Written by - Doug Moench
Pencils and Inks by - Tom Sutton
Colours by - Glynis Wein
Cover Art by - Tom Sutton
Today's offering features a little known character called Peter Quill (Starlord). The comic was published by Marvel comics in August 1981 and features under the Marvel Premiere banner; an anthology title that was used to showcase new characters that didn't have their own series.
All of the art in this book is by Tom Sutton (check out his Wikipedia page for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Sutton). The cover for this issue is particularly striking with a superb layout that guides the eye from the title of the book, down Peter Quill's ensnared body, to the life-sucking writhing mass of tentacles beneath him.
Peter Quill is an explorer who travels across space looking for new worlds with the aid of his trusty 'Ship' (think Knight Rider's Kitt car crossed with a winged version of the ship from Flight of the Navigator). As you can imagine there is not a whole lot of dialogue in this book due to Peter only having a couple of AI's he can communicate with, so the majority of the story is told through his inner dialogue. It is clear that travelling through the depths of space alone for long periods of time are starting to take their toll on Peter's mind. After being nearly eaten whole by a giant Venus Flytrap, Peter muses to himself, "I actually found myself wondering if Venus had ever spawned a plant called an Earth flytrap..." to which he then states "Too much time in the void of space, I guess".
This particular issue finds Peter Quill on what he originally believes to be a young planet at the start of it's creation of life. Only after exploring a little deeper does he realise that isn't the case and something a little more sinister is at work. After fighting off several assaults from plants and what seems to be the planet itself, Peter is presented with a history of the planet where he witnesses a species evolve and head towards its own destruction. He learns that this planet that has spawned life also needs to feed on this life to survive. The extinction of this ancient race means that Peter is the first life-form to appear in some time and the planet needs to feed. But yet the planet is not aggressive in its manner and demonstrates that it needs Peter to want to be absorbed by the planet. Peter escapes back to 'Ship' where he debates whether he should put the planet out of its misery by destroying it or just leaving it be. He finally decides to leave it alone but feels that he may have made the wrong decision.
It's a shame that Star-Lord never really took off as a comic as this issue has really great art and a well written story with great philosophic debates throughout. Maybe if I ever get the chance to write for Marvel I could do a series of Star-Lord...
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