| Star Wars | |
|---|---|
 Issue #1 cover | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Ongoing series |
| Genre | |
| Publication date | April 1977 – May 2019 |
| No. of issues | 108 (and 3 annuals) |
| Creative team | |
| Written by |
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| Artists |
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Star Wars is a comic book series published byMarvel Comics from April 12, 1977[a] to May 27, 1986. Featuring classicStar Wars charactersLuke Skywalker,Princess Leia,Han Solo,Chewbacca,C-3PO, andR2-D2, the first six issues adapt the May 1977 filmStar Wars. The series chronicled their subsequent adventures for 107 issues and three annuals, includinga six-issue adaptation of the 1980 sequel filmThe Empire Strikes Back in 1980–1981.In 2019, the series was revived for a single issue.
Star Wars creatorGeorge Lucas initially approachedWarren Publications andDC Comics to publish aStar Wars comic book prior to the film's release as a means of publicity.[1]Charles Lippincott,Lucasfilm's publicity supervisor, approached publisherStan Lee atMarvel Comics in 1975 about the project, but Lee declined to consider such a proposal until the film was completed.[1] WriterRoy Thomas met Lippincott around this same time, and was asked to write the comic at Lucas's request, based on his work onConan the Barbarian.[1] Thomas decided to accept the commission when Lippincott showed him a production sketch ofthe Cantina sequence, convincing him that the project was aspace opera along the lines ofPlanet Comics.[1] Stan Lee was persuaded to greenlight the project in a second meeting arranged by Thomas in 1976, reportedly when he heard thatAlec Guinness would be involved.[2] Lucas also requested artistHoward Chaykin,[2] who was allowed to visit Lucasfilm's offices on theUniversal Studios Lot to gather reference art.[3]
Issue #1 ofStar Wars was released for sale on April 12, 1977,[a] and Marvel published the series from 1977 to 1986, lasting 107 issues and three annuals.[7] According to former Marvel Editor-In-ChiefJim Shooter, the strong sales ofStar Wars comics saved Marvel financially in 1977 and 1978.[8] Since movie tie-in comics rarely sold well at that time, Lee negotiated a publishing arrangement which gave no royalties to Lucasfilm until the series' sales exceeded 100,000. At that point, legal arrangements could be revisited. The comic gave Marvel much-needed income during a time when the comic industry suffered generally because of rising newsprint costs and a declining number of retail outlets like traditional newsstands andmom-and-pop stores—until thedirect market concept established itself in the late 1970s.[9][2] The series was one of the industry's top selling titles in 1979 and 1980,[10] with the 100,000 copy sales quota being surpassed, allowing Lippincott to renegotiate the royalty arrangements.[11]
Issues #1–6 featured an adaptation of the events ofStar Wars by Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin.[12][b] Original stories began appearing as of issue #7 (January 1978) by the same creative team.[14] Thomas continued the series with aSeven Samurai-style storyline focusing onHan Solo andChewbacca, after being told not to useDarth Vader, cover theClone Wars, or develop a romance betweenLuke Skywalker andPrincess Leia. Lippincott told Thomas that Lucas disliked his new green rabbit character,Jaxxon. This and the "sacred cow" status that the franchise had obtained led to Thomas's departure.[15][1] WriterArchie Goodwin and artistCarmine Infantino took over the series as of #11 (May 1978).[14] While generally following a singleserialized storyline, the series occasionally included stories which take place before the events of the films, such as issue #17 (November 1978) featuring Luke Skywalker onTatooine,[16] and #24 (June 1979) withObi-Wan Kenobi.[17]
In 1979, Goodwin visited Lucasfilm's Los Angeles offices to collectcontact prints and other reference for asix-issue adaptation of the 1980 sequel filmThe Empire Strikes Back[18] by artistsAl Williamson and Carlos Garzon. Williamson was offered the job at Lucasfilm's specific request, as Lucas had an appreciation of hisEC Comics andFlash Gordon work.[19][20] The adaptation was released as a paperback book,[21][c] a magazine (Marvel Super Special #16),[23] anoversized tabloid edition,[24] and as issues #39–44 (September 1980–February 1981) of the series. According to Ted Edwards, "The artwork reached a new high, with Williamson penciling and Carlos Garzon inking likenesses of the characters that had an accuracy never before seen in the series."[25]
