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The original Marvel Star Wars series — Page 14

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Anchorhead said:

I’m in! Interesting, Thanks again.

Interesting that they knew what the saber hilts looked like at that point, but not Han’s blaster.

And I don’t think the foils could ever close on that X-Wing! 😛

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Weird that they sort of knew what Vader looked like. I’ve seen this cover a ton of times, just never gave too much thought to how they had obviously seen some of what was coming. They must not have known or seen how big a part of the film the droids were. No Chewie either.

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What’s an original of this go for these days? I see prices all over the map

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I think it depends on condition and whether it’s the 35 cent edition? I should have my comics appraised someday! 😃

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Anchorhead said:

Weird that they sort of knew what Vader looked like. I’ve seen this cover a ton of times, just never gave too much thought to how they had obviously seen some of what was coming. They must not have known or seen how big a part of the film the droids were. No Chewie either.

Edit ;

What’s an original of this go for these days? I see prices all over the map

Most shops I’ve seen having it going for somewhere between $150-$400.

Sometimes you get lucky though on eBay and pick up one for $25 (or at least that’s what I did, somehow).

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Man, that’s a wide swing. Obviously the cost swings because some are mint and some are well-read. What is the significance of the 35 cent version?

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Anchorhead said:

Man, that’s a wide swing. Obviously the cost swings because some are mint and some are well-read. What is the significance of the 35 cent version?

Well I’m no expert but I’ve been getting more into buying comics recently and I’d say that it’s the quality is a big factor yes, but often it kinda just comes down to how certain places/people price them. A site like mycomicshop will give you a decent overview of how much the price shifts in regards to graded quality (https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=178101) but even there you’ll see it’s not perfectly standardized. From my experience with in person shops, some just tend to be more expensive than others in general. For instance, I wouldn’t say the one I saw that was going for $150 was in significantly that much worse shape to be so much less than the one that was $400. And the one that I got on auction for cheap is pretty fine (which is just luck). So I’d just say it’s pretty random in general.

The 35c if I’m not mistaken is a rarer book and therefore much more valuable simply because they didn’t print as many of them (the normal price was 30c, and they were just testing out the 35c price).

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I love the inaccurate cover blurbs/scenarios on those adaptation issues - ‘Luke Skywalker - will he save the galaxy or destroy it?’! What? The second one has Luke and Ben in an all-out barroom brawl, the fourth has the bizarre “here I stand though I may die!” from Luke, the fifth has the Death Star laying waste the rebel base from above, and of course Luke duels Vader on the cover of issue six. I’m not being sarcastic - I do love these covers!

I think I said this earlier in the thread but I thought the Marvel SW comics looked positively awful when I first beheld them as a kid. After a few short months of discovering/reading Spider-Man and the like, I suddenly decided that burly-chested Thor-Luke and an equally buff Chewbacca were the greatest! Ah, truly wonderful the mind of a child is…

So yeah, I thought Infantino rocked.

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Shopping Maul said:

So yeah, I thought Infantino rocked.


I’ve been in Oslo the last few days to celebrate Norwegian Constitution Day, and I managed to find a copy of the Norwegian album-version of “The Wheel” story arc in great condition. I already own one, but that version is practically falling apart at the seams and is covered in thirty year old yellow tape. I was lucky to get this version for a decent price as well. A lot of people online assume its much rarer than it actually is and charge ludicrous amounts for it.

As you can see they’ve re-drawn (or rather “re-painted”) the cover to SW #18.

“Ruletten” is Norwegian for “The Roulette”, which is what they called The Wheel. I actually really like the Norwegian translation in this case; it makes sense as the name for a circular-shaped gambling establishment.

Since SW #16 “The Hunter”, as well as the whole Eight for Aduba story arc, was never published in Scandinavia they cut Vader’s introduction on Telos IV, and the page above was his first post ANH appearance that we got over here.

In addition to cutting out a whole scene, I’m sure they did a lot of panel editing as well, just like they did with the 5th album, but I haven’t had the time to compare every page and panel to the original American version. I have noticed (just from memory) that a few splash pages have been reduced to smaller panels, or simply cut out entirely (as some are quite superfluous and repeat what was seen in the previous issue), but I’m sure there’s more tampering with the art than just that. Funnily enough though, they didn’t cut any of the “recap” moments. It makes sense for the characters to summarize the events of the previous issues in the serialized version, but in the Norwegian album-version they’re literally just repeating what you just read some pages earlier.

Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.

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How did I not notice Vader pulling a Fonzie in that image before now?

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SilverWook said:

How did I not notice Vader pulling a Fonzie in that image before now?

Well, actually he didn’t, but I wanted a thumbs-up image from the original SW comics and the cover for issue #35 was the easiest to Photoshop. I considered removing Luke as well, but that would have taken much more time.

Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.

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I haven’t been able to get hold of a copy yet, but from what I’ve read and seen online it’s a collection of short stories.

Here’s the first five pages of chapter 1; The Legend of Valance the Hunter.

Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.

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The Jax is back, baby! 😃

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Continuing my search for the UK exclusive stories, I recently got a hold of all three issues of the Weapons Master story-line (and Empire Strikes for good measure).

Not the best of the UK exclusives IMO, but the story’s pretty interesting. Art’s a bit wonky, not quite up to the standards of previous Infantino issues, but I think that’s mostly to blame on the inker. It kind of looks like he’s just inked rough layouts instead of adding the kind of details that Bob Wiacek and Gene Day did on the American issues.

Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.

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So, did anyone here actually pick up issue #108?

I ordered it from the only comic store near me but they still haven’t gotten it, and probably won’t at all due to some communication error with their suppliers. Seems like most people who aren’t fans, or at least knowledgeable about classic Marvel SW, have trouble understanding what exactly this comic is. I’ve heard a lot of good things about the issue as well, so this is all really annoying.

Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.

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ZkinandBonez said:

I haven’t actually been able to find out exactly when this comic strip was made.

screams in the void said:

according to this source , Al Williamson drew the 12 strips in 1978 and they were first published in The Art Of Al williamson book in 1983 . I also seem to remember reading that Al had some commitments to his Secret Agent X9 strip that he was doing with Archie Goodwin that prevented him from doing the original adaptation, as he was George’s first choice, and he did not feel like he could give his all to the project . When x9 ended , he was freed up to come on board for Empire . anyway , here is the link I mentioned…http://www.battlegrip.com/spotted-online-unpublished-star-wars-comic-strips-by-al-williamson/

The X9 commitment explanation is actually a professional courtesy cover story for some unfortunate business that happened behind the scenes. The original conceit of the daily Star Wars strip was that it was just going to be a straight adaptation of the original film. To this end, George Lucas was a huge fan of Flash Gordon and Al Williamson’s work. So they commissioned Williamson to create these 12 test strips to see how he’d handle Star Wars.

Unfortunately, there was a mix up at the Lucasfilm offices. Here’s an excerpt from an interview Williamson did where he discusses the incident:

“I was contacted to do it when the movie came out,” Williamson recalls. "I had heard that ‘Lucas loves your work,’ and I thought it was bologna, frankly. I finally got a call from somebody at Lucasfilms, saying that they wanted me to do the strip, and would I consider it? I figured ‘Why not? It sounds like a good idea.’

"I got a hold of my friend Archie Goodwin, who was a wonderful artist and terrific writer, and he adapted two weeks of the first movie. I sent it in, and didn’t hear from them, and I needed the money. I called up and got the young lady that I was dealing with said, ‘I’ll have someone get in touch with you.’ I get a call from this guy, who is absolutely insulting and yelling at me, saying ‘How dare you ask us for more money!’ He’s going on and on.

"Finally, when he stopped, I said, ‘Let’s get one thing straight: I haven’t been paid, I just want my money.’

"Then there’s this silence on the other end. ‘Oh, okay.’

“I decided then that I wasn’t going to work with these people.” Williamson laughs. “I finally got the check, and I said ‘No, I can’t do it.’ Then they got a hold of Russ [Manning], and he did a nice job. That’s what happened, but I never mentioned it to Lucasfilm, since I figured to just let it go.”

Thankfully years later they were eventually able to bring in Williamson and Goodwin to the strip after the departure of Manning. I can also post an excerpt where Williamson discusses this if anyone is interested.

It’s interesting though, George or someone in the offices must have really loved those test strips. They appear as blown up wall decoration in some behind the scenes ESB photos that are floating out there.

