Star*Reach

**Rob Allen** · 05-08-2012, 05:48 PM

This came up at the end of a recent thread about science fiction movies. It's a completely different subject, so I thought I'd give it its own thread. Confessor mentioned that the song "Wooden Ships" by Crosby, Stills & Nash was based on a science fiction story; I mentioned that the song had been adapted to comics in an issue of Star*Reach. He replied:

Originally Posted by The Confessor

Thanks , Rob. I'd never heard of Star*Reach before. Is it a good series and is it worth picking up issue #3 for the Wooden Ships story?

My response, mostly copied from the other thread:

Never ... heard .... of .... Star*Reach??? *swoons*

The "Wooden Ships" story is really nice, but it's only 5 pages. There are more reasons to pick up #3 - the wraparound Brunner cover (http://www.comics.org/issue/29033/cover/4/ - possibly NSFW) and accompanying sword & sorcery story, the sf story, the erotic/Lovecraft story...

Yes, it's a good series. An anthology, so somewhat uneven, but the high points are very high - Chaykin, Starlin, Brunner, Leialoha, Staton, Workman, Vosburg, Russell, Marrs, Giordano...

The argument has been made, by sometime CBR poster Richard Arndt, that Star*Reach was the most important comic series of the 1970s. His Star*Reach bibliography has all the credits plus his reviews of every issue and an overview of the series' and the company's importance in comics history:

http://enjolrasworld.com/Richard%20Arndt/Star-Reach.htm

I guess they didn't have distribution in the UK, or you would have heard of them. I hope they're not too difficult to find.

Anone else have memories of Star*Reach?

**Red Oak Kid** · 05-08-2012, 06:48 PM

I remember having one of the early issues. I believe it had a Neal Adams cover and a sci-fi story by Giordano featuring a sexy heroine. I think the book was originally promoted as a place where mainstream comic book pros could do stories and art without the Comics Code restrictions.

**hondobrode** · 05-08-2012, 07:14 PM

You're both very correct. It was Mike Friedrich's pro-zine anthology that wasn't as far out as the undergrounds.

Eclipse back in the 80's reprinted some of the work in a 6 issue mini.

**berk** · 05-08-2012, 07:15 PM

I've been slowly picking up the back issues the last few years but haven't gotten round to reading any yet except one of the early issues with some really nice Jim Starlin work.

Actually, looking at the covers and at Richard's bibliography, the one I'm thinking of looks like it was a reprint, as it has a Jim Starlin drawn front cover and the bibliography lists Howard Chaykin as doing the front cover and Starlin the back.

Either way, some very nice work by Starlin, both the cover and the interior story. Look forward to reading the whole series once I get all the issues.

**The Confessor** · 05-08-2012, 07:40 PM

Originally Posted by Rob Allen

My response, mostly copied from the other thread:

Sorry Rob, I didn't see that reply. Dunno how I managed to miss it, but rest assured, I wasn't ignoring you.

Originally Posted by Rob Allen

Never ... heard .... of .... Star*Reach??? *swoons*

The "Wooden Ships" story is really nice, but it's only 5 pages. There are more reasons to pick up #3 - the wraparound Brunner cover (http://www.comics.org/issue/29033/cover/4/) and accompanying sword & sorcery story, the sf story, the erotic/Lovecraft story...

Yes, it's a good series. An anthology, so somewhat uneven, but the high points are very high - Chaykin, Starlin, Brunner, Leialoha, Staton, Workman, Vosburg, Russell, Marrs, Giordano...

The argument has been made, by sometime CBR poster Richard Arndt, that Star*Reach was the most important comic series of the 1970s. His Star*Reach bibliography has all the credits plus his reviews of every issue and an overview of the series' and the company's importance in comics history:

http://enjolrasworld.com/Richard%20Arndt/Star-Reach.htm

I guess they didn't have distribution in the UK, or you would have heard of them. I hope they're not too difficult to find.

Issue #3 sounds pretty interesting, not just because of the "Wooden Ships" connection, but also because of the erotic/Lovecraft story. I did do a quick search on eBay back when we were discussing this issue and there were a few copies of issue #3 being sold in the UK, each one going for somewhere around the £5 mark.

