Since June is Pride Month, I wanted to take a look at a comic book starring a character that was a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Both the Marvel and the DC Universes have their fair share of characters that fit into that category. However, I wanted to focus on a character that most people are unaware that is LGBTQ+. As such, I chose Peter Quill, the original Star-Lord.
Star-Lord has graced this blog before, mostly as a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. However, all the way back in August 2014, I did take a look at his debut in Marvel Premiere #4 (January 1976). Wow, twelve years ago. Boy, have I grown as a writer since then.
I know you may be asking, "Wait, Peter Quill is LGBTQ+"? Well, yes, he is. He's bisexual and polyamorous. This was established in Guardians of the Galaxy #9 (December 2020). You see, Star-Lord had seemingly died saving the universe from the Greco-Roman gods (Yeah, that was a whole thing). But in actuality, he had ended up in an alternate universe. While there, he had ended up in the company of a pair of alien mercenaries named Mors and Aradia. Peter would end up in a polyamorous relationship with them for over one hundred years, even fathering a son with Aradia named Rocky, who was named in honor of Rocket Raccoon.
The comic we're looking at today is one of his early adventures, long before his becoming a Guardian of the Galaxy, when he was just an angry astronaut, but had the potential to be more. This is Marvel Preview #11!
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The cover is a Ken Barr piece. It's pretty cool, depicting our man Star-Lord in space blasting at a spaceship. The cover promises one man against a galactic empire, and the story...kind of delivers. It also promises a science fiction spectacular in the tradition of legendary author Robert A. Heinlein. Fun fact, this got Marvel into a bit of trouble. You see, when this magazine originally came out, Heinlein's lawyers called Marvel Comics and basically told them, "Hey, he doesn't want people to think he's associated with you guys" because Chris Claremont was homaging a series of juvenile-aimed books Heinlein had written in the 40s and 50s for his take on Star-Lord. You can read more about that here. So, the magazines had to be recalled and reprinted. Personally, if I were him, I'd have been like "Hey, maybe will let me write something for them since they're fans of mine." Still, this is a great cover. I'd love to have this as a poster.
"1: Windholme / Cinnibar / 3: Sparta / 4: The Hollow Crown"
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: Terry Austin
Colorist: None (story is in black-and-white)
Letterers: Tom Orzechowski, Irv Watanabe
Editors: John Warner, Ralph Macchio, Roger Silfer
Editor-in-Chief: Arche Goodwin
The story begins on the planet known as Windholme. A world on the outer rims of an imperial empire, this planet was settled by refugees. Refugees who just wanted to live their lives in peace and quiet. For three hundred years, they got exactly that. Until now. The empire has come to take their world., the planet itself for its resources, and the people for slave labor.
However, one native of Windholme, a young man named Kip, is not content to stand by and let his people and home be enslaved. However, the armored soldiers of the empire have a way to counter his spirit, by savagely beating him half to death with their armored fists. The beating only serves to fuel Kip's defiance.
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| "You alien buttheads will never get my mom's snickerdoodle recipe!" |
The lights suddenly go out. And when they get turned on, Kip...has gone.
It turned out someone had used the darkness to rescue Kip. His rescuer is a fellow Windholme native named Sandy.
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| "Also, I totally did not find your resistance really hot." |
She's as tough as she is cute. She had figured more of the natives would want to fight back. She was impressed by Kip's courage, hence why she rescued him. Thing is, they're still on a ship heading for a planet called Kandahar. And once they get there, they'll pump the ship full of knockout gas. The two then hear an alarm klaxon.
The ship has caught an unusual sight.
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| "What? Can't a man do some space thinking in peace?" |
Ship cripples the slave transport, and the real Star-Lord flies in. The guards are tough, but he is tougher, easily taking care of them. Kip finds a discarded blaster and uses it to make a hole in another guard. As far as he's concerned, Star-Lord is his new best friend. Speaking of Peter, he makes his way to the bridge. He notices that the bridge crew are leaving said room in a hurry. That's because they rigged the bridge to blow.
Peter figures the whole ship is rigged this way as well. The bridge crew are stopped by Kip. Thanks to Peter's actions earlier, he and Sandy manage to liberate the other Windholmers. And they give the bridge crew the most brutal beatdown ever.
With the slaves freed, Peter offers to take them back to Windholme. Unlike their other homeworlds, the Imperials haven't made that world uninhabitable yet, so they can still build new lives there. It's here that Kip and Peter formally meet for the first time. Peter says he'll leave a network of satellites to protect Windholme. Kip points out that those satellites could fail somehow, leading to Windholme getting attacked again. It reminds Peter of his own childhood tragedy, witnessing his mother dying and his swearing for vengeance. In essence, he feels a kinship with Kip.
