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All WILD STARS I images shown without text and © Copyright 2001/2002 Michael Tierney

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The Multiversal Scribe

Who ... or What ... IS
The Multiversal Scribe?

by Michael Tierney

In 1977 I was circulating my novel Wild Stars Rising across the desks of various book editors and decided to publish some of my work independently (this was a different novel from Wild Stars 4: Wild Star Rising published by Cirsova in 2019, the 1977 Wild Stars Rising novel takes place later in the future history of the Wild Stars).

The Multiversal Scribe would never have happened had I not been working in the Wichita, Kansas printing industry at the time.

The company I was working for didn't do this type of work, so I contracted with another printer.
TMS waste of contemplation Typsetting was a laborious effort in this time -- and projects came back from the typesetters
on long strips that had to be cut and glued into place on the page.

Learning that the printer I'd paid a deposit was on the verge of bankruptcy, I cut and pasted the entire 32-page magazine in one night. When I handed it back to them the next day, they were stunned.

Sure enough, this was the last job that company printed.

Even with my all-night assembly, it wouldn't have happened had I not been working with the president of the local Printer's Union.
The bankrupt printer looked upset to learn upon delivery that I was moving away from Wichita.
Never did recover the original art for the covers.

The Multiversal Scribe was released in a 250-copy numbered and initialed edition, and a 750-copy regular edition.
It features 22 illustrations and five different stories in five different genres, along with a different kind of editorial:

The Table of Contents lists A Visual Editorial Upone the Waste of Contemplation on Page 2.
I've had a number of people tell me about the different things they see in this picture.
Some see a pair of eyes, others see other things.
But the picture shown here on the upper right is just a weird picture. That's all.
You're wasting your time looking for deeper meaning.
The Multiversal Scribe magazine
TMS waste of contemplation


Around the turn of the Nineteenth Century into the Twentieth, a colloquy was a popular form of fiction where a young man asks advice from an old wise man.
The form is still with us today in cartoons of aged wise men sitting in caves on mountain tops.
I took the rules of a colloquy and reversed them in The Cities of Man.
The story doesn't actually end with the words.
It ends with the picture to the right.












The Multiversal Scribe magazine




The Boundaries of Decision is firmly set in the world of the Wild Stars.
In Wild Stars 3, it's told how the character named Bully Bravo has seen cities built on remote worlds where he laid the first footsteps.
This science fiction short story is about one of those cities.
Earlier in 1977 this illustration was the cover for Ecstacy Oblivion magazine #2.
The Multiversal Scribe magazine






Whence Has Passed the Hero? is a fantasy short story about a king
faced with rebellion over his perceived mistreatment of a hero.
But things are not as they seem.



The Multiversal Scribe magazine




"Razor Edge" is a five-plate portfolio based on the theme of things with sharp edges. The Multiversal Scribe magazine





People told me that I'd lost my mind in the social science story titled Indeed.
It tells of a future with 24-hour television --
remember, this was 1977 when all the TV stations closed down every night from midnight until 6AM.
Even more unreal to readers was the concept of reality television.
The story focuses on one reality channel that ran all day long, so that part hasn't come true . . . yet!



The Multiversal Scribe magazine




The Rebirth of Thunder is a sword and sorcery tale.
But it's like the grand masters of science fiction always said:
Advanced science can appear to be magic to less advanced peoples.
The way the rope bridge just disappears in front of the running figures is intentional.
It's part of the story.
Across the Distance Portfolio
And that's the story behind the stories of The Multiversal Scribe!

But that wasn't my last use of the term.


After I'd moved to Arkansas and began managing the Fast Print division of International Graphics, I produced the Across the Distance Portfolio: The Multiversal Scribe -- Volume Two. I was able to do all the camera work myself, and supervised every stage of the production. It was great having all the tools of a print shop at my disposal.