As Goodwin made his departure,Louise Simonson joined as editor. She hired her husband,Walt Simonson, as penciler beginning with issue #49, andTom Palmer as inker.[26] He was joined by writerDavid Michelinie starting with issue #51 (September 1981).[27] The creative team was prevented from developing Luke'sJedi training or his relationships with Leia and Vader, or using Han,Jabba,Boba Fett, Obi-Wan, andYoda.[26][d] An unusedJohn Carter, Warlord of Mars story, which had sat in inventory after Marvel had cancelled that series, was rewritten and redrawn, and published inStar Wars #53 (November 1981).[28] Walt Simonson left the series after issue #66, shortly followed by Michelinie.[26]Ron Frenz became the regular artist starting with #71 (May 1983) andJo Duffy, who had written #24, returned as writer.[29] Together, they formed a backstory leading toReturn of the Jedi.[26]Marvel's adaptation of the film (October 1983–January 1984) appeared in a separate four-issuelimited series[30] as well as inMarvel Super Special #27[31][32] and in a mass market paperback.[33] Starting in 1984, the series was primarily written by Duffy. Art for the final year and a half of the series was byCynthia Martin.[27]
Exploring aone-shot revival of the series, Marvel senior editor Mark Paniccia contacted Walt Simonson to see if he was interested in contributing. Simonson said he would have liked to have created a sequel to Goodwin's oversized #50, "The Crimson Forever", illustrated by him, Al Williamson, and Tom Palmer. Marvel writer Matt Rosenberg pitched the basis of the sequel, "Forever Crimson", published in 2019 as issue #108.[34]
After theRebel Alliance secures theDeath Star plans and destroys theImperial battle station, Han Solo and Chewbacca departYavin to repayJabba the Hut, but space pirate Crimson Jack steals their reward money. The despondent duo is hired to protect some farmers from a gang. On their way back to Yavin, Jack captures theMillennium Falcon. He also holds Princess Leia captive; she was in the process of following Luke Skywalker to a water planet that he was scoping out as a possible Rebel base.Han and Leia lead Jack to Luke, who has crash-landed and learned that, since the time of theGalactic Republic, the planet's denizens have been using jamming devices to bring down ships for salvage. Annoyed by the jamming frequencies, native sea serpents revolt and attack; the conflict escalates when the governor increases the frequency to bring down Jack's cruiser. TheFalcon crew picks up Luke and destroys the jamming device. Jack attacks Han, but the smuggler defeats the pirate.
TheFalcon crew discovers the wreckage of aHouse of Tagge ship, which the Empire has made to look like a Rebel attack. They take shelter on theWheel, a neutral gambling station. Its administrator detains Leia, and Han and Chewie are forced to fight in gladiator battles. Luke, Leia, and the droids escape in a small craft; Darth Vader arrives and almost captures them, but Han disables hisStar Destroyer's tractor beam. Luke and Leia return to the base on Yavin, where they thwart the attacks of the Tagge family. Jabba catches Han at one of his hideouts, but ship-eating mites force the crime lord to take refuge on theFalcon—in exchange for cancelling the smuggler's debt. After returning Jabba to Tatooine, Han and Chewie run into Luke in theMos Eisley cantina, where the latter was recruiting pilots. After witnessing a test of the Tagges' freezing superweapon, the rebels follow them in theFalcon. Luke fights Baron Orman Tagge in alightsaber duel and destroys the superweapon. Orman is assumed dead, but actually kept alive by Vader. Domina Tagge, a member of a peaceful planet, comes to Yavin and asks Luke to serve as a Rebel representative. Acting as an Imperial representative, Vader blames Orman's apparent death on Luke, causing Domina to turn on him. She determines that the pair will duel for the planet's favor, but plans for both to die. Orman, whom Vader causes to take his appearance, attempts to kill Luke, but is himself slain. Meanwhile, Jabba discovers Crimson Jack's ruined cruiser and restores the bounty on Han.
