Who Is Cody Starbuck? Origin, Powers and Key Facts

Cody Starbuck is a Heavy Metal comic book character, with over 17 comic issue appearances. Howard Chaykin's rollicking space pirate.

Who is Cody Starbuck?

Following on from Ironwolf, Cody was Howie's first real go at what has since become the patented Chaykin hero: A morally ambivalent, free-wheeling good/bad guy in a decadent, sexually explicit universe who looks more than a little bit like Howie himself. Cody is the darkest of these characters; In his previous stories being gleefully venal & treacherous, and generally only doing good if the price is right. Basically a hero, but only just. A sort of X-rated Han Solo, if you like. Howard Chaykin was one of the early adopters of the StarReach approach to publishing. His creation, Cody Starbuck, debuted the first issue of the anthology StarReach. Four years later, in 1978, Starbuck graduated to its own one-shot. In his introduction to the 1978 Cody Starbuck unnumbered one-shot, Friedrich wrote: “Chaykin not only shakes the tree of traditional space-opera, he pulverizes it.

Key facts

Cody Starbuck is of human origin. The character is published by Heavy Metal. With 17 recorded issue appearances, Cody Starbuck ranks among the most featured characters in comics.