Starstruck is an American science fiction comic book series. It is based on the off-Broadway stage play of the same name written by Elaine Lee, with contributions from Susan Norfleet Lee and Dale Place. An audio drama was also published.
Overview
Starstruck, in comics form, has been produced at various intervals since 1982 by writer Elaine Lee and artist Michael Wm. Kaluta; their primary collaborators are colorist Lee Moyer and letterer Todd Klein. The series, epic in scope, has been carried across multiple comic companies, amongst them Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and IDW Publishing. It was collected in a revised and recolored hardcover book form as Starstruck Deluxe Edition in 2011.
Since its inception, Starstruck has built a cult audience and critical acclaim from peers, periodicals, and fans for the sophistication of its storytelling. Most noted is the predominantly female cast, portrayed by Lee with a range and nuance that confounds gender stereotypes. Kaluta, an esteemed veteran of comics and illustration, is often commended for the virtuosity and imaginative detail of his artwork. Also, the series is cited for the progressiveness of its rich and complex structure: Starstruck preceded Watchmen in using innovations like nonlinear storytelling, overlapping dialogue, multiple story threads, back-up text, unreliable narrators, adjunct stories, underlying themes, recurring symbols, and an almost symphonic interconnectedness.
Premise
The story is set in an anarchic future in which humanity spans the universe. The Dread Dictator has fallen and a power vacuum sparks a chess game of eccentric players scheming for control. The serio-comic stories follow Captain Galatia 9 and her running partner, Brucilla The Muscle, as they navigate madcap scenarios and surreal misadventures in between the galactic infighting.
Play
Elaine Lee herself played the adventurous lead, Captain Galatia 9, while Lee's sister, Susan Norfleet Lee played her rowdy pilot, Brucilla the Muscle. Noted illustrator Michael Wm. Kaluta played a major role in visual aspects of the play, working on sets, costumes and promotional material. The story is set in the future, and features several strong female lead characters. A strange and gleefully corrupt future version of the Girl Guides, the Galactic Girl Guides, are introduced in a subplot that leads to the climax. The Starstruck play was produced in 1980, with another staging in 1983.
The script of the play () was published in 1985 and is still available. An audioplay adaption was recorded in 2010, and released on CD and download.
Background and creation
Elaine Lee was an actor in the late 1970s New York City theatre and television scene. She was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for her work on the long-running NBC soap opera The Doctors; she portrayed the troubled Mildred Trumble, a character modeled after Sissy Spacek's character, Pinky Rose from Robert Altman's film 3 Women. Seeing a lack of range and depth in the roles being offered to female actors, she formed a Manhattan theatre company with her sister, Susan Norfleet Lee, and actor friends which they called Wild Hair Productions. The Lees wrote their own plays for the company to star in, starting with Brief Cases.
During the writing of a second play, The Contamination of the Kokomo Lounge, Elaine began pulling together ideas for a science fiction play. The Lee sisters were at a Manhattan bar/cafe called The Library, discussing ideas over a pile of science fiction magazines when illustrator Michael Wm. Kaluta, a neighbor who often sketched there, approached them asking, "Are you science fiction fans?" Kaluta was impressed by the wit and range of their second play: he recalled thinking: "If they're going to do a science fiction play, they're going to do it very well". Kaluta told an interviewer backstage about the evolution of his role: "Should it be like a real 1930s movie poster? That's when I realized I wanted to do characterizations of the entire cast on the poster. But, I had to know what they looked like. So that's when I started designing the costumes. Because I designed them so intricately, I had to build them. And that's when my house started looking like the garment district".
Starstruck was being created in the late 1970s period of New York City's decline, when poor musicians in Punk and free jazz were making a rising scene out of cheap rents, collective venues, and street throwaways. Kaluta said: "You could build an entire city on the stuff the city throws away, just sitting out there".|source=-- Elaine Lee on the genesis of Starstruck comics.
Background and creation
The Starstruck play had been optioned by a producer in 1980, which bound Lee from developing any further stage versions for a year. Kaluta saw a solution but with some reluctance: "Though I did suggest Elaine do a comic book version of the play when all the rest of the rights were tied up by the then producer, I didn't want to draw the comic book". Kaluta was known as illustrator of The Shadow comics for DC Comics in the early 1970s, and was hesitant to take such a big project on. They also assessed that a dialogue-heavy script on two simple sets would not translate well to the visual medium of comics. Kaluta said: "But the material, and, especially Elaine's witty approach to everything she writes set a small fire under me". The Starstruck prequel series they first produced were in the template of these magazines; hallucinogenic narratives, elaborate fine art, epic backdrops, farcical humor, and adult themes, printed in serialized segments across many issues.
The first serials of Starstruck comics were printed in Spain's Ilustracion+Comix Internacional, and then America's Heavy Metal, in 1982.
