Wildstar: Sky Zero #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeWildStar: Sky Zero #1 marks the debut of WildStar (Michael Gabriel) and his supporting cast — SkyLark, HotWire, and JumpStart — making it the origin-point for Al Gordon's most sustained creator-owned work at Image. As part of Image's second wave of titles in early 1993, it stood out by pairing a veteran DC storyteller (Jerry Ordway, fresh off years on Superman) with a genuinely structured time-loop narrative at a moment when most second-wave Image books prioritized splash pages over plot coherence. Wizard Magazine spotlighted the miniseries in its 'Picks from the Wizard's Hat' feature, and The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide later called it a notably solid piece of early-Image science-fiction superheroics — a distinction that was genuinely rare for the era.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The four-issue Sky Zero miniseries was written, inked, and self-edited by Al Gordon, with Jerry Ordway penciling the pages around his ongoing DC Comics commitments. According to the Modern Masters volume on Ordway (TwoMorrows Publishing, 2007), the collaboration was turbulent: both creators wanted greater creative control and the project lacked a neutral editorial middleman, and they also had to navigate frustrating trademark complications over the WildStar name itself. The series was lettered by John Workman, colored by Reuben Rude and Olyoptics, and edited by Bill 'Bud' Shakespeare, with its indicia listing Malibu Comics Entertainment as the publishing entity even though the book carried the Image brand.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance and origin of WildStar (Michael Gabriel), a human bonded with the K'l Vann — a non-sentient, starfish-shaped alien symbiote that feeds on negative emotions while granting its host superhuman strength, invulnerability, and a devastating bio-circuit force blast.
- First appearance of SkyLark (Aria Campbell), HotWire (Andy Peartree), and JumpStart — core cast members who carry into both the remainder of the miniseries and the short-lived ongoing WildStar series.
- Created by writer/inker Al Gordon and penciler Jerry Ordway; lettered by John Workman, colored by Reuben Rude and Olyoptics, edited by Bill 'Bud' Shakespeare.
- Published March 1993 as part of Image Comics' second wave; the indicia credits Malibu Comics Entertainment Inc. as the publishing entity.
- The issue's story arc is titled 'Born Under a Bad Sign, Part 1' and opens the time-loop narrative: a future Michael Gabriel travels back to the present to prevent an apocalyptic Earth from ever occurring, inadvertently creating the very loop he is trying to escape.
- A four-page preview of the issue appeared in Malibu Sun #21 (January 1993), ahead of the March 1993 cover date.
- The Direct Edition features a silver foil embossed cardstock cover; a Newsstand Edition (non-embossed, silver ink) and a Gold Foil Edition also exist, making three distinct cover variants for the issue.
- The complete miniseries was later collected in a trade paperback (WildStar: Sky Zero, 1994) with bonus extras; Ordway and Gordon also hand-distributed a nine-card promotional trading card set at conventions to promote the series.
Cast · 22 characters
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Reprinted in Wildstar: Sky Zero #[nn] (1994)
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