A hero published by
DC Comics and created by
George Perez and
Marv Wolfman.
Starfire first appeared in
DC Comics Presents #26
in the fall of 1980.
The planet Tamaran exists within the Vega system of our galaxy.
Tamarans have the ability to absorb solar radiation (sunlight) and
metabolize it in a way that allows them to fly. Tamarans are a race with a warrior heritage, possessing golden skin, long curly hair, and green eyes with no irises. The technologically-advanced planet
exists under a monarchy whose king Myand'r had two daughters,
Komand'r and Koriand'r, and a son, Ryand'r. The rightful
heir to the throne was the eldest daughter Komand'r, but she was
born without the ability to fly and therefore was considered
unfit to rule. The throne then fell to the second daughter,
Koriand'r. This caused Komand'r to hate her younger sister and to
turn to the Tamaran enemies in hopes of exacting revenge upon those
she believed had wronged her.
When Tamaran was attacked and overrun by the Gordaians and their
allies the Psions with the help of Komand'r, Myand'r sued for peace. The Gordians
agreed to leave the planet alone, but the king had to give up
their youngest daughter as a slave. Having no other choice,
the king and queen turned Koriand'r over to their enemies.
Komand'r seemingly had won, until she was betrayed by her "allies"
and enslaved as well. The two sisters became the subjects of
a Psion experiment to see how much solar energy they could absorb.
During the experiment, a problem with the equipment endowed both
of the sisters with the ability to channel solar energy into
energy blasts. The two escaped their captors and Koriand'r fled,
eventually landing on Earth.
Pursued by her former captors, Koriand'r came into contact with a
group of young heroes known as the Teen Titans. This group helped
defend her against her foes and she decided to stay on Earth. Adopting
the civilian identity of Kory Anders and the heroic identity of
Starfire, Koriand'r stayed on Earth many years fighting along side
the other Titans. The group would often oppose her sister who took on
the name Blackfire. During this time, Starfire worked as a super model, giving Wolfman and Perez many opportunities to put her in revealing outfits and seductive poses, much to the glee of torqued-up fanboys.
During this time, Starfire and the Titans leader Dick Grayson became
romantically involved. Her free spirited nature was a good contrast
to his tightly controlled life, and his maturity and level-headedness
were a good match for her more passionate nature. The two were a
couple for years, until Koriand'r was called by to Tamaran to participate
in an arranged marriage with Karras, a Tamaran noble. Koriand'r
felt obligated to go through with the marriage, though she tried
to convince Grayson that it would not change her feelings toward
him. Grayson, however, did not feel that it was appropriate to
continue a relationship with Starfire at this point and the two
broke up.
For a while, Koriand'r lived on Tamaran with her new spouse, but
later returned to Earth. A rebellion on Tamaran called her back
to her home and during that time, her sister Komand'r was made
monarch and Koriand'r's husband was killed during the fight. Free
to pursue their relationship again Koriand'r and Grayson once again
became a couple.
During and after the Titans betrayal by one of their own, Starfire
and Grayson's relationship began to show strain. Grayson was naturally
protective of Koriand'r, who had been injured during the Titan Hunt, but
Koriand'r's warrior nature did not take well to being coddled. Finally,
in an attempt to bring stability to their relationship, Grayson
proposed to Koriand'r who accepted. The two would have been
married but for the intervention of one of their teammates, Raven,
who had yielded to the evil part of her nature. Raven infected
Koriand'r with one of the unborn souls of the children of Raven's
father Trigon. The infection caused Koriand'r to hallucinate and
during the visions Koriand'r embraced her warrior heritage completely. This
new found meaning to life helped her to fight off the effects of
Raven's attack and drove her further away from Grayson. The two's
relationship never recovered.
Koriand'r eventually left Earth to return to Tamaran, marrying General
Phy'zzon and helping to lead the people of Tamaran to a new planet
when their home was destroyed. Koriand'r soon returned to Earth after
the planet on which her people settled was destroyed, leaving Koriand'r
as the only member of her race escape the destruction. She again
worked with the Titans for a time, eventually leaving with the
few remaining Tamarans to search for a new planet to settle.
On an interesting note: Koriand'r possessed an interesting trait that has
never been explained and that I am an unware of being used by any other
Tamaran. Koriand'r possesses the ability to understand languages
simply by touching one who knows the language. She usually does this
by kissing the person. How and why this works has never been explained.