Jim Starlin

James P. "Jim" Starlin (born October 9, 1949 in Detroit , Michigan) is an American comic book author and illustrator.

Life and work

Jim Starlin (2006)

Starlin, whose drawing style is inspired by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko , began working as a full-time comic book artist in the early 1970s. After various amateur work for fan magazines, Starlin received his first regular engagements with Marvel Comics in 1972 . There he worked initially as a revising ink draftsman for the Spider-Man series . Drawing jobs for Iron Man and Captain Marvel followed . For the latter series, Starlin finally took on his first jobs as a writer. The title character of his Captain Marvel stories was later brought to death by Starlin in the graphic novel The Death of Captain Marvel . In 1973 Starlin received the Shazam Award for "Outstanding New Talent".

In the 1980s, Starlin began to work increasingly for Marvel's competitor DC : From 1987 to 1988 Starlin took on the post of author of the traditional superhero series Batman (# 414-430). A highlight of his work on the series was the infamous storyline A Death in the Family (# 426-429) which culminated in the death of Batman's junior partner Robin (Jason Todd). The controversial story was a great commercial success and enjoyed restrained approval from readers of the Batman series - who had voted for the death of Robin in a narrow telephone vote in which the character's death or survival was voted on , but also met with severe criticism from the press and parents' associations. Several stories followed as a guest writer for the Legion of Super-Heroes series and the Cosmic Oddysee miniseries .

For Epic Comics (and later for First Comics) Starlin presented the series Dreadstar . After returning to Marvel, Starlin worked on the series Silver Surfer , Punisher and Thor (1993).

Together with his wife Daina Graziunas, Starlin wrote novels such as Thinning the Predators , Among Madmen and Lady El while developing the series Cosmic Guard for the independent comic publisher Devil's Due , which was later marketed by Dynamite Entertainment.

Together with the illustrator Shane Davis, Starlin produced the miniseries Mystery in Space for DC , as well as other stories about Hardcore Station and the miniseries Death of the New Gods .