These four titles were the original 4 titles of Marvel's short-lived but very much beloved Star Comics Imprint. In the mid-80s, Marvel Comics had the brilliant idea to start an all-ages line-up of comics. That's were these titles come in. (Also in the original line-up were the titles Misty and Spider-Ham. However, both series were based on already established Marvel characters.)
Instead of going straight for licensed titles, Marvel recruited some talent from Harvey Comics and decided to make original material. The results were rather mixed.
Royal Roy was a blatant rip-off of Richie Rich and that wasn't just because Rich's creator Warren Kremer was hired to create Roy. Harvey Comics sued for copyright infringement and Royal Roy was gone after only 6 issues.
Planet Terry and Wally The Wizard lasted for 12 issues each. But both books were serials instead of one-and-done stories and they lagged in sales because kids hate books that end with 'To be continued' as they never was a guarantee to find the next issue due to the minimizing of comics carried for sale in grocers, pharmacies and box retailers.
The subject matter for Wally The Wizard didn't help either. There was a parental panic that all this Dungeons and Dragons led to devil worship during this time. That hysteria harmed sales.
Top Dog had the longest running title. The tale of a super smart fugitive spy dog ran for 14 issues. It was rather popular. But with Star switching over to licensed material, Top Dog was found guilty of it's association with the other 3 titles. He was euthanized by 1986.
These titles have found a small resurgence. Marvel has started to reissue these books as omnibuses instead of broken up into several volumes of mixed issues such as the one I read. Now if you follow my blog, you will know that I do not like to read a series partway. I prefer as much as possible to start with issue #1 and then read in order as much as I can without a break.
But it's really hard to find the Star Comics stuff for cheap. And I only paid a penny (plus $3.99) shipping for this on Amazon. Plus, being in need of a pick-me-up (Thanks COVID!) and it was nearby, I took a trip back in time with these family friendly books.
Planet Terry was very creative and fun. A couple of characters were clearly sci-fi versions of characters from ABC's Richie Rich cartoon from the early. RATING: 8 out of 10 stars.
Royal Roy was a royal bore. These stories are pretty insipid. Richie Rich and Uncle Scrooge are better stinking rich characters. RATING: 3 out of 10 stars.
Top Dog was as always, the cream of the crop. A little silly at times. But how often did you see a kid friendly comic book with a character sticking a gun to the lead pooch's head or the star canine being tortured on the cover? RATING: 9 out of 10 stars.
Wally The Wizard was a title I hated as a kid. Wizards and dragons weren't really my thing, so I did not enjoy it. But as a re-read, this was actually really good. Smartly written and the artwork in the second published issue was very, very good. RATING: 10 out of 10 stars.
Worth Consuming!
Overall rating: 7.5 out of 10 stars.
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