Starriors #1

History

Starriors originated as a collaboration between Tomy and Marvel Comics in 1984, with the toyline itself a re-purposed offshoot of Tomy's existing Zoids line given a wholly original American storyline. Marvel's involvement ran on two tracks simultaneously: six mini-comics were packaged directly inside the toy packaging, while the standalone four-issue limited series was crafted for the newsstand and direct-sales market. Louise Simonson, who had just transitioned from senior editor — where she had overseen Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants — to full-time writer at the end of 1983, was assigned the series at the very start of her freelance writing career, working under editor Ann Nocenti with Jim Shooter as editor-in-chief. The painted covers across all four issues were provided by Bill Sienkiewicz, who was simultaneously producing some of the most acclaimed work of his career on New Mutants, lending the toy tie-in a level of visual prestige well above its commercial origins.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of the entire Starriors cast in a full-sized comic, including the Protectors (Hotshot, Crank, Cut-Up, Runabout, Nipper, Tinker, Thinktank, Motormouth) and the Destructors (Slaughter Steelgrave, Gouge, Sawtooth, Deadeye, Cricket, Auntie Tank, Backfire, Speedtrap, Grub, Scrapper), as catalogued by the Marvel Database as Earth-84724 first appearances.
• Written by Louise Simonson (credited as Louise Simonson), with interior pencils by Mike Chen, inks by Ian Akin and Brian Garvey, colors by Julianna Ferriter, letters by Joe Rosen, and a painted cover by Bill Sienkiewicz; Ann Nocenti edited the series under editor-in-chief Jim Shooter.
• The issue is titled 'Discovery!' and sets up the post-apocalyptic premise: solar flares devastate Earth, humanity enters suspended animation, and three robotic classes — Protectors, Destructors, and Guardians — are built to safeguard the planet until mankind can be revived.
• Starriors is a sub-line derived from Tomy's Zoids toyline, but was given an entirely new American storyline; some figures (Runabout and Speedtrap) were originally developed for Zoids before being redirected to the Starriors release.
• Six separate Marvel-published mini-comics were distributed packaged inside the physical toys (titled 'Deadeye,' 'The Forest,' 'Honor,' 'The Trap,' 'The Wall,' and 'Bolar!'), making the newsstand limited series a parallel but distinct narrative product.
• The Simonson limited series told a fully self-contained four-issue story arc, including character deaths and the resolution of the central quest, and deliberately did not incorporate the eight characters introduced in the toyline's second wave.
• The toyline was commercially unsuccessful, entering a crowded robot-toy market dominated by Transformers and GoBots; after the first wave, only eight additional figures were produced, and Tomy's promised animated television miniseries titled 'Starriors Odyssey,' announced in a 1984 trade advertisement for a 1985 debut, never materialized.
• The series was published in three editions for issue #1: a Direct Edition, a Newsstand Edition, and a Canada Variant, each with different cover pricing; the on-sale date was August 14, 1984, with a November 1984 cover date.

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Variants (2)