If you thought Robert Downey Jr had a serious impact on the way Marvel writers characterize Iron Man, just wait until you read some old Star-Lord comics.
The Star-Lord character has evolved wildly throughout Marvel Comics history, transitioning from late 70’s self-serious space epics to a high lieutenant during Marvel’s Annihilation event and then finally to the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy we all know and love.
To be fair, the Chris Pratt-ization of Star-Lord, aka Peter Quill, was in the cards well before Guardians of the Galaxy hit the big screen, with Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning’s Guardians of the Galaxy comic laying the groundwork.
Below you’ll find a complete reading order for Star-Lord, with every comic book appearance from creation to present day Guardians!
Star-Lord Origins Reading Order
Star-Lord: Guardian of the Galaxy
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While the late 1970’s origins of Star-Lord may bear relatively little in common with the Chris Pratt of the MCU, they mark a fascinating look into the character’s early days.
Star-Lord’s origins have a lot in common with the recently released Star Wars: A New Hope, marking Marvel space adventures from creative legends like Steve Englehart, Chris Claremont, and Jim Starlin.
In line with Guardians release in theaters, Marvel collected most of these appearances in the above trade paperback. Most new fans will want to skip ahead to the modern renewal of Peter Quill, but fans of Marvel history should start here.
Collects: Marvel Preview 4, 11, 14-15, 18 (Star-Lord Stories); Marvel Super Special 10 (Star-Lord Story); Marvel Spotlight (1979) 6-7; Marvel Premiere 61; Star-Lord (1996) 1-3
Star-Lord Joins The Guardians of the Galaxy
While I won’t include every Guardians appearance by Star-Lord, as you’d expect, the majority of essential modern Star-Lord reading can be found from Annihilation onward.
If you want the full Guardians comics timeline, I recommend Comic Book Herald’s Guardians of the Galaxy reading order.
In the meantime, you can get started with the below Marvel Cosmic essentials!
Star-Lord: Annihilation – Conquest
Guardians of the Galaxy by Abnett & Lanning: The Complete Collection Volume 1
Guardians of the Galaxy by Abnett & Lanning: The Complete Collection Volume 2
Collects: Guardians of the Galaxy #1 to #25
Marvel NOW! Star-Lord Solo Series – Sam Humphries Run
Legendary Star-Lord Vol. 1: Face It, I Rule
Legendary Star-Lord Vol. 2: Rise of the Black Vortex
Following the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie taking the world by storm, Peter Quill finally gets his own ongoing comic book series as part of Marvel NOW!
If you want to see how these Star-Lord comics fit in with the rest of Marvel NOW! Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Marvel Cosmic universe at large, I recommend Comic Book Herald’s Marvel NOW! reading order.
Specifically for Star-Lord’s second volume of collected comics, you’ll want to check out the Black Vortex reading order, as these issues are part of the crossover event with the Guardians and X-Men.
Collects: Star-Lord #1 to #10 (2014 – 2015)
One of the Secret Wars crossovers, and without question your best opportunity to see Peter Quill sing karaoke.
Collects: Star-Lord & Kitty Pryde 1-3
Legendary Star-Lord Vol. 3: First Flight
Legendary Star-Lord Vol. 4: Out of Orbit
Collects: Star-Lord (2015 – ) #1 to #8
Star-Lord By Chip Zdarsky and Chris Anka
Collects: Star-Lord #1 to #6
Hey can you update the reading orders man for the recant timeline
Sam humphries starlord is just awful. I tried for a while, but it got real bad. Then after secret wars (I don’t even remember if it was still Sam writing) it just became straight garbage. Catering specifically to the movie, and with a real “walmart” flavor to it, the storie annihilates (pun intended) the backstory from much better comics. Example: he’s young, but has the mask and meets yondu? I get that secret wars was some kind of reboot, and if the story wasn’t crap I wouldn’t care. But why mess with already established origins? I’m just bitter, because getting his mask after annihilation was a cool part. Those four starlord: annihilation conquest issues are better than everything bendis and humphries have done with the character since.