Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Black and White Wednesday: The Origin of Jim Starlin's Darklon


What's happening, Groove-ophiles! It's been way too long since we got down with Jim Starlin's Darklon the Mystic, so Ol' Groove's gonna lay the Mystic One's origin on ya today! I mentioned in my last Darklon post that creator/writer/artist Jim Starlin was going through some heavy stuff during his post-Warlock days, and Darklon seemed to be a way for the most cosmic writer-artist of all to work through it. Many adjectives could be used to describe this trippy two-parter from Warren's Eerie #'s 79-80 (cover-dated November 1976-January 1977)--sinister, sadistic, and stunning being a choice few. WARNING! This is Starlin at his most savage--neither "The Price!" nor "Retribution" is recommended for the faint of heart!



Starlin dug this gruesome sacrifice-to-power origin so much that he'd use a similar bloody path for Vanth Dreadstar's pal Syzygy Darklok in his 1981 graphic novel titled, not surprisingly, The Price.
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7 comments:

  1. Mike MikulovskySeptember 22, 2010 at 2:19 AM

    Bummer! I guess breaking up is hard to do! I guess he went to pieces! Jim Starlin was sure at the top of his game back then. I just wish he hadn't killed off Adam Warlock & done a Cosmic Three series. With Warlock, the Silver Surfer & Firelord.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Andrew WahlSeptember 22, 2010 at 12:07 PM

    Groove:

    Nice stuff. I first encountered Darklon through the PC color reprint edition. Not surprisingly, I find the art to work much better in its original B&W.

    Need to put those Eeries on my want list.

    Cheers,
    Andrew
    ComicsBronzeAge.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Edo BosnarSeptember 23, 2010 at 5:46 AM

    Thanks for posting this - great stuff. By the way, I also first read this, and now again have, the Pacific color edition, which I love. I don't think the coloring takes anything away from the stories.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Geoff GroganSeptember 23, 2010 at 1:39 PM

    nice to have you back, oh groovious one! What a great post! I'd never seen this stuff before and the artwork is nothing short of astonishing!The Cosmic King at his absolute best! I've added these issues to my want list for sure!

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  5. Mars Will Send No MoreAugust 5, 2011 at 5:53 PM

    The color version produced by Pacific Comics arrived in the mail today. It was nice to get the whole tale including the final showdown. But, many of the areas where Starlin used fine lines with gray washes got blurred and muddied in the colorization process. Your b&w scans reveal more of the original detail.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousSeptember 25, 2014 at 3:17 PM

    More Darklon please!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Doc ThompsonMay 12, 2016 at 2:24 PM

    A bit of Prince Corum retread

    ReplyDelete

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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


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