Story
Centuries in the future, Earth's population has been halved by a nuclear war. Humanity has emigrated out into the universe, colonizing worlds and interacting with aliens. Various regimes have held power, most recently The Great Dictator. After his overthrow by revolutionaries, a power struggle rages on between his heirs, the Bajars, and the revolutionary leaders, the Medeas. Mary Medea fakes her death and begins an elaborate plan to eventually take control and stabilize the anarchic era. Disguised as a new player, Queen Glorianna, she orchestrates a web of interconnections to achieve what will one day be called The Great Change. The story follows the various pawns and rivals in the game, in evolving stages of their lives and of the scheme, as they all eventually meet and collide. In particular the story focuses on the backstories of Galatia 9, a freedom-fighter amazon, and Brucilla The Muscle, a good-natured hothead pilot; where they came from, how they meet, and what happens because of it.
Kaluta explained: "As the books progress, the reader gets a slow reveal of the greater energies and alliances by the way they impact the lives of the happy-go-lucky space girls and boys eking out their bits of the big ball of wax". The artist said: "There is no ruler of the universe making other people dance. But there's lots of people in the comic who think they're making other people dance. And that's where the fun is, to watch the characters delude themselves". The magazine was an equivalent to Metal Hurlant and Heavy Metal, printing countercultural science fiction and fantasy comics with adult themes and sexuality. Editor Josep Toutain was an artist and artists agent representing the wave of Spanish talent who had rejuvenated Warren Publishing titles like Vampirella and Creepy in the mid-1970s; he ran the European branch of Warren, then took it over, and expanded into other imprints and graphic novels. Toutain also reprinted innovative strips by American artists like Will Eisner, Richard Corben, and Howard Chaykin.
The color was provided by an uncredited Spanish coloring house, which added rich watercolor-esque hues working from the color cues provided by Kaluta. The stories ran as serialized vignettes across seven issues: from April to November 1982, skipping the September issue and doubling the length in the October issue.
Starstruck was on the front cover of Ilustracion+Comix Internacional #17 (April 1982), featuring Kaluta's watercolor art of the warrior/poet droid, Veep 7, and the large headline "Estrenamos Aqui un Espectaculo de Broadway Llevado al Comic por Mike W. Kaluta y Elaine Lee: Starstruck". It also appeared on the front cover of Ilustracion+Comix Internacional #23, using a portrait piece of Erotica Ann from the limited edition Starstruck portfolio, printed in color for the first time. The headline read "La Increible Fantasia de Mike Kaluta".
Heavy Metal (1982)
The Starstruck stories were then picked up for their first American publication by Heavy Metal, edited by Julie Simmons-Lynch. They were run as chapters averaging about seven to eight pages each across nine issues from November 1982, to July 1983. Heavy Metal traded often on Kaluta's fame in comic art circles, running bylines for him on the front and back covers to promote interest. Starstruck was front-loaded as the first story in the initial issues.
The magazine's Art Director at the time was John Workman, who would also letter much of the later Epic Comics run, as well as the eventual Galactic Girl Guides back-up stories. The English lettering was done by Todd Klein, who was then at the begin of his career.
In the seventh issue, May 1983, a five-page article was included by contributing Editor Stephen Maloff, with an overview of the play's two productions and its transition into mature comics. The Lee and Kaluta interviews were supplemented with art and color photos of the stage play shot by Sean Smith.
Marvel Graphic Novel (1984)
The entirety of the Comix Internacional/Heavy Metal stories were published as Marvel Graphic Novel No. #13 in September 1984, titled Starstruck: The Luckless, the Abandoned and Forsaked.<!-- NOT "THE" FORSAKED ... the title is a Quote from Bob Dylan's 'Chimes of Freedom'--> The title was a quote from Bob Dylan's 1964 song "Chimes of Freedom". This publication retained the Spanish color, with a few tweaks and additions in the stories. When Marvel editorial expressed concern at the violence in a scene where space Amazons defeat beastly hillbillies, Elaine Lee added a war song that repeated the refrain: "The Dromes were bad [repeated six times]/ so we had to kill them".
Marvel Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter recommended cutting three pages, and adding three new pages. The sequence with young Bronwyn falling into the tank of empathic merpeople was cut from the graphic novel, but restored and expanded in the later Dark Horse series.
The graphic novel, dedicated to director Robert Altman and author Thomas Pynchon, included a four-page glossary in the back that expanded upon references in the story. This became an ongoing tradition in future issues. It was nominated for a Jack Kirby Award as the Best Graphic Album of 1985.
