I turned my nose up at Marvel's Star Wars comics in the late '70s/early '80s. Fast forward to the early 2K's when I found new volumes of the Dark Horse series of tpbs reprinting it on clearance at Half Price Books. I snatched them up thinking "How bad could they be?" and read up through the adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back (#39-44), or possibly #50. My purpose cooled and I set them aside with the intention of reading them "later" (2026 as it turned out), but enough time has passed that I feel justified reading them from the beginning again.
VOLUME 1 - "Doomworld"
Roy Thomas / Howard Chaykin:
- #1-6 - Movie adaptation
- #7-10 - Han Solo's reward money stolen by pirates Crimson Jack and Jolli; Magnificent Seven pastiche featuring Han Solo; Sergio Aragones "guest-stars" as Sergi-X Arragantus; intro Jaxxon the Rabbit and other heroes of Aduba-3.
Archie Goodwin / Carmine Infantino:
- #11-15 - Luke scouts a water world in the Drexel system for possibkle relocation of rebel base; Han has a rematch with Crimson Jack and Jolli.
- #16 - Intro cybernetic bounty hunter Valance (who himself has a deep-seated prejudice against "mechanicals" despite, or perhaps because of, partially being one); reintro Jaxxon (and other Aduba-3 characters). Guest artist: Walt Simonson
- #17 - An untold tale of Luke's past. In the days before it was revealed (or even decided) that Darth Vader is Luke's father, Uncle Owen looks back on the "brother" who left the farm without Owen even saying goodbye. Fill-in by Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe
- #18-20 - Set aboard the enormous gambling space station known as "The Wheel." Note: Similar in theme to the first Star Wars daily newspaper strip continuity by Russ Manning.
End of v1.
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Ahsoka is one of my favorites as I was a big fan of the Rebels show and Ahsoka is pretty much a live action sequel to that. There is a rumor that one of my favorite B-level characters from the Battlefront games and novels, Iden Versio, will be in the upcoming second season.
Next up (for Marvel) is their adaptation of The Empire Stikes Back, but I have something else planned for this discussion.
Now that I've covered the "interstitial stories" (between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back) of the first Marvel era, I would like to cover the same time period from the second. Back in the 20th century, Marvel retained the "Star Wars" license through 1986, when it went to Dark Horse. In 2015, Marvel got it back. I had never read a single Star Wars comic book until I bought the whole set in tpb in 2007, and now I was in the mood to give the new comics a try. I wasn't really in the market to add any new series to my p&h at that time, though, and despite the fact that I liked what I read, I bought only eight issues, thinking that at some point I might by the trades. According to notes I had taken at the time, this is the chronology of the early issues of two of the series:
...(which is kind of weird since I didn't buy Darth Vader #3-6, but if it's in my notes I trust it).
When the Star Wars by Jason Aaron omnibus was published in 2018 I considered buying it, but I couldn't quite convince myself it deserved "omnibus" treatment. But when the Modern Era Epic Collection came out in 2024, I knew that that was the format for me. Aaron and the others had a HUGE advantage over Roy Thomas, Archie Goodwin, Howard Chaykin, Carmine Infantino in the late '70s because they knew where the story was headed and could "write toward" it. (If nothing esle, they could get Luke out of his "farmboy" clothes and get rid of Leia's "double-bun" hairdo and ceremonial white robe.) I will soon be reading Star Wars (2015) #1-14, Vader Down and Darth Vader #13-15, supplemented by Darth Vader #1-2 as indicated above.
The Vader comics have consistently been the best of the bunch but I've enjoyed all of it
BOOK ONE: SKYWALKER STRIKES:
Star Wars #1-3: On a covert mission to attack the Imperial weapons factory on Cymoon 1, Luke confronts Darth Vader face-to-face for the first time (compare to #35 of the 1977 series). Vader recognizes the lightsabre Luke is carrying, but he does not yet know Luke is his son. (At this point, Vader does not even know Luke is the pilot who destroyed the Death Star.)
Darth Vader #1: Vader reports the events of #1-3 of the main series to Emperor Palpatine. It is clear that vader has not told the Emperor about Obi-Wan's presence aboard the Death Star, not of the rebel pilot who was "strong with the force" who blew it up. Palpatine sends Vader to Tatooine on Empire business with Jabba the Hutt. It is there that Vader engages the services of Boba Fett to find the rebel pilot.
Star Wars #4: Admiral Ackbar and Mon Mothma are bropught into the story much sooner than they were on screen. On Tatooine, the negotiations between Darth Vader and Jabba the Hutt continue. Elsewhere, a woman searches for Han in the Mos Eisley cantina. Meanwhile, Luke feels the need to return to Tsatooine to seek his Jedi heritage (compare to 1977 series #31). Also, Boba Fett traces information about Ben Kenobi.
