The Early Adventures (Classic Star Wars, Volume Four) Review

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(More customer reviews)One of my fondest memories of Star Wars--fonder even than watching the first movie--is coming upon Russ Manning's "Star Wars" during its run in newspapers. While I can't really quibble with the other reviewers opinions, I think he's being a bit harsh; the style in this volume is classic newspaper story telling, although somewhat redited for the Dark Horse volumes as were all the reprints of the newspaper strips.
Yes, I can't argue that the Al Williamson/Archie Goodwin run on the strip was more in line with the overall thrust of the LFL expansion of their Star Wars property. However, there is a charm and an excitement in the Manning strips that is not present in the slicker, longer storylines that followed.
The tale of Leia and Luke struggling to convince a planet that specialized in the manufacture of starfighter weapons components and the ultimate space battle against Darth Vader and a Star Destroyer, not to mention the mysterious Blackhole who had been charged by Vader to hunt down the Rebels, were among the elements that made up my first long-form writing efforts, fan fiction. I can trace a line directly back to those efforts and that strip and my current career as a writer. Boba Fett's appearance in the final section of the book--created by Alfredo Alcala and another artist after Manning left the strip for health reasons--also sparked my imagination and inspired a love for the character that exists to this day. Boba Fett's appearance here remains my favorite in the Expanded Universe.
I recommend others take a look at these classics. Who knows? Maybe you'll be inspired as I was.

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Even with less than twenty minutes of "screen time" to his credit, the most popular character from the Star Wars trilogy is Boba Fett. Dark Horse offers a number of comics featuring the merciless bounty hunter, but it all starts here, in this trade paperback collecting Russ Manning's Star Wars newspaper strips. It was in these strips, which originally ran in 1979 and 1980, that Boba Fett made his very first appearance in print, making this a true must-have item for anyone looking to become a Jedi Master! The artwork has been colored, reformatted, and expertly retouched by Rick Hoberg, who worked with Manning on the original strips. Relive the adventures that thrilled readers seventeen years ago! Experience the very first comics appearance of the infamous Boba Fett (dated prior to his motion-picture debut)! And delight in Star Wars legend Al Williamson's new color cover, dedicated to Manning!

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The Rebel Storm (Classic Star Wars, Volume Two) Review

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(More customer reviews)I will always find it difficult to get excited over Star Wars comics, the action on the screen is so entertaining that when reading a Star Wars comic, the part contributed by my imagination is distracting. I envision Luke, Han, C3PO and Leia in their own voices and my thinking their voices is a very poor second to hearing them. Therefore, I tend to find any Star Wars comic that I read to be boring. That is not the case with the Star Wars books; with no images my mind is free to conjure up the visual complement aand I am not acting out dialog balloons.
There was nothing in this book capable of overcoming this prejudice, the villains are often creatures that are not well explained or described. The adventures lack the challenging charm of the movies; there is little depth to the stories, although they attempt to fill out some of the background on some of the characters, most notably Admiral AckBar. Han is still the impulsive fighter; once again you wonder how he has managed to survive so long as a smuggler, dealing with the ruthless villains and gangsters that he did business with.
Disappointing as a set of Star Wars stories, this comic fails to generate any of the interest of the movies. While this is admittedly a high bar, it just never really gets off the ground.


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There was no peace for the crew members of the Millennium Falcon between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back! Follow their adventures as they plunge head first into an underwater hunt that leads to a demonsquid, a treasonous and plotting Kraaken, the ferocious night beast, lost power gems, stranded Calamarians, and giant sea worms! Will the depths of the oceans spell defeat for the Rebels, or will they emerge victorious?

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Classic Star Wars, Volume One : In Deadly Pursuit Review

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(More customer reviews)It's strange, but Dark Horse Comics' Star Wars line seems to be degrading in quality over time. These early Classic Star Wars graphic novels, reprinting the comic series of the same name, which in return are reprinting in revised format the Star Wars comic strips of the early 80s, are among the very best Star Wars comics available. Although sometimes a little awkward because they were adapted from hundreds of individual 2-3 panel comic strips, the art is wonderful and all the characters and ships look right, like they do in the films. The coloring is for the most part very good, and the characters' dialogue also sounds right. These comics are action packed, but they don't go over the line into stupidity as the Marvel series tended to.
Also, these comics have a lot of the little touches...the Luke/Han/Leia bickering that would carry on into Splinter of the Mind's Eye and Empire Strikes Back, Luke reminiscing about Obi-Wan, and little stuff like that. As I've stated, but it's worth reiterating, the art is absolutely fantastic.
If you're going to buy any star wars comics, buy this one and its two sequels. They are fun entertaining classics.

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Han Solo at Stars' End (Classic Star Wars, Volume Five) Review

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(More customer reviews)A good book that sheds some light on Han Solo's life before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope. A good, cheap read

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This trade paperback collects all three issues adapting Brian Daley's classic novel! For fans of the film -- fans of all ages -- this is one worth waiting for.

