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Starslayer: The Log of the Jolly Roger
A Celtic warrior from the days of the Roman Empire is transported into the distant future by his wife's descendant and compelled to join the crew of the spaceship Jolly Roger in their resistance to totalitarian rule on Earth. A wildly popular classic comic appears for the first time in a collection of the "Director's Cut" of the series, originally published by Windjammer at Valiant, but also including a wealth of extras including sketches and commentary from legendary comic creator Mike Grell.
This is the first time Starslayer: Director's Cut has been collected in one volume!
Includes a wealth of extras such as sketches and commentary from creator, Mike Grell.
Featuring an all-new cover by Grell!
This is the first time Starslayer: Director's Cut has been collected in one volume!
Includes a wealth of extras such as sketches and commentary from creator, Mike Grell.
Featuring an all-new cover by Grell!
240 pages, Paperback
First published June 13, 2017
7 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
Mike Grell
658 books82 followersMike Grell (born 1947) is a comic book writer and artist.
Grell studied at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, the Chicago Academy of Fine Art, and took the Famous Artists School correspondence course in cartooning. His entry into the comics industry was in 1972, as an assistant to Dale Messick on the Brenda Starr comic strip.
In 1973 Grell moved to New York, and began his long relationship with DC Comics. His first assignment at DC was on Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, a high-profile assignment for an artist with no prior experience illustrating a monthly comic book. Grell says he got that job because he was walking in the editor's door to ask for work, literally, as the previous artist was walking out the door, having just quit. These stories were written by Cary Bates and Jim Shooter. The Bates/Grell/Shooter run on the title is very well-regarded today by Superboy/Legion fans, who consider it one of the high-water marks in the character/team's history. Grell's work on SATLOSH is widely thought to be some of the best beefcake/cheesecake ever committed to comic book pages, and is affectionately referred to as the 'disco Legion' in retrospect by fans of the title.
A writer as well as artist, Grell cemented his status as a fan-favorite with his best-known creation, The Warlord, one of the first sword and sorcery comics, and reportedly the best-selling title published by DC Comics in the late-1970s.
The character first appeared in 1st Issue Special #8 (Nov 1975) and was soon given his own ongoing title (The Warlord #1, Jan/Feb 1976). In this book, Air Force pilot Travis Morgan crash-lands in the prehistoric "hidden world" of Skartaris (a setting highly influenced by Jules Verne's A Journey to the Center of the Earth and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pellucidar). For years thereafter, Morgan engages in adventures dressed only in a winged helmet, wristbands, boots, and breechclout, and armed with a sword and (years before Dirty Harry handled one) a .44 Auto Mag.
At DC, Grell also worked on titles such as Aquaman, Batman, and the Phantom Stranger, and with writer Dennis O'Neil on the re-launch of the Green Lantern/Green Arrow series in 1976.
[edit] Tarzan
Grell wrote and drew the Tarzan comic strip from July 19, 1981 to February 27, 1983 (except for one strip, February 13, 1983, by Thomas Yeates). These strips were rerun in newspapers in 2004 - 2005.
[edit] First Comics: Jon Sable Freelance and Starslayer
Cover to Jon Sable Freelance #7. Art by Mike Grell.Through the 1980s Grell developed creator-owned titles such Jon Sable Freelance and Starslayer. Jon Sable Freelance was published by the now-defunct First Comics. Starslayer, a space-born science fiction series, started at Pacific Comics, but shifted to First.
The titular character of Jon Sable Freelance was a former Olympic athlete, later a African big-game hunter, who became a mercenary. First appearing with a cover date of June 1983, Jon Sable Freelance was a successful non-super-hero comic book in an era when successful non-super-hero comic books were almost unheard of, and a graphically violent comic sold in mainstream comic book stores in an era when such was as rare. Jon Sable was a precursor to what would eventually be called, by some, "the Dark Age of Comics," when even long-established super-heroes would become increasingly grim and violent.
The character was heavily influenced by Ian Fleming's James Bond novels as well as drawing on pulp fiction crime stories. Also, many of the stories of Sable's hunting exploits in Africa were influenced by Peter Hathaway Capstick's novels. At a convention in the late 1980s, Grell stated that his idea for Sable was "something like a cross between James Bond and Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer."
