Collecting Highlight (54) - Questar magazine with Crystal Singer story adaptation

[Hans]

Questar (also Quest Star), with the original undertitle 'Illustrated Science Fiction Classic' was a comics and media fan magazine with newsstand distribution. It was published under the Golden Press imprint by Western Publishing Company Inc. of Racine, Wisconsin.

Interesting for the McCaffrey fan and collector is their 1979 issue (ISBN 0-307-11197-0), titled on the interior pages "Giant Questar #1, so I assume the other issues aren't having the same amount of pages/stories. The maagzine holds a one-shot reprinting of the Crystal Singer story adaptation that was published earlier in four Starstream Comic books in 1976 (source: Hargreaves). The story appears on pages 199-210 and is drastically shortened. Mind you, this story is an adaptation of Milekey Mountain (the second Killashandra story, which was originally published in Roger Elwood's anthology Continuum 3).

The book has what seems an unusual format but falls under the Trade Paperbacks in US book lingo. It holds 224 pages in full colour cartoon/comic print on old-fashioned, pulp quality paper (so keep your copy stored dry and be careful handling it oevr the years). The original price was $1.95 (which seems pretty expensive for a 1979 comic book) and there are currently no copies on eBay, where I bought mine for about, if I remember correctly $15 ex postage. Other volumes of the magazine seem to go for prices around $25 (source: bookfinder.com). I found a handful copies for sale there, all good/good+ quality, for prices ranging from about $22 to $39. Some wear and tear and especially yellowing of pages can't be avoided with a comic of this age and quality.
At times I've seen it offered on eBay as a "buy it now" for weeks but at other times is seems rare indeed. To me (but I'm not a good judge of these matters) the story really breathes the atmosphere of US comics of the seventies and if I would have to judge the adaptation, I'd say: bad, rushed work But, a collectors item it is!

Here's the front cover. The back is the same but just features the artwork for which I can't find a name but which I think could be by Vincent di Fate.

This is the second page of the table of contents; Anne's story is the next before last.

The opening page with the title (the scene is Killashandra being sheperded on her first visit to the Milekeys).

And two more snapshots of the story featuring Killashandra and Lanzecki

Sorry, no scans but photographs as the comic is just a tad to fragile to open it up wide enough to place it flat on the scanner glass.

[Lady Maelin]

OH That is marvelous....I WANT ONE....
Once again Hans, you've created a fantastic "Highlight" very informative with lovely photos and something to drool over....one that is going to drive most of the MoM colectors crazy trying to find for their own collections.Thank you for once again sharing.... goes off to find one for herself...

[Sandi]

Thanks for showing that to us Hans! I'd never even heard of it before. Now go put it away where it will be safe!

[Becky]

Nicely done, Hans! Lots of good info!
I love this book along with the Starstream ones as it gives so much insight into the creation of the Crystal Singer series. You can see where Anne started off with Killa and Lanzeki and Lars Dahl and then in the books where she discarded some things and changed others around.
I especially like.....hmm, dare I admit without a spoiler?????? (don't read below if you want the basics of the Starstream stories to be a surprise!)
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the fact that Anne resurects Killa, for the novels, after she kills her off in the short stories! It's amazing, to me anyway, that Anne had the basics for Crystal Singer and Killashandra in those short stories.
Questar and Starstream are the comic versions of the Continuum short stories, correct? (sorry I'd check but my books are all packed away pending a move in a couple months.)

[Lady Maelin]

I found one...and bid on it...naturally...and ....

YIPEEEEEEEEEEEE I WON IT... YIPEEEEEEEEEEEE
I can't wait to see what it looks like in when I get it, they said that it was in pristine condition/fine. Thank you once again Hans. ..for starting me out on another treasure hunt...I'm starting to feel like a big game hunter...

[Becky]

Is that a deer stalker hat I see on your head, Maelin??

[Lady Maelin]

Becky, You Betcha....but I do draw the line at the smoking pipe...don't smoke anymore..cough, cough...but I do carry a rather large magnifing glass...

[Becky]

[P'ter]

Lady M: why do you carry a magnifying glass? You had your eyes fixed. I remember it well.

[Hans]

But P'ter, of course it's to 'sniff out' traces of McCaffrey books hiding in faraway corners of obscure second hand bookshops (the books are 2nd hand, not the shops).

[Cheryl]

Hans mentioned it, but I think one point bears highlighting so that it's more obvious, especially to collectors that don't tend to buy multiple editions of the same work:

The Crystal Singer comic has been published twice, first in a book called Starstream and then reprinted in Questar.


Nice CH Hans, one I've been thinking about doing for months but had yet to overcome my laziness in dealing how to photograph it well. Now I don't have to!

