Contains Dreadstar #1-12 (November 1982 – July 1984)
Written by Jim Starlin
Pencilled by Jim Starlin
Inked by Jim Starlin (#1-4, 9-), Al Milgrom (#5), Joe Rubinstein (#6-7), Kim DeMulder (#8)
Coloured by Glynis Wein (#1-7), Daina Graziunas (#8-11), Christie Scheele (#8, 12)
Spoilers from forty to forty-two years ago
As a kid, I never read Epic Comics. I stayed pretty tight to the Marvel side of things, and even after I expanded to include DC in my reading, it took a while longer for me to try independent books. I was always aware of Jim Starlin’s Dreadstar – there were ads in a lot of the comics I read, and I feel like I often saw them in the 3-packs that helped me pass time when my mom shopped in discount department stores. I don’t think I ever bought an issue of Dreadstar though.
I didn’t know who the characters were, and if I’m being honest, I saw it as a low rent knockoff of Star Wars (based entirely on the image of the main character holding a flaming short sword while he assumed what looks now like a yoga pose).
But, as time went on, I became aware of how fundamental a creator Jim Starlin was and continues to be. Young me did not know his name, which really didn’t become meaningful to me until he took over Silver Surfer, revitalized Thanos, and created the Infinity Gauntlet. I read The Death of Captain Marvel at some point, and loved it, but didn’t come away with the desire to read all of Starlin’s work.
And then I started working on these Retro Review columns, where I revisit complete runs from my collection, or fill in gaps in my four decades of comics reading. I’ve recently revisited the Silver Surfer, The Death of Captain Marvel, and the Infinity War miniseries. It’s led to me wanting to read more of Starlin’s work, and I’ve been going about tracking things down (more about that in some future columns, for sure). At the same time, I found Dynamite’s first volume of a Dreadstar Omnibus, collecting the first twelve issues of the Epic series.
I see from some cursory research that Dreadstar and his universe were introduced in some Epic Illustrated that aren’t included here. I’m sure I’ll be able to figure things out though, and am looking forward to diving in. I can’t name a single character in this series, aside from Vanth Dreadstar, but I’m not even sure that’s his name. It’s rare that I get to approach something so old from this fresh perspective, so I’m excited.
This book features the following characters:
Dreadstar’s Company:
- Oedi (#1-9, 12)
- Vanth Dreadstar (#1-10, 12)
- Syzygy Darklock (#1-10, 12)
- Willow (#1-4, 6-10, 12)
- Rainbow (#1-4, 6-10, 12)
- Skeevo Phlatus (#2-10, 12)
- Maxilon (#6-7)
- Dr. Delphi (#12)
Villains:
- Lord High Papal (Instrumentality; #1, 3-11)
- Admiral Quinaz (Instrumentality; #3-4)
- Z (Z-7458, Monarchy and Instrumentality; #4, 6-10)
- Agent Darkness (Instrumentality; #4)
- Madame Styx (Instrumentality; #5)
- Tuetun (Instrumentality; #5, 12)
- Cardinal Spydar (Instrumentality; #5, 11)
- Bishop Laer (Instrumentality; #5)
- Dr. Anton A. Lanstrom Mezlo (Instrumentality; #7)
- Tribecus Londo (Instrumentality; #11)
- Science Officer Monalo (Instrumentality; #11)
- Infrared (Malcomb 24, Instrumentality; #11)
- Ultraviolet (Sabreena 15, Instrumentality; #11)
- Cardinal Elsior (Instrumentality; #11)
Supporting Characters:
- King Gregzor (Monarchy; #4-10)
- Tyro Blanc (Commune; #5)
- Lance Honor (Channel C News; #6)
- Za (#8)
- Juliet (#8)
- Whis’par (#8)
- Mr. Logan (Commune; #12)
- Ms. Dystal (Commune; #12)
- Professor Jareel (Commune; #12)
Let’s see what happened in the comics, with some commentary as I go:
- This series starts with a pretty massive info dump, which I guess makes sense as Starlin had to bring readers who hadn’t read the Epic Illustrated serial up to speed. Oedi is from a cat/human hybrid race, and he narrates this first issue. We learn about how the galaxy has been at war for two hundred years, with the science-based Monarchy, ruled by King Gregzor fighting the Instrumentality, run by the Lord High Papal. Oedi’s people were created by the Instrumentality to create warriors, but they were better suited to farming and ended up growing food on a single world to supply the church. Vanth Dreadstar ended up there under strange circumstances, and was expected to die because he had radioactive laser burns. He survived, and as a child, Oedi observed that he was stronger than all other humans, healed quickly, and could summon a magical short sword of immense power. Vanth married and tried to live as a farmer among Oedi’s people. One day another visitor came – Syzygy Darklock, a former Bishop of the Instrumentality, who had a cybernetic eye and limbs. He and Vanth became friends, and Darklock tried to get Dreadstar to help him stop the war, but Dreadstar had been in the war that destroyed the Milky Way, and never wanted to fight again. One day the Monarchy sent ships to this world and destroyed everything, except the two friends and Oedi. They trained and went and killed the king of the Monarchy; Dreadstar threatened his son, Gregzor, to pull back his forces, and for a while, there was a long peace. Now they’ve learned that the Instrumentality has made some breakthroughs, and worry that the war is going to heat up again. The three friends picked