For nine years (1977-1986),
Marvel Comics published a monthly comic about the continuing adventures of the characters from the successful series of science fiction films. This project was the brainchild of
Roy Thomas, former Marvel editor-in-chief, who pushed a reluctant Marvel into publishing it and cut a favorable deal with
George Lucas, who was eager to promote his film. The comic book was a phenomenal success for Marvel and by some accounts saved the company from going out of business, though this seems farfetched.
Aside from the
Kenner action figures and the
rare television misstep, at the time this was the only outlet for fans of the series. Eventually it petered out a couple years after
Return of the Jedi and was cancelled, long before an endless series of novels and video games provoked a resurgence in the popularity of Star Wars prior to
The Phantom Menace. If Marvel had only held on for a couple more years, they might still be enjoying the profits from this franchise, but Marvel has never thought long term.
New adventures of
Luke Skywalker, et al seems like easy money, but producing such a series is harder than it looks. You are saddled with a group of characters who can’t significantly change, a
love triangle you can’t develop (remember when we didn’t know they were siblings?), and you can’t contradict elements in future films even though you have no idea what they are yet. All things considered, they did a decent job extrapolating from the events of the first film, tackling such questions like: What did
Han Solo and
Chewbacca do with their reward from the Rebel Alliance? How does
Darth Vader learn the identity of
Luke Skywalker? What happens at their first meeting? Who is
Jabba the Hutt? Aside from making Jabba a dorky-looking yellow-skinned humanoid, most of this is handled suspensefully and makes you forget much of it is later contradicted.
Han Solo seems to emerge as the main character, as if they weren’t sure what to do with a dull farm boy and didn’t want to tinker with Luke too much because they knew he was in for some major changes. Post-
The Empire Strikes Back, things get a little dicier as the most interesting character is taken out of play and everyone else has to spend their time searching for him but can’t do a very good job of it. But it is handled well, and the bounty hunters we only get a glimpse of in the movie get a chance to shine. Post-
Return of the Jedi, nobody gets a break as the remnants of the Empire team up with a new threat, a race called the
Nagai.
Perhaps the most memorable thing about this series is the new, bizarre characters introduced, like the humanoid rabbit
Jaxxon, the cyborg bounty hunter
Valance, Luke’s water-breathing friend
Kiro, the telepathic
Hoojibs, and the Nagai warrior
Lumiya.
Jo Duffy, one of the first American comics professionals to be influenced by Japanese
manga, wrote much of the later half of the series and introduced a definite manga flair. Kiro and the Nagai are quite obviously straight out of manga. (And, strangely enough, the Nagai officer
Den Siva looks a lot like
Morpheus from
Sandman, which is probably just an indication of manga influence in the latter’s design.)
This series is fondly remembered even by people who aren’t Star Wars dorks, and back issue prices are sky high. It’s debatable, however, how much of the series is amusing kitsch and how much of it stands on its own as decent storytelling. Would this series be worthy of all the praise it gets if it wasn’t about beloved movie characters? It’s a tough call. Many of the industry’s most prominent creators worked on this book at one time or another, including
Archie Goodwin,
Howard Chaykin,
Al Williamson,
Carmine Infantino,
Walt Simonson,
Michael Golden,
Chris Claremont,
Whilce Poratio, and
Ron Frenz. But despite high sales, this was never a prestige assignment at Marvel, and no one here is turning in career defining work, except maybe Jo Duffy.
Dark Horse now holds the Star Wars franchise and they’re making a mint off of Marvel’s missed opportunity. Some would say that Dark Horse’s comics, which are probably more closely supervised by Lucas’ people now that Star Wars is big money again, are truer to the spirit of the film, and they often are, but the ones I’ve read are less wildly inventive and leave me cold. Dark Horse has done a great service by releasing Marvel’s run in a series of seven thick paperback volumes, faithfully recolored by
Digital Chameleon. These volumes are really how most comics should be reprinted: somewhere between the expensive hagiography of the hardcover
Marvel Masterworks and
DC Archives series and the flimsy black and white
Marvel Essentials series. They retail at $29.95 each but you can find them used for $10 or $15 in some places. The only complaint that I have is about the useless introductions. You’d think they’d find someone who was actually there and had some involvement with these books to write them, such as Roy Thomas, who spends much of his life writing nostalgic essays about old comics anyway. But instead we get gushing from the Dark Horse office intern who has a room full of action figures.
