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Marvel Star Wars

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Last night I sat down and read about half of Volume 1 of Marvel's take on Star Wars. It's a collection of pre-ESB comics, containing many elements that are radically different from the SW universe we have today.  Jabba is a yellow, white-haired, humanoid alien, for instance.

Has anyone else read the Marvel Star Wars comics?

"Fuck you. All the star wars movies were excellent. none of them sucked. Also, revenge of the sith is the best."

- DarthZorgon (YouTube)

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Oh yeah, I love those. It was a really great series up until the end when Archie Goodwin left. Then toward the release of ROTJ it just got horrible.

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For those of us of a certain age, it was about the only thing to tide us over before Empire came out, and between seeing the original at the theater again!

I didn't have a local comic shop near me as a kid, so I was often at the mercy and whim of the local drugstore having the next issue in stock. A month could seem an eternity!

They used one of the background Mos Eisely aliens for Jabba, mainly because nobody knew what Jabba was supposed to look like. The perils of adapting a movie that wasn't finished yet, (and working mostly from still photos) also meant we got all the deleted scenes.

The same thing happened with Empire, as the first paperback printing features a very different Yoda than we saw in the movie.

It's ironic that around the time of the Special Editions, Dark Horse reprinted the movie adaptation with really horrible recoloring. I'm glad I managed to hold onto my original issues all these years, though I'm afraid to handle them too much now!

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Where were you in '77?

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The SE comic was a whole new 1990s adaptation from scratch. It was okay, but the balance was weird since they made close to an entire issue out of the "here they come" sequence IIRC.

The Marvel series was great though, and along with Splinter of the Minds Eye was really the only thing that built upon the universe of Star Wars, rather than the trilogy. As soon as Empire came out, the story changed very radically and it just wasn't quite the same. But those first few years, where there was no additional films or other media to offer constraints, showed the potential directions of Lucas film.

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In The UK we got them in marvelous monochrome (or in a variety of colour mixes if we got the large format omnibus of the first film adaptation or the annual).

There were some really good support strips too like Adam Warlock, Starlord and Micronauts (we even had a few rather cool exclusive stories).

I remember reading my paperback book sized compendium of the ESB strip on the way back from Worthing beach after losing my new digital watch and getting freaked out by a poster for The Brood showing at the Dome cinema.

Some of the scenes on the covers were hilarious, someone should turn them into fan films.

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zombie84 said:

The SE comic was a whole new 1990s adaptation from scratch. It was okay, but the balance was weird since they made close to an entire issue out of the "here they come" sequence IIRC.

The Marvel series was great though, and along with Splinter of the Minds Eye was really the only thing that built upon the universe of Star Wars, rather than the trilogy. As soon as Empire came out, the story changed very radically and it just wasn't quite the same. But those first few years, where there was no additional films or other media to offer constraints, showed the potential directions of Lucas film.

The reprint of the Marvel version preceded the SE comics by a year or two, IIRC.

Marvel did operate under a few constraints from Lucasfilm in the early years. The Han Leia Luke triangle could only run in circles, and they didn't bring Vader back into the thick of things for a long while.

Aren't you forgetting the most excellent Brian Daley Han Solo books? ;)

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Where were you in '77?

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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.

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Actually Classic Star Wars was a run of reformatted reprints of the newspaper strip that ran from 1979 to 1984. It was originally just the later Al Williamson strips but later on they would go on to reprint the early Russ Manning strips. You can see more by clicking on my sig.

The only Marvel reprints Dark Horse has done as far as I know were first the film adaptions and then later the omnibus books. I believe they plan to do another run soon including some of the british stories that were left out the first round.

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The only downside of the reprints and omnibus is you don't get all the ad pages of the era. The ad with Vader and the droids wearing SW tees was among my favorites.

You also don't get the page of letters sent in by readers each month. Some fans really freaked out over Han's apparent death in one memorable issue.

A few years back, there was a fan created webcomic called "Jaxxon's 11" which spoofed a certain caper movie, and brought back almost every character who first appeared in the Marvel book.

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Where were you in '77?

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Bingowings said:

 

I remember reading my paperback book sized compendium of the ESB strip on the way back from Worthing beach after losing my new digital watch and getting freaked out by a poster for The Brood showing at the Dome cinema.

 

I left my paperback ESB comic on a bus somewhere around Barnsley, and to this day I can't fathom how (fortunately it's hardly a rare item even today, so I didn't have any trouble finding another once it occurred to me to do so).

It was cool to see the comic versions of the deleted scenes in Building Empire (does Luke's grappling hook miss in the Star Wars adaptation? ;-) )

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DarkFather said:

Last night I sat down and read about half of Volume 1 of Marvel's take on Star Wars. It's a collection of pre-ESB comics, containing many elements that are radically different from the SW universe we have today.  Jabba is a yellow, white-haired, humanoid alien, for instance.

Has anyone else read the Marvel Star Wars comics?

oh yes! I was a UK subscriber a few issues before the ESB adaptation, so I did miss a lot of things like the green rabbit.

i since got digital back-issues and that Marvel period is very, shall we say, "comic" :-)

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Tobar said:

Oh yeah, I love those. It was a really great series up until the end when Archie Goodwin left. Then toward the release of ROTJ it just got horrible.

Agree.

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.

