impact-resistant time capsule for future generations.

Collector’s Guide:
If you must have it all, you need Epic Illustrated #1-9 plus #15, The Price graphic novel (or Dreadstar Annual #1), and the Dreadstar graphic novel. That sets you up for Dreadstar #1-26 at Epic and #27-40 at First Comics.

Whoa! There goes the kids’ college fund! But don’t worry: You can read the 10-page “Cliff Notes” version at Planets Disappeared In Atomic Infernos! You’ll also enjoy the chapter where Oedi and Dreadstar first meet Willow.

Now get ready for action!

Metamorphosis Odyssey Chapter 2: Za!

Tags

Aknaton, Dreadstar, Epic Illustrated, Jim Starlin, Metamorphosis Odyssey, Za

What can we say about Metamorphosis Odyssey? This is why Guttenberg invented the printing press! It’s what the ancient Egyptians hoped for when they first put words and pictures together on a piece of papyrus! The Iliad? A warm-up. Beowulf? Amateurs. The Brothers Karamazov? Not even close. So read it, buy it, and store 1000 copies in a weatherproof, impact-resistant time capsule for future generations.

Collector’s Guide:
If you must have it all, you need Epic Illustrated #1-9 plus #15, The Price graphic novel (or Dreadstar Annual #1), and the Dreadstar graphic novel. That sets you up for Dreadstar #1-26 at Epic and #27-40 at First Comics.

Whoa! There goes the kids’ college fund! But don’t worry: You can read the ten-page “Cliff Notes” version at Planets Disappeared In Atomic Infernos! You’ll also enjoy the chapter where Oedi and Dreadstar first meet Willow.

Now let’s do this!

Metamorphosis Odyssey Chapter 1: Aknaton!

Tags

Aknaton, Dreadstar, Epic Illustrated, Infinity Horn, Jim Starlin, Metamorphosis Odyssey, Osirosian, Zygotean

What can we say about Metamorphosis Odyssey? This is why Guttenberg invented the printing press! It’s what the ancient Egyptians hoped for when they first put words and pictures together on a piece of papyrus! The Iliad? A warm-up. Beowulf? Amateurs. The Brothers Karamazov? Not even close. So read it, buy it, and store 1000 copies in a weatherproof, impact-resistant time capsule for future generations.

Collector’s Guide:
If you must have it all, you need Epic Illustrated #1-9 plus #15, The Price graphic novel (or Dreadstar Annual #1), and the Dreadstar graphic novel. That sets you up for Dreadstar #1-26 at Epic and #27-40 at First Comics.

Whoa! There goes the kids’ college fund! But don’t worry: You can read the 10-page “Cliff Notes” version at Planets Disappeared In Atomic Infernos! You’ll also enjoy the chapter where Oedi and Dreadstar first meet Willow.

Now let’s rock this thing!

Epic Illustrated 15: Dreadstar and Oedi Meet Willow!

Tags

Dreadstar, Epic Illustrated, Jim Starlin, Metamorphosis Odyssey, Oedi, Willow, Willow 327

This is the final chapter of Metamorphosis Odyssey to appear in Epic Illustrated. From here, Jim Starlin launched the ongoing Dreadstar series. You learn more of the origin of Willow in Dreadstar #2. Here, Oedi (the cat man) and Vanth Dreadstar run into a spot of trouble on a mission. Vanth shows us – and Willow – a little something about the power of believing in yourself.

Collector’s Guide: From Epic Illustrated #15. If you must have it all, you need Epic Illustrated #1-9 plus #15, The Price graphic novel (or Dreadstar Annual #1), and the Dreadstar graphic novel. That sets you up for Dreadstar #1-26 at Epic and #27-40 at First Comics.

Whoa! There goes the kids’ college fund! But don’t worry: You can read the “Cliff Notes” version at Planets Disappeared In Atomic Infernos!

More Than an Untrained Mind Can Handle!

Tags

Blowout, DC Comics Presents, Dreadstar, Elastic Four, Jim Starlin, Superman

Jim Starlin re-worked many of his older ideas in Dreadstar. Take for example the cover of DC Comics Presents #93: Superman meets the Elastic Four! (Believe us, the cover is the best part of this issue…) All these stretchy dudes bring to mind the cover of Dreadstar #21!

Today’s gallery features the scene from Dreadstar #21 where the teleportation drive blows up. Plenty of distorted bodies and Ditko-esque special effects here!

Collector’s Guide:
– From DC Comics Presents #93.
– From Dreadstar #21.

 

Planets Disappeared in Atomic Infernos!

Tags

Dreadstar, Epic Comics, Epic Illustrated, Indie Comics, Jim Starlin, Metamorphosis Odyssey

It’s no secret Dreadstar is our favorite story of all time. We got hooked by the six-issue reprint Dreadstar and Company, right off the newstand at the drugstore. Then we graduated to the direct market series Dreadstar on high quality paper and chronicling our heroes’ further efforts to stop a centuries-old galactic war. Later, the series moved to First Comics. Our heroes finally saved the galaxy — only to have the rug pulled out from under them again! Brutal!

In this excerpt, Vanth tells his comrades about his previous experience with galactic war. It did not have a happy ending! SAY GOOD-BYE TO THE MILKY WAY GALAXY! Jim Starlin summarizes the chapters of Metamorphosis Odyssey serialized in Epic Illustrated #1-9 in Vanth’s flashback here.

If you’d like to read the first few awe-inspiring installments of the original black-and-white series, click Metamorphosis Odyssey.