Jim Starlin

Infobox Comics creator


imagesize =
caption = Jim Starlin in 2006.
birthname = James P. Starlin
birthdate = birth date and age|1949|10|09
location = Detroit, Michigan
deathdate =
deathplace =
nationality = American
area = Penciller, Inker, Writer
alias =


notable works = "Cosmic Odyssey", -"The Infinity Gauntlet",- "The Death of Captain Marvel" (1982)
awards = #Awards
website = http://www.starlin.com

James P. "Jim" Starlin (born October 9 1949) is an American comic book writer and artist, who has worked for Marvel Comics, DC Comics and others since the early 1970s. He is best known for "cosmic" tales and space opera and as the creator of the villain Thanos.

Biography

Early work

Starlin was born in Detroit, Michigan.

After writing and drawing stories for a number of amateur fan publications, he got his break into comics working for Roy Thomas and John Romita at Marvel Comics in 1972.

Starlin, along with Len Wein, Marv Wolfman and Walter Simonson, was part of the generation of artists and writers who arrived in comics at that time who were primarily fans of Stan Lee/Jack Kirby and the DC/Marvel Silver Age of Comics. His work was heavily influenced by the art of both Kirby and Steve Ditko, at the Ditko-focused panel at the 2008 Comic-Con International he said "Everything I learned about storytelling was [due to] him or Kirby. [Ditko] did the best layouts." [ [http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17603 CCI: The World of Steve Ditko] , Comic Book Resources, August 5, 2008]

Starlin's first job was as a finisher on pages of Spider-Man. He then drew three issues of "Iron Man", which introduced Thanos, a homage to Kirby's character Darkseid.Fact|date=August 2008 He was then given the chance to draw an issue of on again off again title, "Captain Marvel" (issue #25). Starlin took over as plotter with the next issue and developed through the comic an elaborate cosmology for the Marvel Universe that has since been much referenced by other writers.

Starlin co-created the kung fu craze cash-in character Shang Chi and then began his most celebrated work: a re-imagining of a minor Lee/Kirby creation, Adam Warlock. He scripted and drew a complex story-line with theological themes, as Adam Warlock, who had emerged from a kind of virgin birth, confronted a dictatorial Universal Church of Truth founded by his evil future self.

After Starlin's departure, the Captain Marvel title had again declined and Starlin was given the rare - for the time - opportunity to kill off the character in the first Marvel Graphic Novel, "The Death of Captain Marvel".

In addition to his superhero work for Marvel (and later DC), Starlin contributed a cache of stories to the science-fiction anthology "Star Reach "(1974). The magazine's independent status allowed Starlin to further developed his ideas of God, Death and Infinity free of the restrictions of the Comics Code. Once again, the influence of his Marvel predecessors was evident; Starlin's depiction of God was clearly derived from Ditko's character Eternity from Doctor Strange.

Death and suicide are recurring themes in his work: personifications of Death appeared in his Captain Marvel series and in a fill-in story for Ghost Rider; Warlock commits suicide by killing his future self, and suicide is a theme in a story he plotted and drew for "The Rampaging Hulk" magazine, to give only some examples.

He received recognition for his work with the Shazam Award for Outstanding New Talent in 1973.

He also drew "The Secret of Skull River", inked by Al Milgrom, for "Savage Tales featuring Conan the Barbarian" #5, published in July, 1974.

1980s

He worked on fill-in stories for the Legion of Super-Heroes. The final part of his Omega story line was broken into two issues (#250/251) and re-edited. Upset with the editorial decision Starlin took his name off those issues and asked to be credited as "Steve Apollo".

Most of the 1980s were taken up for Starlin scripting and drawing Dreadstar for Epic Comics (an imprint of Marvel Comics), and later for First Comics. In the late 1980s he switched to DC Comics and wrote "Batman" including the story arc "" (in which the second Robin died). The death was decided by the fans with DC Comics setting up a hotline for fans to vote on and helping build the Batman craze which exploded with the release of Tim Burton's Batman movie soon after.

Starlin wrote at least two storylines for Batman during the 1980s that reflected the era. His series "" had the Ayatollah Khomeni recruit Joker to become the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations. Another storyline concerning the KGBeast had a Soviet supervillain accompanied by an Iranian partner go rogue from the KGB and embark on an assassination campaign targeting all political figures involved in the then American "Star Wars" program. The KGB Beast was portrayed as one of the toughest opponents the Batman ever met.

Both story lines received criticism in subsequent letter columns of later issues of the Batman series concerning a biased view toward Iran's political actions at the time. The Joker's stint as ambassador to Iran reflected an American bias towards Iran as a terrorist nation willing to side itself with any homicidal maniac (i.e., the Joker) regardless of religious or political ideology. Such representations of terrorism, while well received, are disputed by some.

1990s

Returning to Marvel after his successful Batman run, Starlin took over the writing chores on "Silver Surfer". His story arc featured the return of one of his best-known creations, the mad Titan Thanos. This story line led to the Infinity Gauntlet crossover and the return of another character Starlin had killed, Adam Warlock. In the story Thanos uses the Infinity Gauntlet to kill half the Marvel Universe as a sacrifice for Mistress Death and Adam Warlocks effort to stop Thanos. Warlock builds an army, consisting of characters ranging from Spiderman to Galactus for this purpose. Characters including the Silver Surfer, Mephisto, Dr. Strange and Dr. Doom were also featured in this story.