up another member of their crew, Willow, a blind telepath who “sees” through the eyes of her Monk, Rainbow (a monk is a monkey-like creature in this series, which is a bit confusing given their adherence to Catholic-like religious orders). Now they intend to rob one of the Instrumentality’s large bank satellites. Darklock’s codes get them into the station, which is not manned. Oedi hangs back on their ship, and Willow uses her cybernetic telepathy to get them past the sentry robots. They have their own robots that they are going to use to load up the precious metals they find. They realize they aren’t alone on the station, but can’t pinpoint who is there through telepathy. Oedi notices the station is sounding an alarm and they figure they don’t have long. They are confronted by a giant robot in the vault, which knocks Darklock out. Willow can’t take control of it because it has a human mind inside it. Dreadstar summons his sword and cuts it apart. They know they don’t have enough time to load everything but get their robots working. An Instrumentality Destroyer teleports very close to the satellite (they realize this is the new tech they have). Vanth makes sure that Willow and Rainbow have suits and masks with them, as he has a plan. A robot has delivered Darklock to Oedi, but two robots teleport onto his bridge. More robots and some humans teleport in front of Vanth and Willow. Vanth fights them, with Willow’s support, and once they’re cornered, destroys a whole staircase to help them escape. They get cornered again, and Vance has them put on their masks. He cuts a hole in the exterior wall, so they get sucked out into space, right towards the Destroyer. Vanth uses his sword to blast the Destroyer, knocking out its power. They fly to their own ship, where they find that Darklock destroyed the two robots there. They head out, talking about how they need to learn about the teleportation tech. Now that they have money, Vanth wants to start Plan M; they all agree. On Altarix, the capital of the Instrumentality, the Lord High Papal (he gives big Thanos vibes) contacts his own masters (think of Marvels Lord Chaos) to ask for more power to defeat the outlaws Dreadstar and Darklock. They give him power, and the issue ends with this big guy holding his smoking hand in front of a stained glass window.
- Vanth and most of his crew are on the planet Zydor, which is under attack by the Instrumentality. They’re not there to help, but to buy supplies at cut rate prices (disaster capitalism at its finest, I guess). Willow watches the men load up (including some guy named Skeevo we haven’t met yet. Some Monarchy soldiers find her and threaten her; she gives them the chance to walk away, but when they attack her, she shoots all of them (remember that she’s blind). Vanth and Oedi come to help her, but she doesn’t need it. They return to their ship, and Syzygy checks out what they brought. Oedi introduces Skeevo Phlatus, a scrounger who wants to sign up with them. Syzygy isn’t sure of him, but when he learns that Willow checked him out telepathically, he relents. Willow returns to her room and thinks back to how she got here. She was working on a mining planet (and had lighter-coloured hair and could see) a few months before when she got caught in a cave-in. Vanth and Oedi rescued her, and she decided to stow away on their ship. When they found her later, she tried to get them to let her stay. When Vanth said they were going to drop her off somewhere, she lashed out telepathically, for the first time. Vanth asked Syzygy to train her, but her powers seemed blocked. Vanth said he felt something about her father when she blasted him, so Syzygy decided to increase her training, and to take her to a realm of psychic energy if needed (I guess he’s really powerful). First, the two telepaths meditated together, and Syzygy entered her mind, where he found that she presented herself as a child. He learned that her mother once complained quietly about the Instrumentality in public, and was then taken away to never be seen again. After that, her father fell into despair, and came to see her one night (it’s clear what Starlin is implying here, but not to Syzygy. Her father was called to active duty and never returned, so she ended up in an orphanage, and then drifted until she became a miner. Syzygy asked about her father again, and she refused to say more, so he took her to the psychic energy plane and ripped from her mind the fact that her father raped her. Syzygy tried to comfort her, and showed her a bright white light that represented her soul. She tried to fly towards her soul, but Syzygy said it’s too dangerous and tried to pull her back. They returned to their bodies, but Willow was blind now, the price of increasing her power. Syzygy taught her to see through Oedi’s eyes, but she was unable to tap into his or Vanth’s minds because of how powerful they are. Syzygy also figured out that she could look through his cybernetic eye, and that she was also a cybernetic telepath. Later, Vanth and Syzygy brought her the small Monk, which she adopted as a partner, calling him Rainbow. Now on the ship, she talks to Rainbow about how she’s determined to stop the Monarchy and Instrumentality, and how she has faith in herself.