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Star Wars: A Long Time Ago..., Book 3: Resurrection of Evil (v. 3) Review

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(More customer reviews)Book 3 of the Dark Horse Comics reprints of Marvel's Star Wars comics is a fine achievement in itself, and these books have never looked better! In fact, doing a back to back comparison with this trade paperback and the original comics will shock you as to how much improved these re-colored reprints are!
As for the issues covered in this volume (#39-53), there is a definite improvement in the overall quality: The art is getting away from the blocky (but well-liked by this reviewer) style of Carmine Infantino, which is still present, but the absolutely gorgeous art of Al Williamson and Walt Simonson is more striking and the characters look more like the onscreen actors from Star Wars. This is especially evident on the "Empire Strikes Back" adaptation featured in the first six issues of this volume.
The writing gets better with these issues, too. Archie Goodwin and David Michelinie have always been superb storytellers and they turn in some fine work here. I particularly enjoyed Michelinie's 2-part "Tarkin" story which blew me away as a ten year-old back in '81. Mike W. Barr's "The Last Jedi" is another story I liked as a kid, but it's even better and more poignant through adult eyes.
The Dark Horse reprints of the Marvel Star Wars comics are definitely worth getting, especially if you're wary of constantly digging out those old, yellowing copies from your original comic book collection. I'm so happy that someone saw fit to re-release these comics, which were so important to my friends and I as kids, almost as important as the movies! The Marvel books kept us entertained and inspired us to create our own characters that would inhabit our own small corner of the vast "Star Wars Universe."

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Dark Horse Comics presents the latest volume of Star Wars: A Long Time Ago... featuring classic Star Wars stories not seen in over twenty years! Originally printed by Marvel Comics, these stories have been re-colored and are sure to please Star Wars fans both new and old. Volume 3 collects issues 39-52 of the original Marvel run and begins with a re-telling of The Empire Stikes Back and continues past that to adventures such as "Droid World" and "The Last Jedi." Before midi-chlorians, before Jar-Jar Binks, these are the continuing adventures of Lucas's first star-faring team in a freshly imagined universe.

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Doomworld (Star Wars: A Long Time Ago..., Book 1) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was 6 when Star Wars was first unleashed on the public, and I was lucky enough to have a Mom that supported her young son's comic-book reading habit; The biggest problem of any comic reader in those long-forgotten days was spotty newsstand distribution- It was almost impossible to collect EVERY issue of your favorite comic.....for almost 25 years I've been wondering how Luke and company managed to get off of that Water Planet in Star Wars #14....
THANK GOD FOR DARK HORSE! My wondering days are over! Doomworld collects issues 1-20 of Marvel's original Star Wars series in glorious full-color, on beautiful paper with great production values. The book opens with an incredibly faithful adaptation of the movie, then goes off into some surprising territory: Han and Chewie star in an outer-space "Magnificent Seven", where they team with a giant green Rabbit and an old man named "Don-Wan Kihotay" to face off against "Serji-X Arrogantus", a thinly disguised version of Mad Magazine cartoonist Sergio Aragones; Luke and the Droids crash on a Waterworld years before Kevin Costner made that awful movie; Han squares off against a "Gaily" attired pirate and his man-hating female crony; and everyone ends up in the deep-space Las Vegas for the big cliffhanger. The stories are a bit removed from what the films delivered, but I took a bit of umbrage at the back-cover copy which calls the Marvel stories "Kitschy"; Dark Horse has published a few duds themselves ("Union", anyone...?); At least these stories are entertaining!
As a kid, I hated the artists that worked on these stories. As an adult, I can appreciate the draftsmanship and storytelling ability that they brought to the series. Howard Chaykin, Carmine Infantino, Tom Palmer, Terry Austin, Herb Trimpe, Al Milgrom...They're all legends, and with good reason. (The only gaffe, artwise, is the pairing of Chaykin and Frank Springer in chapter seven. Springer's inks are atrocious!) The art looks better than ever, thanks to the vibrant colors and slick paper. And aside from Roy Thomas' propensity for making Han say (OVER and OVER again!) "WELL then there now!", the characters STAY in character. Lucasfilm may have decided that the stories are no longer canonical, but that doesn't mean they're not fun! And the price just can't be beat! Give Doomworld a try if you're looking for something a little bit different. WELL then there now!

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Dark Horse Comics is proud to present Classic Star Wars: A Long Time Ago... featuring classic Star Wars stories not seen in over twenty years! Originally printed by Marvel Comics, these stories have been recolored and are sure to please Star Wars fans both new and old. Volume 1 contains stories from the original Marvel run like the riveting classics"Eight for Aduba-3," "Star Search," and the smash hit of June 1978 "Doomworld!"

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Star Wars: Return of the Jedi: Special Edition (Star Wars (Dark Horse)) Review

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(More customer reviews)The comic book adaptation of Return of the Jedi does a good job of describing the events that take place in the movie. The sketches drawn show enough detail to give them depth. Found at the back of the book are production sketches from the original trilogy by Ralph McQuarrie, Ivor Beddoes, Joe Johnston, Derek Thompson, George Hull, Doug Chiang, and Terryl Whitlatch including an early concept design of a stormtrooper. I prefer the version that is in the movies. Also included were sketches of the Special Edition of ROTJ including the celebration scenes at the end of the movie.

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