I think the Marvel reprints started around 1995, under the banner "Classic Star Wars", which the Splinter paperback reprint and trilogy novelisations that year also carried. I remember seeing them on Newsstands, but the new Dark Horse material was pretty good at that time so I don't think I read any of them until much later. I had flipped through a few but I think I remember not liking how they were a bit "un-Star-Warsey" compared to the state of the franchise in 1995, although now thats why I like them.