Starblazer Covered

Regular downthetubes readers will recall we published some features about DC Thomson's much-missed SF digest comic Starblazer on downthetubes some time ago, including a checklist of the title.

The section orginally kicked off with a feature by Jeremy Briggs called 'Blazing Through the Secrecy' - pondering the mystery of once-anonymous creators - but also includes background on how the book was created from editor Bill McLoughlin and Ray Aspden's memories of writing for the title ('Behind the Lines').

One thing the section has always lacked was cover images but now, thanks to the kindness of a reader, we have a full set, so we'll be adding them to the checklist over time. But for now, you may enjoy checking them out on this Picasa Gallery.

Starblazer featured many covers by Dan Dare artist Ian Kennedy, plus work by artists such as Keith Page, Ferrer, Enrique Alcatena and Jaimie Ortiz and has been reincarnated in recent years as a game, Starblazer Adventures.


• Click Here for Starblazer editor Bill McLoughlin's history of the title
• Click Here for Jeremy Briggs article on Starblazer
• Click Here for Ray Aspden's feature on writing for the title
• Click Here for a complete Starblazer Cover Gallery (Picassa Album)

Starblazer Checklist:

• Issues 1 - 75 • Issues 76 - 150 • Issues 151 - 200 • Issues 201 - 250 • Issues 251 - 281 • Foreign Editions

Starblazer © DC Thomson

Starblazer Revived?

Rumours have reached downthetubes that some form of Starblazer collection is in the works at DC Thomson, along with other graphic collections based on some of the company's most popular characters from a range of comics.

Although Carlton Books have published several Commando collections, we're told DC Thomson has been considering and 'mocking up' different graphic collection projects for some time: among them, Starblazer, the 1980s SF digest title whose creators included a young Grant Morrison, Mike McMahon, Steve Holland, Ray Aspden, Ian Kennedy and many others.

What's proposed is a push by DC Thomson into the "retro market", already exploited by the likes of Rebellion, Titan Books and other publishers. On the table, we're told, are reproductions of Starblazer - possibly in colour - in a bigger size, and perhaps with a new narrative... edgier and more like a graphic novel than what it was.

In discussion for some time at DC Thomson, the proposal would also showcase the work of artists and authors such as Mike Chinn, John Smith, Grant Morrison, Alan Hemus and others and artists, particularly Enrique Alcatena and Ricardo Garijo, who sadly died recently, plus the other artists.

As well as the republication or updating of older material DC Thomson would also seek to publish the four, as yet, unpublished 'Legends' stories planned for Starblazer before it was cancelled after over it 281 issue run.

But this is merely the tip of the iceberg, because we're also told DC Thomson want to give the same treatment to other 'superheroes'...The Black Sapper, Jack Flash and numerous others.

Will this exciting project ever get the go ahead? Only if DC Thomson's research into graphic novel publishing indicates demand for such a project, and that has only begun in earnest, we gather, in the past few months, although the Starblazer revamp project has been in development for much longer.

• A Starblazer History on downthetubes