This series about space pirates was not-so-subtly ripped off from Leiji Matsumoto's "Captain Harlock". At this time, a local UHF channel was airing the Harmony Gold company's translations of Japanese anime. We had "Captain Harlock", "Robotech" and assorted animated movies like "Galaxy Express 999". It is difficult to overestimate what a huge influence they had on me. Along with "Elfquest" and some of the mid-80s Marvel comics, this was what convinced me that animation and comics could be as serious and adult as movies or books, and that just because you grew up didn't mean you had to stop being interested in things like that.

The character designs in the Starfox series didn't look all that much like Matsomoto's, but just about every major character in the Harlock series had their analog in mine -- the dashing and mysterious captain, the last female survivor of a vanished alien species, the handsome young helmsman, etc. I suppose there are worse series to be influenced by.

I was also tremendously hooked on Star Trek at this time. Even the bridge design sort of looks like it. You can also still see the very blatant Elfquest/fairy art influence ... now mixed with anime.




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