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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My first trip to a comic book shop happened in early summer 1977. There was a little kid there with his mom and they were asking the clerk about Star Wars comics. That is all it took to cement in my mind that Star Wars comics were kid stuff.
I didn't pass on the Star Wars comic books because I thought they were "kid stuff" per se, but rather simply because I considered them to be strictly non canon. Also, Carmine Infantino's style was definitely not to my taste (at that time). Although I can't really claim that as a reason I didn't read the comc because I wouldn't have known it, never having looked at one. I later (much later) came to appreciate his style, and I also loosened up a bit in regard to content.
VOLUME 2 - "Dark Encounters"
All issues in this volume are by Archie Goodwin and Carmine Infantino unless otherwise noted.
In addition...
Next up (for Marvel) is their adaptation of The Empire Stikes Back, but I have something else planned for this discussion.
We were cleaning a bunch of stuff out of my mother's house last month - she's fine, she just needed help - and my sister found my paperback of the Marvel "Empire Strikes Back" adaptation. It was created prior to the film coming out as Yoda is thin and...PURPLE!
Besides the Power Records version of the Marvel Monster comics (and a single issue of Werewolf By Night), the Han Solo adventures from 7-10 may be the very first Marvel Comics that I ever read. I unreasonably loved them.
I consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable about Marvel comics of the '70s, yet I did not read two of their most popular titles, Conan and Star Wars, at all. I read the first 50 or so issues of Star Wars in the early 2Ks, and plan to continue beyond that point soon. As for Conan, apart from the BWS issues (which I have read many times), I did not get around to reading the Thomas/Buscema issues until this year (up to #59).
I was into the monster books, Godzilla, Shogun Warriors, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and even Marvel's Classics (like The Odyssey) in the 70s. I just wasn't into superheroes, really. Then, something in March, 1982 - when I was 12 - weirdly clicked when I saw Contest of Champions, the Avengers, and all of these colorful people fighting a giant purple guy (Galactus on the "Everyone vs Galactus!" FF cover) on various Marvel covers and I was all in.
I think that, before that, it was too frustrating for me, as a reader, to get what felt like a piece of a story rather than a complete one. By 12, I was earning allowance and could keep up with a handful of titles and become invested.
I remember you've often spoken of Avengers #200-teen-something (I wanna say #219?) as being your jumping on point. I read Marvel's Godzilla, years later, collected (first in "essential" then "omnibus" format). Another title from this era I really liked was Micronauts, which I read first in the five-issue Special Edition which reprinted the Mantlo/Golden run. The first new issue I bought was #48 (which was also Jackson "Butch" Guice's first published professional work), but I soon collected all the backissues and continued through the end of the run. Speaking of Michael Golden...
I've got one more thing to say about Marvel issues #1-38 and that's to post favorites. Ironically, the very thing that drove me away from Star Wars comics 50 years ago is what appeals to me now, and that's their lack of canonicity. (If you take your Star Wars comics more seriously than I do, you may want to disregard this entire list.) This list also spotlights different artists.
Interestingly enough, Crimson Jack was the character being played by Jude Law in the Star Wars: Skeleton Crew series last year on Disney+
I'm not familiar with that one. (You could probably bring me up to speed on some of the Star Wars television shows I have missed.) Tracy and I recently re-watched The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi (see the "What are you watching right now?" discussion starting on p.154). Right now we are considering watching Ahsoka, which we have never seen before. I have been in something of a "Star Wars" of late, reading nine books recently (see the "so, what are you reading these days?" discussion starting on p.174).
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