- Lord High Papal is in Instrumentality Central, the room from which he commands his empire. He’s obsessing over finding Vanth and Syzygy, and worries that they are going to be trying to get one of his interstellar teleportation drives. He wants his destroyer-class ships to be ready to teleport and attack when called. Vanth and Syzygy are on the planet Chichero, in the main city of Chichano. They know that there is a large reward on their heads, and their plan is to be visible in this crowded city, hoping to serve as a distraction so the others can complete their mission. Vanth has an earpiece that can pick up Instrumentality radio signals, and he knows they’ve been spotted. Willow, Oedi, and Skeevo are currently keeping tabs on a Destroyer with teleport tech, in an asteroid field. LHP orders three ships to go to Chichero. Vanth manifests his magic blade, and he and Syzygy fight off the patrolmen that come to arrest them. Vanth is bothered by the number of bystanders being shot, so he grabs a flying car (Syzygy can fly; I don’t know if I knew that). The ship that the others are watching pick up a small jumpship coming their way, broadcasting a distress call. They bring it on board, and it has only Willow (and her Monk). As she delays, and connects with the ship telepathically, we see that Oedi and Skeevo are in a false asteroid, floating towards the ship. They latch on to the outside and cut their way in, just before Willow takes over the ship’s systems and shuts everything down. Willow fights the bridge crew while Oedi stops some men from destroying the teleport drive. Willow puts on a mask and releases a gas through the ship, knocking everyone out, and then sends a priority coded message through the entire Universality. Vanth lets Syzygy know they were successful, so they prepare to flee. Syzygy has to save Vanth when his flying car is hit, and when LHP discovers they got a drive, he decides to make sure he deals with Vanth. He orders the Destroyers in orbit to fire nuclear torpedoes at the city. Vanth hears this, so he and Syzygy, who insists they don’t have time to save anyone, dive into the lowest levels of the sewers. Once there, Syzygy puts a mystical barrier around them, and he hopes that Vanth’s sword will absorb radiation. The city explodes in a massive mushroom cloud. LHP believes that he’s been successful, and prepares press releases to blame this event on terrorists. We see that our heroes survived, but as they leave the city they come across unbelievable destruction and horror. They get to their ship and return to their comrades. Willow updates him, and they figure they can build twenty teleport drives to give to the Monarchy. When Vanth goes to his room, he weighs the fates of all the people who died because of him against the untold billions that would die in the war, and is very angry.
- King Gregzor, the ruler of the Monarchy, receives a call from Vanth Dreadstar, the man that killed the former king, telling him that he’s in orbit around his planet, Jewelworld. Gregzor is with Z, his vizier, who is clearly based on Darth Vader, dressed in an all-read suit of armor and cloak. Vanth explains that he’s going to give the Monarchy twenty of the teleportation drives the Instrumentality has developed, and wants to land outside the palace. The king agrees. Vanth and his crew talk about what happened last issue, and how their enemies think they’re dead, which is an advantage. They know that giving the drives to the Monarchy will keep them from being wiped out by Lord High Papal, but it’s tough on Oedi, whose people were killed by the king. Lord High Papal is talking to his admiral about the plans he’s kept from him. He has all of his Destroyers gathering and waiting for the order to teleport to Jewelworld and destroy it. LHP calls an agent called Agent Darkness, and orders him to assassinate King Gregzor immediately. Dreadstar and his crew land and are attacked by cyborgs and robots of Gregzor’s. Gregzor and Z watch them fight and defeat the much larger force before calling off the fight, which was a test they passed. They give one teleportation device, and Z asks them to do a favour for them. They know that someone is going to try to kill the King and they want Dreadstar and his people to protect him at a dinner that night. Vanth wants a battle cruiser in return, and an agreement is reached. We see Agent Darkness, pretending to be a guard’s girlfriend, kill him and take his place. The crew cleans up for dinner, and when Skeevo makes a joke about Syzygy’s appearance, the misshapen man takes it poorly; he also refuses to dress up as the others do. Before they go to the party, Willow connects them telepathically so they can share their impressions without being overheard. Willow and Syzygy can’t figure out Z, as they can’t make telepathic contact with him. Willow scans everyone heading into the party. LHP waits to hear back from Darkness before sending in his forces, which doesn’t really make sense to me. Darkness worries that he’ll be caught, so he kills one of the waiters at the party, figuring that Willow’s already cleared them. He gets a drink for the king, and puts poison in it. He takes it straight to him, recognizing Vanth along the way. The king accepts the drink, but Oedi is able to smell the poison in it and stop him. The assassin runs, and Vanth and Syzygy go out the window, thinking they’re following him. Oedi navigates by smell, though, and tracks him up some stairs. They end up fighting on a balcony, and Oedi’s punch knocks him over the side; he falls to his death. The king says he wants to repay Oedi, but Oedi walks away. Admiral Quinaz reports that the assassination attempt failed, and tells him that Dreadstar is alive. The Admiral pulls a gun and shoots the Lord High, saying his daughter was on Chichano. LHP grabs him and disintegrates him, then curses Dreadstar (I don’t know why he doesn’t still launch his attack, but whatever).
