The original Marvel Star Wars series — Page 8

screams in the void said:

pretty cool though , I am also a big fan of Dezungia’s work on Savage Sword Of Conan and this illustration is well suited to his style and reminiscent of the Tom Jung movie poster as well. Only suggestion I would make is to use the same color palette for Han and Luke’s skin tones as you did for Leia. Looks really nice overall though.

I might have to check out Savage Sword of Conan now.

Also, now that you mentioned Conan, it occurred too me Luke was often depicted as being very Conan-esque during the first few years of SW. The most obvious example from Marvel being the cover-icon that they used prior to ESB. I always thought it looked more like Conan dressed up as Luke than the actual Luke from the movies. (Of course I wouldn’t have it any other way.)

One of the many things that fascinate me about the original Marvel SW comics (and early SW-stuff in general) is that they were made in a time when stuff like Conan and John Carter of Mars was still relevant, or at least part of recent memory, so it had a huge influence on people’s early interpretations of what SW was supposed to be. It may seem weird to some people nowadays, but back then it made perfect sense that they’d hire an artist that had worked on Conan to do SW-stuff. Today SW is so well known that there really is no need for interpretations or comparisons to other things. To most people that are my age or younger, SW is just SW, and it’s always been that way.

I know what you mean , as the Conan look of the Star Wars comic and the Tom Jung poster were heavily influenced by the work of Frazetta , who George Lucas was a huge fan of as well as a friend of George Lucas named John Millius who went on to direct the 1982 Conan The Barbarian . Lucas also owned a comic book shop called Super Snipe in the late 70s and was an avid fan of Comic art and at one time , almost did the Conan movie , it is mentioned in this video …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pmf3_FXM-M

also worth mentioning is that the first writer of the original Marvel Star Wars , Roy Thomas , was best known as the writer of Conan Comics and petitioned George Lucas to green light the comic and convinced Stan Lee to take it on . I am also a huge Conan fan , almost as much a fan of it as Star Wars . And Roy Thomas’ writing helped shape my vocabulary as a kid

screams in the void said:

I know what you mean , as the Conan look of the Star Wars comic and the Tom Jung poster were heavily influenced by the work of Frazetta , who George Lucas was a huge fan of as well as a friend of George Lucas named John Millius who went on to direct the 1982 Conan The Barbarian . Lucas also owned a comic book shop called Super Snipe in the late 70s and was an avid fan of Comic art and at one time , almost did the Conan movie , it is mentioned in this video …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pmf3_FXM-M

Wow, I didn’t know Lucas actually owned a comic shop.

Makes sense he’d be a fan of comics though, after all early versions of Han had him looking like DC’s Swamp Thing. From what I’ve gathered, the earliest draft of SW had several placeholder images to illustrate what he had in mind, such as a cut-out of Swamp Thing. And the cover of the second draft had a generic John Carter-type image which was very similar to the final Jung and Hildebrandt posters.

screams in the void said:

also worth mentioning is that the first writer of the original Marvel Star Wars , Roy Thomas , was best known as the writer of Conan Comics and petitioned George Lucas to green light the comic and convinced Stan Lee to take it on . I am also a huge Conan fan , almost as much a fan of it as Star Wars . And Roy Thomas’ writing helped shape my vocabulary as a kid

For some reason I always thought it was Howard Chaykin who talked Stan Lee into producing the SW adaptation. Even though I’ve had various version of the ANH adaptation since I was a kid, it’s always slipped past me that Chaykin only drew it. Weird.

And it’s too bad Lucas stopped making non-SW films. I’d love to see what an 80’s Conan movie by George Lucas had looked like.

as I undestand it , George Lucas was a fan of Chaykin’s Cody Starbuck comic and hand picked Chaykin to do the adaptation

Do you know if he specifically asked for Roy Thomas as well? If so that’d be quite ironic as he eventually asked for him to be removed from the series after the Eight for Aduba-3 story-line. (At least that how I’ve been told that it played out.)

oops …sorry it was IronWolf …Cody came later…http://beachbumcomics.blogspot.com/2014/12/there-shall-come-hero-howard-chaykins.html

ZkinandBonez said:

Do you know if he specifically asked for Roy Thomas as well? If so that’d be quite ironic as he eventually asked for him to be removed from the series after the Eight for Aduba-3 story-line. (At least that how I’ve been told that it played out.)

looking at the article in the first issue of the U.S. monthly comic , Roy says that it started when George expressed interest in a Scrooge McDuck painting on his wall , they met , shared a dinner and that was it .A few months later , Charles Lipincott , the media relations director of Lucasfilm ,looked him up.He said Charlie informed him after a spaghetti dinner , that both he and George would like Marvel in general and him in particular to handle the comic book adaptation. So, yeah , that is ironic , especially given the creation of Jar Jar decades later.

and here is a little more on the subject…https://aux.avclub.com/a-really-long-time-ago-marvel-played-fast-and-loose-wi-1798286716

ZkinandBonez said:

Do you know if he specifically asked for Roy Thomas as well? If so that’d be quite ironic as he eventually asked for him to be removed from the series after the Eight for Aduba-3 story-line. (At least that how I’ve been told that it played out.)