Darth Vader #2: Darth Vader has fallen out of favor with the emperor. Palpatine blames Vader for the loss of the Death Star and assigns him to the command of General Tagge, who left the Death Star before it exploded and has been promoted to Grand General. Tagge assigns an adjutant to monitor Vader.
Star Wars #5-6: Boba Fett strongarms the patrons of the cantina in Mos eisley until he finds someone who knew Luke in his "Waormie" days and can be persuaded to sing. Leia and Han scount for a new rebel base and run into some "imperial entanglements." They duck into the Monsua Nebula to hide but the mysterious woman from #4 is alredy there waiting for them. Luke drives some Sandpeople away from Ben's hovel, but then is attacked by Boba Fett and temporarily blinded by a flash grenade. Fett gets the better of him, but Luke manages to turn the tables and he escapes with Ben Kenobi's journal. Meanwhile, Han and Leia investigate the planet they're hiding on, when the woman who has been following Han lands and identifies herself as Sana Solo, Han's wife. Later, Boba Fett reports to Darth Vader and Vader learns that the "force strong" rebel pilot's name is "Skywalker" (compare to 1977 series #35).
I remembered that these comics were good, I just didn't remember how good. Everything I read from this point on will be new (to me).
Yeah, these books started very strong and mostly continued that with Vader getting better and better. I love Sana Solo (Starros) and her evolution over time, especially in the Doctor Aphra series. I'm very happy that Jason Aaron is taking up the new Indiana Jones comics in the next few months.
THE MODERN ERA EPIC COLLECTION (continued):
#7 - "From the Jounals of Old Ben Kenobi" - A flashback to when Luke was a little boy. I considered adding this one to "The Adventures of Luke Skywalker" thread, but it wasn't "Luke-centric" enough.
#8-12 - "Showdown on the Smuggler's Moon" - Luke continues his search into his Jedi heritage while Han and Leia flee the Impies with a woman who may or may not be Han's wife. Meanwhile, Chebacca and C-3PO search for their friends. All of their paths lead to Nar Shadda, the "Smuggler's Moon." This could be an "Adventure of Luke Skywalker."
#13-14, Darth Vader #13-15 & one-shot - "Vader Down:
In a nutshell: Vader and Luke crashland on Vrogas Vas, the site of a former Jedi temple. This story is chock-full of new (or "new-ish") chracters, such as Dr. Aphra (a rogue archaeologist and weapons specialist working for Vader); her droids, Triple-Zero and BeeTee ("evil counterparts" of C-3PO and R2-D2); Commander Karbin, a Mon Calamari cyborg and rival of Darth Vader; and Black Krrsantan, a dark relection of Chewbacca. Not only does this storyline not violate any movie continuity, it actually strengthens it. Vader and Luke don't come face-to-face here, but Vader and Leia do. Luke sees two apparitions in the Jedi temple whom he thinks are Ben and his father, but are probably Ben and Yoda. Ben tells Luke he's not ready to face Vader yet.
And that's the end of the Modern Era Epic Collection v1. This volume does a good job of explaining how Luke trained to be a Jedi after the death of Ben Kenobi. It had been my intention to read all of the "interim stories" (i.e., those occurring between Star Wars and The Empire Stikes Back), in order to keep "Star Wars 1977" more-or-less in synch with "Star Wars 2015." But it is my understanding that the 2015 interim story run all the way through #75, but not all of those have been collected yet (at least not in "Epic" format).
I recently found and purchased deeply discounted copies of "Modern Era" collections v2-3 (which run through #43).
MODERN ERA EPIC COLLECTION v2:
MODERN ERA EPIC COLLECTION v3:
Issues #33-37 comprise five "done-in-one" stories, the last page of each previewing the next.
The volume concludes with a six-parter...
And that's the end of Modern era Epic Collection v3. 43 issues into the run, and still no mention of Hoth. That's okay, though; there are still 32 issues to go, and the rebels hadn't been in the Hoth base for very long by the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back, so there's still time. I don't mind the appearances of Yoda and Lando before their official introductions in the film series, but the overall storytelling is a bit more sophisticated than it was in the Star War/Empire Stikes Back movie era. (I still haven't decided if that's a good thing or a bad thing.) At this point I had planned to switch over to the Star Wars: Post 'A New Hope' tpb series v8 (which begins with issue #44) until I realized Modern era Epic Collection v4 is slated to be released in Februray of 2027. That's not too long to wait.
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