Stardust Neil

In una fredda sera di ottobre una stella cadente attraversa il cielo e il giovane Tristan, per conquistare la bellissima Victoria, promette di andarla a prendere. Dovrà così oltrepassare il varco proibito nel muro di pietra a est del villaggio e avventurarsi nel bosco dove ogni nove anni si raccoglie un incredibile mercato di oggetti magici. Ma anche i malvagi figli del Signore degli Alti Dirupi sono a caccia della stella…

There are two quite distinct faces to the world of the rock musician: faces so contrasting that it is little wonder that so many contemporary stars appear at times to have lost touch with any kind of reality. While mass adulation hounds and sometimes even destroys the successful ones, the road to that status remains a golden dream for generation after generation of young people. Show me a boy with an interest in pop music who never once imagined himself as a rock superstar and I’ll show you a liar. Jim Maclaine, the anti-hero of the film STARDUST, was such a boy. To him success as a star was an end in itself, and before he achieved it he never questioned what price he might have to pay for that goal. And it is the way in which he achieves his ambition and the resulting pressures and despairs that are the subject of the film. Jim Maclaine is a fictitious figure, created on screen by David Essex. But the problems he faces are known and understood by all of today’s top musicians. And ironically it is out of these problems that some of the best music of the last decade has sprung. Rock music is to do with contemporary life: with the way in which young people see themselves and their problems. On stage, or in the recording studio, an artist can, by virtue of his creativity, cast aside the self doubts and neuroses which were frequently responsible for much of his success.

There are two quite distinct faces to the world of the rock musician: faces so contrasting that it is little wonder that so many contemporary stars appear at times to have lost touch with any kind of reality. While mass adulation hounds and sometimes even destroys the successful ones, the road to that status remains a golden dream for generation after generation of young people. Show me a boy with an interest in pop music who never once imagined himself as a rock superstar and I’ll show you a liar. Jim Maclaine, the anti-hero of the film STARDUST, was such a boy. To him success as a star was an end in itself, and before he achieved it he never questioned what price he might have to pay for that goal. And it is the way in which he achieves his ambition and the resulting pressures and despairs that are the subject of the film. Jim Maclaine is a fictitious figure, created on screen by David Essex. But the problems he faces are known and understood by all of today’s top musicians. And ironically it is out of these problems that some of the best music of the last decade has sprung. Rock music is to do with contemporary life: with the way in which young people see themselves and their problems. On stage, or in the recording studio, an artist can, by virtue of his creativity, cast aside the self doubts and neuroses which were frequently responsible for much of his success.

Editorial: El especial Lluvia de Estrellas apareció bajo el sello Green Man Press, la editorial de Charles Vess. Aunque en un principio estaba planeada su publicación como un cómic en formato prestigio, finalmente se convirtió en un portafolio que contenía cada ilustración por separado y dos minicómics con cada uno de los relatos inéditos.