Talk:Jim Starlin

Saying that Starlin drew three issues of Iron Man is inaccurate. He did a few panels on one issue, then returned to do the complete #55/56.

He also drew (and possibly wrote; I no longer have the issues) Marvel Feature #11-12, the first solo stories to feature the Thing. These led to the omnibus book (which had previously launched the Defenders and hosted an Ant-Man series) being replaced by Marvel Two-in-One, the Thing's long-running team-up mag. The story of Adam Warlock (and Thanos) came to its end (for the 1970s at least) not in the cited Avengers Annual #7, but in MTiO Annual #2 (also written and drawn by Starlin), which followed on from the Avengers Annual story.

I believe the suicide featured in Dreadstar was the first time that had ever been depicted by a major company (it was in one of the Epic Comics issues).

I don't know what Silver Surfer (volume 3) issues won "Haxtur" Awards for Starlin/Lim, but they weren't #1-5, or 12, as is currently indicated. The late-1980s Surfer series (which ran for over a decade) was originally written by Steve Engelhart; Starlin didn't take over the scripting duties until about #35 or so.

Not only was Infinity Crusade successful, but it launched an ongoing Warlock and the Infinity Watch series (art by Angel Medina and Tom Raney, alternating) and then a companion book, The Warlock Chronicles (Raney did the art, with Tom Grindberg taking over his share of the duties on Infinity watch). For six months, Starlin (who'd never been terribly prolific in his art, with most of his work appearing on a bi-monthly schedule) was now writing three books a month (Warlock and the Infinity Watch, the Infinity Crusade mini-series, a four-part Silver Surfer/Warlock: Resurrection mini [which Starlin also drew] and, when Resurrection ended, the launch of the second Warlock title). This appears to have overtaxed him, and Starlin turned Warlock Chronicles (originally planned as an ongoing series, with twelve-issue subscriptions being sold) into an eight-issue mini-series, cutting back to one book. Six months later, with issue #31, he also left the main Warlock and the Infinity Watch title. (John Arcudi took over the writing; the book was canceled following issue #42.) Starlin moved onto doing Breed, for Malibu Comics.

Starlin also wrote a six-part "Cosmic Powers" mini-series during this latter period, something of a test-run for the ongoing Thanos series he would produce the next decade.

During his last year or so on the '90s Warlock titles, Starlin became famous for doing "silent" fight scenes, where the art would be presented without any dialogue or captions. Obviously, this simplified the burden on Starlin as a writer, but given his background as an artist, it's easy to believe that he gave detailed instructions to Medina/Ramey/Grindberg (or Patrick Oliffe, who took over the art with #29) about what he wanted and the storytelling was detailed enough to allow for the "silent" treatment. I haven't seen any articles where Starlin discusses this technique, though.

Some discussion about Starlin's role in the rights of creators to control their own characters seems needed. Long before writers and artists were allowed to own their work, Starlin apparently had agreements that prohibited anyone other than himself from using Thanos. He also was allowed to "kill off" Warlock for over a decade, and be the one to end that hiatus by reviving him, along with Gamora and Pip the Troll, two characters he had created for the 1970s Warlock series. Another character, Drax the Destroyer, whom Starlin created during his run on Captain Marvel, was used by other writers, albeit on a limited basis, and Moondragon (who first appears in Iron Man #54 [the issue before Thanos's debut] as "Madame MacEvil", but is likely also Starlin's creation) has been used fairly regularly, as a sometime Avenger (and pain in the Avengers' collective butt) and a Defender for several years in the 1980s. The Infinity Watch was comprised of all Starlin-created characters, save for Adam Warlock himself, and most of them have been little-seen since the book's cancellation. I don't know what agreements Starlin has had for control over these characters, but they do seem to be being kept aside from the rest of the "Marvel Universe".