Marvel Preview #4 - First Appearance of Star-Lord, Printings and Contents

Identification plate

Series: Marvel Preview (Marvel, 1975 series)
Issue: #4
Publication date: January 1976
Key date: January 1976
On-sale date: October 14, 1975
Indicia publisher: Magazine Management Co. Inc.
Price: $1.00
Pages: 76

Match the book in your hand against this plate before paying an edition-specific price.

Why this issue matters

From the editorial file First appearance of Star-Lord, early 1976, in a black and white magazine most readers never saw. Decades later the movies turned a forgotten magazine into a hunted key, which is the hobby in one sentence.

First appearance (cover) of Star-Lord - the earliest appearance on record is a cover, not an interior story.

First appearance (cover) of Peter Quill - the earliest appearance on record is a cover, not an interior story.

First appearance of Meredith Quill - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of Prince Wayfinder - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

Death on record for: Meredith Quill.

The evidence

Claims here come from the story records for this issue, listed under Sources at the bottom of the file. Character hubs with full evidence tables are coming to this site.

Seq	Story	Type	Pages	Credits	Characters
0	Marvel Preview Presents Star-Lord	cover	1	pencils: Gray Morrow; inks: Gray Morrow; colors: Gray Morrow	Peter Quill First, Star-Lord First
1	-	illustration	1	pencils: Bernie Wrightson; inks: Bernie Wrightson	Star-Lord [Peter Quill]
2	Stan Lee Presents Marvel Preview Featuring Star-Lord	table of contents	1	pencils: Steve Gan; inks: Steve Gan
3	I Say It's Space Opera and I Say to Hell with It!	text article	2	script: Archie Goodwin; pencils: John Fuller; inks: Rick Bryant
4	The Starlord: Who He Is and How He Came to Be	text article	2	script: Steve Englehart; pencils: Steve Gan; inks: Steve Gan	Peter Quill First, Star-Lord First
5	Starlord First House: Earth!	comic story	32	script: Steve Englehart; pencils: Steve Gan, Bob McLeod; inks: Steve Gan, Bob McLeod; letters: Tom Orzechowski	Meredith Quill First, Peter Quill First, Star-Lord First
6	-	promo (ad from the publisher)	1	pencils: ? (illustration); inks: ? (illustration); letters: typeset
7	Introduction... Sword in the Star	text article	3	script: Bill Mantlo, Edward S. Barkan; pencils: Keith Giffen; inks: Bob McLeod
8	The Sword in the Star! Stave 1: Alas, the Seeds of Man!	comic story	19	script: Bill Mantlo; pencils: Ed Hannigan; inks: Craig Russell, Rick Bryant; letters: Gaspar Saladino	Prince Wayfinder First
9	Next Issue	promo (ad from the publisher)	1	pencils: Frank Thorne; inks: Frank Thorne	Sherlock Holmes; Doctor Watson
10	These Are The Hunters... Man Is The Prey! On...	promo (ad from the publisher)	1	pencils: Ron Wilson, Greg Theakston; inks: Greg Theakston, John Romita
11	Towering Above All Other Adventure Heroes!	promo (ad from the publisher)	1	pencils: Tony DeZuniga; inks: Tony DeZuniga	Doc Savage; Monk Mayfair; Johnny Littlejohn; Renny Renwick; Ham Brooks; Long Tom Roberts
12	Marvel Preview Featuring Star-Lord	promo (ad from the publisher)	0.33	pencils: John Romita; inks: John Romita	Peter Quill First, Star-Lord First
13	-	letters page	2	pencils: Gene Colan; inks: Tony DeZuniga

Before you buy

Check the price box: Marvel ran 30-cent and 35-cent test-market price variants in 1976-77.
Canadian and Whitman editions exist for many bronze books; match the barcode area to the plate.
Look for Mark Jewelers inserts and date stamps - they affect collector preference, not authenticity.

Series context

‹ #34 of 24#5 ›

Sources

Grand Comics Database, issue record (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Wikidata, Q24050065 (Peter Quill), first-appearance property (CC0)
Wikidata, Q65952811 (Meredith Quill), first-appearance property (CC0)

Found an error in this file? corrections@comicrecord.com