For your convenience, the issues of Marvel’s run are divided by how they are reprinted by Dark Horse. I will add missing creator credits when I track them down or buy the books. Note that
Return of the Jedi was adapted as a stand-alone four issue mini-series instead of in the regular Star Wars title.
Doomworld (ISBN 1569717540)
Star Wars #1 (Roy Thomas/Howard Chaykin) adapts the movie
Star Wars
Star Wars #2 (Roy Thomas/Howard Chaykin) adapts the movie
Star Wars
Star Wars #3 (Roy Thomas/Howard Chaykin) adapts the movie
Star Wars
Star Wars #4 (Roy Thomas/Howard Chaykin) adapts the movie
Star Wars
Star Wars #5 (Roy Thomas/Howard Chaykin) adapts the movie
Star Wars
Star Wars #6 (Roy Thomas/Howard Chaykin) adapts the movie
Star Wars
Star Wars #7 (Roy Thomas/Howard Chaykin)
Star Wars #8 (Roy Thomas/Howard Chaykin)
Star Wars #9 (Roy Thomas/Howard Chaykin)
Star Wars #10 (Roy Thomas/Howard Chaykin)
Star Wars #11 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #12 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #13 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #14 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #15 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #16 (Archie Goodwin/Walt Simonson)
Star Wars #17 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #18 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #19 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #20 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Dark Encounters (ISBN 1569717850)
Star Wars #21 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #22 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #23 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #24 (Jo Duffy/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #25 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #26 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #27 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #28 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #29 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #30 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars Annual #1 (Chris Claremont/Mike Vosburg)
Star Wars #31 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #32 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #33 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #34 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #35 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #36 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #37 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #38 (Archie Goodwin/Michael Golden)
Resurrection of Evil (ISBN 1569717869)
Star Wars #39 adapts the movie
The Empire Strikes Back (Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson)
Star Wars #40 adapts the movie
The Empire Strikes Back (Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson)
Star Wars #41 adapts the movie
The Empire Strikes Back (Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson)
Star Wars #42 adapts the movie
The Empire Strikes Back (Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson)
Star Wars #43 adapts the movie
The Empire Strikes Back (Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson)
Star Wars #44 adapts the movie
The Empire Strikes Back (Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson)
Star Wars #45 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #46 (Wally Lombego/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #47 (Archie Goodwin/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #48 (Larry Hama/Carmine Infantino)
Star Wars #49 (Mike W. Barr/Walt Simonson)
Star Wars #50 (Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson)
Star Wars #51 (David Micheline/Walt Simonson)
Star Wars #52 (David Micheline/Walt Simonson)
Star Wars #53 (Chris Claremont/Carmine Infantino)
Screams in the Void (ISBN 1569717877)
Star Wars #54
Star Wars #55
Star Wars #56
Star Wars #57
Star Wars #58
Star Wars #59
Star Wars #60
Star Wars #61
Star Wars #62
Star Wars #63
Star Wars #64
Star Wars #65
Star Wars #66
Star Wars #67
Star Wars Annual #2
Fool’s Bounty (ISBN 1569719063)
Star Wars #68
Star Wars #69
Star Wars #70
Star Wars #71
Star Wars #72
Star Wars #73
Star Wars #74
Star Wars #75
Star Wars #76
Star Wars #77
Star Wars #78
Star Wars #79
Star Wars #80
Star Wars #81 first post-
Return of the Jedi issue
Star Wars Annual #3
Wookie World (ISBN 1569719071)
Star Wars #82
Star Wars #83
Star Wars #84
Star Wars #85
Star Wars #86
Star Wars #87
Star Wars #88
Star Wars #89
Star Wars #90
Star Wars #91
Star Wars #92
Star Wars #93
Star Wars #94
Star Wars #95
Far, Far Away (ISBN 156971908X)
Star Wars #96
Star Wars #97
Star Wars #98
Star Wars #99
Star Wars #100
Star Wars #101
Star Wars #102
Star Wars #103
Star Wars #104
Star Wars #105
Star Wars #106
Star Wars #107