Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.41: Jim Starlin

No.41: Jim Starlin

One of the industry’s key creators and a writer / artist whose canon has been highly influential, Jim Starlin’s work in the 1970s and 1980s brought a sophistication and layered take on superheroes and space operas. For a period, his efforts defined the genre, as he blended allegory, satire and straightforward hero tropes that led to him developing a cult following, not to mention certain important characters in the MCU. Words: Andrew Colman…

photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore

Arriving at Marvel in the early 70s during what was a hothouse era for the publisher, Starlin quickly found his niche, drawing three issues of Iron Man, one of which contained perhaps his most famous creation, Thanos. From there he took over the reins on Captain Marvel, overseeing a cosmic battle with the revamped Kree solider as he fought against Thanos for possession of the Cosmic Cube, which of course was the basis for the final two Avengers movies, along with elements of the Guardians of the Galaxy films.

After leaving Captain Marvel he co-created the long-running Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu series before moving onto his best work – the Adam Warlock saga. Warlock, a high-concept, godlike yet vulnerable being had already had his own title that although excellent, hadn’t gelled with readers. Beginning in Strange Tales 178, Starlin immediately set out his parameters within two issues. The character of Adam Warlock would be light years away from his previous iteration, and the key themes of the series would be about the co-dependent duality of the super-hero (Warlock was basically battling his possible future self in the shape of The Magus, along with soon to be arch foe Thanos) spliced with a polemical take on the megalomania of religious institutions as well as the philosophical state of the isolated individual. What was remarkable was how Starlin brought us a universe that was both remote yet comfortably familiar – the ideas involved (moral ambiguity and relativism, pragmatism, ambivalence, death, the tyranny of choice) were not entirely new but were certainly fresh in this context. Whole episodes were devoted to Warlock’s inner narrative – Judgment Day and A Thousand Clowns basically allowing him to figure out who he was, while navigating through trippy dreamscapes and endless dead-ends. Combining the stylings of Steve Ditko’s Dr. Strange art along with Jack Kirby, Barry Smith and Neal Adams, Starlin’s ersatz yet cinematic artwork on this fourteen issue tour de force was Marvel’s definitive take on the cosmic superhero, even managing to transcend the Silver Surfer series from a few years earlier, as it added humour, a compulsive supporting cast and a knowing irony to the mix. Oddly enough, despite so much of Starlin’s work during this period being used in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there has been no place for Warlock appearing in it himself.

Starlin’s later works such as Dreadstar were, despite being very good, more or less thematic re-treads of the Warlock story arc with somewhat similar characters. He would continue in this vein with his revival of the Silver Surfer and Thanos in the Infinity Gauntlet series and its sequels, although by this point he was only scripting. As well as this there was his writing for DC, notably Ten Nights of the Beast and the classic Death in the Family story arc in Batman.

Perhaps his other most significant project was the much-heralded Death of Captain Marvel, Marvel’s first graphic novel, in 1982. It gave Starlin the opportunity to write and illustrate the character’s passing, with Marvel remarkably refraining from reviving him long term, unlike with Warlock. Again a masterwork of characterisation featuring the hero’s demise and reunion (of sorts) with Thanos and Death, it was more of an emotional piece that leaned towards metaphysical yet more straightforward drama. Once again the artwork was superb.

Overall Jim Starlin seemed to rise effortlessly to the top at Marvel without being given the fanfare of other better-known artists and writers, yet his legacy is obvious and his art, despite being of its time, still captivating.

Here’s links through to the other entries in our 101 Greatest so far as well

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.42: Mike Zeck

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.43: Adam Hughes

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.44: Daniel Clowes

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.45: Gene Colan

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.46: George Perez

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.47: Michael William Kaluta

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.48: Cary Nord

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.49: Frank Quitely

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.50: Mike Ploog

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.51: Johnny Craig

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.52: Darwyn Cooke

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.53: Steve Dillon

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.54: Gil Kane

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.55: Michael Zulli

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.56: John Romita

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.57: Joe Maneely

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.58: Marshall Rogers

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.59: John Severin

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.60: Alex Toth

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.61: Brian Bolland

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.62: David Mazzuchelli

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.63 Reed Crandall

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.64 Harry Anderson

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.65 Nick Cardy

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.66 Matt Wagner

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.67 Bryan Hitch

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.68 Shawn Martinbrough

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.69 Al Feldstein

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.70 Nestor Redondo

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.71 Tarpe Mills

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.72 Eduardo Risso

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.73 JH Williams III

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.74 Irv Novick

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.75 Dan Zolnerowich

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.76 Gilbert Shelton

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.77 Tommy Lee Edwards

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.78: Sean Phillips

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.79: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.80: Dan DeCarlo

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.81: Marie Severin

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.82: John Paul Leon

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.83: Jim Lee

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.84: Denys Cowan

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.85: Ross Andru

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.86: Paul Gustavson

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.87: George Evans

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.88: Michael Golden

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.89: Matt Baker

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.90: Todd McFarlane

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.91: Fiona Staples

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.92: Carl Barks

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.93: Carmine Infantino

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.94: Alan Davis

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.95: CC Beck

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.96: Syd Shores

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.97: Bob Fujitani

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.98: Tim Sale

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.99: Jim Aparo

https://tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headlines/tripwires-101-greatest-comic-artists-of-all-time-no-100/

https://tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headlines/tripwires-101-greatest-comic-artists-of-all-time-no-101/