This portfolio is a collection of six linen paper art prints, half by artist Bruce Conklin, and the other half by myself.
Each print is tied to a story from some point in the history of the Wild Stars,
and is individually signed and numbered.
Each portfolio contains all matching numbers.

One plate by Bruce Conklin shows the first appearance of Phaedra.
Another plate that I did shows the first appearance of Eagal Ir Radin,
who waited 40 years to make his second appearnce in Wild Stars 6: Orphan of the Shadowy Moons.
The plate shows an earlier working title for this story, written the same year this portfolio was released.

phaedra Eagal Ir Radin
Wild stars comic
The 1984 comic Wild Stars: Erlik also includes the indicia of T.M.S. -- V III: 2.5,
which indicates that this issue is The Multiversal Scribe Volume 3,
and had a print run of 2,500 copies.


wild stars comic

I did not include the indicia for the 1985 Wild Stars Portfolio, but included it in the numbering.
The sampling shown below includes the first and only appearances of Akara's mother.

Wild Stars portfolio One


wild stars comic When I made my second Wild Stars comics in the 1980s, I continued the Multiversal Scribe numbering.
This was the final use.

The 1988 Wild Stars: First Marker comic lists in the indicia: T.M.S. -- Vol. V: 4M,
which stands for The Multiversal Scribe Vol. 5, with a print run of 4,000, except the actual print run was 2,000.
Because of the complicated nature of foil stamping the front cover and die cutting both the front and back covers,
(all industry firsts) a lot of the print run was spoiled.

A special bonus was that I employed a printer's technique on one of the plates.
In the image with a mountain shown in the background and an old wood mill in the foreground,
I slowly faded the background mountain away as the print run progressed.

So, if you have a copy with a really solid image of the mountain, then your copy was made early in the run.
If the mountain looks like it's fading away into the distance, the more faded it is, the later it was printed.

By doing this, I made each individual copy of the comic into a limited edition art print.

That's a unique industry enhancement that is not only another first,
but, as lithography is replaced by digital printing, one that I doubt will ever be replicated.

Who is Michael Tierney?

michaelphoto1 Beyond the Farthest Star
Michael Tierney has been involved in comics and the publishing industry since the 70s. Owner and proprietor of both The Comic Book Store and Collector's Edition, Michael was a Finalist for both the Star*Reach Comics Retailer of the Year Award in 1985 and the Will Eisner Spirit of the Comics Retailer of the Year Award in 1999, has been an Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide Advisor since the 1990s, and is a staple of Central Arkansas' comic scene. A former journeyman printer and printing division manager, he's written, published, and at times even penciled, inked, and printed his own comics. He is currently writing, lettering, and coloring Edgar Rice Burroughs' Beyond the Farthest StarTM online, and his four volume Edgar Rice Burroughs 100 Year Art Chronology was published by Chenault & Gray in 2018.

Michael has been a regular contributor to Cirsova Heroic Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, who released the 2019 35th Anniversary set of Michael's Wild Stars comics and books. Cirsova Publishing is a Central Arkansas semi-pro publisher of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Its flagship publication, Cirsova Heroic Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine was a 2017 Hugo Awards finalist for Best Semi-Pro Zine.

They also published Michael's posthumas collaboration with Edgar Rice Burroughs on Young Tarzan in 2019.

Cirsova magazine 2 Cirsova magazine 5 Cirsova magazine 7 Cirsova #9 Young Tarzan Wild Stars 5 in Cirsova 5 Wild Stars 5 in Cirsova 5


For Information:
Michael Tierney/Little Rocket Publications: www.thewildstars.com
Cirsova: www.cirsova.wordpress.com / Twitter: @cirsova

To read what the critics thought of WILD STARS or any of Michael Tierney's other works,
visit the REVIEWS PAGE.

Michael's bibliography can be found here!

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All images and text © 1984-2018 Michael Tierney.
Wild Stars is a Registered Trademark of Michael Tierney
Little Rocket Publications TM is a Trademark of Tierney Incorporated