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The panel where Vader cuts down Ben was really freaky I used to skip the page when reading that but freakier still was a panel in one of the support stories I can't remember what it was called (something like 'Alien Encounters').

It was about a guy who's wife was killed by these aliens and it had a nasty panel of a smoking charred foot (anyone know what I'm on about).

Comics were quite brutal back then there was a poster for the comic strip Hook Jaw which had a man struggling underwater inside the mouth of a great white with blood going everywhere, while his pal was trying to hit it on the head with a hammer, as an image it was pretty extreme but a gold star to the sicko who printed it as a give away poster...for kids.

Happy times.

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Bingowings said:

...

There were some really good support strips too like Adam Warlock, Starlord and Micronauts (we even had a few rather cool exclusive stories).

...

 As a huge Adam Warlock fan, I hope you're reading the current Guardians of the Galaxy series and the associated Annihilation (/Conquest), War/Reign of Kinsgs books (also heavily featuring Starlord, but not the micronauts).

IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!

"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005

"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM

"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.

Rewrite the Prequels!

 

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http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-Comics/topic/10983/

Here is some additional discussion on the Marvel SW Comics.

I just picked up the first 27 issues in the Dark Horse Volume 1 Omnibus.  I haven't sat down to read it yet though.

Here's hoping it rocks!

IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!

"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005

"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM

"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.

Rewrite the Prequels!

 

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miker71 said:

DarkFather said:

Last night I sat down and read about half of Volume 1 of Marvel's take on Star Wars. It's a collection of pre-ESB comics, containing many elements that are radically different from the SW universe we have today.  Jabba is a yellow, white-haired, humanoid alien, for instance.

Has anyone else read the Marvel Star Wars comics?

oh yes! I was a UK subscriber a few issues before the ESB adaptation, so I did miss a lot of things like the green rabbit.

i since got digital back-issues and that Marvel period is very, shall we say, "comic" :-)

 Ah yes, Jaxxon or "Jax" for short (which he's not).

Also worthy of mentioning is a warrior from the near extinct Spiner species: he could shoot quills from his body.

And an old man in possession of a lightsaber who believed that he was the last remaining Jedi Knight (he's as crazy as Han first thought Old Ben to be).

And the hottie sharp-shooter in a red two piece. White hair. Feline eyes. Forgot her name.

EDIT: Her name's Amaiza.

"Fuck you. All the star wars movies were excellent. none of them sucked. Also, revenge of the sith is the best."

- DarthZorgon (YouTube)

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xhonzi said:

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-Comics/topic/10983/

Here is some additional discussion on the Marvel SW Comics.

I just picked up the first 27 issues in the Dark Horse Volume 1 Omnibus.  I haven't sat down to read it yet though.

Here's hoping it rocks!

 It does, I promise.

"Fuck you. All the star wars movies were excellent. none of them sucked. Also, revenge of the sith is the best."

- DarthZorgon (YouTube)

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I enjoyed the Marvel storylines up until after the events of ROTJ unfolded; from there the series became just incredibly meh for me. The Empire was defeated too easily, the Nagai/Toff storyline was poorly done, and the Shira Brie/Lumiya character was basically wasted.

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I imagine post ROTJ they were still getting memos from Lucasfilm on what they couldn't do. I don't recall Ben, Yoda, or Anakin's ghost ever showing up again, which I believe the novels have done?

They were the first to actually get Boba Fett out of the Sarlacc pit, only to put him right back in at the end of the story.

The comic ending it's run three years after Jedi, and less than a year before the 10th anniversary was the beginning of a long dry spell for fans. The only new comics for years to come were a three issue 3-D series published by Blackthorne around 1988. I only ever saw those for sale at Disneyland.

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Where were you in '77?

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The marvels have the right tone and had the right idea with smaller scale stories. The 90s-and on stories from the modern era are actually more unintentionally hilarious. Besides being overly serious, this catastrophic stuff just keeps. on. happening to these people. It turned Luke and the gang into Kenny from South Park.

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The last Dark Horse book I bought was the post Chewie death one. Artoo and Threepio travel around to record the recollections of many who knew or encountered the Wookiee. (Amazingly, Chewie's father from the HS is in this.) It was so damn depressing!

Aside from our heroes being devastated, Han is going mental and calling for Chewie. Leia is clearly unhappy with the burdens of government, and isn't with Han. Just about everybody else seems miserable too. What the heck?

Remember when Star Wars was fun?

 

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Where were you in '77?

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SilverWook said:

Aside from our heroes being devastated, Han is going mental and calling for Chewie. Leia is clearly unhappy with the burdens of government, and isn't with Han. Just about everybody else seems miserable too. What the heck?

Another reason the EU sucks so much ass these days.

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SilverWook said:

The last Dark Horse book I bought was the post Chewie death one. Artoo and Threepio travel around to record the recollections of many who knew or encountered the Wookiee. (Amazingly, Chewie's father from the HS is in this.) It was so damn depressing!

Aside from our heroes being devastated, Han is going mental and calling for Chewie. Leia is clearly unhappy with the burdens of government, and isn't with Han. Just about everybody else seems miserable too. What the heck?

Remember when Star Wars was fun?

 

This sounds infinitely better than anything in the PT.

Ray’s Lounge
Biggs in ANH edit idea
ROTJ opening edit idea