- Vanth oversees the retrofitting of his new ship, called Beauty, with King Gregzor. He tells the King that he’s sent Syzygy, Oedi, and Skeevo to the Commune, and that Willow is on his old ship doing some computer work. The King asks him to go with him for an hour, and he takes Vanth, via skycar, to the poorest part of Jewelcity. He explains that this area, and others like it on the royal planet, are proof of how his monarchy has failed its people. He further explains that the Barons of Industry are really in charge, and that he is just a figurehead who doesn’t even run his own military (Z does that). He tells Vanth that he’s going to do nothing to stop him from taking down the Monarchy if he wishes; Vanth reacts with more surprise to the news that Z has only one arm than he does the rest of what Gregzor has told him. In the Instrumentality, the Lord Papal is meeting with his advisors and explains that he wants to go after Dreadstar, but can’t touch him on Jewelworld. He knows that some of Vanth’s people have gone to the Commune though, and explains that he’s sent agents to deal with them. His advisors think that’s rash, given the Commune’s neutrality. He sets the rest of his advisors (who stay nameless) to figure out how to get Vanth. Syzygy explains the Commune to Oedi and Skeevo. Borrowing a little from Foundation, this is basically a colony of scientists who feared that the war between the two great powers was starting a Dark Age, so they decided to gather knowledge. They provide weapons to both sides of the war, and have a Treaty that keeps them neutral. We learn that they manage broadcasting around the galaxy, and that Vanth wants them to purchase some bandwidth. Oedi is shocked by the size of the Commune’s station when they dock. They’re joined by Tyro Blanc who checks their weapons and takes them into the station. Another ship docks, carrying two accountants from the Instrumentality, and their bodyguard Tuetun. The two accountants undergo telepathic scans, and are allowed to enter. As Sygyzy and Blanc get down to negotiations, Oedi and Skeevo go looking for a bar. Tuetun knocks out his Commune escort, and uses a spell to become huge; it also reveals Cardinal Spydar and Bishop Laer, the men sent by Lord Papal to get Dreadstar’s men. They find the office where Syzygy and Blanc are talking, and they attack it. They manage to knock Syzygy out and take him towards their ship. They happen to come across Oedi and Skeevo, and the gigantic Tuetun engages them in a fight. Oedi’s acrobatics keep him safe, and the big guy chases him into a chamber with a big drop. Oedi comes up with a plan and hides in an airlock. He’s able to distract Tuetun long enough to coat the floor with oil or grease, and when he reveals himself, he causes the big guy to fall down the big shaft. Skeevo follows the others to their ship, where Oedi joins him. They spot a pair of nuns and take their habits to sneak onto the Instrumentality ship. They find Syzygy but are discovered. Again, Oedi’s acrobatics are handy, and in the fight (Skeevo is providing cover from outside the room), Syzygy gets knocked on his head, freeing him from the power dampening headband he was wearing. Syzygy wakes and takes out Spydar. They fight their way out of the ship using Syzygy’s powers for cover and return to Blanc’s office, informing him of what’s happened. Oedi and Skeevo are annoyed by how dismissive Syzygy is of them even after they saved him.
- Issue six opens with a news broadcast about the Instrumentality’s siege of the planet Teltoga, a Monarchy mining colony planet. We learn that a deadly virus, L-7, has been spreading there, and while it’s easily cured, the Instrumentality blockade makes delivering medicine difficult. Dreadstar and his company have been sent to deliver medicine in Beauty. On the ship, we see that Vanth is ready to put Plan M into effect, and we learn that Skeevo doesn’t know what that plan is. They teleport towards Teltoga, where one of the Instrumentality’s Destroyers comes after them. Willow, boosted by Syzygy, makes telepathic contact with the ship, but can’t take control of it. They teleport closer to the Destroyer and start to blast at its belly shields. They teleport again, even closer, and when they open fire again, are somehow able to blow it up, which is more than they expected to do. Vanth radios the other Destroyers and warns them off, and then the Beauty heads to the surface. Once they land, Skeevo is surprised that they aren’t leaving the ship. They have someone else on board to address the crowd outside the landing strip as their robots offload the medicine. This man, Maxilon, dressed in white, starts to speak to the crowd and to everyone watching the broadcast, and he inspires them greatly. Once he’s done talking, he returns inside the shop, and Vanth orders them to leave. On Alterix, Lord High Papal is angry. He realizes that Dreadstar is not in charge, and wants to know who Maxilon is. On Jewelworld, Z talks to Gregzor; he recognizes that Maxilon is a distraction and wants to take out Vanth. As the Beauty reaches space, they see that the other two Destroyers have left. Skeevo asks about Maxilon, and Vanth explains that he’s going to help provide an alternative for people to believe in other than the Instrumentality and the Monarchy, and he’s going to bring the universe together. He then reveals that Maxilon is a robot they made who has some subsonic transmission capabilities to manipulate people who listen to him. Vanth shows Skeevo that they have backup Maxilons. The crew gathers to toast Max, the “savior of the galaxy.”