Sable was adapted into a short-lived television series and the character's origin tale, "A Storm Over Eden," from the comic book, was expanded and novelized by Grell under the title Sable, which was publ
Grell studied at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, the Chicago Academy of Fine Art, and took the Famous Artists School correspondence course in cartooning. His entry into the comics industry was in 1972, as an assistant to Dale Messick on the Brenda Starr comic strip.
In 1973 Grell moved to New York, and began his long relationship with DC Comics. His first assignment at DC was on Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, a high-profile assignment for an artist with no prior experience illustrating a monthly comic book. Grell says he got that job because he was walking in the editor's door to ask for work, literally, as the previous artist was walking out the door, having just quit. These stories were written by Cary Bates and Jim Shooter. The Bates/Grell/Shooter run on the title is very well-regarded today by Superboy/Legion fans, who consider it one of the high-water marks in the character/team's history. Grell's work on SATLOSH is widely thought to be some of the best beefcake/cheesecake ever committed to comic book pages, and is affectionately referred to as the 'disco Legion' in retrospect by fans of the title.
A writer as well as artist, Grell cemented his status as a fan-favorite with his best-known creation, The Warlord, one of the first sword and sorcery comics, and reportedly the best-selling title published by DC Comics in the late-1970s.
The character first appeared in 1st Issue Special #8 (Nov 1975) and was soon given his own ongoing title (The Warlord #1, Jan/Feb 1976). In this book, Air Force pilot Travis Morgan crash-lands in the prehistoric "hidden world" of Skartaris (a setting highly influenced by Jules Verne's A Journey to the Center of the Earth and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pellucidar). For years thereafter, Morgan engages in adventures dressed only in a winged helmet, wristbands, boots, and breechclout, and armed with a sword and (years before Dirty Harry handled one) a .44 Auto Mag.
At DC, Grell also worked on titles such as Aquaman, Batman, and the Phantom Stranger, and with writer Dennis O'Neil on the re-launch of the Green Lantern/Green Arrow series in 1976.
[edit] Tarzan
Grell wrote and drew the Tarzan comic strip from July 19, 1981 to February 27, 1983 (except for one strip, February 13, 1983, by Thomas Yeates). These strips were rerun in newspapers in 2004 - 2005.
[edit] First Comics: Jon Sable Freelance and Starslayer
Cover to Jon Sable Freelance #7. Art by Mike Grell.Through the 1980s Grell developed creator-owned titles such Jon Sable Freelance and Starslayer. Jon Sable Freelance was published by the now-defunct First Comics. Starslayer, a space-born science fiction series, started at Pacific Comics, but shifted to First.
The titular character of Jon Sable Freelance was a former Olympic athlete, later a African big-game hunter, who became a mercenary. First appearing with a cover date of June 1983, Jon Sable Freelance was a successful non-super-hero comic book in an era when successful non-super-hero comic books were almost unheard of, and a graphically violent comic sold in mainstream comic book stores in an era when such was as rare. Jon Sable was a precursor to what would eventually be called, by some, "the Dark Age of Comics," when even long-established super-heroes would become increasingly grim and violent.
The character was heavily influenced by Ian Fleming's James Bond novels as well as drawing on pulp fiction crime stories. Also, many of the stories of Sable's hunting exploits in Africa were influenced by Peter Hathaway Capstick's novels. At a convention in the late 1980s, Grell stated that his idea for Sable was "something like a cross between James Bond and Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer."
Sable was adapted into a short-lived television series and the character's origin tale, "A Storm Over Eden," from the comic book, was expanded and novelized by Grell under the title Sable, which was publ
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 10, 2017
Collects Mike Grell's original run on Starslayer from 1982. Starslayer is basically X-O Manowar set in the future. Torin was a Celt fighting the invasion of the Romans when he was pulled to the future. Earth has been at peace for centuries so they look to the past for a great warrior to save the solar system.
The Good: Grell's art is very detailed. The original coloring is fantastic for the time. Eclipse had some special process so that the colors all look like they were painted.
The Bad: The story is your basic fetch quest that you've read many times before.
Received an advance copy from Dark Horse and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
The Good: Grell's art is very detailed. The original coloring is fantastic for the time. Eclipse had some special process so that the colors all look like they were painted.
The Bad: The story is your basic fetch quest that you've read many times before.
Received an advance copy from Dark Horse and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
September 8, 2020
An enjoyable graphic novel. Tells the story of Torin Mac Quillan, an ancient Celt who at the moment of death is transported to the far future and becomes a hero who sales the star lanes on a spaceship called The Jolly Roger. A good, fun story.
