Herr Starr

Herr Starr is a male comic character who features in Preacher.

Biography

Herr Starr

The child who would become Herr Starr was always quiet and studious. The son of a British serviceman and a German mother who died in labour, he had hoped to avoid the unwanted attention of bullies by keeping to himself. Unfortunately a gang of children, led by one particularly brutal child, targeted him because of this. This bullying ultimately led to an attack where they gave "A star for Starr" and with a broken bottle carved five jagged lines around and over his right eye. As well as blinding him in that eye the stress from the event caused all his hair to fall out and his cries forever turned his voice into a harsh grating sound. After that Starr's life (until meeting Jesse Custer) would become dedicated to seeking order in the world. One by one the children responsible for his attack died in a series of accidents and unfortunate tragedies. Their deaths were always at least one year apart, although two were brothers and together were burned to death in a house fire. The last, the gang leader, died on Starr's 10th birthday from drinking herbicide, the result of which caused his spine to contract until the back of his head touched his heels. Starr, though obviously responsible, was never implicated in these deaths as he had refused to name his attackers after he was assaulted, wanting to exact revenge by himself. Herr Starr began his career as an agent of the German anti-terrorism unit GSG 9. This is an anachronism, as GSG 9 is presented as being operational and well-established in 1972, when it did not exist until 1973. He excelled in all fields of training, except unarmed combat. During this class the instructor, a bully well known for victimizing and humiliating his students, challenged Starr to a sparring match. In response Starr pulled out his handgun and shot the instructor in the knee-caps. When challenged as to how he would survive without training in unarmed combat Starr replied that he had "no intention of being unarmed."

In the late 1970s, Starr was recruited into the Grail, the most secret and powerful organization on Earth. The Grail's secret is that Christ did not die at all but was drugged in a death like state, later rescued and eventually marrying and having children. The Grail protects the bloodline, planning to set off a partial Armageddon in 2000, with the intent of making the descendant of Christ now the new Savior. As such, the Grail went about controlling the world, making all decisions for every leader on the planet in preparation for the day when nuclear war would be seemingly averted by the return of the Messiah and peace would reign on Earth. Starr proved his worth to the Grail when assigned to eliminate a former member living in a mental hospital. Starr blew up the entire hospital so the member is lost with the other inmates, reasoning that while one death would be investigated, the destruction of the whole hospital would leave the authorities without any idea where to start looking. When questioned about the innocent deaths, he replies rhetorically "How many children died at Sodom and Gomorrah?" Starr rose quickly in the ranks of the Grail, eventually becoming Sacred Executioner, second only to the Grail's leader Allfather D'Aronique. He becomes notable for his ruthlessness and the fact he doesn't care for relationships, only sex. In 1990, he comes to the conclusion the Grail is doomed. After 2000 years of in-breeding "to keep the bloodline pure", the would-be savior is a mentally retarded and physically gawky child who frequently urinates in public and speaks gibberish. Starr knows the world would never accept this and decides to kill the child and find someone more acceptable, even though the rest of the Grail, including Allfather D'Aronique, hangs on to the faith that the child would manifest divine powers and become a worthy leader. When he hears of Jesse Custer and his power of "the Word," Starr decides that he made the perfect candidate for an alternative Messiah and plans to use Custer in his scheme to overthrow the Grail's leadership.

In "Proud Americans," Starr murders his way to the position of Allfather. He pushes D'Aronique out of a helicopter, which results in the death of Christ's descendant and fellow conspirotor Marsell as well, when D'Aronique lands on them. This instantly gives him control over the Grail. With the position comes immense power. Starr is able to commandeer a United States army tank division to attack Jesse and the Saint of Killers in Utah and then order the American President to order a nuclear warhead dropped on the Saint in Monument Valley. Jesse and the Saint both survive. All this takes its toll on Starr's mind and he decides the Grail and its dreams of control and order are not worth what he's sacrificed. He kills the Grail Council, assembles a private army and hunts down Jesse at the Alamo. He finally ends up charging Tulip, who had tracked him down on her own. Tulip shoots him several times. After Starr miscounts the bullets in his new, longer gun, Tulip jams her gun under his chin and blows the top of his head off. He has time to utter a final, disgusted "Shit" before collapsing dead.

Notes

• Herr Starr was created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon where he made his first appearance in Preacher v1 #13 (April, 1996).

Appearances

• Preacher:

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