- On Altarix, the Lord High Papal goes to see a man named Dr. Anton A. Lanstrom Mezlo, who has been researching Maxilon, but can’t find any information about him anywhere. He believes that Dreadstar is still the larger threat, despite Maxilon’s popularity, and has a plan to defeat him. He has figured out that he can entice Dreadstar with a mystery, named that of catorlite, a substance that is of great value to the Instrumentality, even though no one else knows why. At the same time, Vanth is on Plorexus with Szygy and Willow, researching catorlite. He’s frustrated that he can’t learn any uses for it, other than the fact that it’s mildly radioactive. Szygy also doesn’t know why it has value to the Instrumentality. Vanth discovers that the metal does cause cancer, which doesn’t seem to be widely known. They worry about Willow, who worked in a catorlite mine when they met her. They figure that if Vanth can get access to one of the special computer terminals that grants access to restricted information, and wants to head off on his own (he wants Szygy and Skeevo to take Maxilon to another planet to give a speech). We learn that Oedi is off on an intelligence mission, and Vanth doesn’t want to take Willow with him. He heads out on a jumpship and heads to Oedi’s planet, which is basically abandoned since everyone there was killed. He lands some distance from the Instrumentality facility, and approaches it quietly, taking out the five guards easily. There is no one inside, and he finds that the computer has one of the new telepathic feeds that requires him to put on a cerebro-like helmet to access the data. This is what Mezlo was waiting for, and while he doesn’t know where Vanth is, he can detect him in the system. As Mezlo waits for his system to power up, Vanth continues to investigate catorlite. He learns that Willow wasn’t exposed to it as much as the others who got sick. He learns that all catorlite is sent to a planet called Glaxen, but can’t figure out what the stuff is for. His terminal appears to explode, and he finds himself in a slightly psychedelic mindscape, where Mezlo appears as a floating head. Mezlo starts to mess with Vanth, making him feel like he’s falling, or that he’s dying. Vanth realizes that he’s in his own head, so he turns the tables on his attacker, and manages to fry Mezlo. The Lord High Papal’s people weren’t able to trace Vanth’s signal in time. Vanth comes to and finds that Willow (and Rainbow) are there with him, helping him to get away. He learns that Willow knew what was happening all along, and stowed away in his ship to come with him. She’s annoyed that Vanth tried to protect her from the cancer news, and he apologizes. Before leaving, he wants to check on a grave of someone he knew before he came to the cat planet. They find the grave is empty, and Vanth admits that this scares him. On Jewelworld, King Gregzor drops a device or data card off a balcony, and we see Oedi catch it. As the King goes back inside, he’s confronted by Z who blasts him in the chest, apparently killing him. Z says he wants to get vengeance on Dreadstar.