I'm pretty sure that Star*Reach wouldn't have been properly distributed over here, but no doubt some copies made their way over to the burgeoning specialist fantasy book sellers market that was springing up in London and other big cities in the early to mid-70's. However, I would've been a gurgling baby at the time, so that's probably why I don't recall the series.

**Rob Allen** · 05-08-2012, 09:50 PM

Originally Posted by The Confessor

Sorry Rob, I didn't see that reply. Dunno how I managed to miss it, but rest assured, I wasn't ignoring you.

I know, I figured that Star*Reach is so different from the original subject of that thread that it was easy to miss.

Issue #3 sounds pretty interesting, not just because of the "Wooden Ships" connection, but also because of the erotic/Lovecraft story. I did do a quick search on eBay back when we were discussing this issue and there were a few copies of issue #3 being sold in the UK, each one going for somewhere around the £5 mark.

I'm pretty sure that Star*Reach wouldn't have been properly distributed over here, but no doubt some copies made their way over to the burgeoning specialist fantasy book sellers market that was springing up in London and other big cities in the early to mid-70's. However, I would've been a gurgling baby at the time, so that's probably why I don't recall the series.

I think you'll like it. I recall that issue #1 was outstanding also; keep an eye out for it.

PS. I added a NSFW warning to the link to #3's cover - too many naked breasts for some environments.

**adam_warlock_2099** · 05-09-2012, 04:52 AM

I believe I have a reprint of Star Reach. I bought it for a Jim Starlin story. I believe it was about the birth of Death or something along those lines. The cover is a person riding like a giant blue being and/or robot. The cover is some amazing art, but I cannot remember the author's name. I've never bought any others, but it's been in the back of my mind to do so, as are a lot of comics that I would like to read.

**rarndt** · 05-14-2012, 07:36 AM

Dear Rob;

You might be interested to know that I'm working on a Star*Reach Companion book as we speak--it will be an expansion of the online material as well as a overview of the early independent/groundlevel books of the 1970s. I think I'm about halfway through the text material, then I start picking artwork. Anyways, something to look forward to for next year.

Rich Arndt

Originally Posted by Rob Allen

This came up at the end of a recent thread about science fiction movies. It's a completely different subject, so I thought I'd give it its own thread. Confessor mentioned that the song "Wooden Ships" by Crosby, Stills & Nash was based on a science fiction story; I mentioned that the song had been adapted to comics in an issue of Star*Reach. He replied:

My response, mostly copied from the other thread:

Never ... heard .... of .... Star*Reach??? *swoons*

The "Wooden Ships" story is really nice, but it's only 5 pages. There are more reasons to pick up #3 - the wraparound Brunner cover (http://www.comics.org/issue/29033/cover/4/ - possibly NSFW) and accompanying sword & sorcery story, the sf story, the erotic/Lovecraft story...

Yes, it's a good series. An anthology, so somewhat uneven, but the high points are very high - Chaykin, Starlin, Brunner, Leialoha, Staton, Workman, Vosburg, Russell, Marrs, Giordano...

The argument has been made, by sometime CBR poster Richard Arndt, that Star*Reach was the most important comic series of the 1970s. His Star*Reach bibliography has all the credits plus his reviews of every issue and an overview of the series' and the company's importance in comics history:

http://enjolrasworld.com/Richard%20Arndt/Star-Reach.htm

I guess they didn't have distribution in the UK, or you would have heard of them. I hope they're not too difficult to find.

Anone else have memories of Star*Reach?

**dan bailey** · 05-14-2012, 09:10 AM

Odd. Looking at the GCD cover gallery just now, I see that while #1 rings a bell, the only issue I'm absolutely, positively sure I owned back in the day was #6. And till just now I don't think I knew it; that is, I knew I bought a "ground-level" (i.e. not corporate comic but also not underground) zine with that cover back around that time, but I somehow thought either the mag itself or its publisher was called Dark Horse or something very similar (Black Horse, maybe). Which didn't actually come along till years later, after I'd stopped paying any attention at all to comics. (My first encounter with DH would've been some sort of sampler included in the bags that were given to those attending the '88 Worldcon in New Orleans. I've still got mine, along with a copy of Eclipse's The Dreamery & a Terry Pratchett paperback; unfortunately, I can't find another included item, the button promoting the then-promised Sgt. Rock movie, to save my life.)

In other not-at-all-surprising news, I've apparently lost my mind.