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Post by tarkintino on Apr 25, 2021 16:33:27 GMT -5
While adult me is quite enjoying the discussions throughout this thread diving deeply into the various written and artistic endeavours, teenage high school me could have cared less. At the time I was more overjoyed than anything and excited for having an ongoing MONTHLY comic for Star Wars. This was my 1st experience with an ongoing licensed comic book based on a movie and I was eating it up and enjoying immensely. I too was so happy with Star Wars becoming a regular series after the 1st movie's adaptation; there was a time when most film adaptations did not become a monthly series (for various reasons), or barely lasted a handful of issues beyond the film story, so when Star Wars was able to not only go forward, but be so thrilling in the same science- fantasy manner of the film (at times, with themes more serious than ANH), it became one of my "cant miss" titles I collected at the time. It had many great moments. Oh, I remember buying the Star Trek Logs novels (based on the animated series), and the Gold Key comic, and that really fueled Star Trek for me in that period where there was just talk of a "Phase II" series, and I loved it. |
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2021 17:47:49 GMT -5
Thank you Confessor and tarkintino!  So, how did Luke even known that he could move object with his mind..? Let me go back and re-read the relevant part of SOTME and get back to you on that. EDIT: Although it's always possible that Luke was told about this Jedi ability by Kenobi off-screen during the events of the first SW film. But let me see how Foster actually describes the scene in the novel. Hey zaku, so I re-read the relevant section of Splinter of the Mind's Eye and what happens is that Luke is wrestling with one of the Conway (primitive subterranean creatures) in an underground pool and his head is being held under the water by his foe. Just as Luke is about to pass out, he hears a voice (Kenobi's?) telling him to relax and as he does so, a large rock from the bottom of the pool that Luke brushed his fingers over earlier in the fight, flies up out of the water and strikes the Conway in the head, knocking him unconscious. After Luke's gotten his breath back, he realises that his subconscious mind must've reached out with the Force, just as he was on the verge of blacking out, and picked up the rock and thrown it at his assailant. So, it's not a case of Luke knowing that he can move objects with the Force (although, as I say, Kenobi could've told him as much off-camera), but rather the Force itself guiding his subconscious in a last desperate attempt to save the young would-be Jedi's life. Maybe it was the midichlorians speaking to him?  |
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Post by Confessor on Apr 25, 2021 18:04:51 GMT -5
While adult me is quite enjoying the discussions throughout this thread diving deeply into the various written and artistic endeavours, teenage high school me could have cared less. At the time I was more overjoyed than anything and excited for having an ongoing MONTHLY comic for Star Wars. This was my 1st experience with an ongoing licensed comic book based on a movie and I was eating it up and enjoying immensely. I was at an age where I could afford and seek out the new issues. I had a few issues of various other licensed products. 2 or 3 Planet of the Apes magazines, a Star Trek Log collection, some issues of Marvel's Doc Savage and DC's Shadow. Having an ongoing series telling NEW adventures and filling in the gaps between movies was pure joy. In a time where there was ONLY the movie novel adaption, Alan Dean Fosters Splinter of the Minds Eye and seeing the movie(s) at the movie theater it was thrilling to have this comic to pore over time and again. You can dissect and evaluate all you wish, but NOTHING compares to those joyous youthful days when finding the newest issue on the spinner racks. My enthusiasm and happiness were beyond compare. I was so eager and hungry for more Star Wars and was just coming of an age to fully appreciate my lucky circumstances. I know what you mean (although I do really enjoy dissecting nerdy minutia too). I bought the majority of these issues from 1978 to around 1985 from the local newsagents at the time too, and I absolutely loved the comic. As you say, there really wasn't that much SW stuff out there, so this comic absolutely was SW at the time. I didn't really understand canon at this point, so