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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The "Artifact Edition" includes pages from Star Wars #1-10 (by Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin), #16 (by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson), and #38 (by Archie Goodwin and Michael Golden). Thomas's stories weren't bad, but I had forgotten that he tried to make "Star Warriors" a thing, also that he tried to give Han Solo a catch-phrase (and if you don't know what it was, you're better off not knowing). Many people disparage the inclusion of Jaxxon, the six-foot tall, green lepus carnivorus, but is he really any worse than Jar Jar Binks? I'm so familiar with the original story that having large swaths of pages "missing" didn't prove to be an impediment. Beyond that, the trick is not to read the narration ot the top and bottom of non-consecutive pages and just experience the story as a series of scenes. I was too old for a children's magazine when Pizazz came out, although I was aware of it. What I didn't know is that it also contained three-page, serialized chapters of an original story by Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin, many of which are included in the AE.
That was a good introduction to my personal "Adventures of Luke Skywalker" and it has primed the pump for what I have in mind next.
I remember having no advance knowledge of the Star Wars newspaper strip; I just opened up the paper one day and there it was. It was originally written and drawn by Russ Manning. the daily and Sunday strips told separate continuities at first. The first daily story featured Luke and Leia, the first two Sunday stories Han and Chewbacca. It was good, solid space-faring adventure, but it wasn't particularly "Star Warsy" to me. Then the daily and Sunday continuities merged, Steve Gerber took over as writer, and the story became much more like the "Star Wars" we think of today.
Gerber left after writing just one continuity, then the next four were written by either Russ Helm or Don Christensen, with Russ Manning still providing the art. The next story was written by Christensen, with the art transitioning over to Alfredo Alcala (via Rick Hoberg and Dave Stevens). The final story in this volume was written by Helm with art by Alcala.
It fun to compare how these stories differ from later canon. Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader have not yet met face-to-face, but Vader does know Luke's name. If he knows anything about the young Jedi's parentage (which is revealed to be Tan and Lady Skywalker), he's keeping mum on the matter. C3PO was said to have been built "centuries ago" on the planet Alderaan. The Wookie holiday "Lifeday" (from the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special) also plays into one of the stories. Boba Fett (also from the special) is pitted against Luke and Han in another.
I would be more l; ikely to recommend this to fans of Russ Manning than to Star Wars fans.
NEXT: Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson