Geek Moment Alpha

Regular viewers of this broadcast know that the Mole has reignited his childhood passion for what nowadays the youngsters call "comic books." In the past we have discussed, you and I, the Godhood of one Jacob Kurtzburg, aka Jack "King" Kirby, who is and was and shall be. But there is another who approaches the King in greatness, in vastness of imagination and storytelling ability, in mythmaking propensities, etc., etc., and that is why I am now pleased to institute....

Yes, Jim Starlin. Way back in 1980 or so I became particularly aware of Mr. S when I procured the first issue of Epic Illustrated, in which his Metamorphosis Odyssey first appeared. Too much to go into here, but basically the plot of this incredibly powerful multi-part cosmic epic involved the need to destroy the Milky Way galaxy, the whole magilla, so that it would not be horribly raped and pillaged from one end to the other by the most horrible aliens ever in the history of history itself.

Out of the MO, came the stories of the survivors, particularly one Vanth Dreadstar, who Starlin turned into the hero of a couple of graphic novels and then a long-running creator-owned monthly comic.

Jump forward to now, and I have been discovering the other greatness of Mr. S., that being the demi-God Thanos, who fell in love with death and sought to destroy reality in order to please his queen. Thanos routinely seeks after ultimate power and then ends up saving it so that others dont get to do what he wants to do, usually in tandem with and opposition to one Adam Warlock. Again, that's a thumbnail of over three decades of story, mostly written by Jim Starlin. But Thanos is a truly great villain, a slightly more moral version of Kirby's Darkseid who has of late (Annihilation Wave notwithstanding) been working to atone for his sins of the past. We'll see how that works out.

In any event, on my list of creators, Jim Starlin is right up there just slightly below Kirby in terms of sheer scope, cosmic power, and range of imagination. Of course, Mr. K is sadly deceased, but a couple weekends ago, Moleson and I visited the local WizardWorld Con and there, sitting unassumingly in front of pictures of his creations, was Jim Starlin.

I geeked out. I told my son, "Oh, My God, That's Jim Starlin!"

Of course, he said, "Who?"

In any event, it was a great, spine-tingly, geeky pleasure to meet Jim Starlin, to shake his hand and tell him what a fan I have been for these 26 years - he was most pleasant and friendly and I went away thrilled. Oh yes, and I had just picked up copies of Dreadstar #1 and Dreadstar Annual #1 - so I was equally pleased for him to sign those copies, which now sit but feet away from me here in the Molehole.

I will discuss more on Mr. Starlin and Mighty Thanos in the near future. In the meantime my new treasures are below for your viewing pleasure. Peace.