Kip wants the blood of those who sent the slavers to Windholme. And he's willing to go through Hades to get it. Star-Lord points out one logical problem: they have to find that someone first. Luckily, Ship has a lead. But they have to move quickly.
Two days pass. The captured beings are settled on Windholme. With that problem solved, Kip, Sandy, and Quill can now pursue the beings that tried to enslave their people. Ship points out that Kip is what is known as a "Windrunner". He's actually a powerful psychic being that used his power to help on hunts. Quill asks if Kip can use his talents to find the slavers' base. He agrees to try.
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| "Check it out, guys! I'm a cloud!" |
Said talents allow Kip to find the slavers' home base, the planet Delta Corianus IV, or as it's commonly known as, Cinnbar. The leader is a man named Kyras Shakati. A man who is as twisted and evil as they come. Alright, they got a name and place. It's time to wreck shop.
The trio head to Cinnabar, a planet of pleasure and pain. Quill, Sandy, and Kip sneak their way into what is presumably Shakati's palace, when most of the staff are out in dreamland.
The group encounter what appear to be metal statues of soldiers.
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| "Ye gods, what ugly statues!" |
However, these statues are actually advanced automatons, and their weapons aren't strong enough to destroy them. Sandy finds a hidden panel that could be used as an escape hatch, but a trap door activates, sending the three seemingly parsecs away.
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| "Oh great, all my stuff is still here!" |
This is the Sea Fang, the ship that belonged to Kip's parents. But it cannot be. According to Kip, he saw this ship get destroyed and his parents die as a result. The three spot a giant King Kraken about to attack the Sea Fang. They must owe Liam Neeson money.
The monstrous giant squid smashes into the boat, sending Peter Quill overboard. However, Quill doesn't go down that easy. Despite the Kraken managing to grab him, the Star-Lord gives him the tip of a harpoon.
Kip finds himself back with his parents and ends up seeing them die again. Something funny is going on here. Star-Lord resurfaces, and it gets weirder.
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| Star-Lord's plastic surgery got horribly botched. |
Peter finds himself seeing two things: himself and his new traveling companions in the seas of Windholme...and at the same time in a chamber under a crystal.
Clearly, someone is screwing with their minds. But what is real, and what is the illusion? The Kraken, injured but still alive (and presumably really freakin' angry) rears up to attack again. Star-Lord's senses tell him he has no weapon, but at the same time, he can feel his blaster in his hand. The desperate astronaut makes a gamble.
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| "Aw, man! I had only one payment left on that thing!" |
And it was a good one. The seas, the Kraken, it was all an illusion generated by a crystal based on Kip's own memories. An alien named Arak...
No, not him! He's a DC guy, and he's from Earth! This Arak is an alien flunky, easily taken down by Sandy, who is a talented thief, and not half-bad fighter either. Shakati pleads for mercy, offering Star-Lord information that he may find very important. Sadly, it's never revealed as Sandy tosses a dagger into his heart. Sandy reveals that she spotted a blaster implanted into one of his fingers, and he was going to give Peter a faceful of laser. While Peter scans the computer banks, Kip and Sandy bond a little and suddenly decide that hey, being a couple would be nice. Let's try that!
More of Shakati's men attack, and the three decide to, well, make like a banana and split.
It's leave, Tannen! Make like a tree and leave! But that's not important right now. The three head to a craft, only to learn it's booby-trapped. They try to fly off in it, they blow up real good.
Ship makes her way through the atmosphere and gets the three out of there before the place, well...blows up real good.
Star-Lord was able to learn something from Shakati's computers: the slavery ring was funding a coup. There's a plot to replace the emperor of this interstellar empire with his uncle Prince Gareth. The ship is on its way to Sparta, the imperial homeworld, and the Empire's forces are trying to stop Ship from getting there. Ship suffers a bad hit, and Quill dumps Kip and Sandy in a lifeboat. Their mission: warn the Emperor.
The boat lands in a stormy area of Sparta. It takes three days for the storms to dissipate enough for Gareth's search parties to look for them. One finds the seeming remains of Ship, only to get a Mighty Punch from Star-Lord.
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| "Oh no, doctor said I wasn't supposed to get punched in the jaw!" |
Star-Lord takes the man into Ship and fits him with some hypno-probes. Peter uses the probes to interrogate the man. After an hour, he reveals that Kip and Sandy are not only alive, but they are "guests" of Prince Gareth at his chalet.
