Starshine

Origin

The first Starshine was a young woman named Landra, who was from Galador. She was killed by the Dire Wraiths.

The second to wear the armor was Brandy Clark, who was romantically involved with Rom.

Landra could emit light beams from her eyes and use them for various effects. She was initially partnered up with Rom and Terminator. However Terminator killed an innocent being in the course of one of their battles. Landra and Rom testified against him in a trial presided by the Prime Director of Galador. She had hoped her ally would be set for rehabilitation. Instead he was sentenced to death. Terminator actually faked his death but Landra would not find out about it until much later. When the Spaceknights broke ranks and went to separate space directions to locate the Dire Wraiths, Landra went alone. She proved one of the best Dire Wraith hunters, successfully tracking and eliminating her targets for two centuries. Unable to locate any more Dire Wraiths in her sector of space, Landra chose to return to Galador and get an update on how the war was going on.

In Galador she was captured by Mentus and Terminator, rogue Spaceknights. She and other captives were later rescued by Rom. When Galactus used his powers to transport Galador to a hidden location, the Spaceknights present were left stranded in space. Landra used her light powers to transport each Spaceknight to their last known location before returning to Galador. Since her last known location had no surviving Dire Wraiths, Landra chose to follow Rom to his last known location, Earth.

In Rom's absence the entire town of Clairton had been replaced with Dire Wraiths. The few surviving residents had been rescued by the Mole Man who led them in abducting and killing the disguised Dire Wraiths, one Wraith at a time. Rom and Landra decided to investigate. They were followed by Dire Wraiths in the forms of friends of Rom. The Wraiths fired at Rom's unguarded back while his attention was elsewhere. Landra used her body to protect her ally, resulting in her death. With her dying words Landra admitted being in love with Rom.

Doctor Dredd, a Wraith Warlock later bonded the inert armor to Brandy Clark. He intended to use her as a pawn but she escaped his control early on. She fought alongside Rom for a while but Hybrid, another Dire Wraith sorcerer, broke the earlier spell and returned her to human form. The Starshine armor was left buried in a Kentucky mine.

The third Starshine was Anarra, a third generation Spaceknight who had similar powers. She was the leader of this generation of Spaceknights. The main difference of these Spaceknights was that they could change between cyborg and human form at will. The first two generations could only regularly use the cyborg form, their human form was placed in suspended animation to await their returns.

Creation

Landra was created for use in Marvel comics by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema, and her first appearance came in Rom #14.

Brandy Clark was created by Bill Mantlo and Al Milgrom. Her first appearance was in Rom #1, but the first time she donned the Starshine armor happened in Rom #40.

Jim Starlin created the third individual to become Starshine in Anarra, her first appearance comes in Starlin's Spaceknights mini-series.