''Starburst'' is a British

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

published by Starburst Magazine Limited. ''Starburst'' contains news, interviews, features, and reviews of genre material in various media, including TV, film, soundtracks, multimedia, books, and comics books. The magazine is published quarterly, with additional news and reviews being published daily on the website.

Publication history

''Starburst'' was launched in December 1977 by editor

Dez Skinn Derek "Dez" Skinn (born 4 February 1951) Miller, John Jackson"Comics Industry Birthdays" ''Comics Buyer's Guide'', 10 June 2005. Accessed 14 August 2010WebCitation archive is a British comic and magazine editor, and author of a number of books o ...

with his own company Starburst Publishing Ltd. The name ''Starburst'' was settled on after rejecting other names, including ''Starfall'', as Skinn considered it too negative. ''Starburst'' was taken over by

Marvel UK Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US-produced stories for the British weekly comic market. Marvel UK later produced original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Di ...

with issue #4, as part of deal whereby Skinn was put in charge of the UK comic reprints division. Marvel put the title up for sale in 1985 and it was bought by

Visual Imagination Visual Imagination Ltd. was a British company that produced genre magazines. It was founded in 1985 by Stephen Payne and originally only published the science-fiction magazine ''Fantasy Image''. After Payne bought the magazine '' Starburst'' f ...

and published by them from issue #88. Having reached issue #365 in 2008, the magazine ceased publishing due to Visual Imagination folding. In early 2011 Starburst Magazine Ltd announced that ''Starburst'' would resume publication as an online magazine. Founder

was named Honorary Editor-in-Chief. The first online issue (#366) was released on 14 May 2011, and carried an editorial by Skinn. ''Starburst'' was returned to print publication by Starburst Magazine Ltd in February 2012, with issue #374. The magazine celebrated its 40-year anniversary with issue #443 (2017), which included an editorial by creator

. ''Starburst'' headquarters is now based in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Editors-in-chief

* 1977–1981:

* 1981–1985:

Alan McKenzie Alan McKenzie is a British comics writer and editor known for his work at '' 2000 AD''. Biography McKenzie worked for Marvel UK during the early 1980s, editing '' Starburst'', ''Cinema'' and '' Doctor Who Monthly'' magazines. After leaving the ...

* 1985: Cefn Ridout * 1985–1999: Stephen Payne * 1999–2001: David Richardson * 2001:

Andrew Cartmel Andrew J. Cartmel (born 6 April 1958) is a British author and journalist. He was the script editor of ''Doctor Who'' during the Sylvester McCoy era of the show between 1987 and 1989. He has also worked as a script editor on other television serie ...

* 2001–2002: Gary Gillatt * 2002: Stephen Payne * 2003–2005: Simon J. Gerard * 2005–2009: Stephen Payne * 2009–2022:

Jordan Royce Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Riv ...

* 2022–present: Kris Heys

Columns and features

''Starburst''s review sections were edited by writers and reviewers such as Alan Jones (films) and

David J. Howe David J. Howe is a British writer, journalist, publisher, and media historian. Biography David Howe was born 24 August 1961 and established himself (in the early 1980s) as an authoritative media historian through writing articles for fanzin ...

(books), and, for several years, the magazine also carried a column by the writer

John Brosnan John Raymond Brosnan (7 October 1947 – 11 April 2005) was an Australian writer of both fiction and non-fiction works in the fantasy and science fiction genres. He was born in Perth, Western Australia, and died in South Harrow, London, fro ...

. Its television review column, TV Zone, was used as the title of its sister publication, ''

TV Zone ''TV Zone'' is a British magazine that was published every four weeks by Visual Imagination that covered cult television. Initially, it mostly covered science fiction, but branched out to cover other drama and comedy series. History ''TV Zone'' ...

''.

Current columns

* TV Zone by Paul Mount * It's Only a Movie by Jordan Royce; previously penned by the late

* Horror Obscura by assistant editor Martin Unsworth * Brave New Words (books) and Roll for Damage (TTRPGS) by literary editor Ed Fortune * OST by Nick Spacek

Multimedia

Starburst radio

On 19 March 2011 ''Starburst'' magazine presented its first weekly radio show on Manchester Radio Online. The show has since moved to Fab Radio International.

Starburst podcasts

''Starburst'' produces the following

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

s: * ''Starburst Radio Podcast'': The podcast of the Official Starburst Radio Show presented by Martin Unsworth, Kris Heys and Mike Royce * ''The Blue Box Podcast'': The Starburst ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' podcast presented by JR Southall * ''Brave New Words'': The Starburst book and graphic novel podcast presented by Ed Fortune, the magazine's literary editor * ''TV Zone Plus'': The podcast of the TV Zone column, presented by TV Zone columnist Paul Mount

Starburst festivals

1980: Marvel Comics Film & Fantasy Convention

On 18–19 October 1980, Starburst (at that point owned by

) produced the inaugural

Marvel Comics Film & Fantasy Convention Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comic ...

Lawrence Hall, London Lawrence Hall in Greycoat Street, Westminster was the newer of the two Royal Horticultural Halls owned by R.H.S. Enterprises Limited, which is part of the Royal Horticultural Society charity in central London. The other is Lindley Hall in Elvert ...

. The guest of honor was

Ray Harryhausen Raymond Frederick Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013) was an American-British animator and special effects creator who created a form of stop motion model animation known as "Dynamation". His works include the animation for '' Might ...

