Issue(s): Marvel Preview #11
Published Date: Summer 1977 / Feb 82
Title: "Windholme / Cinnibar / Sparta / The hollow crown"
Credits:
Chris Clarement & John Byrne - Writer
John Byrne / Michael Golden - Penciler
Terry Austin - Inker

Review/plot:
Star-Lord originally appeared in Marvel Preview #4, written by Steve Engleheart. This story is a follow up by Claremont/Byrne/Austin.

For the Special Edition reprint, a framing sequence with Michael Golden on art instead of John Byrne was included.

Apparently (according to the text piece included in this reprint) Engleheart's original Star-Lord was a bit of an immoral character, willing to lie, cheat and kill. Engleheart intended to have the character grow out of his unscrupulous ways and become a true hero, but he never completed the arc.

In this story, Star-Lord is perfectly heroic.

He helps rescue a bunch of slaves, and takes down the head slaver, who happens to also be Star-Lord's evil uncle, who is trying to overthrow Star-Lord's father, who it turns out is the Emperor.

One of the uncle's minions, a lizard-man named Rruothk'ar, who also has the interesting title of "Sith Lord", was the one who killed his mother.

Star-Lord is an Earthing. His mother was human, but his father had crash landed on Earth and fell in love with her.

After he left, his evil brother sent the lizard-man to kill her and the son to prevent him from having an heir. He succeeded in killing the mother but failed to kill the son. It's not explained in this issue how Star-Lord wound up in space.

He doesn't have any powers...

...but he does pilot a sentient space ship.

It's a fun space opera story, originally published around the same time as or a little before Star Wars was released. Nice Byrne/Austin art. The Golden framing sequence doesn't really add much.

Oddly, there's also a Dr. Who comic reprint in this Star-Lord Special edition. It would have made more sense to include Engleheart's original Star-Lord story.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - first Star-Lord

Chronological Placement Considerations: It's a little unclear if the Star-Lord that later appears in Annihilation and Guardians of the Galaxy is literally the same one that appears here. This story was not originally intended to take place in the Marvel Universe. But until i see something that definitively prohibits it, i'm including this at its original publication date (i.e., the publication date of Marvel Preview #11, not the reprint with added material from Star-Lord Special Edition #1). Update: With 2013's Guardians of the Galaxy #.1 by Brian Michael Bendis, it seems like something similar to the events described in the origin portion of this story did indeed take place. The major difference is that the Sith Lord is replaced by Badoon, establshing them (retroactively) as a major enemy of Star-Lord. Also in the modern version he has blond hair for some reason.

References: N/A

Cross-over: N/A

Continuity Implant? N

Reprinted In: Star-Lord: The Special Edition #1

In FOOM#17(3/77), John Warner stated that Star-Lord wasn't in the Marvel Universe.