The Rebellion takes refuge onHoth, but is driven out by the Empire. Obi-Wan Kenobi'sForce spirit guides Luke toJedi Master Yoda, who trains him. Meanwhile, Han is captured by Vader and frozen incarbonite in a plot to bait Luke. Against the wishes of his teachers, Luke goes to help his friends by facing Vader, who has a stunning revelation for him. Chewbacca and new allyLando Calrissian set out after bounty hunterBoba Fett, who intends to deliver thecryopreserved Han to Jabba. While Vader continues to search for Luke, the latter investigates a Star Destroyer whose crew has been debilitated by the Crimson Forever, a virus emanating from a mysterious jewel; Luke is afflicted as well. Lando and Chewbacca encounter Leia at a temporary Rebel base on Golrath; she explains Luke's situation. This prompts Chewie to recount a recent adventure in which Han returned two similar jewels to a temple in the Red Nebula. Leia, Lando, and Chewbacca head to the nebula and discover a Tagge ship whose crew has also succumbed to the illness. Aboard, Domina Tagge reveals that she hired bounty hunters[e] to steal the jewels from the temple, but the Empire took one and people began to succumb to the fever. Domina brings the other jewel to the derelict Star Destroyer, saving all the infected survivors.
Leia leads a scouting expedition to determine if a forest planet will be suitable for a permanent Rebel base. The Rebellion's power is drained by intelligenthoojibs, who reveal that a flying monster has prevented them from using their usual source of energy. The Rebels drive out the monster, and the hoojibs invite them to stay. Meanwhile, Lando returns toCloud City, which seems to be empty until he is attacked by a derangedLobot. Then, an Imperialbomb squad lands to disarm explosives planted byugnaughts. Meanwhile, Luke and a female pilot, Shira, leave to check on Lando as he has not reported in. Lando battlesstormtroopers, and one of the bombs goes off. Lando calls a truce with an Imperial officer, who helps him fix Lobot. Thecyborg then uses his cybernetic implants to disconnect the bombs. The officer kicks Lando off the platform, and Lobot uses ajet pack to save him. On the planet surface, they are picked up by a boat of ugnaughts and transported back to the platform; Luke arrives and usesthe Force to make it appear that the rest of the bombs explode to scare away the Imperials.
Leia leads a procedure to hide the Rebel fleet inside the system's sun using a shield generator, then departs for the planet's surface to investigate the arrival of Imperial ships.R2-D2 detects a malfunction in the generators, and he andC-3PO find that the entire crew has been knocked unconscious by circuit fumes. The droids use a jet pack to connect an energy cable from one of the cruisers to the shield generator, saving the fleet. Meanwhile, Luke, Lando, and Chewbacca visit a space market to purchase four refurbishedTIE fighters. Shira and Luke use them to raid an Imperial armada, but Luke returns to the base to discover that he killed Shira. Luke infiltrates a data vault, where he finds evidence that Shira was selected by Vader to infiltrate the Rebellion and kill Luke; Vader keeps Shira alive in abacta tank on his Star Destroyer. Using the evidence from the Imperial vault, Luke is acquitted of Shira's murder. The Rebels discover that the rock material of their former base on Golrath records its surroundings. The Imperials soon make the same discovery, and Leia infiltrates the base to destroy it.
The Rebels learn that one of Boba Fett's associates was cut out of the reward for Han and may be willing to provide intel. Leia follows a lead thatDengar may be onMandalore, and discovers a caravan of Imperial slavers. She runs into a Mandalorian warrior named Fenn, who keeps Dengar in a cage. Dengar tricks Leia into freeing him in exchange for intel, but he signals Imperials, who bring her to the chief slaver. Fenn rescues Leia and recaptures Dengar. Meanwhile, Lando and Chewie obtain a lead onBossk's location, which matches that of Luke's lead onIG-88. Luke runs into some pirates he knows, while Lando says he found Han; it turns out to be one of the pirates frozen in a similar carbonite block. Bossk and IG-88 try to freeze Luke, Lando, and the other pirates, until Chewie arrives to help them.
