From the pages of Blue Harvest Episode Three...
Summer 1994

"A Binding Force", part one (of sixteen!)
by Randal Yard

“It surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together”
- Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars, Episode I: A New Hope

Sure, Obi-Wan was talking about the Force, but this statement is easily applied to the focus of this (hopefully) regular column discussing the myriad fictional stories that make up the Star Wars universe.  And what a universe it is!  It has exploded in the last few years to allow dozens of new stories to capture the imaginations of a second generation of fans, while binding closer the originals. The Star Wars universe has seen the coming of new novels, children’s books, comic books, and games that take their place beside the originals.  Under the watchful eye of Lucasfilm, and by default, West End Games, the increasing amount of stories have fed off and grown from one another  into a nearly  canonical tapestry, expanding and enriching the three movies.

In recent years, however, one of the most important facets of the Star Wars mythology has been given, to put it lightly, a bad rap.  This issue, we’ll be discussing the very first original Star Wars stories produced after the movies: the Marvel comic series.

Appearing two months before the movie did (Lucas wanted to generate pre-premier excitement), the Marvel comic lasted 107 issues and three annuals before coming to an end in 1986.  (Various reprints, digests and collections popped up as well.  Also, Marvel UK did several hundred issues of a black and white SW Weekly.-James)
 
Almost immediately after Star Wars’ return to comics (six years later) in the pages of Dark Horse Comics’ Dark Empire,  letter writers praised  Dark Horse for publishing a far superior Star Wars product than Marvel did.  Apparently, those readers have no idea that Dark Empire was originally a Marvel comic, and Marvel had actually printed promotional art in issues of Marvel Age, their in-house news magazine.  In any case, a violent lashing of the Marvel comic has been a constant in the Dark Horse Comic’s Star Wars letter pages, and it’s time to quiet those voices down.

First of all, why even consider the original comics?  As mentioned earlier, they are virtually ignored and dismissed by fans today.  The main reason to consider them is that George Lucas himself sat in on the earliest story sessions, even giving the original creative team a number of ideas, including earlier drafts of the movies.  Mark Hamill also sat in on those sessions, although, obviously, his imput was probably not as important as Lucas’ for our concerns.

Another reason, also mentioned earlier, is that Dark Empire was originally a Marvel comic.  The first issues were completed at the time Marvel lost the license, so those that claim that the Dark Horse series had a different flavor than the Marvel series should probably bite their tongues.  As long as we’re on the subject of Dark Horse Comics, it bears mentioning that that company is now in the process of reprinting the Marvel adaptations of the three films.  Is a reprint of the regular series, much like Dark Horse’s reprinting of Nexus  comics published by other companies, far behind?  Time will tell.
 
One of the most intriguing aspects of the Star Wars stories currently being published (in novel and comic form) is that the stories weave together to form an interlocking story encompassing all formats.  Have the original comics been referred to in the current canonical sources?  For the most part the answer is no, although there is one reference, nearly buried in West End Games’ Dark Empire sourcebook, in the essay on Lando Calrissian.  The sourcebook offhandedly mentions Lando hanging around with Han and Rik.  Is this a reference to Rick Duel, a former compatriot of Han who pops up numerous times in the Marvel series?  It’s possible, even likely.  I hasten to add that if anyone finds references, write in and let me know.


&

A few interesting reminders of the Marvel series pop up in, of all places, the Star Wars Galaxy trading cards.  Volume one makes a reference to the Hoojibs (card 61), a race of rabbit-like creatures who play a large part in the later issues of the series.  The second series of cards has a portion of a subset devoted to artwork from the Marvel series as well.

Finally, an intriguing piece of evidence is that it has been mentioned that when Timothy Zahn began writing his novels, he was told to place the books between three and five years after the third movie.  While this allows the Bantam Skylark novels to occur around two years after Return of the Jedi, it also fits with mentions in Starlog that Lucas had a master time line for the saga that ended approximately two years after Return of the Jedi.  It can’t be a coincedence that the Marvel series ended about two years after the movie...