the official SW comic was just a "real" to me as anything in the films. Also, as well as filling in the long years between movies with weekly or monthly instalments, something that Crimebuster and I discussed in our Classic Comics Podcast discussion about this series was that it actually managed to flesh out the central characters considerably. For example, to anyone who wasn't reading the comic book, Lando Calrissian was just Han Solo's old friend who betrayed him at the end of ESB, before joining up with the Rebels and helping to search for Solo. But he was probably only on screen for something like the last 30 minutes of the film or whatever. So, when those same people saw him re-appear in disguise in Jabba's court in ROTJ, they didn't know him as a character quite as well as us regular SW comic readers did. He was still a new and largely unknown character to them. But for us, we'd followed Lando's exploits with Luke, Leia and Chewbacca for three years by this point; we'd seen his penchant for disguises in a number of different adventures prior to ROTJ, so his appearing as a skiff guard fit right in with the character we knew from those comics. |
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Post by zaku on Apr 26, 2021 3:41:39 GMT -5
Maybe it was the midichlorians speaking to him? Lucas Bless The Midichlorians  |
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 26, 2021 10:18:09 GMT -5
Star Wars #42Cover dated: December 1980 Issue title: To Be a Jedi!Script: Archie Goodwin Artwork: Al Williamson (pencils & inks)/Carlos Garzon (pencils & inks)/Rick Veitch (pencils - uncredited) Colours: Glynis Wein Letters: Rick Veitch Cover art: Al Williamson (pencils & inks)/Carlos Garzon (pencils & inks) Overall rating: 9½ out of 10  Plot summary: As Luke Skywalker sets up camp on the swamp planet of Dagobah, he encounters a strange and diminutive bipedal creature who reveals that he knows the whereabouts of Yoda, the Jedi Master that Luke has come in search of. Returning to the small creature's dwelling, Luke soon learns that the tiny alien is, in fact, Yoda himself. However, the Jedi Master is convinced that Luke is too old and reckless to be trained, until the disembodied voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi's Force ghost encourages Yoda to begin the boy's Jedi education. Yoda begins Luke's training with a punishing series of physical and mental exercises that push him to his limit, while expanding his knowledge and use of the Force. Elsewhere, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia and C-3PO are all on board the Millennium Falcon, hidden from Darth Vader's fleet of Star Destroyers inside a cave on the surface of an asteroid. However, it soon becomes apparent that the cave isn't the safe haven that Solo thought it was, and the Falcon is actually in the mouth of a giant space slug. Han guns the ship's engines to life and races out of the creature's rapidly collapsing maw just in time, as the Rebels once again encounter the Star Destroyers. Han turns the Falcon around and flies straight towards the perusing ships, cleverly swerving off at the last moment and landing on the hull of one of the Imperial craft. Meanwhile, during a private communiqué with the galactic Emperor, Vader suggests that Luke could be coerced to join the pair and embrace the dark side of the Force, instead of being killed by Vader. The Emperor agrees and preparations are made to capture Skywalker alive. Later, Vader hires a group of galactic bounty hunters, including the notorious Boba Fett, to track down and capture the Millennium Falcon. As the Imperial fleet disperses, with Vader believing that the Falcon has escaped him, Han detaches his freighter from the hull on which it is hidden and sets course for the planet Bespin, where an old friend of Solo's named Lando Calrissian lives. Unseen by the Rebels, Boba Fett's ship Slave 1 begins to follow the Falcon as it moves away. Comments: Part four of The Empire Strikes Back comic adaptation is another visual treat, with Al Williamson particularly excelling at depicting the tangled undergrowth and gnarled trees of the swamp planet of Dagobah. After years of working on EC's sci-fi comics and on Flash Gordon, Williamson was an expert at creating living, breathing alien ecosystems that looked simultaneously weird and unearthly, yet totally believable. He captures the dense, rain-soaked flora and misty murkiness of Dagobah perfectly, while adding in some of his trademark alien mushrooms and toadstools – and believe me, nobody draws