STARCHILD
STARCHILD
Real Name: Starchild
Identity/Class: Terrestrial (or just slightly extraterrestrial) artificial creation
Occupation: Warrior
Group Membership: Dr. Demonicus' monsters
Affiliations: Cerberus, "Dinosoids," Dr. Demonicus, Hand of Five
Enemies: Followers of the Light (Basque, Charn, Sherna, Tambura), Judith Johns, Shogun Warriors (Genji Odashu/Combatra, Ilongo Savage/Danguard Ace, Richard Carson/Raydeen); humanity in general
Known Relatives: None. Demonicus' other creations might be considered his brethren, and Dr. Demonicus and Maur-Konn were their creators.
Aliases: The Thing in the Grotto
Base of Operations: Currently unknown;
formerly Dr. Demonicus' orbiting space station (destroyed);
off the coast of Madagascar
First Appearance: Shogun Warriors#8 (September, 1979)
Powers/Abilities: The Starchild was an immense creature, possessing great strength (though it lacked appendages to physically lift weights) and a high degree of durability. It is amphibious, and its later form possessed wings enabling it to fly. It can breathe bursts of fire, and its paired tongues were strong enough to prevent a Shogun Warrior from flying into the air.
History:
(Shogun Warriors#13 (fb) - BTS / Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe
Edition#3: Dr. Demonicus) -
Dr. Demonicus created Cerberus, the Hand of Five, and the
Starchild via combinations of genetic manipulation and robotics (from
Maur-Konn's designs), further mutating them with cosmic radiation from his own
space station beyond Earth's moon.
(Shogun Warriors#8 (fb) - BTS) - Demonicus launched a pod containing the Starchild "embryo" from his base towards Earth.
(Shogun Warriors#8) - The pod containing the Starchild burned through the atmosphere and crashed into the water off the coast of Madagascar. Ilongo Savage and Judith Johns had witnessed its flight, and the Followers of Light warned him of its potential threat. Savage and Johns investigated via scuba gear, discovering the pod, which had somehow made its way deep into an underwater cave. As they approached it, the Starchild suddenly tore out of its pod.
(Shogun Warriors#9) - The Followers of Light transported Danguard Ace to Savage to help combat the monstrous creature. Judith Johns, alone and unarmed, distracted the Starchild while Ilongo entered his robot. A pair of missiles proved powerful enough to distract it from Judith, but it was otherwise unharmed and came after him. Attempting to get out of its range, he ignited his boot jets and took to the air, but the Starchild's tongues snaked up and pulled him back down. Paired boot jets blasts into its eye briefly blinded it, allowing him to escape, but it then headed for shore, toward the oceanography center. Savage used Danguard to blindside the Starchild, but it continued heading towards the town of Manakara, Madagascar. When Danguard kicked it in the head, it retaliated with a fiery burst; having newly discovered this ability, it then unleashed it one the town. While Danguard held up a building damaged by its flame, the Starchild metamorphosized into adult form and flew back out to sea.
(Shogun Warriors#13 (fb) - BTS) - The Starchild returned to Demonicus' space station.
(Shogun Warriors#11 - BTS) - From his orbiting base, Demonicus launched an immense meteor at Earth, and it was detected by the Followers of Light.
(Shogun Warriors#12 - BTS) - The three Shogun Warriors' pilots, guided by the Followers of Light, flew into space and destroyed the meteor, after which they discovered Demonicus' space station near the moon. Demonicus blasted the three robots as they approached, causing Danguard Ace to crash on the moon, while Combatra and Raydeen were sent careening past the moon. Demonicus' men captured Danguard Ace.
(Shogun Warriors#13) - Combatra and Raydeen used an asteroid belt to reverse their course, heading back to Demonicus' base, while Savage blew up one of Danguard Ace's power packs, causing Demonicus' agents to assume the robot to be nonfunctional, breaking free from them when they relaxed their restraints. Danguard Ace destroyed the weapon which had struck them before, allowing the other two to join him inside Demonicus' base. After fighting a batch of giant dinosaur-like mutates/creations, the Warriors entered a chamber containing Cerberus, the Hand of Five, and the Starchild. Demonicus then warned them that he had activated an electro-magnetic beam pulling another asteroid at Earth, and that Earth would be destroyed if they couldn't defeat his monsters AND deactivate the device within the hour.
(Shogun Warriors#14) - Cerberus, the Hand of Five, and the
Starchild attacked the Shogun Warriors, who were overcome by doubts about their
ability to deal with the multiple threats against both themselves and Earth. Demonicus,
meanwhile, wished to kill the human operators and add the Shogun Warriors to his
giant monsters which would aid him in conquering Earth once it had suffered
cataclysmic devastation from the asteroid collision. However, Dr. Tambura of the
Followers of Light proved able to rouse them out of their funk, causing them to
fight back against their attackers. Following his instructions, the three pilots
donned cybernetic helmets that linked their three human minds and channeled
their very beings into the robots. The combined and coordinated efforts of
Danguard Ace and Combatra quickly destroyed the Starchild.
The Shoguns destroyed Demonicus' timer device and then pushed
the criminal's space station into the approaching asteroid's path, destroying
both.
Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo, Herb Trimpe, and Mike Esposito.
Suspension of disbelief at its greatest.
There was an asteroid headed straight at Earth which would have caused worldwide
devastation. The three Shogun Warriors flew into space and blocked its path just
outside of Earth's atmosphere. The asteroid struck the three of them and
shattered into fragments small enough to burn up in the atmosphere.
Yeah, right...must have had those inertial dampeners going at
maximum power.
I didn't like the way each of the monsters seemed virtually indestructible when facing the single warriors, yet they each fell so quickly against the team. It seemed too easy to me.
There was no mention of Demonicus' Lifestone being part of the process that empowered the Starchild or the other two, or the "Dinosoids," but I would ASSume it to be involved unless stated otherwise somewhere.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:
Monstrous, 100' tall dinosaur-like creatures created by Demonicus aboard his space station. Despite their power, the Shogun Warriors made short work of them, apparently destroying them all.
They had mallet-like hands, sharp teeth, and hard heads with which they rammed others, and they could breathe radioactive fire.
--Shogun Warriors#13
images: (page numbers)
Shogun Warriors#8, p31 (hatching)
#9, cover - fighting Danguard Ace
p1, emerging from grotto
p27, panel 6 - evolved form
#13, p22, panel 4 (dinosoids)
Shogun Warriors#8 (September, 1979) - Doug Moench (writer), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Al Milgrom & Jim Shooter (editors)
Shogun Warriors#9 (October, 1979) - Doug Moench (writer), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Jack Abel (inks), Al Milgrom & Jim Shooter (editors)
Shogun Warriors#11 (December, 1979) - Doug Moench (writer), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Jack Abel (inks), Al Milgrom & Jim Shooter (editors)
Shogun Warriors#12-14 (January-March, 1980) - Doug Moench (writer), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Al Milgrom & Jim Shooter (editors)
Last updated: 04/06/05
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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