Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The Return of STARSTRUCK! - Or, Riot Grrrls Conquer the Universe!



ROCK Sex is about the intersections of culture.

Here is a cultural polyglot of endless riches, a comic series that blueprinted your entire future, and has now returned to take score.

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STARSTRUCK, the stage play, 1980.


The greatest graphic art/comic series you never heard of is finally returning! As great as anything Neal Gaiman, Alan Moore, or Will Eisner ever made and just as essential to the smart reader's collection.

STARSTRUCK, by writer Elaine Lee and artist Michael Wm. Kaluta, is back in print after two decades thanks to IDW Publishing. It is being massively expanded with new art and stories and beautifully re-colored. The first of 13 monthly issues comes out August 12, 2009.


UPDATE: The entire new series has been collected into the STARSTRUCK Deluxe Edition.

The sequel, STARSTRUCK: Old Proldiers Never Die, is also in collected form.


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STARSTRUCK graphic novel, 1984.


So what's the fuss? Imagine if Alan Moore had revolutionized comics with SWAMP THING in 1984 but no one had noticed...

That's what happened to STARSTRUCK. Made at the same time, Elaine Lee's story is as rich, epic, radical, complex, progressive, hilarious, and breathtaking as the best of our man Alan's work. Matched with the impossibly-layered beauty of Kaluta's art it is beyond peer. (Imagine the humor of TOP 10, surreality of PROMETHEA, and complexity of FROM HELL in one series. But all in 1984, a year before WATCHMEN had even been thought of!)

STARSTRUCK ran for two years in the mid-'80s, but its brilliance wasn't rewarded like WATCHMEN, THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, or MAUS. It came back in 1990 to restart and expand itself but everyone missed it again. Now it is returning and re-expanding.

This is your chance to catch up to the revolution in its re-evolution. This time, be there with it as it expands and ultimately gets to resolve its amazing and epic story.

STARSTRUCK, the first Epic comic, 1985.


STARSTRUCK has scope like STAR WARS and LORD OF THE RINGS have scope. It has:

  • the huge art nouveau spectacle of Winsor McCay's "Little Nemo"
  • the retro-tech of Dick Calkins' 1940s "Buck Rogers" comic strips
  • the surreal SF mindscapes of Moebius and Druillet and Pedro Bell
  • the humor of Monty Python, Lily Tomlin, and The Little Rascals
  • the mature complexity of Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and J.K. Rowling
  • the space opera of Golden Age Pulps and George Lucas and Firefly
  • vaster vistas of female possibility like Los Hermanos Hernandez, Joss Whedon, and Riot Grrrl Punk
  • the freeform sensuality of TANK GIRL or Circlet Press
  • and the fluid linearity of WATCHMEN, Thomas Pynchon, or "LOST"

It is deep, ludicrous, action-packed, shocking, whip-smart, and sexy as all get out.

And with all of that, it adds up to something unlike anything you've ever seen. It was the best, and only getting better. We are so lucky right now to have this essential classic back again.


STARSTRUCK #1, IDW front cover, 2009.



There are great things that happen in life that, when they're gone, leave a quiet unending ache. If they return, you're almost afraid to believe it because you fear they will shimmer away. The deep stuff that matters, something so good that it's almost too much to hope.

Imagine if TWIN PEAKS came back and finished up. Or FIREFLY had as many seasons as the Stargates. Or Neal Gaiman got to finish MIRACLEMAN. Or an unknown Beatles song was found.

Getting STARSTRUCK back, with the hope of it continuing on, is just like that.


STARSTRUCK #2, IDW October 2009.


Quality is timeless, and it's time that everyone caught up to the masterpiece they missed. Especially because Elaine and Michael can take us to the next level with new stories with your support! BUY THIS BOOK, in single issues and then later in trade paperback collections. You'll treasure it like you do your original issues of MIRACLEMAN or WATCHMEN. Satisfaction gauranteed.

The first issue is on sale Wednesday, August 12, 2009!



UPDATE: The entire new series has been collected into the STARSTRUCK Deluxe Edition.

The sequel, STARSTRUCK: Old Proldiers Never Die, is also in collected form.


> Starstruck official website


© Tym Stevens



See Also:

2.
STARSTRUCK Strikes Back!,
the History of STARSTRUCK from Stage Play to Comics
3.
The Big Bang of STARSTRUCK: The Roots and Branches of Elaine Lee & Michael Kaluta's space opera;
how it synthesized all Sci-Fi culture into something new, and predicted everything we've enjoyed since



1 comment:

Junk Monkey said...

You've sold me. I'm no great comic book fan and I had never heard of Starstruck until I read your blog entry - but I'm buying them.