http://marveluniversity.blogspot.com/2016/03/november-1977-part-one-could-jim.html


 Quote:

“I was going to carry on with Warlock,” Starlin related in his Newsarama interview, “and then I had serious editorial issues with Gerry Conway his first week in office there. And I left Marvel [after #15], and I didn’t come back to Marvel until Archie Goodwin was there [as EIC], and I ran into him at a party and he said, ‘Hey, why don’t you come back and finish up that Warlock stuff, you can do it in Avengers Annual.’ So I did that, and there was more story than the single annual could handle, so we did Marvel Two-in-One Annual right after that.”



So WARLOCK was cancelled with issue 15 because of a clash with Gerry Conway as editor in chief (in that position only June and July 1976). And Starlin briefly quit. I never knew there was a WARLOCK 16 with art by Al Weiss! Apparently pulled from publication by Gerry Conway, after their confrontation.

Then Archie Goodwin became editor in chief (July 1976- Jan 1978) and encouraged Starlin to come back and conclude his WARLOCK storyline in AVENGERS ANNUAL 7 and TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL 2.

I suspect Starlin quit Marvel in Jan 1978 when Jim Shooter became editor in chief (Jan 1978-Feb 1987). During Shooter's reign, Starlin eventually came back to Marvel in early 1980 working on EPIC ILLUSTRATED and DREADSTAR, but only because he was working for the Epic Comics line, and a few graphic novels, working with editor Archie Goodwin.


In that 1978-1980 period, Starlin did the "Darklon the Mystic" story serialized in EERIE 76 (Aug 1976), 79 (Nov 1976), 80 (Jan 1977), 84( Jun 1977), and 100 (Apr 1979).
Later collected in a one-shot DARKLON THE MYSTIC issue for Pacific Comics, and garishly colored, in Nov 1983.

Starlin also did a lot of work for DC in that 1978-1981 period, in DETECTIVE COMICS 481-482, SUPERBOY/LEGION 239 and 250-251, DC COMICS PRESENTS 26-29, and many covers for LEGION, JLA and the DC mystery titles. I think Starlin's DC and Warren work is his most obscure and least known. And maybe his work for STAR-REACH and ECLIPSE magazine.