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Tobar said:

ZkinandBonez said:

I haven’t actually been able to find out exactly when this comic strip was made.

screams in the void said:

according to this source , Al Williamson drew the 12 strips in 1978 and they were first published in The Art Of Al williamson book in 1983 . I also seem to remember reading that Al had some commitments to his Secret Agent X9 strip that he was doing with Archie Goodwin that prevented him from doing the original adaptation, as he was George’s first choice, and he did not feel like he could give his all to the project . When x9 ended , he was freed up to come on board for Empire . anyway , here is the link I mentioned…http://www.battlegrip.com/spotted-online-unpublished-star-wars-comic-strips-by-al-williamson/

The X9 commitment explanation is actually a professional courtesy cover story for some unfortunate business that happened behind the scenes. The original conceit of the daily Star Wars strip was that it was just going to be a straight adaptation of the original film. To this end, George Lucas was a huge fan of Flash Gordon and Al Williamson’s work. So they commissioned Williamson to create these 12 test strips to see how he’d handle Star Wars.

Unfortunately, there was a mix up at the Lucasfilm offices. Here’s an excerpt from an interview Williamson did where he discusses the incident:

“I was contacted to do it when the movie came out,” Williamson recalls. "I had heard that ‘Lucas loves your work,’ and I thought it was bologna, frankly. I finally got a call from somebody at Lucasfilms, saying that they wanted me to do the strip, and would I consider it? I figured ‘Why not? It sounds like a good idea.’

"I got a hold of my friend Archie Goodwin, who was a wonderful artist and terrific writer, and he adapted two weeks of the first movie. I sent it in, and didn’t hear from them, and I needed the money. I called up and got the young lady that I was dealing with said, ‘I’ll have someone get in touch with you.’ I get a call from this guy, who is absolutely insulting and yelling at me, saying ‘How dare you ask us for more money!’ He’s going on and on.

"Finally, when he stopped, I said, ‘Let’s get one thing straight: I haven’t been paid, I just want my money.’

"Then there’s this silence on the other end. ‘Oh, okay.’

“I decided then that I wasn’t going to work with these people.” Williamson laughs. “I finally got the check, and I said ‘No, I can’t do it.’ Then they got a hold of Russ [Manning], and he did a nice job. That’s what happened, but I never mentioned it to Lucasfilm, since I figured to just let it go.”

Thankfully years later they were eventually able to bring in Williamson and Goodwin to the strip after the departure of Manning. I can also post an excerpt where Williamson discusses this if anyone is interested.

It’s interesting though, George or someone in the offices must have really loved those test strips. They appear as blown up wall decoration in some behind the scenes ESB photos that are floating out there.

^ I would love to read that !I learned something new today , thank you !

https://screamsinthevoid.deviantart.com/

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Tobar said:

It’s interesting though, George or someone in the offices must have really loved those test strips. They appear as blown up wall decoration in some behind the scenes ESB photos that are floating out there.

Do you have a link to any of those photos? Now that you’ve mentioned it I feel like I’ve seen it before, and it’s really bugging me. Tried to google it, but couldn’t find anything.


PS. just looked through your DailySW page and found this panel really funny.

It looks like a cross between a Y-Wing and the USS Enterprise.

Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.

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That actually bears resemblance to a 24th century Norway class starship. Wonder if someone at ILM drew inspiration from that drawing?

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SilverWook said:

That actually bears resemblance to a 24th century Norway class starship. Wonder if someone at ILM drew inspiration from that drawing?

Wouldn’t surprise me, especially since it’s a background ship they might have taken shortcuts in the design.

Also, I’d completely forgotten that there was a Norway class in ST. As a Norwegian I’ve always found Roddenberry’s Norway Productions (which I assume the ship class is a reference to) to be really fascinating. As far as I can tell there’s no real connection to Norway, they just thought it sounded cool.

Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.

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I almost forgot about the Norway productions thing. I think I did see that name on some early merchandising.

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ZkinandBonez said:

Do you have a link to any of those photos? Now that you’ve mentioned it I feel like I’ve seen it before, and it’s really bugging me. Tried to google it, but couldn’t find anything.

I went looking but couldn’t find those pics again. But I know they’re still out there somewhere…

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screams in the void said:

just came across this podcast covering the entire original Marvel series issue by issue , jumped right to issue 61 which is my personal fave , will have to give the others a listen soon…http://marvelstarwarsexplorers.com/

Sounds interesting, I’ll have to look (or “listen” I suppose) into this when I have the time.

Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.