January 16, 2025
Was really hoping for a lot more on this one. I read—and mostly enjoyed—Grell's WARLORD series, especially the art.
But this one? Grell basically takes Warlord and flips everything 180 degrees. Modern man in a prehistoric world? Now he's a man from an ancient time in a future world. Man trapped in a hollow planet? Now he roams the stars. Man has a subservient female sidekick? Now he's trained and helped by basically his superior. Man has a male sidekick who helps him? Now it's a wisecracking robot that feeds him the information he needs. Man has snow-white hair? Now it's jet black.
...you get the idea.
Anyway, that's all the concept, but what about the story? Basically, the first seven issues are a rather rushed quest for some nebulous final result that we don't really get until the final pages of chapter seven, that also works well as the end of the first arc. So, of course they have to spoil it by tacking on an even more truncated, rushed epilogue that's mostly unnecessary, and filled with incredibly inferior art.
And the strong female (who's still clad in basically a bikini, because...reasons...) is sorely underutilized. Tamra is presented as pretty much every bit Torin's equal, then she's almost constantly sidelined, and I don't know why.
Overall, mildly entertaining at best.
But this one? Grell basically takes Warlord and flips everything 180 degrees. Modern man in a prehistoric world? Now he's a man from an ancient time in a future world. Man trapped in a hollow planet? Now he roams the stars. Man has a subservient female sidekick? Now he's trained and helped by basically his superior. Man has a male sidekick who helps him? Now it's a wisecracking robot that feeds him the information he needs. Man has snow-white hair? Now it's jet black.
...you get the idea.
Anyway, that's all the concept, but what about the story? Basically, the first seven issues are a rather rushed quest for some nebulous final result that we don't really get until the final pages of chapter seven, that also works well as the end of the first arc. So, of course they have to spoil it by tacking on an even more truncated, rushed epilogue that's mostly unnecessary, and filled with incredibly inferior art.
And the strong female (who's still clad in basically a bikini, because...reasons...) is sorely underutilized. Tamra is presented as pretty much every bit Torin's equal, then she's almost constantly sidelined, and I don't know why.
Overall, mildly entertaining at best.
July 3, 2017
Written in 1982, this is a collection of Mike Grell's original run on "Sarslayer. A space opera about a Celtic barbarian who is snatched from death and transported to the future to helm a pirate ship, "The Jolly Roger". The two Forewords by the author and illustrator who took over the reins after Grell's run was finished are very interesting in telling about Grell and how "Starslayer" came to be. From the early '80s, this is classic stuff and a rip-roaring adventure of sailing through space visiting other planets on a mission to save what remains of mankind. The art is old school, bright and bold, and a delight to this original reader of 70s/80s comics. I thought the story was a lot of fun while being quite serious and dramatic at times along with engaging characters. Hopefully, a second volume will come out compiling the rest of the series.
November 14, 2017
Mike Grell was one of my favourite artists from the late 70's to the early 80's. His work on Legion of Super Heroes in particular thrills me to this day. As a writer he was good but not great. Better than average but his tales aren't considered classics. His run on Warlord in particular - strong but no tales you remember years later. This solo effort is a nice diversion but suffers from the same problem. Solid but not great. In truth it reminds me of the 80's action shows I used to love - Smith and Smith and Riptide and Airwolf - a lot of fun crazy adventures but not a lot of depth.
If you just take it for an 80's TV show the art by Grell is good (but not his best - and is bracketed by some really weak art in issues 1 and 8 when he had a finisher instead of inking it himself) and the story is fun but lacking in logic. Even the character development doesn't really hook you. Tamra from the future (also spelled Tamara at times) gets Torin from the past at the point of his death. So we should really feel for Torin and get to learn about Tamra - but it doesn't ever happen. Yes we feel sorry for Torin losing his wife and child but not in a real honest way. And I never did really find out what kind of man he is - he just goes from fight to fight. Tamra is even more of a mystery. We even get a robot called S.A.M. for comic relief that isn't comedic and is groan inducing as he and Torin quote from Casablanca - even though both of them should have no idea about the movie.