Just came across this video of Roy Thomas , Howard Chaykin and Charles Lippincot at a Panel and it seems I had a few of my facts mixed up…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRLF9TiyzWE

screams in the void said:

ZkinandBonez said:

Do you know if he specifically asked for Roy Thomas as well? If so that’d be quite ironic as he eventually asked for him to be removed from the series after the Eight for Aduba-3 story-line. (At least that how I’ve been told that it played out.)

Just came across this video of Roy Thomas , Howard Chaykin and Charles Lippincot at a Panel and it seems I had a few of my facts mixed up…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRLF9TiyzWE

That was really fascinating. Thanks for sharing that. I’m normally to lazy to scour through long convention panel videos.

I also think it’s funny how Chaykin chastises modern comic artist for padding their stories. He might come off as a little harsh at times, but I completely agree with him. Back in the 70’s comic artists really did know how to efficiently tell a story, unlike today. Some still do, but most stories just drags on and on.

screams in the void said:

oops …sorry it was IronWolf …Cody came later…http://beachbumcomics.blogspot.com/2014/12/there-shall-come-hero-howard-chaykins.html

According to the panel it was Starbuck that inspired Lucas to ask for Chaykin, plus it debuted in 1974. Of course IronWolf could have been a part of it as well.

I’m also starting to see where Amaiza’s wacky design might have come from; http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y8Hp0Agzo8s/VIiepWekLiI/AAAAAAAANr4/JuaBp1BBp0k/s1600/ironwolf-05.jpg

ZkinandBonez said:

screams in the void said:

ZkinandBonez said:

Do you know if he specifically asked for Roy Thomas as well? If so that’d be quite ironic as he eventually asked for him to be removed from the series after the Eight for Aduba-3 story-line. (At least that how I’ve been told that it played out.)

Just came across this video of Roy Thomas , Howard Chaykin and Charles Lippincot at a Panel and it seems I had a few of my facts mixed up…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRLF9TiyzWE

That was really fascinating. Thanks for sharing that. I’m normally to lazy to scour through long convention panel videos.

I also think it’s funny how Chaykin chastises modern comic artist for padding their stories. He might come off as a little harsh at times, but I completely agree with him. Back in the 70’s comic artists really did know how to efficiently tell a story, unlike today. Some still do, but most stories just drags on and on.

screams in the void said:

oops …sorry it was IronWolf …Cody came later…http://beachbumcomics.blogspot.com/2014/12/there-shall-come-hero-howard-chaykins.html

According to the panel it was Starbuck that inspired Lucas to ask for Chaykin, plus it debuted in 1974. Of course IronWolf could have been a part of it as well.

I’m also starting to see where Amaiza’s wacky design might have come from; http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y8Hp0Agzo8s/VIiepWekLiI/AAAAAAAANr4/JuaBp1BBp0k/s1600/ironwolf-05.jpg

yeah , the Starbuck thing was what I mentioned I had mixed up my facts about and I see what you mean by that panel , looks very plausible to me

I have to say those are my two favorite films as well , although the 1982 Conan did lead me to the works of Robert E. Howard , the creator of Conan , and while the movie uses a lot of his concepts ,there has never been a faithful adaptation to screen of any of Howard’s stories save for a little short story called Pigeons From Hell that was adapted for a 1961 tv show Boris Karloff’s thriller. I love the movie regardless , would just love to see a direct adaptation of a Howard Conan story . Conan was never a slave and would never have gone quietly.I even made a fan edit of the movie showing how I believe the movie could have skewed a bit closer to Howard’s work which you can see here…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iZSC3LMTw8

Shopping Maul said:

screams in the void said:

I have to say those are my two favorite films as well , although the 1982 Conan did lead me to the works of Robert E. Howard , the creator of Conan , and while the movie uses a lot of his concepts ,there has never been a faithful adaptation to screen of any of Howard’s stories save for a little short story called Pigeons From Hell that was adapted for a 1961 tv show Boris Karloff’s thriller. I love the movie regardless , would just love to see a direct adaptation of a Howard Conan story . Conan was never a slave and would never have gone quietly.I even made a fan edit of the movie showing how I believe the movie could have skewed a bit closer to Howard’s work which you can see here…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iZSC3LMTw8

Thanks for the link - really interesting take on it all. I must confess I absolutely hated Conan 2011, but I like what you’ve done there. Marvel’s Conan movie adaptation is my favourite comic book of all time (particularly the painted Super Special version) so I loved how you cut between the book and the movie scenes.

I guess where I part company with my fellow Conan-lovers is on the subject of fidelity to Howard. When I discovered Conan in the early 80s I had little sense of where Howard began and ended, diluted as it all was by DeCamp and Thomas and so forth. It was only when Del Rey released their volumes in 2003 that I finally read ‘pure’ Howard. What struck me the most was just how deeply I felt Milius had nailed it. But for me it’s not about the minutiae of Conan’s origins or fidelity to the exact stories so much as it’s about capturing Howard’s attitude. Indeed, it seems to me that the Conan character was really just a foil for Howard to tell a bunch of different stories - from swashbucklers to mysteries to pirate tales to westerns and so on. Conan’s almost a side-character in many of these. He also comes into it all more or less fully formed. There’s no real arc beyond his growing from young upstart to leader of men (and finally King) - which is perfect for the haphazard short stories Howard was telling, but not so great for a movie hero. So I think it was entirely appropriate for Milius to give Conan an arc - an origin and a driving purpose.

