DuracellEnergizer said:
Comic book adaptations are almost aways weak. With the sole exception of the Army of Darkness adaptation, I can't think of a single one that didn't have lacklustre art and/or a lack of dynamism and/or glaring omissions.
Most of the Marvel ones I recall reading as a kid were pretty good. Star Wars was just another movie license for them at the time. Can't recall DC doing any in the 70's though.
In the old days, they were almost always done without benefit of seeing the finished film, so that they reached newsstands close to the release date. I have no idea what the lead time is like now.
TMP had an almost Phantom Menace level of merchandising, which didn't sell well, and there was very little TWOK stuff as a result. That might explain why there wasn't a comic adaptation in '82.
When movies are now in our grubby little hands mere months after release, I'm not sure comic versions have the same impact they once did.