Jim Starlin

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Jim Starlin
Jim Starlin in 2006.
Birth name	James P. Starlin
Born	October 9, 1949
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Penciller, Inker, Writer

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.

1 Biography
2 Comics bibliography
3 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] 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, were all 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^{[citation needed]}.

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. He was then given the chance to draw an issue of a failing 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 legendary 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 a graphic novel, The Death of Captain Marvel.

In addition to his superhero work for Marvel (and later DC), Starlin also contributed a cache of stories to the sci-fi 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 dervived 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.

[edit] 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 A Death in the Family (in which the second Robin died).

[edit] 1990s

Back at Marvel he wrote Silver Surfer, featuring the return of one of his best-known creations, the mad Titan Thanos. This led to the Infinity Gauntlet storyline and the return of another character Starlin had killed, Adam Warlock and its cast of characters named the Infinity Watch. There were several follow-ups to that story.

For DC he created Hardcore Station when he couldn't use Adam Strange and Rann.

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

[edit] 2000s

Starlin kept working for independent companies, creating Cosmic Guard (later renamed Kid Cosmos) which was published by Devil's Due then Dynamite Entertainment in 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, and revisiting Hardcore Station. More recently, Starlin has worked on DC's "Death of the New Gods" miniseries and "Rann / Thanagar Holy War".