- Lord Papal meets with Z on a remote planet, and we learn that Z has arranged for Jewelworld to be left basically unguarded; he is going to allow the Instrumentality to take the planet, asking only that they not bomb the royal palace, so he can freely kill Vanth Dreadstar. Vanth’s people have set up a new camp on the planet Plorexus, and the company gathers around as Vanth decides he needs to share something from his past with his friends. He talks about how thousands of years ago, two advanced races, the immortal and benevolent Orsirosians disagreed with the Zygoteans, who started to spread throughout the galaxy, conquering and plundering other worlds. The Orsirosians decided to oppose them, and their war lasted for centuries. The leader of the Orsirosians, Lord Aknaton, created a device called the Infinity Horn that would destroy the galaxy, thinking that a better solution than continuing to fight a war they couldn’t win. Aknaton traveled through time and space to prepare beings who could use the Infinity Horn. Along the way, he seeded intelligence in the humans of Earth and races on other worlds, also leaving behind the sword that Vanth uses. Returning home, he recognized that his people could only last a few more centuries, so he struck out again to reap what he sowed. He gathered a big guy named Za, a human named Juliet, and a winged woman named Whis’par to join in his fight. He found Vanth using his sword to fight Zygoteans mercenaries, and recruited him too. They went to the world where the Horn was hidden, and while the others blew it, Vanth and Aknaton held off their enemy. The Horn destroyed the entire Milky Way and the souls of the three who blew it became pure energy. Aknaton saved him and Vanth, and they drifted in a bubble for over a million years before crashing on Caldor. Furious, Vanth shot Aknaton three times and buried him. Now he tells the others that when he went to Aknaton’s grave, it was empty. Vanth thinks that Z is Aknaton, but isn’t sure if he can remember him or not (he thinks the name Z is a reference to the Zygoteans). Syzygy wonders why he’s malevolent now, and Vanth thinks it’s because his death changed him. Oedi tells them he’s off to Jewelworld for his next report from the King, and Vanth and Skeevo go with him. Syzygy counsels Willow to not look to Vanth to return the feelings she obviously has for him, and she gets upset. Skeevo lands Oedi’s ship and heads off to check with his contacts about Z, while Vanth goes to wander the streets. We follow Oedi as he sneaks onto the palace grounds and receives his information tape from the King, who drops it from a balcony. Z is there, and as guards and robots surround him, Oedi makes a break for it, making it to the palace’s walls. He’s shot three times by Z and falls. Vanth and Skeevo weren’t able to learn anything and are shocked to find Oedi so badly hurt when he meets them. He explains that Z let him go and that he told Vanth he’s waiting for him at the palace. They look at what is on the King’s tapes, and learn of the Monarchy’s troop deployments, and that Lord Papal and Z struck a deal. Vanth sends Skeevo to get Syzygy and their battle cruiser, while he heads for the palace.
- Z shows King Gregzor footage of Dreadstar fighting his way through the robots in the royal palace, and tells the King that the Instrumentality is going to conquer his world; he also says that the King is going to help him kill Dreadstar. On Plorexus, the rest of Dreadstar’s company gathers around Oedi, who is in a medical bed. Skeevo catches them up on what’s happened, explaining that Dreadstar has gone to save the king and told him to bring Oedi back and return with reinforcements. On Altarix, Lord High Papal prepares to launch his invasion. Dreadstar finds Z waiting for him in the palace, and Vanth reveals that he knows Z is his old friend Aknaton. He offers to talk through their differences, but Z attacks. They are evenly matched, with Vanth’s sword of power absorbing and returning any energy shot at it, while Z’s shield protects him. Their fight is interrupted by the King, who rushes to Vanth for protection, but then hits him hard in the head. Z blasts Vanth, knocking him out, and we see that the King is mostly mechanical. Syzygy and Willow arrive in orbit around Jewelworld, but detect the arrival of the Instrumentality’s invasion and retreat. Syzygy insists that they return home, as he knows they’ll be destroyed if they try to help Vanth. Dreadstar wakes to find himself hanging by his hands from a device. Z explains that he has complete control over the King’s body, and has him watching but immobile. Vanth figures he can free himself, but when he tries, he’s electrocuted. They can hear the fight above the palace, as Z gloats. He reveals that he wants revenge on Dreadstar, but that he’s not Aknaton. He removes his weapon hand and mask, revealing himself to be a Zygotean. The battle continues outside the palace, with the Monarchy badly outnumbered. Z explains that his right arm was removed, as his people practice ritual amputation, but because he’s left-handed, he is the only Zygotean with a left arm. He explains that he was scouting the Milky Way for conquest, and watched broadcasts that taught him about Aknaton, Dreadstar, and how the Zygoteans were defeated. He saw the end of the Milky Way from a great distance, and how Dreadstar and Aknaton were the only survivors, in their mystic sphere. He decided not to destroy them right there, and instead set about a long and complicated approach to revenge. He slept for a million years, and was present when the sphere landed on Caldor. He watched Dreadstar kill Aknaton, and later went to desecrate his grave. He then joined the Monarchy, working his way through the ranks. He’s responsible for the death of the Caldorians, having lied about their peaceful ways. He further explains how he manipulated and took control of King Gregzor, and now he wants to watch Dreadstar die. But, in classic comics villain fashion, he leaves a nuclear bomb next to our hero and the immobile king, then leaves. Vanth can’t free himself, but they hear one of the Instrumentality ships get shot down. It crashes into the room, right on top of Vanth.