; other guests include

Barry Morse Herbert Morse (10 June 19182 February 2008), known professionally as Barry Morse, was a British-Canadian actor of stage, screen, and radio, best known for his roles in the ABC television series '' The Fugitive'' and the British sci-fi drama '' ...

Paul Darrow Paul Darrow (born Paul Valentine Birkby; 2 May 1941 – 3 June 2019) was an English actor. He became best known for playing Kerr Avon in the BBC science fiction television series ''Blake's 7'' between 1978 and 1981. His many television rol ...

Jacqueline Pearce Jacqueline Pearce (20 December 1943 – 3 September 2018) was a British film and television actress. She was best known for her portrayal of the principal villain Servalan in the British science fiction TV series ''Blake's 7'' (1978–1981), ...

Ingrid Pitt Ingrid Pitt (born Ingoushka Petrov; 21 November 193723 November 2010) was a Polish-British actress and writer best known for her work in horror films of the 1970s. Early life Ingoushka Petrov was born in Warsaw, Poland, one of two daughters ...

Caroline Munro Caroline Munro (born 16 January 1949)McFarlane, Brian (28 February 2014). ''The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition''. Oxford University Press. p. 538; is an English actress, model and singer known for her many appearances in horror, ...

Dana Gillespie Dana Gillespie (born Richenda Antoinette de Winterstein Gillespie, 30 March 1949) is an English actress, singer and songwriter. Originally performing and recording in her teens, over the years Gillespie has been involved in the recording of over ...

David Prowse David Charles Prowse (1 July 1935 – 28 November 2020) was an English actor, bodybuilder and weightlifter. He portrayed Darth Vader (voiced by American actor James Earl Jones) in the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy and a manservant in Stanle ...

Peter Mayhew Peter William Mayhew (19 May 1944 – 30 April 2019) was a British-American actor. He was best known for portraying Chewbacca in the ''Star Wars'' film series. He played the character in all of his live-action appearances from the 1977 origin ...

Milton Subotsky Milton Subotsky (September 27, 1921 – June 27, 1991) was an American film and television writer and producer. In 1964, he founded Amicus Productions with Max J. Rosenberg. Amicus means "friendship" in Latin. The partnership produced low-budg ...

Roy Ashton Howard Roy Ashton (17 April 1909 – 10 January 1995) was an Australian tenor, associated for a while with Benjamin Britten's English Opera Group, and make-up artist who became particularly associated with his work on the Hammer Horror films. ...

Martin Bower Martin Bower (born 1952) is a model maker and designer of special effects miniatures for both film and television. His credits include the television series '' Space: 1999'' (1975-8), ''Blake's 7'' (1978–81) and ''The Tripods'' (1984–85), an ...

Harley Cokeliss Harley Cokeliss (born Harley Louis Cokliss, February 11, 1945) is an American director, writer and producer of film and television. Early life Originally brought up in Chicago, he moved to Britain in 1966 to study at the London Film School ...

, Mat Irvine,

Brian Johnson Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. He and the rest of the band were inducted into the Rock and Rol ...

Terrance Dicks Terrance William Dicks (14 April 1935 – 29 August 2019) was an English people, English author and television screenwriter, script editor and Television producer, producer. In television, he had a long association with the BBC science-fictio ...

David Maloney David John Lee Maloney (14 December 1933 – 18 July 2006) was a British television director and producer, best known for his work on the BBC science-fiction series ''Doctor Who'', ''Blake's 7'' and ''The Day of the Triffids''. ''The Guardi ...

Dick Mills Dick Mills (born 1936) is a British sound engineer, specialising in electronic sound effects which he produced at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Mills was one of the original staff at the Radiophonic Workshop, joining in 1958 as a technical as ...

, and

Richard O'Brien Richard Timothy Smith. known professionally as Richard O'Brien, is a British-New Zealand actor, writer, musician, composer, and television presenter. He wrote the musical stage show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' in 1973, which has remained in conti ...

. The convention included the presentation of the 1980 Starburst Awards as well as the 1980

Eagle Awards The Eagle Awards were a series of awards for comic book titles and creators. They were awarded by UK fans voting for work produced during the previous year. Named after the UK's ''Eagle'' comic, they were launched in 1977 for comics released in ...

2016: Starburst International Film Festival

From 26–28 August 2016 the first Starburst International Film Festival was held at Manchester Metropolitan Students' Union Complex. Guests included

Doug Naylor Douglas Rodger Naylor (born 31 December 1955) is an English comedy writer, science fiction writer, director and television producer. Life and career Naylor was born in Manchester, Lancashire, England, and studied at Chetham's School of Music ...

, Steve Pemberton, and

Toby Whithouse Toby Lawrence Whithouse (; born 5 July 1970) is an English actor, screenwriter and playwright. His highest-profile work has been the creation of the BBC Three supernatural television series '' Being Human''. He also created the Channel 4 telev ...

. The festival culminated in the Starburst Fantasy Awards 2016 on Sunday 28 August 2016 in which

won the Hall of Fame Award.

2018: Starburst MediaCity Festival

With a sponsorship deal secured with MediaCityUK the second annual festival was slightly re-branded. Starburst MediaCity Festival was held 16–17 March 2018. Guests included

and Tom Paton. Winners of the STARBURST Fantasy Awards 2018 included Emma Dark for Best Director with '' Salient Minus Ten'', and Michael Melski for Best Feature with ''The Child Remains''.

References

External links

*{{official, https://starburstmagazine.com 1977 establishments in the United Kingdom Film magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1977 Magazines published in Manchester Marvel UK titles Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Science fiction magazines published in the United Kingdom Science fiction-related magazines