Ship provides him with a sword, and off they go. True to the guard's statement, Kip and Sandy are at the chalet, and Gareth's men are not showing them his comic book collection. Star-Lord managed to arrive and frees the two Windholmians. However, Gareth himself has decided to show his face, and he's brought a friend of his.
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| "We were enjoying a nice game of Space Parcheesi, and then you all decided to make that racket!" |
Meet Rrouthk'ar, Sith-Lord of the Argiuan Confederacy. Huh, a Sith-Lord. Does that mean the Jedi are a thing here, too? Never mind. Peter gives an item to Kip and Sandy. He tells them to get it to the Emperor. They run and Star-Lord engages Rrouthk'ar and Gareth in a swordfight.
During the fight, Star-Lord realizes that Rrouthk'ar was one of the aliens that murdered his mother as a boy. This fills the former astronaut with rage, and that rage empowers him to give the reptilian Sith-Lord a sword to the heart. Now it's down to Peter and Gareth. During the fight, Gareth reveals that he is a proud man and was not content to sit in the shadow of his nephew. The throne was supposed to be his by right! Gareth uses his sword to remove Peter's helmet. When he sees his face, Gareth is shocked.
Peter takes advantage of Gareth's distraction to disarm him. Peter refuses to kill Gareth. After all, he's the Star-Lord, and it has to stand for something. Gareth stabs the man with a poisoned blade, and Peter gives him a sword to the heart. The dying Gareth falls to the mountains below. Peter gets held up by some royal guards. Ship has something to say about that as she appears in the sky.
Kip and Sandy then arrive with the Emperor. And we have another Star Wars moment.
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| "Believe me son, it's just as awkward for me. Want to get drunk?" |
A few hours passed. Gareth's conspiracy got smashed. Star-Lord got the poison cleaned out of his system and presumably he and the Emperor got really drunk. Not to mention Kip and Sandy got proclaimed as heroes. The Emperor (later it would be established his name is J'son) tells about how he fled to deep space, as like Sandy, he was no fan of court life himself. He was on his way home after being summoned when his ship got damaged and he crashed in the Colorado mountains. This was where he met Meredith Quill. She nursed him back to health and helped him repair his ship. During that time, the two fell in love. As such, they did what people in love did.
She wanted to come with him, but J'son had to let her stay on Earth. It was not only safer for her, but also...she was pregnant with Peter. He would get dragged into court intrigue, and that was the last thing he wanted for his son. Eventually, he called for his uncle Gareth to go pick them up. But instead, he went to Shakati's palace and sent Rrouthk'ar to go get them. The original plan was to take them to Sparta and arrange their deaths at a later time. But the big lizard botched it up by killing Meredith.
Gareth covered that up by telling J'son that Meredith had died in childbirth and Peter was stillborn. J'son never could love again after that. He never married either. How could he? In his eyes, Meredith Quill was perfect. No other woman in the universe could equal her. But today is still a happy day, as J'son and Peter have gotten to meet for the first time. Peter says that he has no desire for a throne or an empire. Peter Quill is a seeker at heart. He's searching for something. Or maybe he just has a need to see what's out there, beyond the stars. He doesn't need a throne. He has the universe. If J'son needs an heir, Kip will fit fine...as long as Sandy helps keep his head straight. He flies off, J'son lamenting that he can't go with him.
Star-Lord heads back to Ship. She herself is sad that for all her abilities, she cannot be something she truly wants to be: a woman that Peter loves. But they still have each other, and there's still many adventures for them to be had. They got a legend to carve. And carve Star-Lord will. Not so much Ship. Poor Ship gets forgotten.
I enjoyed this issue, although it does have some flaws. For one, Kip and Sandy do hook up rather quick. I do wish this story had more time to give them more interactions. Maybe they should have gotten together at the end. Also, the story establishes Kip has psychic powers, but we don't really see him use them that much. Kip says his talent is a "private" thing, implying that he has reasons to hide it. I wish we learned more about that. Were psychics like him the victims of prejudice on Windholme? I would have liked to have learned. Still, this was a fun story to read, and it is neat to see the early adventures of Star-Lord before the MCU made him a household name.
I also liked the end showing that despite their distance, both Peter and J'son are at heart, men who desire freedom and the stars. I did like that J'son and Peter parted on good terms. I do want to see them interact some more.
John Byrne and Terry Austin's pencils and inks are great. The linework is so clean and it's a treat for the eyes.
If you want to read this story for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2014 trade paperback Star-Lord: Guardian of the Galaxy. It collects Star-Lord's original 1970s and 1980s adventures, as well as the 1996 miniseries that introduced the Sinjin Quarrel incarnation of Star-Lord. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! If you like what I write and want to give this blog some additional support, please make a donation to my Ko-fi! See you next time!
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