Starstream comics article - Originally printed in Midnight Magazine #4

 Originally printed in Midnight Magazine #4... long Out Of Print...

A Day in the Life of a Young Comic Collector

Starstream…. An Adventure into Science Fiction

    The Star Wars craze was going on during 1977 through 1978, being a kid at that time was so much fun! anytime we went to any department store I was always running off to the toy aisle to look at the wall after wall of Star Wars toys and of course the many other toys on the shelves Micronauts are not being one of them, I remember a lot of these being on clearance during this time, it was probably the Kenner line of Star Wars toys that pushed them out!

Check out the old Micronaught toys on the web!

     Anyways with all this being said, there was this one time I was with Mama at Kmart, a store we normally don't frequent. Once again I was off to the toy aisle! Well this place not only had some toys, but they had a small magazine style rack made of wood if I recall, Right there on this rack were many activity books such as coloring books, search a word, color forms box sets and among it were these bagged Whitman comics, most of these were three comic packs of Looney Toons characters and such and behind these bagged comics were several of these individual comics called Starstream - Adventures in Science Fiction.

I grabbed the four different books as they were the only ones I seen at the time, mom bought them for me no complaints, Starstream is like a comic book adaptation of a science-fiction anthology than a regular comic book, now these comics were very thick and they had cardstock cover and a price tag of .79 cents per book (Expensive at that time, If I had Dad with me, it be another “Damn son that’s Expensive” just like the Wonder Bread as told in the last issue) I did not know that these books already been out two years prior, I've not seen them anywhere else, perhaps Kmart decided just to leave them there or just simply doesn't return back stock often, for that reason I'm glad or I would probably not discover these till many years later, this is probably at the time, my discovery of some of the best writers in our time, to mention a few Robert Bloch, Theodore Sturgeon, John W. Campbell, Larry Niven, and some more... Hell! Even Dean Koontz is in it!

 

Starstream #1 1976 1976 Western Publishing Company

Writers: Barrington J. Bayley, Arnold Drake, Joan Hunter Holly, G. Cruz-Santos, John W. Campbell Jr., Steve Skeates, Howard Goldsmith, Paul S. Newman, Chad Oliver, Ed Summer, Raymond Banks

 Artist: Alberto Giolitti, Frank Bolle, Jack Abel, Jack Sparling, José Luis García-López, Adolfo Buylla

 

Starstream #2 1976 1976 Western Publishing Company

Writers: Dean Koontz, Wallace I. Green, Arnold Drake, Larry Niven, Allan Moniz, Robert Silverberg, Steve Skeates, H.E. Arloff, Mary Schaub

 Artist: Frank Bolle, Al McWilliams, Jose Delbo, Cambiotti, Jack Sparling

 

I Love these classic sci-fi stories and the art isn’t at all bad as most comic collectors say it is. I recommend finding them for good ole fashioned reading, and if your one of those folks collecting to Slab books just to make more $$ bugger off! Leave them be!!!

Starstream #3 1976 1976 Western Publishing Company

Writers: Jack Williamson, Ed Summer, Harry Dawes, Theodore Sturgeon, Arnold Drake, A.E. Van Vogt, George Kashdan, Anne McCaffrey, Dan Weiss

 Artist: Don Heck, Frank Bolle, Adolfo Buylla, Al McWilliams

 

Starstream #4 1976 1976 Western Publishing Company

Writers: Poul Anderson, George Kashdan, Pamela Eckard, Isaac Asimov, A. Moniz, Stephan Goldin, Arnold Drake, Roger Elwood, Robert Bloch

 Artist: Adolfo Buylla, Frank Bolle, Jack Abel, Jose Delbo, Al McWilliams, Nevio Zeccara

 As a kid taking these home, I went straight into reading them and enjoyed all the odd stories, the quirky aliens and cool spaceships and amazing landscapes... it’s...

STARSTREAM

ADVENTURES IN SCIENCE FICTION

 If you’re a fan of Science Fiction, I recommend finding these issues to read, there is only 4 of them and you can get them for fairly cheap, if your LCS doesn’t have it, you can find them just about anywhere on the web, eBay, Comics shops, Comics groups, etc...

Mr. Fright

Vampirella #1 from Chile in Color

As discussed in Midnight Magazine #7 by Stephane Poitras, here is the Cover and the Insides of Vampirella #1 from Chile. This was the first Vampirella in color. Speaking with a few collectors on this item, be prepared to spend in the $1000 range for this...

Brujerias de Vampirella #1. Chile. May 1970. This one is incredibly hard to find. 

This print of Vampirella #1 is in color. Way before Harris published it in Hyde-25 #0 saying "for the first time in color".

To read the whole section of Vampirella from Kimbers Krypt, Stephane Poitras collection, and Vampi in Mexico with a fabulous splash page by Tim Tyler. Get your copy of Midnight Magazine #7

 https://midnightmagazine.bigcartel.com/