Star Hawks: The Complete Series

by Ron Goulart, Gil Kane (Artist)

On October 3, 1977, Star Hawks premiered and introduced newspaper readers to the best science fiction/action comic strip in the last thirty years. Star Hawks combined the talents of renowned science fiction writer Ron Goulart and famed comic artist Gil Kane. The strip also introduced a two-tiered format to daily newspaper comic strips. Each daily installment of Star Hawks had the look and feel of a Sunday strip. The strip ran for three-and-half years and has never been reprinted in its entirety. This book will reprint the entire continuity of 1,244 strips together with all of the Sunday strips. All the Sunday strips will be presented in full color. The book has an introduction by Ron Goulart together with a comprehensive essay about Star Hawks. Numerous examples of original artwork used in the strip are also used to explain Gil Kane's composition methods.

Genres: Comics

344 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Pseudonyms: Howard Lee; Frank S Shawn; Kenneth Robeson; Con Steffanson; Josephine Kains; Joseph Silva; William Shatner.
Ron Goulart is a cultural historian and novelist. Besides writing extensively about pulp fiction—including the seminal Cheap Thrills: An Informal History of Pulp Magazines (1972)—Goulart has written for the pulps since 1952, when the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction published his first story, a sci-fi parody of letters to the editor. Since then he has written dozens of novels and countless short stories, spanning genres and using a variety of pennames, including Kenneth Robeson, Joseph Silva, and Con Steffanson. In the 1990s, he became the ghostwriter for William Shatner’s popular TekWar novels. Goulart’s After Things Fell Apart (1970) is the only science-fiction novel to ever win an Edgar Award.

In the 1970s Goulart wrote novels starring series characters like Flash Gordon and the Phantom, and in 1980 he published Hail Hibbler, a comic sci-fi novel that began the Odd Jobs, Inc. series. Goulart has also written several comic mystery series, including six books starring Groucho Marx. Having written for comic books, Goulart produced several histories of the art form, including the Comic Book Encyclopedia (2004).

Reviews

[Stiobhard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Hermes edition is completely out of print so I only own the newer IDW version... but from what Ive seen in pictures online, the Hermes edition was so much better! The story is the same of course, but the IDW version is published really sloppily and the the art work is not reproduced real well. The earlier version seems to have a much crisper reproduction though I am curious to anyone who has the physical book if this is actually true.

I was just googling and the main difference seems to be that the IDW edition, the art is larger on the page but the Hermes pages seem quite a bit larger overall. See here:



I can see the advantage of having the enlarged art but since the quality of the reproduction is so degraded I wonder if its worth it. And it seems a toss up since the pages are not of equal size. The blog that the above photo is from pointed out that the originals were provided by Hermes Press which is odd since the artwork seems to be sharper in the earlier collection. Some of that could be due to enlarging but it really doesn't explain to me why the IDW looks so muddy or faded out and out of respect for the original source material there should be more effort to faithfully reproduce the artwork. All this is to say the reason I have given this older edition 4 stars is because the artwork generally looks to be better reproduced than in the newer edition.

I also dislike that IDW slowly dribbled this out in portions with each volume being $40. I do not know how much the older one sold for but it appears it was complete in one volume. That is such a better plan.

Robert Harvey in his history of comics devotes a chapter to Gil Kane and this newspaper strip in particular for its revolutionary approach to page design. I think that is one of Gil Kane's strengths. His characters have a very unique and recognisable style as well.

I had my doubts when he was doing Conan stories because his style was not consistent with what Alcala, De Zuniga, Nebres, etc were doing in that magazine. But ever since seeing his work for The Ring of the Niebelung (I met him at a signing around that time) I have been totally on board with his graphic design approach to comics.

I think this is of the same period and look as his work on John Carter Warlord of Mars. But this being a newspaper strip it was focused on a completely different audience and medium. I do remember liking it at the time but I was young then and it was a long time ago. Its really since the 90s that I have found myself paying attention to his work.

[Cralls · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Good art that gets a bit muddled at times. Horrendous writing. Everything was cheesy and predictable not to mention sexist. The dialogue felt like it was written by Jack Kirby, but the story and art had none of his creative redeeming qualities.

[Michael P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gil Kane's art devolved into stock poses by the time he drew the comic strip reprinted here. All those up raised fists, upside down and sprawled bodies, hands with each finger on a different level, the lines between the eyes--at all begins to look the same. Kane was given the space to really draw interesting comic panels, but cluttered them with so many elements that the main action is often swallowed in all the rocks and machinery. The art may have been very impressive full-sized, but it does not reduce well. When you add Ron Goulart vapid and clichéd scripts and characters, this edition has little to recommend it. For hardcore and uncritical Kane fans only.

[Jim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Zang! this has the worst writing of any comic strip i've read. king kat or mallard filmore is deserving of a natl book award in comparison.