Epic Comics (1985)
Marvel's imprint, Epic Comics, was created as an outlet for creator-owned, mature, experimental comics series. Editor Archie Goodwin spun the acclaim and success of the Starstruck graphic novel into an ongoing series by Lee and Kaluta. These were the first story expansions past the initial run of serial stories printed in Ilustracion+Comix International, Heavy Metal, and the Marvel Graphic Novel.
A Marvel promotional magazine, Marvel Age #15 (June 1984), ran a cover story on Archie Goodwin and his editing of the new Epic comics titles and Epic Illustrated magazine. A cover cartoon of Epic characters by Rick Parker included Brucilla the Muscle as well as her Tiger Brigade shark ship.
The new series ran for six bi-monthly issues cover-dated from February 1985, to February 1986. Archie Goodwin took a hands-off approach to editing, saying "I could edit this, but I would ruin it". The first two issues were colored by Elaine Lee, later ones by Steve Oliff. The first two were lettered by Ken Bruzenak, later ones by John Workman. The Epic issues ran ads for purchasing the two Starstruck T-shirts, the art portfolio, and the stage play script.
The story arc introduced Harry Palmer, a character inspired by noir detective fiction who opened the doors on much of Queen Glorianna's past and her future plans. Lee cites this as her favorite character, and the only love story she ever wrote. A trio of Galactic Girl Guides became a running thread through the issues. One of the Guides would become a crucial historian in the future, the person credited for all the barbed and humorous Glossary entries.
A cover story and career overview with Michael Kaluta appeared in Comics Journal #103 (November 1985). The cover featured Starstrucks Erotica Ann disrobing from The Shadow's cloak while saying, "Is this really what it takes to get your attention?" Kaluta spoke at length about the genesis and development of the Starstruck play and comics.
Comico Comic (1987)
After the Epic Comics series ended, Lee and Kaluta created two stories about the Galactic Girl Guides, published as back-up strips in Dave Stevens's The Rocketeer Adventure Magazine from Comico Comics in 1987 and '88. These stories focused on the youthful misadventures of Brucilla the Muscle and her two friends as they became Guides, and were done in a lighter slapstick tone. Fantasy illustrator Charles Vess, a long-time colleague of Kaluta's who had helped him create costumes and props for the play, was the inker.
Lee and Kaluta intended this kid-friendly approach, without the trappings of the epic backstory, as an easier portal to the Starstruck universe for new readers. More stories were planned until a long lag in continuing the Rocketeer's adventures put the idea on hold.
Dark Horse Comics (1990)
When Dark Horse Comics contacted Kaluta for a job, he thought they were approaching him for continuing Starstruck. Editor Randy Spradley was delighted by the idea, and the first Starstruck revival began.
Lee and Kaluta unveiled Starstruck: The Expanding Universe. Instead of starting with new stories or just collecting the finished ones into a trade paperback, the two creators decided to essentially start over: the initial series would actually be the original graphic novel and Epic issues, but with huge expansions of new story and art inside of them, to be followed by all-new material encompassing the remaining stories they had not done yet. They envisioned three printing arcs, each a volume in the total history of Starstruck.
The Dark Horse issues ran ads for purchasing the two Starstruck T-shirts, the portfolio, and the stage play script. Dark Horse also used a Starstruck character on the cover of their anthology series, "Cheval Noir" #18 (May 1991); a painting by Kaluta of the fighter droid Veep 7.
Kaluta did the cover and some amount of new interior art for the unpublished fifth issue which would begin Volume 2, but - while simultaneously doing production design for various TV shows - a state of exhaustion wore him down. Dark Horse printed no further issues after the fourth, leaving the series revival in hiatus.
Tundra Comics (1990s)
Through the 1990s, attempts were made to continue Starstruck in some comics form. In interviews, Kaluta has detailed a successive attempt to do new Galactic Girl Guides stories. Five issues intended for Tundra Publishing were plotted by him along with writer Phil Trumbo, and illustrated by Linda Medley with lettering by Todd Klein. This implied that there was a chance at a graphic novel collection of the Volume 1 expanded stories, while Kaluta was also working further on completing expanded story art for Volume 2.
In 1995, Kaluta contributed art to a story in Elaine Lee's erotic comics collection, Skin Tight Orbit Volume 1, which takes place in the Starstruck universe; the story, "The Next Best Thing..." was initially published in Heavy Metal. Three other stories drawn by Mary Wilshire star a character who looks like Galatia 9 and have references to Starstruck such as the Handi Andy pleasure droid.
IDW revival (2009)
In 2009, IDW Publishing began to publish Starstruck comic book series. and Kristina Carroll did a painting of art assassin Kettle Black in a scene alluded to in text but never previously shown before. A new color fumetti-story concluded the final issue, using some of Sean Smith's play photos, which included Elaine Lee as Galatia 9 and Susan Norfleet Lee as Brucilla the Muscle.
