JMarso

Tallguy said:

Star Wars Marvel Comics #17.

Crucible!

(Or was it the untold Tale of Obi-Wan? Either way, it was right before The Wheel arc with Senator Greyshade…)

Heh. Where to begin. My Star Wars starting from the beginning…

1. 1977. (Aged 9) Living in a foreign country with no TV in 1977, my primary experiences with SW involved listening to the audio drama and sound track over and over again, until the dialogue was burned in my brain and I could see the movie in my head just listening to the soundtrack. My first viewings of the movie were in a Drive-in and then on a small screen using a projector where the reels had to be changed, like in grade school. My first ‘big’ cinematic experience with SW was ESB in 1980.

2. 1978-1980. The novel, the toys, and the old Marvel comics. Ralph McQuarrie’s SW art portfolio. The original 12 action figures (including the vinyl caped Jawa- we didn’t collect toys in those days; we played with them! That Jawa was the first of many as they were worn out, broken, and/or lost- I remember thinking ‘huh; cool!’ when they got rid of that crappy vinyl cape) My first toy vehicle was the landspeeder, my second was the TIE Fighter. Every playground was Tatooine, every fort was the Death Star, and every bike was an X-Wing or TIE Fighter. The MECO Galactic Funk disco version of the main theme. The faded T-shirts. Endless schoolyard debate over whether Luke or Han was better, and which one would win the princess. That 3-year period where the original movie and the above mentioned stuff was all there was, so the sky was the limit and our imaginations were the sole source of the EU.

3. 1980. (Aged 12) Empire Strike Back. This was the first time I got to see a SW movie in a GOOD movie theater with good sounds. Ho boy. Who would have thought they could make a movie that was actually BETTER than Star Wars? The big reveal was as genuine as it could possibly be for me- MIND BLOWN. I remember actually getting agitated a few minutes later when Luke called him ‘father’ in his mind during the Falcon’s escape from Cloud City. Because there was NO FRICKIN’ WAY that was true, and I wanted Luke to continue denying it! A new soundtrack. Burger King drinking glasses. More and better action figures. A new toy line.

4. Post ROTJ: Zahn’s novels. My first PC SW video game: Rebel Assault. (Shoot the icy asteroids; dodge the rocky ones… !) DARK FORCES!!! Kyle Katarn and that whole corner of the EU. The Rogue Squadron novels and comics. The X-Wing video game series. The Legacy comics.

That’s enough to give you the idea: lifelong obsession with one ‘dead’ period between about 1985-1993…