And that's the biggest flaw for this tale (besides its rushed feel) there is little logic for the actions of everyone. Why is Tamra sent on this mission to save the solar system when the people who sent her don't want her to succeed? Why is Torin the only fighter who can help her (yes that is kind of explained but it still doesn't make sense)? She seems to be an awesome fighter herself so are you saying no other man in 12 billion people of her time can fight like Torin? They have to use a time portal to get him. That seems like a lot of energy to get one very ordinary fighter. And the fish out of water doesn't even get played with much at all so story wise the idea is a bit of a dud. Why does the solution (little gems distributed throughout our solar system) Torin and Tamra fight so hard to get even work...and work so easily. How can this solution designed centuries ago work so well? How is it Tamra can track these little gems so easily but nobody has ever tried to find them before?
Yeah - not a story that holds up. One that seems on paper to be okay but when executed doesn't really capture your imagination.
Overall - some nice Mike Grell art with a groan inducing story.
If you just take it for an 80's TV show the art by Grell is good (but not his best - and is bracketed by some really weak art in issues 1 and 8 when he had a finisher instead of inking it himself) and the story is fun but lacking in logic. Even the character development doesn't really hook you. Tamra from the future (also spelled Tamara at times) gets Torin from the past at the point of his death. So we should really feel for Torin and get to learn about Tamra - but it doesn't ever happen. Yes we feel sorry for Torin losing his wife and child but not in a real honest way. And I never did really find out what kind of man he is - he just goes from fight to fight. Tamra is even more of a mystery. We even get a robot called S.A.M. for comic relief that isn't comedic and is groan inducing as he and Torin quote from Casablanca - even though both of them should have no idea about the movie.
And that's the biggest flaw for this tale (besides its rushed feel) there is little logic for the actions of everyone. Why is Tamra sent on this mission to save the solar system when the people who sent her don't want her to succeed? Why is Torin the only fighter who can help her (yes that is kind of explained but it still doesn't make sense)? She seems to be an awesome fighter herself so are you saying no other man in 12 billion people of her time can fight like Torin? They have to use a time portal to get him. That seems like a lot of energy to get one very ordinary fighter. And the fish out of water doesn't even get played with much at all so story wise the idea is a bit of a dud. Why does the solution (little gems distributed throughout our solar system) Torin and Tamra fight so hard to get even work...and work so easily. How can this solution designed centuries ago work so well? How is it Tamra can track these little gems so easily but nobody has ever tried to find them before?
Yeah - not a story that holds up. One that seems on paper to be okay but when executed doesn't really capture your imagination.
Overall - some nice Mike Grell art with a groan inducing story.
July 22, 2017
Reading this series as a kid when it was first published made me a Mike Grell fan. Reading it now as an adult, I definitely see his influences showing through his work here. Rather than a hard-edged piece of science fiction, it's much more of a science fantasy, along the lines of the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs and the classic early pioneers of science fiction, even pre-WWII. It's a swashbuckling adventure set in exotic lands, where the colonies of Mars and Jupiter's moons resemble bedouin and viking cultures more than high-tech future societies. The art from those original issues is gorgeous, and the dialogue, while melodramatic in places, gives each character a distinct personality.
However, while these new additions do distract from the story a bit, they don't take away from the quality of the original chapters. As a bonus, this book includes Grell's Starslayer Portfolio, six art plates that introduced the characters and concept before the comic was published.
However, while these new additions do distract from the story a bit, they don't take away from the quality of the original chapters. As a bonus, this book includes Grell's Starslayer Portfolio, six art plates that introduced the characters and concept before the comic was published.
April 14, 2018
I was a pre-teen when I first discovered Mike Grell's artwork back in the 1970's. I was an instant fan. After he branched out from DC comics to other independent publishers, I only casually followed him. As such, while I knew of Starslayer I did not read it back in the day. Doing so now, I recognize the roots of his style and can appreciate it. The story is rather straight-forward but that's okay. This graphic novel itself is very self-contained.
December 2, 2017
Alright, this is one I randomly picked up from the returns one morning (because how could you not with that cover?) It did not disappoint at. all. This book was everything I love about 80's SF/Fantasy wrapped up in one book. Also, there were a few parts I'm pretty sure were influence for Thor: Ragnarok. Anyhow, good stuff!
July 31, 2017
Mike Grell strikes again with this fun tale of a Celt from Roman Britain drawn into a far future conflict as a space pirate of sorts. And it actually works. Normally I'm not into pirates not even those in space but Mike Grell does some great sci-fi.
June 13, 2017
Classic Mike Grell. Loved it back then. Loved revisiting it today.
Want to read
March 29, 2017Futuro integral del Starslayer de Grell.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews