The Rebellion Strikes Back!

There's been no dearth of Star Wars-based comics since Marvel produced its six-issue adaptation of the 1977 film, going on to extend the comic to a series of 107 issues which folded its tent in July of 1986. From there, the business side of the equation gets interesting. Coincidentally, that same month, a new comic book company--Dark Horse Comics, which specializes in its treatment of comics based on films--opened up shop and published its first comic book, Dark Horse Presents #1; three years later, the company began to work to acquire the rights to publish comics based on the Star Wars story and characters. Finally, in December of 1991, the company released its first Star Wars title, Star Wars: Dark Empire #1--a launch which began a very successful association with Star Wars for Dark Horse, producing roughly over 100 series and one-shots in a run that lasted over two decades. Clearly they must have been doing something right.

Meanwhile, in late 2009, Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment for a cool $4 billion--and, not stopping there, went on to acquire Lucasfilm in 2012 for the same amount. Practically in the same breath, Disney announced a new Star Wars film trilogy would be produced, with its first "episode" scheduled for release in December of 2015. If you were employed at Dark Horse Comics, you didn't exactly need the clairvoyant properties of the Force to realize what announcement was likely to come when Disney next stepped up to the podium mic in January of 2014: the Star Wars comics license would return to Marvel as of 2015, with three new Star Wars books being launched in March of that year.

While there's no doubt that Dark Horse would have published comparable Star Wars books of its own during 2015, Marvel has released some very nice product in its three series: Star Wars (its main title), Star Wars: Darth Vader, and Star Wars: Princess Leia, all set in the period of time directly following the destruction of the first Death Star, which of course was first attempted when new stories were published in 1978 following the adaptation of the '77 film. But unlike those earlier stories from Marvel, this "do-over" of sorts doesn't lose focus of its three main draws--or, rather, four, if you include Vader in the mix with Luke, Han, and Leia. There's a wealth of story material waiting to be mined following the Death Star's destruction, as the rebel alliance scrambles to capitalize on its momentum while the Empire increases its efforts to pursue and deal with them. The advantage could swing either way, at any time; but for now, the Empire's resources and power base give it the edge.

Since we've already looked at the first 1977 Star Wars adaptation in depth here at the PPC, I was very curious to see how Marvel would treat the product over 30 years later. As opposed to the first time around, with the '77 comics just riding the wave of the first film's popularity and success, obviously Marvel's 2015-2016 books will cash in on the anticipation (and hopefully good reception afterward) of the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in December; but unlike the Princess Leia book, the other two new offerings are reported to be continuing series, which will require quite a commitment on the part of their creative teams should they decide to remain with them. (For example, artist John Cassaday appears to have already left the main book after six issues.) That said, these early issues have proven to be very satisfying reads that address a number of points the late '70s series put on hold in favor of placing a greater emphasis on new characters and adventure. We immediately are reminded, for instance, that Luke--to quote Vader--is "not a Jedi yet"; that Leia, with the destruction of Alderaan and the ruling family, must assume a different role for herself as well as be mindful of how their loss affects those now under her command; that Vader, a thrall of the Empire, finds himself in the position of making up for the loss of the Empire's most powerful battle station and dealing with the repercussions; and that Han has pretty much burned his bridges as far as being an under-the-radar smuggler, having cast his lot with the rebellion.

All of these developments are logical follow-ups to the conclusion of the first film; and writers Jason Aaron, Kieron Gillen and Mark Waid sensibly pick things up just about where the film leaves off (in the Princess Leia book, virtually to the second). And in a nod to the opening moments of each Star Wars film, Marvel's practice of summarizing prior events of a story on the first page of each comic has been suitably adapted to a style that Star Wars fans will find familiar.

In The Shadow Of The Death Star!

"We had been losing money for several years in the publishing. And y'know, actually a lot of credit [for turning things around] should go to Roy Thomas, who -- kicking and screaming -- had dragged Marvel into doing Star Wars. If we hadn't done Star Wars -- well, we would have gone out of business. Star Wars single-handedly saved Marvel... And that kept us alive." -- from an interview with Jim Shooter by Michael Thomas of Comic Book Resources, October, 2000

The publication of a six-issue adaptation of Star Wars in the last half of 1977, coming on the heels of the successful film release, appeared to be a much-needed shot in the arm for Marvel which allowed it to regroup and ride out the turbulence the 1970s brought to the company, in both the financial sense as well as presenting a more clear picture of a direction for itself. Resolving its distribution problems would help with the former; but internally, Marvel often didn't seem to be on the same page with itself, as it went through one sales experiment after another (such as its format/pricing shift, or its giant-sized line of books). You had only to look in its letters pages or "Bullpen Bulletins" promotional-information pages during this time to get an idea of the company's difficulties, with one apologia after another to readers on the subject of price change or the failure to meet a deadline. In its trial-and-error attempts at growth, it appeared that Marvel was overextending itself in regard to its talent.

To say nothing of the shufflings of staff to various overseer/editorial positions, which the pages kept us apprised of regularly. Though I don't know of many comic book readers who rifled through an issue to find out what staff position changes had taken place recently at the company.

The Star Wars adaptation proved to be a welcome diversion from trying times, and certainly an influx of capital for a company trying to stabilize itself. And a good thing, too--because at the point we left this story, it appeared our heroes could certainly use some stability themselves, since they were fighting for their lives against a deadly rain of blaster fire with nowhere to run! We've taken a look at this series' first three issues--and with Darth Vader still on the loose, and the Death Star a clear and present threat to the efforts of the rebellion, Luke, Han and the others had better find some way to salvage this situation, because it looks like the Empire's striking back!

When Duty Calls

"The story of 'Star Wars' could be written on the head of a pin and still leave room for the Bible. It is, rather, a breathless succession of escapes, pursuits, dangerous missions, unexpected encounters, with each one ending in some kind of defeat until the final one." - Vincent Canby, The New York Times

Taken out of context, this excerpt from the Times' review of "Star Wars" from May, 1977 might make it sound as if the film was found wanting in some way. But Canby practically gushed over this film, as would other reviewers, and most definitely audiences en masse. "Star Wars" was, by any measure, a hit. A mega-hit. To cliché-bomb you, this ambitious film by George Lucas exploded onto the movie scene and took audiences by storm. You'd even be hard-pressed to find a disparaging comment in the Times review, and its film critics can generally find something to belittle in even the most stellar film.

The only conspicuous thing that Canby would do in terms of not making his review a clean sweep of praise for the film was to back off from complimenting the cast individually, actors who certainly deserved praise for their interpretations of their characters but who only received general props from Canby for "treat[ing the] material with the proper combination of solemnity and good humor that avoids condescension." Yet the review makes it perfectly clear that Canby would be one of the many who would re-enter the movie theater and give "Star Wars" a few more viewings just for fun's sake.

With "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" scheduled for December release, I found myself thumbing through and looking over my back issues of the Star Wars movie adaptation that Marvel published in mid-1977, and which I had the good cents--er, $en$e--I mean, sense to pick up off the rack and bag and board for a rainy day. If that sounds unenthusiastic from a reader's perspective, perhaps so. After all, I'd already seen the film, so reading these six issues for the next six months was like reading the Star Wars adventure in slow installments and knowing what I'd find in each issue. But, while the experience couldn't hold a candle to what I'd seen playing before my eyes on the big screen, the comic series in a way was like a souvenir to take home with me.

The Star Wars comic adaptation was written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Howard Chaykin, with Thomas already busy with a full plate of other projects such as Conan the Barbarian, Marvel Premiere, What If, Red Sonja, and editing Kull the Destroyer, while having to drop his run on Fantastic Four to make room for this six-month series. On the other hand, the plotting for this project would be a no-brainer, while the characterizations and scripting would practically take care of themselves. Thomas and Chaykin would presumably only need to plan how to *ahem* space out the story into six segments--with Thomas only adding scenes here and there which weren't present in the film, perhaps to avoid the feeling of strict repetition.

You may find that the story and the spectacle of this film lose something in their adaptation to illustrated print, which would be a fair observation perhaps due to the reasons I've already mentioned. We should also keep in mind that this is a mid-'70s comic, which presents its material far less slickly and polished than what we would find in today's production standards and artistry--nor does it have the luxury of straying too far from its set-in-stone story (and when it does, the result can come across as awkward and forced). Star Wars was really an experience best taken in by seeing it with wide eyes in live action, sweeping you up in its hallway firefights, narrow escapes, and desperate assaults on an ultimate weapon.

That said, a comic adaptation, like any memorabilia at the time that had the words "Star Wars" on it, could only fly off the shelves at speeds even an imperial fighter would be unable to match. And consumers who still had Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker running through their heads from seeing the film were now turning the cover to the first page of an encore series that would replay this story in a new light.