Starblazer from the Command Deck

By John Freeman on July 20, 2009

DC Thomson editor Bill McLoughlin has kindly given downthetubes his account of the rise and fall of DC Thomson’s 1980s SF digest title Starblazer, which has recently spawned its own Role Playing Game (see our review).

Revealing the origins of the title – whose contributors included, among many others, a young comics creator called Grant Morrison, who back then was also drawing as well as writing – Bill talks about the origins of the comic and the reasons it finally headed to the Black Hole of cancellation.

The article has been added to several features on downthetubes about Starblazer, which include an article by writer Ray Aspden on wiritng for the title, and a complete checklist of creators over the comic’s 281 issue history.

• Read Bill McLoughlin’s Starblazer feature
• Read Ray Aspden’s article on writing Starblazer
• Read Jeremy Briggs’ interview with Bill McLoughlin

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.