mushrooms like Williamson does! This "set dressing" is so lovely that you can easily get lost in the details and find yourself wondering, "what's behind those creepers over there?" or "what's to the right of those tangled tree roots?" To be perfectly honest, Williamson's Dagobah comes close to overshadowing Luke and Yoda as the star of those scenes set on the swamp world. Still, that's not to say that Williamson's Dagobah sequences are perfect. There are some pretty serious scale or size problems with the artist's depictions of Yoda at times. I've spoken in my earlier review of The Marvel Comics Illustrated Version of The Empire Strikes Back about the redrawn version of Yoda that appears in this comic, but quite apart from that, Yoda's size seems to fluctuate considerably from panel to panel (this is also true of the earlier paperback-sized version). Sometimes Yoda appears to be about the right size for the Frank Oz puppet that we saw in the film (around 65cm), but at other times he appears to be absolutely tiny – about the size of a Mego action figure! While I wouldn't say that these size discrepancies detract from my enjoyment of the comic too much, they are a bit annoying and it's clear that Williamson had little or no idea of just how big or small he was supposed to be drawing the Jedi Master. Take a look at these panels to see what I mean...     On the plus side, we do get some extended or alternate Jedi training scenes that were missing from the movie, like Yoda tossing a metal bar into the air for Luke to hit with his lightsaber (which he initially fails to do). Like some of the other scenes that we've seen in this adaptation that were not in the movie, this extra training scene was in the shooting script, on which the adaptation was based. There's also a lovely training montage that Williamson draws (see my favourite panel below), in which we see Luke dueling with spherical, electronic training "remotes", just like he did on board the Millennium Falcon in Episode IV – A New Hope. Something that's missing from this issue, however, is a depiction of the giant space slug that almost devours the Millennium Falcon. This omission is a result of George Lucas himself requesting that Archie Goodwin instruct Williamson and Carlos Garzon not to show the space slug in the comic, in order to preserve the surprise for cinema goers. According to his personal blog, letterer Rick Veitch helps out again on the artwork in this issue by penciling the miscellaneous pieces of trash being dumping out of the Star Destroyers. Incidentally, on page 21 of this issue, there's an entirely new, full-page splash of the Imperial fleet dumping their garbage before jumping to hyperspace that's exclusive to this comic and not found in any of the earlier paperback or treasury-sized versions of the adaptation. Goodwin's scripting is on point again, although he has spoken in interviews of always regretting not managing to include more of the comedy involving R2-D2 on Dagobah. Nonetheless, he does an excellent job of adapting the screenplay for the comics page. Interestingly, in the scene where Darth Vader meets with the bounty hunters, Goodwin has Vader imply that 4-LOM, Zuckuss, Dengar, Bossk and IG-88, all work for Fett, by having the Dark Lord say, "you and your band are highly regarded in your particular trade, Boba Fett." This is interesting because that's not something that Goodwin got from the shooting script. It was his own idea. It's also something that was never supported by other expanded universe continuity. As a bonus feature, this issue includes a gallery of some of the different covers that had recently graced the front of the newly re-named The Empire Strikes Back Weekly in the UK. There's also a Star-Words letters page full of high praise for Williamson and Garzon's work on Star Wars #39. Overall, this issue is another kick-ass instalment of this fantastic adaptation. Unfortunately, I'm gonna have to dock it a ½ point for the scale issues that Williamson has with his depictions of Yoda, and because the tempo of the story has lulled momentarily here, just before we accelerate towards the exciting conclusion of the film. Nevertheless, this comic is still an absolute classic and an utter joy to read. Continuity issues: - On the front cover and inside the issue, Bossk's flight suit is incorrectly coloured purple, when it should be orange, and his skin is orange instead of green. However, his flight suit and skin are the correct colours in the Carl Gafford coloured paperback-sized version of the adaptation.