- Vanth and Gregzor survived the crash, and it’s freed Vanth. He destroys the detonator on the bomb, and picks up the badly damaged King. He takes him to his chambers and promises that he’ll get revenge on Z for this before the King dies. Vanth continues to talk to the dead King as he moves through the palace, following the trail of bodies Z has left behind him. He picks up a jetpack off one body, and pauses when he sees a robot repainting a wall. He uses the paint as battle paint, like his ancestors did. Dreadstar catches up to Z, who is about to board a ship. They start to fight. Z fires projectiles from his weapon hand at Vanth, whose energy sword is not able to get through Z’s forcefield. Vanth avoids his blasts, and then shoots out some support columns, bringing the roof down on his enemy. Z emerges from the rubble (Daina Graziunas’s colours look so good here). On the Lord High Papal’s ship, he learns that they’ve taken Jewelworld, but that there are strange energy readings coming from the palace. He knows that’s Z and Dreadstar, and orders his forces to wait until the battle is over before going in and killing everyone inside. On Plorexus, Dreadstar’s friends wait. We see the fight between Vanth and Z continues, getting ever more brutal. Vanth maneuvers Z into position and fires the jetpack right into his back, which brings him down. Vanth hacks at him with his energy sword, finally disabling his forcefield. Vanth crushes his weapon hand, and Z concedes defeat, asking that Vanth kill him quickly. Instead, Vanth picks up a length of chain and they start to fight again, with Z firing beams from his eyes that never hit. Vanth hits him with the chain, and when he’s down, continues to beat him with it until he is dead. Vanth walks through the palace, where he is found by a number of Instrumentality soldiers. When they realize who he is, they run away in fear. Later, Lord High Papal is told that all of Jewelworld is secure, and that Z is dead, but that Dreadstar escaped in a troop carrier. Lord High Papal calls for his Holy Inquisitors to deal with Jewelworld.
- The Lord High Papal and his unnamed Admiral are on the planet Titainius, overseeing the transfer of power to the Instrumentality, and the way that the church is rounding up dissidents and threats. They discuss their inability to find all of the Monarchy’s fleet, and worry that they’ll side with Dreadstar if they aren’t found and destroyed. They also wonder where the Commune is going to side. Lord High Papal expresses discontent with how slowly ‘irredeemables’ are being processed and kills hundreds with his eye beams. A portal opens, and Cardinal Spydar emerges, in rough shape. He explains that Syzygy left him in another dimension, but he was able to get free. He tells the LHP that he has a way of killing Vanth, so he is spared from death for being a failure. Back on his flagship, the admiral tells LHP that they are headed to the planet Winlor next. LHP knows of this remote and rough mining planet. He launches into a soliloquy (it’s not clear if he’s telling this to the admiral) about his origin. He was born on that planet, a mixed-race child with a human mother. His father died before he was born, and he was shunned for his strangeness. His mother was killed (by her pimp?), and LHP ended up working in the sewers where he was abused. His supervisor’s daughter, Leana, was the only person who was ever nice to him. As he grew up, he met Tribecus Londo, an alien who had a successful trading business. Londo took LHP under his wing and introduced him to the magic of the Instrumentality. The narrative is interrupted when Science Officer Monalo introduces LHP to two powered youth called Infrared and Ultraviolet. LHP remembers how his power grew, and he and Londo decided to destroy the community on Winlor. He went to Leana and offered her his love, but she looked horrified. They blew up the dome that protected the community, and everyone died of methane poisoning. LHP entered the priesthood and worked his way up the ranks as the war with the Monarchy began. Eventually, he became close to the LHP of the day, until he poisoned him and took his place. The Twelve Gods the Instrumentality worships appeared to him and approved of him. His story finished (he was just narrating it to himself), he refuses the meal brought to him by his Cardinal, expecting it to be poisoned.
- The last issue in this volume, which is not the end of any particular arc, opens with a serial killer stalking a woman on the streets of Calonior, on the planet Falstarro. Starlin’s portrait of this guy makes him sound like an incel. On Plorexus, Vanth is wearing the new outfit that Willow made for him, and is complaining about how tight it is (it’s a full body-suit. When the joking is finished, Syzygy recaps what’s happened and talks about how many the Lord High Papal is having killed on newly-conquered Monarchy worlds. The company talks about reaching out to the Commune to form an alliance, and Syzygy wants them to deploy Maxilon to show an alternative to the Instrumentality. Vanth wants to find any remaining Monarchy vessels to get them to join up with him, and he wants to know more about Catorlite. Syzygy is worried about Oedi’s leg, which is not healing. Willow suggests a doctor on Falstarro, and Vanth sends the gang there, while heading on his own to the Commune. Once Willow and the crew arrive, Syzygy mentally disguises them (they look a lot like the main characters of Star Wars). They head to the doctor’s office, and Dr. Delphi is happy to see Willow again. They are worried that his receptionist has learned who they are, and Willow mind blasts her to stop her from calling the authorities. Syzygy sends Skeevo to keep watch in the hall, but he slips away to take care of some business. At the police station, they have reason to wonder why no one was on the line when they got the receptionist’s call. They send a patrol over to look, and we learn that Tuetun was busted down to working here after his earlier failure to stop Dreadstar’s people. When he realizes that Oedi, who embarrassed him before, is in the doctor’s office, he knocks out his associates and rushes in on his own; Skeevo is on a pay phone and doesn’t see him coming. Vanth meets with three representatives of the Commune, and they basically agree to give him weapons and tech support. Tuetun breaks through the doctor’s door, knocking out Szygy. Willow tries to stop him, but he doesn’t stay down long. Skeevo, having rejoined the others, sets a wastebasket full of papers on fire and convinces Tuetun to run to the roof. He tries to get the big dummy to jump off the roof, but his fire goes out, and Tuetun realizes what’s going on. They fight, and the big guy is about to smash the little pirate when he slips in some fluid he spilled, and falls off the roof. Everyone gathers together, and the doctor, realizing that he’s going to be blamed for everything, offers to join up with Dreadstar. They leave the planet, and notice two lights heading there. Willow has a bad feeling about this. Back in Calonior, we see that Tuetun, who is still alive, landed on the serial killer, squishing him.