Infinity Gauntlet met with large sales figures for Marvel and following the series other cosmic heroes were teamed with Warlock in a series named" Infinity Watch". There were several follow-ups to that story including Infinity War and Infinity Crusade.

For DC he created "Hardcore Station" .

Starlin has also written, with his wife Daina Graziunas, novels such as "Thinning the Predators", "Among Madmen" and "Lady El".

2000s

In 2003 Starlin wrote and drew the Marvel limited series "". [ [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=572 Marvel Universe: The End] , Newsarama, October 30, 2002] The series starred Thanos and a multitude of Marvel characters and was well received, propelling Thanos into his own book. Unfortunately Starlin left the book after only a few issues, citing "irreconcilable creative differences," [ [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=6720 Starlin Leaves Thanos] , Newsarama, November 19, 2003] and it was cancelled shortly thereafter. In 2006 he stated "At this point in time I do not see myself working for Marvel on any project." [ [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=77060 Newsarama's Jim Starlin Interview 1] , Newsarama, July 15, 2006]

Starlin kept working for independent companies, creating "Cosmic Guard" (later renamed "Kid Cosmos") [ [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12759 Back to The Cosmos - Starlin on Cosmic Guard] , Newsarama, May 7, 2004] [ [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33635 Jim Starlin: Looking at The Kosmos] , Newsarama, May 13, 2005] [ [http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76822 Getting Cosmic With Jim Starlin I: Kid Kosmic] , Newsarama, July 13, 2006 ] which was published by Devil's Due then Dynamite Entertainment in 2006. [ [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=30309 Dynamite Collects Starlin's Cosmic Guard] (press release), Newsarama, March 25] , 2006

Starlin also returned to DC comics and, along with artist Shane Davis, wrote a miniseries called "Mystery in Space" featuring Captain Comet and his earlier creation The Weird, [ [http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76929 Getting Cosmic With Jim Starlin II: Mystery in Space] , Newsarama, July 14, 2006] and revisiting "Hardcore Station". More recently, Starlin has worked on DC's "Death of the New Gods" mini-series [ [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=120379 Jim Starlin: Ferryman of the New Gods] , Newsarama, July 11, 2007] and "Rann-Thanagar Holy War", as well as a Hakwman tie-in. [ [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=149105 Jim Starlin on the Coming Holy War] , Newsarama, March 5, 2008] [ [http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080731-HawkmanSpecial.html Jim Starlin: Hawkman - The Special and Beyond?] , Newsarama, July 31, 2008]

Bibliography

Comics work includes:

* "Captain Marvel
* "Warlock
* "Legion of Super-heroes
* "DC Comics Presents"
* "Metamorphosis Odyssey"
* "Dreadstar"
* "Cosmic Odyssey"
* "Batman"
* "Gilgamesh II"
* "The Weird
* "Silver Surfer
* "The Thanos Quest"
*" The Infinity Gauntlet"
*" The Infinity War"
*" The Infinity Crusade"
*" "
* "Adam Warlock and the Infinity Watch"
* "" (script and art, 6-issue limited series, Malibu Comics, 1994)
* "" (script and art, 6-issue limited series, Malibu Comics, 1994-1995)
* "Hardcore Station"
* ""
* "Cosmic Guard"/"Kid Kosmos" [ [http://www.kidkosmos.net/ Kid Kosmos homepage] ]
* "The Punisher P.O.V
* "Mystery in Space" (script and pencils, with other pencils and inks by various artists, 8-issue limited series, DC Comics, 2006-2007)
* "Death of the New Gods" (script and art, 8-issue limited series, DC Comics, 2007-2008)
* "Rann-Thanagar Holy War" (writer, with art by Ron Lim, DC Comics, May 2008-ongoing)

Awards

* 1977: Nominated for the "Favourite Comicbook Artist" Eagle Award
* 1978:
** Won the "Favourite Single Story" Eagle Award, for "Avengers Annual" #7: "The Final Threat"
** Won the "Favourite Continued Story" Eagle Award, for "Avengers Annual" #7 / "Marvel Two-in-One Annual" #2
** Nominated for the "Favourite Artist" Eagle Award

Notes

References

*gcdb|type=credit|search=Jim+Starlin|title=Jim Starlin
*comicbookdb|type=creator|id=122|title=Jim Starlin
* [http://www.comics-db.com/comics/search.cgi?query=Jim%20Starlin&bool=and&substring=1 Jim Starlin] at the Big Comic Book DataBase
* [http://lambiek.net/artists/s/starlin.htm Jim Starlin] at Lambiek's Comicclopedia

External links

*

Interviews

* [http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=13524 Jim Starlin Returns to Known Space] , Comic Wire, Comic Book Resources, November 16, 2000
* [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=77127 Newsarama's Jim Starlin Interview 2] , Newsarama, July 16, 2006
* [http://www.sidebarnation.com/my_weblog/2008/09/ep-65-infinity.html An audio interview with Jim Starlin by SiDEBAR]