Star-Lord: Mind Wars (page 4, issue 8) by Jesus Redondo

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Star-Lord: Mind Wars -- Na-Rutha and Klee-Fang - commission by Mr Jesus Redondo Roman

Artwork Details

Title:	Star-Lord: Mind Wars (page 4, issue 8) by Jesus Redondo
Artist:	jesus redondo (All)
Media Type:	Ink Wash
Art Type:	Interior Page
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	2,841
Likes on CAF:	0 1
Comments:	2
Added to Site:	12/28/2014
Comic Art Archive:

Description

From the banks of the River Iss to the Tannh�user Gate, from the prison planet of Salusa Secundus to the Sky City of Mongo, there is a truth that the universe acknowledges: 2000ad is this galaxy�s greatest comic.

But things were not always that way.

Because, for twenty two glorious weeks in 1978, Star-Lord was this galaxy�s greatest comic.

When Brian Bolland illustrated the cover to the 1981 Star-Lord annual, you can see, to the fore, Johnny Alpha, the Gronk, Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws� and, behind them, striking a Judge Anderson pose, Ardeni Lakam, plus, behind her, Na-Rutha, and, behind him still, Yosay Tillman--some of the main characters in Star-Lord�s Mind Wars.

Written by Alan Hebden and illustrated by Jesus Redondo Roman (with Mike White inking a couple of episodes of Redondo�s pencils), Mind Wars was a cut above anything else in the comic�and, indeed, arguably a cut above anything in UK comics at the time.

Like Hebden�s Meltdown Man (2000ad), Mind Wars was a tightly-plotted story with a start, a middle and a clear end�and it pretty much ended with Star-Lord�s final issue. Strontium Dog and ABC Warriors/Ro-Busters went on to bigger and better things when Star-Lord merged with 2000ad but the Mind Wars story had nowhere to go: it was complete save for the Keith Page-illustrated coda that would later appear in the 1981 Star-Lord annual.

Mind Wars was not everyone�s cup of tea: �Aieeee�, a blog dedicated to UK boy�s comics published between 1968 and 1978, described the story as �dull, repetitive [and] clich�d rubbish� but referred to the artwork as �a joy to read� from an �incredible draughtsman� -- http://mangamax-aieeee.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/mind-wars-jesus-redondo.html).

But Mind Wars was far from being �clich�d� and the phrase �forgotten classic� sits better with it. It was space opera on a grand scale, with plot twists galore.

Sure, Mind Wars used sci-fi tropes--but any readable story does.

The gist of the plot involved two galactic powers hunting for two young psychic human twins in order to use those abilities to wipe the other power out. But Mind Wars chewed up and spat out a number of tropes. Dr Varn, the leader of the humans, is shown to be as vile, murderous and genocidal as his alien counterpart, the entertainingly larger-than-life Cosmol Na-Rutha.

The killing of major characters is all the rage now�but them staying dead is another matter, of course�and it was genuinely shocking when Ardeni killed her twin, Arlen Lakam, halfway through the story. That was like Han Solo blasting Luke Skywalker, or Captain Kirk phasering Mr Spock, or Wendy Darling swatting Tinker Bell, or�well, you get the drift: that kind of thing never happened and when it did, it was blind-sidingly, jaw-droppingly unexpected.

And it was even more shocking when Na-Rutha captured a human, performed cosmetic surgery on him so that he resembled Arlan before brainwashing him into making an assassination attempt on Ardeni. That the plot failed wasn�t surprising; that she then took the assassin-who-looks-exactly-like-her-brother as her lover was.

The ending evokes the finale of Alfred Bester�s The Stars My Destination (or, Tyger! Tyger!): Ardeni, now the most unstoppably powerful person in the universe, rejects authoritarian overtures of Dr Varn and presents humanity and the aliens with a blank slate beginning: �I�m off�why don�t you sort your own mess out?�

Mind Wars was one of my favourite comic stories as a young chap and it�s a joy to own an original page from it. I am very grateful to Mr Redondo for parting with it.

This is page 4 of issue 8 of Star-Lord, published 1st July 1978. Line and ink wash, on A2 paper.

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Last Login:	April 2025
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frank x townsondecker
Member Since 2006

Posted on 12/29/2014

Neat page!

Adam Ianbarry
Member Since 2010

Posted on 10/4/2015

Great Star-Lord page! Loved that comic as a kid! :-)

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