This is from x86 disassebly with objdump.
What does this instruction mean? How will the call address be calculated?
call *0x1bc(%eax)
In particular, what does asterisk mean here? Does it simply mean %eax + 0x1bc ?
Yes. Branch addresses with immediate or register operands are prefixed with asterisks.
From this page:
Branch addressing using registers or memory operands must be prefixed by a '*'.