1977-78
Written by David Michelinie
Art by Don Newton, Don Newton, Bob Layton
Comic books are an iffy medium and there were many times where a comic died early due to lack of interest. One interesting failure was DC’s Star Hunters.
It was an attempt to cash in on the popularity of Star Wars. Marvel had gotten the rights to the Star Wars characters, so DC created their own. The Star Hunters were a group of space adventurers* who were sent off on a mission by the Corporation to find the origins of human life. Their leader was Donovan Flint,** who tried to complete the mission. He has no choice: they’ve all be infected with a virus that will kill them if they ever set foot on Earth again.
The seven issues saw the crew finding out new things about the universe, each other, and the Corporation.
I picked up the first issue because of my love of science fiction and the idea of a space opera series that presented something a bit different and I had liked Michelinie’s continuation of Swamp Thing, which managed to pick up the story and take it in new directions. But this story never actually caught fire.
What I do remember best from it was the cover of the fourth issue. In issue 3, some danger overtook Fint. And the cover of issue 4 says, “What happens when a hero dies?”
Well, the first rule of advertising is to never lead with a question and my thought at once was “He comes back to life again.’
Still, I think the comic was an interesting attempt at comic book space opera, even though it was ultimately unsuccessful. The title folded after seven issues. The characters have made very sporadic appearances, but lay in the forgotten corner of comic book history. Maybe one day someone will try to bring them back.
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*Akin to the crew of the Liberator in Blake’s 7
*Clearly with a nod toward Errol Flynn
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