Back in the days when movies were "held over" in big cities and those of us who lived in small towns had to wait seemingly forever to see them, I would routinely buy the paperback novelizations, but hold off on reading the final chapter(s). That was the case with Star Wars. I got my copy through the Scholastic Book Club, and its cover proudly proclaimed "From The Adventures of Luke Skywalker." This is right around the time I was discovering such science-fiction series as Dune and Foundation (both trillogies at that time), and for all I knew there was an Adventures of Luke Skywalker series. (In any case, I had no reason to believe there wasn't.) I went to the public library but the librarian had no idea what I was talking about. (For that matter, she had never heard of "Star Wars" either).
Eventually I saw the movie. In the end [SPOILER], the rebels destroy the Death Star and Darth Vader was sent spinning into space [END SPOILER]. I had no reason to expect a sequel, but I was still interested in those other "Adventures of Luke Skywalker." Shortly thereafter, Splinter of the Mind's Eye was released, which was pretty much all I had hoped it would be. The next one I saw after that was Han Solo at Star's End and the next one after that Han Solo's Revenge. I wasn't particularly interested in Han Solo, but I felt I was getting in on the beginning of the next "Big Thing" so I bought and read them, too. Then, one day, I remember standing in the bookstore and my vision focus in on another original "Star Wars" book on the rack. Then my field of vision pulled back and I noticed another... then another, then another. I soon realized that the entire rack was filled with "Star Wars" books! It was at that point I gave up. It would be many years before I bought another original "Star Wars" book.
Then The Empire Strikes Back came to theaters. Three years had passed since Star Wars, both between films as well as IRL. I remember being a bit disappointed that the sequel didn't take place immediately after Star Wars; I was still craving those "Adventures of Luke Skywalker." I was never a big fan of Star Wars comic books (or of any comics based on movies). Marvel's Star Wars was very much along the lines of what I wanted, but I turned my nose up at them because they weren't "official" (i.e., canon). Several years ago I had the opportunity to buy seven tpbs collecting the entire Marvel series on clearance. I read through their adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back, then my interest turned elsewhere. They were about what I expected.
Last week I came a cross a bookstore in Colorado that had six copies of IDW's Star Wars Artifact Edition on sale for $26 apiece. It must have been a case of "supply and demand," because these volumes generally go for $100 or more. I couldn't pass it up. The difference between an "Artist's Edition" and an "Artifact Edition" is that the former offer complete stories (scanned at full size from original art) and the latter do not. Although I didn't care too much for them the first time through, I'm currently in the process of re-evaluating them and compiling my own version of "The Adventures of Luke Skywalker."
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