Starslayer #4
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeStarslayer #4 marks Groo the Wanderer's second-ever published appearance — and his first within the Pacific Comics universe — arriving just a few months after his debut in Destroyer Duck #1. Rather than a full story, Sergio Aragonés contributed a two-page promotional preview advertisement and back-cover art to the issue, giving Pacific's readership their first look at the bumbling barbarian who would soon headline his own title. The issue is part of a remarkable run in which Starslayer served as a launch pad for multiple creator-owned characters — the Rocketeer had debuted in issues #2–3, Groo previewed here and in #5, and Grimjack would follow at First Comics — making the Pacific run of this series one of the most consequential incubators of the early independent comics movement.
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Starslayer was created by Mike Grell, originally pitched to DC Comics, but that plan was shelved during the company's late-1970s mass cancellation event known as the DC Implosion. Because DC never published it, Grell retained full ownership and brought the series to Pacific Comics, which began publishing it in February 1982. Pacific's founder brothers Bill and Steve Schanes had pioneered a creator-owned, direct-market publishing model — the same philosophy that attracted Aragonés, who had spent years refusing to sell Groo's rights to any publisher that demanded full ownership. The insertion of Aragonés's Groo preview ad into Starslayer #4 was a natural fit: Pacific was actively using its stronger titles to spotlight upcoming creator-owned launches.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Starslayer #4 was published by Pacific Comics in August 1982, written and illustrated by Mike Grell.
- The issue contains a two-page promotional preview advertisement for Groo the Wanderer, plus back-cover art, both by Sergio Aragonés — representing Groo's second-ever published appearance in any comic.
- Groo's first published appearance was a four-page story in Destroyer Duck #1 (Eclipse Comics, 1981), a benefit comic raising money for Steve Gerber's legal battle with Marvel over creator rights.
- The Groo material in this issue is an advertisement/preview, not a narrative story; the first actual Groo backup story appeared one issue later, in Starslayer #5.
- The lead story by Mike Grell follows protagonists Torin and Tamara on Phobos, where a civil war between two brothers over an amulet of power drives the plot.
- Starslayer was itself a creator-owned title, originally intended for DC Comics before the DC Implosion of the late 1970s allowed Grell to retain rights and eventually bring it to Pacific.
- The Pacific run of Starslayer lasted only six issues before Grell moved the series to First Comics with issue #7 (August 1983), partly due to organizational difficulties at Pacific.
- Groo the Wanderer went on to become one of the most celebrated creator-owned humor comics in history, winning the Will Eisner Award for Best Humor Publication in 1992 and 1999, and running continuously across Pacific, Epic/Marvel, Image, and Dark Horse Comics.
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Torin and Tamara get mixed up in a dispute over who is the rightful ruler of Mars.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).
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