I carry no phone An aspiring Luddite In a wired world. Mastodon Verification Link	Jeff Berry is an early adopter of the Internet and the Web, was a late adopter of Twitter and left when it turned fascist, and always declined to adopt Facebook. He was a fairly early adventurer into the Fediverse. He admins a medievalist Mastodon instance. He hates cell-phones.

Zeitgiest: 29 March 2026

Last time, I wrote about the first six issues of Starslayer, this time, it's more Starslayer, and also First Comics in general.

With issue #7, Mike Grell and Starslayer jumped to First Comics. It was an amicable departure from Pacific Comics according to editorials and such in the comics themselves, which is nice. It also meant they were now with the best, or at least my favourite, comic company of that era. For a number of years, I was collecting everything First published, and if they started a new title, I was in for at least the first issues. And they did not dissappoint. To be fair, they were a small company. Where Marvel and DC were putting out dozens of comics every month, First had just a handful - the back cover of Starslayer #7 lists: 'American Flagg,' 'E-Man,' 'Jon Sable, Freelance,' 'Starslayer,' and 'Warp.' And they were all good.

There were other changes to the title. Grell had both drawn and scripted the first story arc, which ended in issue #6. In issue #7, he did the breakdowns but handed the rest of the art over to Lenin Delsol, with Mike Gustovich doing the inking and Janice Cohen doing the colours. By issue #8, Delsol was doing the breakdowns as well, Grell still did the cover art for #7 and #8, with Delsol and Gustovich taking over with issue #9. Starting with issue #9, John Ostrander was writing, which meant that Grell was no longer working on the book, although his name remained attached - Starslayer, created by Mike Grell.

The story, I think, got more interesting with issue #7. Or, perhaps, it just opened up some and allowed the characters to breathe. What does an out of time warrior do when the job is over? Especially if he's being chased by a planet destroying warship that got upset at that first job's completion. When Ostrander took over, it marked another shift. First had its own 'universe,' centered on the pan-dimensional city of Cynosure. It first appeared in Warp, and Ostrander liked it as a setting. It was only natural, then, for him to take Mac Quillon, Tamara, and the Jolly Roger there.

Which brings us to issue #10. Issues #7-9 had no backing feature, but with issue #10 the book began to run them again, and the feature in this case was Grimjack. Grimjack is one of my favourite titles of all time. I dressed as Grimjack for Halloween one year about this time, and I wasn't even really doing Halloween costumes at that point. Grimjack also had one of my favorite t-shirt designs of all time. It was designed as a door being cracked open, with jusrt part of Grimjack's face showing in the opening. Just black and white, with the name in red. Elegant, clever, stark design. I wore it to failure.

Grimjack was John Ostrander and Tim Truman, and I loved it out of the gate. The feel was noir and hard-boiled, only with magic and swords, as well as guns. The setting was Cynosure, where the laws of nature change from block to block - magic works here, tech works there, and so on. Truman's art was gritty and kind of psychedelic - he went on to work with the Grateful Dead. It was loaded with cultural references and in-jokes. The first story has a throwaway set piece which involves Grimjack recovering the 'Manx Cat' before moving on to the actual story. That story itself hinges on the idea that in Cynosure one can be a pretty normal (for some values of normal) person, but slip into a different one and you might be a god. That's not always a good thing.

Grimjack backing stories continued until issue #17 and then in issue #18, there was a Starslayer/Grimjack crossover. With issue #14, Truman took over the art for Starslayer, meaning that the Grimjack creative team was running both the feature and the backup. I bought two copies of that issue, I was so excited.

The Starslayer stories became more fantastical during this time. Being in Cynosure meant that magic was in play, and Ostrander drew on some Celtic mythology for some of the stories. The supporting cast expanded, and a more extensive backstory for Tamara was developed. The Grell run was a single storyline, and almost entirely focussed on Torin and Tamara, with a bit of support from Sam, the little robot who's cybernetic link with Torin enables him to function in a world and society so far removed from what he knew. It was setup to work in isolation, as a stand-alone, and it did. In order to continue, though, it had to change, and Ostrander did the job beautifully.

The Grimjack stories are excellent, and show the same sensibility. From the first shortish story setting up the place and intoducing Grimjack, there is development of his history, as well as the history of Cynosure - almost as much a character as Grimjack. They stretch from the pure noir to lighter stories, such as one where the fluffy lisping creatures from what looks like a b-list children's cartoon hire Grimjack to protect them from nasty killer rabbits. Great stuff.

With issue #18, Grimjack had his own title, and would no longer be the backing feature in Starslayer.

There are a few other notable features, so to speak, about this era of the title. By issue ten, Janice Chiang was the letterer and Janice Cohen was the colorist, a bit unusual in a fairly male-dominated industry. There are very few ads in the books, and the ones that are there are usually for other comic books, comic companies, or related products, rather than the ad-heavy mainstream books of the 70s. (Issue #11, for instance, has an for Bud Plant, Inc. which includes Champions, the superhero RPG which eventually turned into the Hero System. That company apparently closed its doors only this year.)

#11 also saw the first of a six part essay about 'The Origins of "Independent" Comics' by Charles Meyerson. The book featured 'First Notes,' where editor Mike Gold wrote not only about what was going on at First (although there was a lot of that), but also about the larger world of illustrated storytelling. In issue #14 he talked about the 'Death of an Artform,' the continuity strip - the daily adventure stories like 'Flash Gordon,' and 'Dick Tracy' that were the direct forerunners of comic books as we know them. In #16, he talked about censorship, not only of comics but in a broader context. These comics are treating comics as something serious, something worth study and something with a history worth studying. First, and most of the independents, had an audience which was older than the stereotypical teenage boy comic book fan (they did a survey, even), and their books were, broadly speaking, more complex and dealt with more mature themes than Marvel and DC typically did. (In the late 80s and beyond, this led to some comics becoming gratuitously violent and splattery. A grimdark trend which is obvious to this day, even in mainstream comics and movies.)

In any case, issues 7-18 of Starslayer may be the high-water mark of the series (although I'm still working through the rest of it, so I may change my mind). It is certainly, in my opinion, the high-water mark of the backing feature since Grimjack is just so bloody good.

• Comic Read Through Part Six