The first issue was released on August 12, 2009, and the series was completed in September 2010. The final afterword stated, "This is not the end! The saga will continue!" starting on August 22, 2012 (). The new edition was slightly smaller (7.25" x 11"), with the same contents as the Starstruck Deluxe Edition and new cover art by Kaluta.
In June 2014, IDW published Starstruck Treasury Edition. This reprinted the original Marvel Comics graphic novel collection of 1984 in a 72-page softcover, now in a larger (9.25" x 14.25") format.
Art and composition
Starstruck stories reference diverse elements of pop culture, science fiction, and international art. Michael Kaluta drew on his varied artistic influences to directly homage or indirectly parallel these inspirations, including Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Golden Age illustrators, Pulp magazine covers, EC Comics, Métal Hurlant, and Anime.
Kaluta references classic fine art and illustrative design often in his work: "My drawing 'style' came from my attempts to draw like all the artists I was impressed with. Although some of them were certainly Comic Book artists, many more were illustrators and designers from the turn of the 19th Century". A crucial event in the finale of the Epic issue #6 features an island that tributes the painting, "Isle Of The Dead" (Basil version, 1880) by symbolist Arnold Bocklin. The use of circle border frames in compositions, serpentine forms in architecture and fabric, and elegant pantomime in characters like Queen Glorianna continue the Art Nouveau poster work of Alphonse Mucha and paintings of Gustav Klimt. His grand panoramas of mountains are in the tradition of Maxfield Parrish. The panoplies of intricate columned palaces recall Art Nouveau cartoonist Winsor McCay's Little Nemo. The fluid body language and theatrical framing of characters is in the spirit of comics innovator Will Eisner: Kaluta specified: "Anybody who doesn't think I've studied this Will Eisner fellow just hasn't looked at my work. He's the man".
The technology he draws pays visual nods to many retro styles of science fiction design, as well as contemporaneous styles. On the classic side, the rockets and pistols of Dick Calkins' Buck Rogers comic strip art and from Flash Gordon serials; and the spaceship interiors of EC Comics artists like Wally Wood and Roy Krenkel: Kaluta wrote of his mentor: "Seeing what Roy Krenkel accomplished with line, shape and negative space stirred my imagination and set my nascent abilities onto a highway into my future as an artist". On the modern end, the curved plastic modularity of 1960s Italian futuristic furniture design (such as by designer Joe Columbo); the rundown quality of it in films like Star Wars and Alien; and the linework of Moebius, such as the arid and surrealistic landscapes in his series Arzach and The Airtight Garage, as well as in spacesuit designs like Brucilla The Muscle's pilot suit.
Structure
The series started in 1982 by eschewing the then standard superhero formula of one male character in self-contained stories, instead using an ensemble of mainly female characters in multiple entwined story threads. The original first 73 pages of serial stories covered a span of nearly three decades, on different planets, with a wide and seemingly unconnected cast, which ultimately led to everyone coming to one space station at the same time. Lee wrote in 1997: "There is no reason why a story written for a comic shouldn't be every bit as involving as the plot of a novel. It's a wonderful form, and it can be stretched as far as creators and publishers are willing to go with it". The series was non-linear by the sheer span of its subjects, the episodic glimpses of them in different times and places, their flashback sequences, the element of perceived randomness altering their paths, and the uncertainty of their connectedness. The writer said in 2009: "When we were first published, people were used to comics with linear stories about a main character. But now, with an audience used to shows like Heroes and Lost, with large casts and non-linear storylines, we're hoping that Starstruck will find an even larger readership". Also praising the innovation, critic W. Andrew Shepard wrote in 2011: "These sub-texts were more than winking references; they foreshadowed major events in the main narrative and, in keeping with the theme of unreliable narrators, called attention to the ways people construct histories".
The series is full of unreliable narrators who embroider the facts to suit their agenda, have their facts wrong, see only their part in events, or who miss out completely on what was important: i.e., another fictional historian is clearly fuzzy on facts that the reader has witnessed differently, though he admits it. Kaluta said they "are the people we have living today, just regular people that have a way of kidding themselves about as much as they kid other people, sometimes maliciously, sometimes unknowingly". The 1984 graphic novel was dedicated to Robert Altman and author Thomas Pynchon, to which Lee explained to an interviewer: "If regular comics are like a Steven Spielberg movie, maybe this one is more like a Robert Altman movie". She stated her admiration of Pynchon's complex allusive style by saying: "It is dense, it is packed with images. When you're reading Pynchon all sorts of doors open up in your brain". During their work for Epic Comics, Klein recalls: "There was a memorable lunch with editor Archie Goodwin and Elaine where she and I went on and on about the minutiae of the lettering while Archie just nodded, looking a bit stunned that there could be so much to say about it".