Amongst other missions, Luke and Leia rescueWedge Antilles, who had beenmissing in action since the Battle of Hoth. A search for a Rebel intelligence agent leads toBothan-acquired intel for the Empire'ssecond Death Star. The heroes liberate Han from Jabba, and work together to destroy the Death Star. Luke confronts Vader, who ends up overthrowing theEmperor. The Alliance then works to establish a new republic and subdue the remnants of the Empire and other sinister forces, expanding into intergalactic conflict.
Domina Tagge and her bounty hunters resurface with a plan to capture the Crimson Forever jewels by encasing them in heavy metal, a delivery of which happens to include the robotic skeleton of Beilert Valance—who was defeated by Vader while protecting Luke's identity. The cyborg comes back to life and helps the Star Warriors foil Domina's selfish plot. The healing powers of the unified jewels restore Valance's human body even as he sacrifices himself to ensure the destruction of the temperamental gems.
Introduced in 1978, the droid-hating cyborg Beilert Valance predates the explicit introduction of other bounty hunters in theStar Wars franchise.[35] Boba Fett's development has been argued to have been influenced by Valance and Marvel'sPunisher, which Goodwin previously wrote for.[36] Additionally, Valance has been noted as being very similar tothe title character(s) of theTerminator franchise, which debuted with the 1984 filmThe Terminator.[35][37]
According toRyder Windham, the comic was not acknowledged by Lucasfilm while planning new stories because little story control had been enforced during its creation.[38] Some elements appeared in theStar Wars Expanded Universe, such as theWheel in a 2003 issue ofStar Wars: Republic[39][40] and the character Lumiya in theLegacy of the Force book series (2006–2008). The remains of a character resembling Jaxxon the rabbit appear in the 2012The Clone Wars episode "A Sunny Day in the Void".[41] In April 2014, the licensedStar Wars Expanded Universe material released up to that point (except forThe Clone Wars) were rebranded by Lucasfilm asLegends and declared non-canon to the franchise in order to create a blank slate for thesequel trilogy.[42]
Alex Ross created a realistic reimagining of the cover of the series' first issue as avariant cover for the first issue of Marvel's 2015self-titledStar Wars series.[43] Jaxxon appears on a cover of the aforementioned series,[44] and works with the Rebellion in the currentStar Wars Adventures series.[41] An action figure of Jaxxon was released as part ofHasbro's Black Series.[45]
While in the original comic Vader learns Luke Skywalker's name personally,[46] a crossover story between 2015'sStar Wars andDarth Vader reveals that Fett gave Vader this intel.[47] Beilert Valance entered the modernStar Wars canon in the comicHan Solo: Imperial Cadet (2018),[f] and appears in the seriesTarget Vader (2019)[g] andBounty Hunters (2020–present).[50][51][h][i] Domina Tagge is featured in the 2020–2021Doctor Aphra comic.[53]
The series was also translated and produced under license by some non-American publishers:
Footnotes
Citations
In the most conservative terms, it is inarguable that the success of theStar Wars comics was a significant factor in Marvel's survival through a couple of very difficult years, 1977 and 1978. In my mind, the truth is stated in the title of this piece.
The industry's top seller? We don't have complete information from our Circulation Scavenger Hunt for the years 1979 and 1980, but a very strong case is building forStar Wars as the industry's top-selling comic book in 1979 and its second-place seller (behindAmazing Spider-Man) in 1980.
In July 1977, Marvel's comics adaptation of George Lucas'sStar Wars movie was released, created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Howard Chaykin.
There was also the comfort of knowing that I would be working with Al Williamson, an old friend that I've worked with over the years. He was absolutely the bestStar Wars artist you could ever want to have. That makes it easier because you feel that whatever you do as a writer, you have an artist that will make it look great. He's also an artist that Lucasfilm kind of begged and pleaded for and always wanted to have doStar Wars material. There was that comfort factor in it as well.
When it was canceled, Marvel still had some fill-in work by Carmine Infantino in their files. So a year or so later, Walt Simonson and Chris Claremont were given an odd task—take a fill-in Infantino did forJohn Carter and turn it into aStar Wars story!