I also feel that other writers were scared of REH. DeCamp certainly was. Roy Thomas smoothed out many rough edges to make Conan more heroic and noble (and he completely destroyed Belit IMO). The 2011 film seemed to think that extra violence and nudity was the key - which is juvenile. I think Milius really got Howard. I think he got the essence of Howard, the deep passion and melancholy (and mirth!), the pure love of storytelling at a primal level, the mythic quality. There are some great nods to Howard’s other works in the film - even while the film strays in ‘canon’ terms - and overall I think the movie captures the keynotes of Conan’s life really well. A proper sequel would have had Conan reaching Argos and heading for the sea, very much in keeping with his post-thief career. But alas, we got Conan the Destroyer…

I’m no Howard scholar by any stretch, so I may be well off base here. I think capturing Conan’s character is such a subjective undertaking. Dark Horse’s determination to make a truly Howardian Conan in 2004 (and beyond) was fun but still didn’t feel like Howard to me, even though they ticked all the canon boxes.

Sorry about the rambling! And thanks again for the link - really interesting stuff. May the Crom be with you…

you’re welcome . And speaking of capturing the essence of Howard’s stories , I thought the movie Solomon Kane came the closest .

So I just finished reading “The Last Gift from Alderaan” & “Starfire Rising” for the first time, and I’m quite confused by the sudden appearance of giant stormtroopers. Now I’m well aware of the fact that this story was originally a John Carter story, hence the unusual (for SW) designs, but what’s up with the big stormtroopers? I’ve only read the Norwegian translation of the comic, so maybe some explanation was skipped in the translation? The only time it’s even acknowledged by any of the characters is in this panel.

Does anyone know what big Barsoom characters were turned into the giant stormtroopers? (I couldn’t even find an EU explanation/retcon on Wookieepedia.)

(The funny thing about this cover is that I’ve had this issue for quite a while, and I only recently realized that the Stormtrooper is huge compared to Leia.

Just as a side note, since the work of (and based on) Robert E. Howard has been discussed a lot recently (and screams in the void mentioned Savage Sword of Conan earlier), I was wondering if the Solomon Kane comic from the 70’s by Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin is something that you’d recommend.

Just looking at the first few pages on ComiXology it reminds me a lot of the first issue of SW with the “pure” Chaykin art.

I have seen some of the art for that Solomon Kane comic and it looks pretty good , I read an article somewhere a few years back saying that Chaykin was working on that Solomon Kane project at the same time as the Star Wars adaptation and that he was more enamored with it than Star Wars and that he basically phoned in his first isue of Star Wars . Chaykin himself has said that he felt his work was not very good on the adaptation of Star Wars

screams in the void said:

I have seen some of the art for that Solomon Kane comic and it looks pretty good , I read an article somewhere a few years back saying that Chaykin was working on that Solomon Kane project at the same time as the Star Wars adaptation and that he was more enamored with it than Star Wars and that he basically phoned in his first isue of Star Wars . Chaykin himself has said that he felt his work was not very good on the adaptation of Star Wars

That’s kinda funny. I’ve always preferred the art from the first issue over the rest. Sure, it can be a bit rough at times, but I like the overall aesthetic. It’s very “70’s” to me, if that makes any sense?

I can understand what you mean , art is subjective and people like different things about it . I recently came across this video and now have some mixed feelings about Howard Chaykin , he has some good points about some things but to me they get a bit drowned out by the attitude he has toward Star Wars fans . I understand he is miffed about royalties he missed out on , but if I ever become an established creator , I hope I will never be like this guy is to his fans…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-cvoqg9wzg

screams in the void said:

I can understand what you mean , art is subjective and people like different things about it . I recently came across this video and now have some mixed feelings about Howard Chaykin , he has some good points about some things but to me they get a bit drowned out by the attitude he has toward Star Wars fans . I understand he is miffed about royalties he missed out on , but if I ever become an established creator , I hope I will never be like this guy is to his fans…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-cvoqg9wzg

I’ll check that video out later when I have some time. As for his attitude, as I’ve seen in other videos, all I can say is that people respond very differently to fans. It’s probably weird to him to have so many people ask him about this one series he did forty years ago while the rest of his work gets less attention.

However, do you know if there’s any videos like that with Walt Simonson or Chris Claremont? Like I mentioned earlier I’m very curious about SW #53-54 with the recycled John Carter art (and those weird giant stormtroopers).

I get what you are saying , and I do like Chaykin’s art , I own several issues of American Flagg , as for Simonson , I will try and find some stuff , I am curious as to the origin of the giant stormtroopers myself .

I think a lot of people were confused by the giant storm-troopers, or didn’t even notice it at all, like I did for a while.

Whoever did this ESBM cover clearly didn’t notice either, as he just drew them like regular storm-troopers.