What is "starchild"

Starchild was a densely illustrated fantasy comic book self-published in the 1990s by James A. Owen. There were 24 issues total, and the series has been collected in a boxed set of reprints titled The Essential Starchild from Owen's Coppervale Press.

Starchild grew out of three projects Owen had been working on: a fantasy-based series entitled Pryderi Terra of which a single issue was published, an abandoned Elseworlds story for DC Comics (also titled Starchild, which is the meaning of Superman's birth name Kal-El in his native Kryptonese) and a 1990 Classics Illustrated adaptation of Silas Marner which also never saw print. The story was influenced by fairy tales and old English legends, and involved an old family secret linked to a dark and mysterious forest. The art was influenced by Dave Sim and Gerhard's Cerebus the Aardvark, a link from which Owen made no attempt to distance himself. Several issues even mimic Cerebus’ comics-industry satire, with cartoon versions of Neil Gaiman and even Cerebus himself ("Serbius") appearing in minor roles. The latter spoof went some way toward defusing criticisms Owen was merely a Sim/Gerhard copycat.

Owen initially associated with Sim as well as self-publishers Jeff Smith, and Colleen Doran when he first entered the comics field. Yet his personality quickly gained more attention than his book, and he developed a reputation for aggressive self-promotion.

Starchilds sales never matched those of Cerebus or Bone, and Sim eventually dissolved ties with Owenbut not before responding to Owen's "Serbius" spoof by giving Starchild's boggle-eyed barkeeper character Martin Humble a surprisingly substantial role in the graphic novel Guys.

Five issues of Starchild were published by Image Comics, and Owen continued to appear at the San Diego Comic Con with a massive Starchild display featuring life-sized animatronic characters. In recent years Owen has reinvented himself as a novelist, with a fantasy trilogy titled Mythworld meeting with success in Germany.

The material has been kept in print in the six-volume Essential Starchild trade paperbacks through Owen's Coppervale Press Imprint, and a one-volume edition, originally planned for late 2006, ended up being funded through Kickstarter in July 2013.1

A trade paperback French translation of Starchild: Awakenings was released by Kymera Comics in the Fall of 2005, and additional volumes are forthcoming.

Starchild or Star Child may refer to:

Companies:

• Starchild Productions, a Sydney-based production company
• StarChild, the anime production and soundtrack imprint of the Japanese firm King Records

Folklore and fictional characters:

• In folklore and fiction, a kind of changeling or foundling, a child seemingly having fallen from the stars and not of ordinary human descent (as in Oscar Wilde's story)
  • Inspired by this, the pseudoscientific New Age concept of indigo children and the New Age concept star people
• Starchild (comics), a comic book series and character
• The Star Child, the entity main character David Bowman is transformed into at the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey
• The English translation of Superman's Kryptonian name ( Kal El)

Music:

• "Starchild", a Freedom Call song from the 2005 album The Circle of Life
• "Starchild", a Wintersun song from the 2004 album Wintersun
• "Starchild", a Star One song from the 2003 album Space Metal
• Starchild (band), a Canadian band
• Starchild (O.C. album), 2005
• "Starchild" (song), a song by Level 42
• Starchild (Teena Marie album), 1984
• " Mothership Connection (Star Child)", a 1976 song by the band Parliament originally released as "Star Child"

Novels and short works:

• Star Child, a 1998 science fiction novel by James P. Hogan
• Star Child, a novel by Fred Mustard Stewart
• " The Star-Child", a story in the A House of Pomegranates collection by Oscar Wilde
• Starchild Trilogy by Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson

People:

• Starchild, alter-ego of rocker Paul Stanley
• Starchild, alter-ego of funk musician Garry Shider (1953–2010),
• Starchild Abraham Cherrix, a juvenile cancer patient in the USA
• Adam Starchild, writer and fraudster

Starchild was a Canadian progressive rock band that released an LP record called Children of the Stars on the Toronto based Axe label in 1978, followed by a single “No Control for Rock-n-Roll” " a few years later. Both records are quite rare and collectible.

The original line-up consisted of Rick Whittier (vocals), Bob Sprenger (guitars), Neil Light (bass), and Greg "Fritz" Hinz (drums). Hinz later joined Canadian rockers Helix and was replaced by Dixie Lee, formerly drummer of British rockers Lone Star, who was coming off a stint playing in Ozzy Osbourne's first solo project.

Starchild is a critically acclaimed album released by D.I.T.C. member O.C. in early 2005 through Japanese based imprint Grit Records. First released in Japan, the album was planned for a US release but was shelved because of problems with sample clearances for several of the LP's songs. The limited copies that was pressed up (20,000) is since long out-of-stock though the album can be bought as downloadable MP3 files on sites such as Amazon (it should also be noted that even a used copy on sites such as Discogs.com or Amazon is rarely found).

Unlike O.C.'s previous two LPs, Starchild doesn't feature any guestspots at all ( Pharoahe Monch is featured on the first song "Evaride" but only sings the hook) and was also his first album to not feature any production or help from his crewmembers in D.I.T.C. (especially producer Buckwild has been a driving force in all three previous O.C. projects to this). Instead O.C. tried to go for a new sound with talented but more-or-less unknown producers, with Vanguard, Floyd the Locsmif (credited as "Locsmif") and Swedish Soul Supreme each offering a string of soulful boom-bap tracks. Starchild also features much scratching and cuts in true hip-hop fashion, these are performed by DJ Revolution and DJ Statik Selektah (who also produces the albums "Intro" and "Outro").

After Starchild, one of the most bootlegged albums of the year, was revealed to be shelved and never released in the United States talk about a modified version started circulating. This version would feature a few of the original songs, while others would be remixed by the likes of Pete Rock (who's 2 of his remixes was up on his Myspace a while back) and Diamond D. The album has yet to materialize.

Starchild is the sixth album by Teena Marie, released in 1984. Following the relative commercial failure of her previous album, Robbery, Starchild became the highest-selling album of Marie's career. It peaked at #9 on the US Black Albums chart and #31 on the Billboard Albums chart. Lead single "Lovergirl" became a major hit, reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Marie's only top 30 hit on that chart). The track "My Dear Mr. Gaye" is a tribute to Marvin Gaye, who had been fatally shot and killed by his father on April 1, 1984. It has been rereleased by SoulMusic Records in 2012 as an Expanded Edition, containing 5 mixes as bonus tracks (see track listing below).

"Starchild" is a song written by Wally Badarou, Mark King and Phil Gould. It was released in 1981 as part of the British pop band Level 42's debut studio album. The song was released as single in the same year. It peaked at #57 on the UK Singles Chart and entered the American Club Play Singles chart at #60. It was Level 42's fifth single and was the band's first song to enter the Club Play Singles.

The single has been released in six countries beyond the United Kingdom, including Ireland, the United States and Germany. In 2001, it was re-released by the label Peppermint Jam Records in the United Kingdom and Germany.