With the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie coming out on August 1st, I thought I would revisit one of my favorite stories from the B&W magazine, Marvel Preview.
Star-Lord was first introduced in Marvel Preview #4 by Steve Englehart and Steve Gan. I was never touched by this story. It left no impression whatsoever.
Then came Marvel Preview # 11! This issue was done by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin. This is a great magazine. The creative team that had taken the X-Men to unimagined heights were brought together for a sci-fi tour de force!
From the eye popping Ken Barr cover to the Byrne and Austin opening splash page, the exquisite lettering and title design of Tom Orzechowski and yes even to the back cover advertisement, this book was a keeper. I am going to purposely not give you a story synopsis, but just want to encourage you to find this mag and see it in its stunning black and white glory.
This was a great 56 page complete story and packed a wallop, as if you had known these characters for a long time, which is the mastery of the medium that this team had proven time and time again!
The John Byrne and Terry Austin artistic team is one of the best loved team-ups in comic history and when paired with Claremont are sure to please. I would love to see another story or two by this talented trio and hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.
So see if you can find a copy of this issue or the later reprint of Star-Lord the Special Edition(in full color). I really think the B&W magazine does the scope of this space opera justice , compared to the coloured version. But that is just me.
I hope some new fans take the time to hunt this down. I’d love to hear your thoughts about this book!
Continued happy collecting!
Hi Dennis: Byrne, Austin, and Claremont were my favourite comic book creative team of all-time. Their run on X-Men #108 to 143 was the best.
I didn’t know that they worked on this issue. It’s so expensive now because of the GOTG movie, that I’ll have to hunt for a reprint or trade of this issue.
Hey Peter,
The Starlord Special Edition is a reprint of this book in colour and should be way more affordable.Definitely worth hunting ror!