In any case, after adapting the first movie (by Roy Thomas with art by Howard Chaykin, two legends in the field), the comic had Han Solo and Chewbacca depart to an outworld planet in a story drawn from The Magnificent Seven.  Over the course of the next few years, the comic expanded the Star Wars universe with the introduction of merchant families, “The Wheel”—a giant casino, another attempt to attack Yavin IV, this time from a spearhead inside Yavin  itself...and who could forget issue 38, the unbelievable Michael Golden issue?

The series hit its high points soon after the adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back.  With incredible Walt Simonson art, who did the magnificent chase cards for the recent trading card set, the comic chronicled the search for Han Solo, and revealed the fates of many of the bounty hunters seen in Empire, as well as hinting at the origin of Boba Fett.  Also, this time period contained a fascinating John Carter of Mars tie-in.  The main disappointment from this portion of the series came from seemingly thrown together plot about Luke accidentally killing a Rebel officer (who was actually an Imperial spy), and the entire Rebellion turning on him, so much to the point where he actually is forced to exile himself.  To say the least, it was sloppy.  The resolution of the storyline, however, dealt with Vader, and that’s always nice!  Another ridiculous subplot started strongly—the Empire took the laser cannon from the first Death Star and placed it at the head of a giant spacecraft cleverly named The Tarkin, but it was destroyed by Leia in what has become the most tiresome cliche in science fiction history—she (say it with me now) reversed the polarity.  However, if you have the issues, look for the writer’s and artists’ names hidden in the framework of The Tarkin.  One final story that deserves mention is a rather humorous, somewhat surreal tale of Leia and Vader called “The Third Law.”  This story took full advantage of Leia’s portrayal as a strong-willed leading lady.
 
The events leading up to Return of the Jedi were also covered in the comic.  The storyline followed the Alliance’s attempt to retrieve the information on the second Death Star that was originally acquired by the Bothan spies.  As the galactic wars ended, the comic shifted into diplomatic mode, tracing the New Republic’s attempts to create a new government.  Here the book began to waver in storytelling, eventually leading to its cancellation.  Some of the stories were quite interesting, however—including the return of the Imperial spy Luke thought he had killed as the new Dark Lord!  Another fascinating plot dealt with the coming of the Nagai (not to be confused with the Noghri), an evil race intent on picking up where the Empire left off.  The concept was there, but the Nagai were drawn as emaciated, ghostly white humanoids—it was hard to take them seriously.  And then everybody joined forces against the Nagai’s enemies, the Tof (basically big fat green people), in an epic battle that lasted maybe two issues.  What a terrible disappointment.  The stories were even printed out of order for some bizarre reason (most likely to take advantage of the double-sized 100th issue).  The series went out with a whimper.  Still, there was enough interest to commission Dark Empire before Dark Horse snapped up the license.  We’ll look at individual issues in the future.

Also, in future installments of this column, we’ll look at another much-maligned aspect of the Star Wars mythology, the Ewoks and Droids cartoons and comics.  The Han Solo and Lando Calrissian novels are also on the horizon, as well as a glance at the Bantam Skylark series.  Eventually we’ll turn our sights on audio—the story records and radio plays.

©1994 Blue Harvest


&

Blue Harvest Home Page     Back Issue List and Sample Articles
Tydirium Multimedia Homepage

I have maintained this web site since 1995.
I write and create photos because I enjoy it.
People tell me they enjoy reading this site, so I keep it going.    
However...
This site has cost me a lot of hours, and a lot of money.
And, unlike my writing for magazines or books, there is no
publisher sending me checks for the work I do on this site.
So...
 If you find my writing to be entertaining, valuable, insightful,
or if you'd rather just attempt to bribe me to go away, 
please consider a donation, in any amount.
(perhaps the same amount as a magazine subscription or a book).
Just click the button below, and it'll take you to PayPal.
Search Now:
In Association with Amazon.com

"Tiki Bar Review Pages", "Tiki Road Trip", "Tydirium Multimedia",    
"Left Orbit Temple",  "Chester Century", "Big Stone Head",  "TiPSY
Factor", "Johnny Clash", "Tiki TV",  and  "Blue Harvest Magazine"
are trademarks of James A. Teitelbaum
All material on this website is © Copyright 1994-2007 by James A. Teitelbaum. All rights reserved.  Unauthorized use is a violation of applicable laws.