History ComicBook / Dreadstar

As the Zygoteans conquered, enslaved, and exterminated more and more of the Milky Way, the Osirosians concluded that the Milky Way was doomed to a long, slow, horrible death and evolved a plan to destroy the Zygoteans, whatever the cost. Running the Zygotean blockade of his homeworld, Aknaton set various events in motion to mature over time into the elements he needed for his final plan. As it was coming to its fruition, Aknaton found Vanth Dreadstar and recruited him to be his pilot and bodyguard. Vanth leapt at the chance that there might be a plan to destroy the Zygoteans; though he was shaken when Aknaton revealed the exact nature of the plan to him and the others. Aknaton had reasoned that since the Zygoteans were undefeatable, and the death of the galaxy could not be prevented, the only remaining kindness was to make the end as quick and painless as possible. Therefore, he had created the Infinity Horn...whose purpose was to destroy the entire Milky Way. Appalled, but convinced that Aknaton's plan was the only option, Vanth agreed. Protecting the only three 'pure' beings who could sound the Infinity Horn, Aknaton and Vanth escorted them to the planet where Aknaton had hidden it. As Aknaton and Vanth held off the Zygoteans, they sounded the horn, destroying the Milky Way galaxy and everyone in it.

* BarbieDollAnatomy: One issue of Dreadstar, when the title character was in a coma he got a makeout scene with the spirit of his mystic sword ... but seems to have misplaced his genitalia.

* CallToAgriculture: Vanth Dreadstar destroys the entire MILKY WAY GALAXY, escapes to a different galaxy, and then he becomes a farmer. Granted, it ended up simply being a 30-40 year 'break', before he became involved in an all-out war in his NEW galaxy.
* CorruptChurch: The Church of the Instrumentality , an interplanetary theocracy headed by Lord Papal. Papal himself is like a cross between [[Franchise/StarWars Emperor Palpatine]] and [[Characters/{{Superman}} Mongul]]

* NukeEm: What happens to Chichano once the Lord Papal realizes [[ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure he's not killing Vanth and Syzygy using conventional methods. ]] The aftermath of this bloodshed also leads to the creation of Infra Red and Ultra Violet, as mentioned above.

-->'''Dreadtar''': You over-tax your poor, persecute your minorities, molest women and children, fail to properly educate your populace, imprison or kill your political opponents, lie pathologically, continuously suppress your fourth estate, terrorize your neighboring planets and are pretty much just an asshole in general.

* {{Trumplica}}: The 2021 graphic novel ''Dreadstar Returns'' begins with Dreadstar confronting a villain based heavily on Donald Trump named Plunddo Tram. Other than the name being an anagram of Donald Trump, Plunddo Tram is also obese in addition to having orange skin and wild, yellow hair. He is accompanied by a spineless sycophant named Cepen, a blatant stand-in for Trump's vice president Mike Pence, and Dreadstar's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech towards Tram even includes some parallels to real-life criticisms of Trump's actions during his term as President.

* {{Trumplica}}: The 2021 graphic novel ''Dreadstar Returns'' begins with Dreadstar confronting a villain based heavily on Donald Trump named Plunddo Tram. Other than the name being an anagram of Donald Trump, Plunddo Tram is also obese in addition to having orange skin and wild, yellow hair.

* EmpathicWeapon: After [[spoiler: having its fisical form destroyed]], Vanth's sword is revealed to have been aware this whole time, but unable to communicate with the heroes in any direct way.

* ILoveNuclearPower: Infra Red and Ultra Violet used to be regular students of Chichano who just happened to be hiking at the mountains outside of the city when it was obliterated by the Church's nuclear strike. Not only did they survive the attack, the two also developed super powers as consequence of the radiation received.

* ''Dreadstar'' vol. 1 #27-64 (November, 1986-March, 1991). Published by First Comics.

* DarthVaderClone: Z is a powerful CyborgWizard who wears an all-concealing BadassCape and CoolHelmet, not to mention having a personal grudge against the main character.

Dreadstar was a sci-fi comic book series created by Jim Starlin and published by Epic Comics (a division of Marvel) in 1982. It starred protagonist Vanth Dreadstar, his somewhat-mentor and right-hand-man, sorcerer Syzygy Darklock, and an ensemble cast of crewmates. It was essentially the fourth act of "The Metamorphosis Odyssey", a lengthy allegorical story also published by Epic and told in several distinct parts ranging from illustrated magazines to graphic novels to comic books. The eponymous character Vanth Dreadstar had been introduced in ''Epic Illustrated'' #3 (September, 1980).

* Space Opera

* FormFittingWardrobe: Most of the costumes wear by the characters, but Willow probably takes the cake.

!!Provides examples of:

* ''Dreadstar'' vol. 2 #1-6 (April, 1994-January, 1995). Published by Bravura, an imprint of Malibu Comics. Mini-series staring LegacyCharacter Kalla Dreadstar, a daughter of the original. Vanth himself turns up alive in the final issue.

* DarthVaderClone: Z is a powerful [[NinjaZombiePirateRobot cyborg wizard]] who wears an all-concealing BadassCape and CoolHelmet, not to mention having a personal grudge against the main character.

* CorruptChurch: The Church of the Instrumentality , an interplanetary theocracy headed by Lord Papal. Papal himself is like a cross between [[Characters/StarWarsBothOther Emperor Palpatine]] and [[Characters/{{Superman}} Mongul]]

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* RefusalOfTheCall: Vanth's initial reaction when Syzygy shows up and tries to get him involved in the galactic war. Unfortunately for Vanth, TheCallKnowsWhereHeLives. Does it ever.

Act THREE was the Marvel Graphic Novel #3, Dreadstar, published in 1982. It was somewhat unique at the time in that the entire novel's artwork was not drawn but painted by Starlin. Having been duped into 'euthanizing' the Milky Way Galaxy at the end of act one, Act Three/"Dreadstar" begins when, after having traveled through the universe in stasis for thousands of years, the force-bubble he was trapped in finally enters another galaxy and crash-lands on a peaceful planet mostly ignored by the warring factions. The planet on which he crashed was the site of an Instrumentality experiment to create a race of cat-human hybrid warriors. While the experiment was considered a failure (the hybrids were mild-natured and generally only suited to farming), the race it produced was allowed to survive and procreate, as their farming efforts were prolific as to make them an asset for the Instrumentality's war effort. Wanting to live in peace after years of fighting, Dreadstar rid himself of his sword, married a human scientist studying the indigenous population, and lived quietly for decades as a farmer himself, until the arrival of Darklock. The sorcerer tries to enlist Vanth to stop war, but Vanth refuses to return to a life of killiing. Shortly after the arrival of Darklock, a fleet of Monarchy ships arrives and, based on the outdated "experiment to create a race of cat-human hybrid warriors" intel, destroys his home village. The fleet not only kills all his friends (except one), but upon finding his wife some of the ground troops rape, torture and murder his wife (justifying it as a moral outrage base on her presumed 'bestiality' in living there). Vanth picks up his sword again, however, he refuses to immediately join forces with Syzygy. First, he gets off the planet, and enlists in the Monarchy military. Over the course of the next decade or so he rises rapidly through the ranks. Finally, after reaching the right rank and command, he is in position to order a decisive military strike that secures a victory on the battlefield for the Monarchy with a minimum loss of life; the losses they do incur, though, include the ENTIRE SQUADRON that carried out the attack on his former home. Having avenged the death of his wife and friends, he (presumably) goes AWOL shortly thereafter and joins Darklock in an effort to end the war completely.

* CallToAgriculture: Vanth Dreadstar destroys the entire MILKY WAY GALAXY, escapes to a different galaxy, and then he becomes a farmer. Granted, it ended up simply being a 30-40 year 'break', before he became involved in an all-out war is his NEW galaxy.

Dreadstar was a sci-fi comic book series created by Jim Starlin and published by Epic Comics (a division of Marvel) in 1982. It starred protagonist Vanth Dreadstar, his somewhat-mentor and right-hand-man, sorceror Syzygy Darklock, and an ensemble cast of crewmates. It was essentially the fourth act of "The Metamorphosis Odyssey", a lengthy allegorical story also published by Epic and told in several distinct parts ranging from illustrated magazines to graphic novels to comic books. The eponymous character Vanth Dreadstar had been introduced in ''Epic Illustrated'' #3 (September, 1980).

Act THREE was the Marvel Graphic Novel #3, Dreadstar, published in 1982. It was somewhat unique at the time in that the entire novel's artwork was not drawn but painted by Starlin. Having been duped into 'euthanizing' the Milky Way Galaxy at the end of act one, Act Three/"Dreadstar" begins when, after having traveled through the universe in stasis for thousands of years, the force-bubble he was trapped in finally enters another galaxy and crash-lands on a peaceful planet mostly ignored by the warring factions. The planet on which he crashed was the site of an Instrumentality experiment to create a race of cat-human hybrid warriors. While the experiment was considered a failure (the hybrids were mild-natured and generally only suited to farming), the race it produced was allowed to survive and procreate, as their farming efforts were prolific as to make them an asset for the Instrumentality's war effort. Wanting to live in peace after years of fighting, Dreadstar rid himself of his sword, married a human scientist studying the indigenous population, and lived quietly for decades as a farmer himself, until the arrival of Darklock. The sorceror tries to enlist Vanth to stop war, but Vanth refuses to return to a life of killiing. Shortly after the arrival of Darklock, a fleet of Monarchy ships arrives and, based on the outdated "experiment to create a race of cat-human hybrid warriors" intel, destroys his home village. The fleet not only kills all his friends (except one), but upon finding his wife some of the ground troops rape, torture and murder his wife (justifying it as a moral outrage base on her presumed 'bestiality' in living there). Vanth picks up his sword again, however, he refuses to immediately join forces with Syzygy. First, he gets off the planet, and enlists in the Monarchy military. Over the course of the next decade or so he rises rapidly through the ranks. Finally, after reaching the right rank and command, he is in position to order a decisive military strike that secures a victory on the battlefield for the Monarchy with a minimum loss of life; the losses they do incur, though, include the ENTIRE SQUADRON that carried out the attack on his former home. Having avenged the death of his wife and friends, he (presumably) goes AWOL shortly thereafter and joins Darklock in an effort to end the war completely.

Dreadstar was a sci-fi comic book series created by Jim Starlin and published by Epic Comics (a division of Marvel) in 1982. It starred protagonist Vanth Dreadstar, his somewhat-mentor and right-hand-man, sorceror Syzygy Darklock, and an ensemble cast of crewmates. It was essentially the fourth act of "The Metamorphosis Odyssey", a lengthy allegorical story also published by Epic and told in several distinct parts ranging from illustrated magazines to graphic novels to comic books.

Act FOUR, the "Dreadstar" series, chronicles Dreadstar and his crew's struggle to end an ancient war between the two powerful, pretty much equally evil ruling empires: The Church of The Instrumentality, run by the Lord High Papal; and the Monarchy, administered by a succession of puppet kings.