It’s obvious that Dynamite just picked twelve issues out of habit, as this book ends with a “to be continued”, and could have just as easily ended with issue eleven. Granted, these comics were created long before ‘writing for the trade’ was a thing, and it makes sense that Starlin would be continuing to build the series at this point. It feels like, had the book been canceled at issue ten, readers would have gotten a good story, but once it was clear that the book could continue, Starlin started building a longer future for it.
We need to acknowledge just how much this book owes to Star Wars (which was subtly acknowledged when Willow disguised people as Luke, Leia, Han and Chewie on their way to the doctor’s in issue twelve). Z would not have looked like he did were it not for Darth Vader. Dreadstar’s energy blade is more or less a lightsaber. The Lord High Papal represents an evil Empire, and the Force manifests itself in a few ways, with Szygy’s and Willow’s powers. But this is a very remixed version of Star Wars, and it manages to become its own thing pretty quickly.
I like how the hero of the series suffers a pretty big defeat when the Instrumentality takes out the King and the main planet in the Monarchy, thus settling a centuries-long conflict with the bad guys winning. This means that Vanth and his friends need to find partners to continue their fight, and that the series might have a good long run (which it really ended up doing).
I liked a lot of the main characters, but felt like we were only just getting to know some of them towards the end of this first volume. I also like the way the size of the Instrumentality allows for a variety of threats to come from it, as is hinted towards the end of this volume.
What I didn’t like much was the volume of cosmic aspects this story had. The idea of Vanth being a Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes-like character appealed at the beginning, but all the stuff about him being in suspended animation for ages, and the real identity of Z, just made things more complicated than they needed to be. It also made Vanth’s character harder to relate to as the comic continued. Likewise, Lord High Papal is a Darkseid-level threat, and the power scales just feel a little off to me. I feel the same way about Syzygy, whose name I hate having to type.
Another thing I didn’t like, which is a general gripe I have about science fiction comics from this era, is the reliance on droids to do work at times, and then long stretches where they don’t really appear. I especially hate robots that remind me of the robots in Magnus Robot Fighter, because they’re goofy.
Starlin’s writing in this book is good. It does feel, early on, like he’s still feeling this series out (despite there having been stories that existed before these, from Epic Illustrated). He also sometimes feels like he’s cobbling together plotlines (again, the Z thing bugged me, because it could have been so much cooler). I like how he started to incorporate humour into the book, while also showcasing how serious things were.
Starlin’s art is very solid and dependable. He’s rarely flashy, but he tells his story well through his art, and has some neat character designs. It bothers me that Syzygy looks so much like The Weird, the character he would go on to develop at DC, but whatever. I like Dreadstar’s first outfit much better than his second, but wonder if there was pressure to make this look more like a superhero book.
One thing that really stood out was the variety in quality of the colouring. That’s not to say that any of it was bad, but some of the issues coloured by Daina Graziunas really stood out as being more sophisticated and textured. I don’t know if that’s because the Epic line was experimenting with colour or what, but I much preferred the look of those issues.
So, I’m happy to have read this book. I’d not had any experience with Dreadstar before, and now I want to read more. I’ve started gathering up the remaining issues (Dynamite’s planned second volume appears to have never materialized), and have noticed that at some point after the book moved from Epic/Marvel to First, it picked up Peter David as writer and got a lot more 90s. This has me curious to continue this story, but I’ll wait until I have the full set before continuing. I’d love to read the Epic Illustrated stories (I know some were reprinted as an Annual in the Epic run), but it might take me a while to get them all.
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If you’d like to read this trade, you can find it here.
