Starchild

Starchild was a densely illustrated but often confusing fantasy comic book self-published in the 1990's by James A. Owen[?]. There were 24 issues total. 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 - in the minds of some critics, too much so - 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 charges Owen was merely a Sim/Gerhard copycat.

Owen initially associated with Sim as well as self-publishers Jeff Smith[?], Martin Wagner, 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. He drew criticism for self-aggrandizing statements, such as one - that Time magazine was planning a major feature on Starchild - that caused Dave Sim to label Owen a "pathological liar."

Seemingly obsessed with matching Sim's achievements in every particular, in 1993, Owen publically challenged Sim to a "bet" in which he swore to produce Starchild monthly for a year, or buy Sim a week's vacation to anywhere Sim chose. Sim was caught off guard, but the upshot was that Owen fell short of his self-imposed goal, and Sim treated the bet as though it had never happened.

Starchilds sales never matched those of Cerebus or Bone, and Sim eventually dissolved ties with Owen - but not before responding to Owen's "Serbius" spoof by giving Starchilds 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.