[Lady Maelin]

Peter, Yes I did get my eyes fixed. ..and I can see up close very nicely...but like Hans said...my special magnifing glass will find a treasure in the back farthest reaches of a dark and dusty used book store...its name is Martin

[Becky]

Oh, too funny Maelin!!!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! I'm gonna be chuckling over that for days!!!

[sjslack]

...Oh dear, naming inanimate objects is the third sign of madness. -Looks at her Stapler- Isn't it Reginald?

[Lady Maelin]

Sarah, I love it....can't wait to meet you littling!!!

[annacrome]

Hi, Hans.
Are there more than four issues in the Starstream series, because I have issues 1-4 of Starstream. "Crystal Singer" is the last story in issue #3. I have had these in my collectibles since the late 1970s, when my youngest brother bought them from a friend of his. I admired them and he gave them to me. They have been in my collections ever since. They are in good, although not 'mint', condition. If anyone wishes to view them, they can be found on my blog:
http://anna-whateverstrikesmyfancy.blogspot.com/
I have all four covers posted there as well as the contents page from issue #3 which I (very carefully) scanned onto my computer. I would like to know what they are worth, even though I have no plans to part with them. I am just curious. Thanks, Anna

[Hans]

Anacrome, I own all four of them, too. If you have time to watch what comes by on e.g. eBay you can get them for a relatibely low price. I think I paid $ 7.50 US ex postage for mine; so they are not an expensive collectible. I have seen sets of four go for about $25 but haven't seen the price go higher.

As far as I know, and I'm fairly sure of this, there are only these four issues. In the compilation volume Cheryl mentioned you will find all fout issues.

The most interesting thing about this are the differences beteeen this story and the later Crystal Singer book

[P'ter]

Did you know that there's a book called 'Starstream #4'.


It's by Enid Blyton!

[annacrome]

Originally Posted by Hans

Anacrome, I own all four of them, too. If you have time to watch what comes by on e.g. eBay you can get them for a relatibely low price. I think I paid $ 7.50 US ex postage for mine; so they are not an expensive collectible. I have seen sets of four go for about $25 but haven't seen the price go higher.

As far as I know, and I'm fairly sure of this, there are only these four issues. In the compilation volume Cheryl mentioned you will find all fout issues.

The most interesting thing about this are the differences beteeen this story and the later Crystal Singer book

Hi, Hans.
Sorry I didn't reply to your comment right away; I have been having 'computer blues'. Thank you for the information. I had wondered about the value of my 'Starstream's for many years. They are worth much more, to me, than just their monetary value. I haven't seen my baby brother in years and those magazines were one of the last things he gave me; so, naturally, I treasure them. Thanks again for your help.
Regards, A.

[kindan]

Necro-ing this thread here. So the Crystal Singer story is only in issue #3 right? No need to get all 4?

[Hans]

It is nice to have the series but if you are only after the Crystal Singer story you don't need all 4 of course.

Not sure if the CS comic is in volume 3 though (not at home now). I wrote it was based on te part of the story that appeared in vol. 3 of the original paperback quartet (ed. Elwood). Those 4 paperbacks each held a story. The 4 seperate comic books do not! As I said the comic is an adaptation of the story part titled Milekey Mountain, which is only one of four CS short stories that later formed (heavily reworked) the first novel in the series.

Am I making sense here?

[kindan]

Yup, good information. Thanks!

[kindan]

I got the issue of Starstream with this story and read it. My local comic shop owner found it for me, yay! As a comic writer, I have to say that this adaptation feels very haphazardly put together. It starts off in the Milekey Mountain story but then jumps back in the past to the other Crystal Singer stories. It goes so fast and skips so much between panels that if you hadn't read the book, I feel like a normal comic reader would have gotten pretty lost.

But...none of that matters now, it's not a book that's coming out anymore. So happy as a big Crystal Singer fan to have my Continuum books and the comic adaptation.

[Hans]

I agree with you on all points, Kindan.

Are you also looking for the various editions of the CS books and the Continuum paperbacks for your collection?

[kindan]

I have the continuum books, but am looking for various editions of the Crystal Singer books. Still need first eds for Crystal Singer and Killashandra. That trilogy is what got me into Anne, and is one of the few stories I've read more than once.

Been making a big collecting push in general. I just moved, so once I get a proper bookshelf and have everything organized, I'll take a big picture of all I've got. Don't have much of the rare-rare stuff, but got a lot of first editions and a lot of the shorts.

I guess my goal right now is to have/read everything she has written that's published. Made sure to hunt down the Continuums and any comics (being a comic writer myself) first.

Only two things drive me mad right now: Albedo One and Habit Is An Old Horse.