Favourite panel:  Favourite quote: "He will join us, my master, or die!" – Darth Vader vows to the Emperor that Luke Skywalker will join them in the dark side of the Force. First of all, coloring errors aside, I love the cover! When I was a kid, the scene with the bounty hunters was my favorite, and I played with my bounty hunter action figures more than any of the others. This was another god installation, but I wish they had more pages to adapt this. They seemed to skip more in this issue than in others, or may I just noticed it more in this issue. I was a little disappointed that they skipped the part where Artoo gets swallowed and spit out by that swamp creature. That’s where one of one of the changes that Lucas made which bothers me the most happened. In the original version, Luke says “You’re lucky you don’t taste very good.” But in the newer versions, he says “You’re lucky you got out of there.” Of all of the changes Lucas made, this is the most stupid, senseless, and pointless one. He replaced a funny line with a stupid, pointless line. I don’t get it. OK, rant over. Anyway, It’s interesting that Luke pulls his light saber on Yoda instead of his blaster, as in the movie. Also, the humorous bit where Yoda is rummaging through Luke’s equipment and fights with Artoo over the flashlight is only mentioned in the caption, not the art. Too bad. The "I like nice men" bit between Han & Leia was skipped, and more importantly they skip Threepio interrupting Han & Leia's kiss. Some more differences between comic and film include Leia identifying the mynock instead of Han. Leia also has a line about the “mouth of the cave” and Han says something about her being right about the mouth, anyway, which is not in the film. Also, as you said we also don’t get to see the space “slug” as the Falcon flies away, which was a little disappointing. Luke slices a metal bar here during his training. I remember reading about this in an earlier version of the script, but I’m surprised it was in the version that Goodwin must have been using. Luke also does a handstand on one finger! That would have been cool to see in the movie. The scene where Luke tries and fails to raise his X-Wing out of the swamp was shortened too much for my taste. Vader calls the bounty hunters "your band" to Boba Fett, implying he's the leader. I don't think that's how it really is. I always got the impression that they were independent. Vader Force choking the star destroyer captain ("apology accepted, Captain Needa") is not shown here - only implied in a caption. |
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Post by tarkintino on Apr 26, 2021 11:55:25 GMT -5
There are a number of problems with issue #42: one, although the Marvel Star Wars never had a firm grasp on capturing the likeness of the main, human characters at any time in its published life, they did not have the likeness rights restrictions that most other movie and TV adaptations had in the era leading up to this book (see: Marvel's Planet of the Apes magazine adaptations, for one significant example). With that in mind, for all of the publicity/production photos traced by Williamson, rarely did his Luke, Han or Leia ever resemble the actors. Often, his Han Solo could have been his Secret Agent Corrigan without missing a beat. The training sessions were greatly shortened here, and as a result, the drama, struggle and awakening so wonderfully laid out in the film are lost, especially Luke's struggle to lift his X-Wing out of the swamp, and the look of shock on Yoda's face that Luke was having even that much success with his effort. Luke's failure and disbelief was so well delivered by Hamill, that it set up audiences for the biggest Force act seen up to that point: Yoda lifting the X-Wing. One complimented the other, so Yoda's feat--and most importantly--his cold comment on Luke's failure was a major statement about what belief in the Force does/does not mean, and the impact of that all-important scene is just not matched in the comic. Aside from Yoda's constantly shifting size problem, the coloring was also off, particularly with Luke's Rebel fatigue uniform, which was a light tan/gray color, not the dark, khaki-ish color used in this adaptation...and the plain white boots? Not good. dbutler69, about Luke's training with the metal bar: I guess by now, most have seen this unused footage of Luke's Lightsaber training (which did not have this fan-added Lightsaber FX or sound)-- So, it did make it all of the way before cameras, but was cut for a few reasons--continuity has been cited as one.
Oh, and the bounty hunters were independent, not associated with or working for Fett.
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Post by huladollar on Apr 26, 2021 18:20:50 GMT -5
Vader used the Force to move something (a large crystal) with his mind - before it ever happened on film. Did it happen in Splinter of the Mind's Eye? I'm not sure about Splinter of the Minds Eye off the top of my head, but the first time it happened in the comic was waaaaayyyy back in issue #1! Vader causes a mug of steaming hot beverage to float into his hand -- although, as someone else pointed out earlier in this thread, how the hell was the dark Lord going to drink it?!!!  "as someone else pointed out earlier in this thread..." Hey, that was me! Way back on pg. 46 of this thread, in my first-ever post... How about issue #1, page 10, when Darth Vader is reaching out for his floating cup of coffee (or steamed blue milk, or whatever he's drinking) while he's prattling on about the "the cosmic force"? Which was immediately followed by my second-ever post: BTW: It just occurred to me... for the first time in 38 years... what exactly was Darth planning to do with that cup of coffee? Pour it through his speaker grille? Lift his mask up just a little to take a sip, like Rorschach in The Watchmen? It's been a while since I've commented here, but I'm still a regular reader! Still enjoying all of the comments and discussion, and an extra big thanks to dbutler69 for kicking this thread (which, to be clear, never disappeared) into high gear again. Overdue Compliments Department: Confessor, your 6-part Classic Comics Forum Star Wars podcast with Crimebuster was a real pleasure to listen to (even if I never changed your mind about Star Wars Annual #3!  ). I spent many an hour doing yardwork or out for a run while your enthusiastic and informed back-and-forth brought back all kind of nostalgic memories of reading these books the first time around. Much as this thread has done! Stoking the Controversy Department: One of the things I appreciate most about the Star Wars universe (in the cultural sense, not the universe that the characters live in) is the idea that people can derive so many different reactions from the same creative work. Someone somewhere will always find something to enjoy that maybe didn't click for someone else. Having said that: Infantino's art was wonky and off-model (although certainly energetic), and Williamson and Garzon's work is sheer masterpiece. Objective fact. |
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Post by tarkintino on Apr 27, 2021 13:43:17 GMT -5
Stoking the Controversy Department: One of the things I appreciate most about the Star Wars universe (in the cultural sense, not the universe that the characters live in) is the idea that people can derive so many different reactions from the same creative work. Someone somewhere will always find something to enjoy that maybe didn't click for someone else. Having said that: Infantino's art was wonky and off-model (although certainly energetic), and Williamson and Garzon's work is sheer masterpiece. Objective fact. Oh, no controversy here, as I will always point out artistic inaccuracies where they appear, and as noted in my post above, Williamson--despite how liberally he traced photos--never captured the likeness of the "big three" actors (aside from a traced image of Luke on very, very rare occasions), when likeness rights were not an issue for Marvel with Star Wars. Williamson often illustrated an inaccurate Millennium Falcon (based on a poorly molded toy), again this is with a wealth of LFL-supplied photo resources. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 27, 2021 17:04:08 GMT -5
Star Wars #43Cover dated: January 1981 Issue title: Betrayal at BespinScript: Archie Goodwin Artwork: Al Williamson (pencils & inks)/Carlos Garzon (pencils & inks) Colours: Glynis Wein Letters: Rick Veitch Cover art: Al Williamson (pencils & inks)/Carlos Garzon (pencils & inks) Overall rating: 10 out of 10  Plot summary: Han Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia and C-3PO arrive at Cloud City above the planet Bespin in the Millennium Falcon, hoping to find refuge with Han's old friend Lando Calrissian. After an initially frosty reception, Lando welcomes the group to his floating tibanna gas mine among the clouds and gives them a tour of the station. However, the Empire has actually arrived at Cloud City before the Falcon and the Rebels are captured by Darth Vader. Hoping to lure Luke Skywalker to Bespin, with his friends as bait, Vader decides to test Cloud City's carbon freezing facility on Han to ensure that the procedure will work on Skywalker without permanently harming him. Leia, Chewbacca and C-3PO are forced to watch as Han is lowered into the freezing chamber and entombed in carbonite for transportation to Jabba the Hutt by the bounty hunter Boba Fett. Meanwhile, on the swamp world of Dagobah, Yoda continues with Luke's Jedi training by sending him into a gnarled tree that is strong with the dark side of the Force. Once inside, Luke comes face to face with an apparition of Darth Vader. Engaging the spectre of his enemy in a lightsaber duel, Luke manages to dislodge the Dark Lord's face mask, revealing Luke's own face beneath. Baffled by the meaning of this, the young Rebel later has a Force-induced vision of his friends in pain in Cloud City. Luke elects to leave Dagobah and break off his Jedi training in an attempt to rescue them, despite Yoda and the Force ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi objecting to this course of action strongly. As Luke leaves the planet, Kenobi remarks to Yoda that Luke is their last hope of defeating the Emperor, but the venerable Jedi Master cryptically insists that there is another. Comments: Star Wars #43 features part five of the comic adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back and is another very strong entry in this already superb arc. Al Williamson and Carlos Garzon's artwork continues to delight, with the scenes on Dagobah and in the Cloud City carbon freezing chamber being especially nice. In the latter sequences, Williamson gives us some brooding shadow work and Garzon does a fantastic job of detailing all the background machinary. Interestingly, in the comic, Williamson has the carbonite that Han is entombed in falling down from the ceiling, rather than gushing up from within the carbon freezing pit itself, as it did in the film. Williamson also does a great job of opening Cloud City up in his depictions of the tibanna gas mine – much more so than in the film. There are a number of beautiful long shots of Lando and the Rebels walking along elevated causeways, that serve to make the Cloud City of the comics much less closed in than the shots of the facility in the movie suggest. Actually, during one of these long shots – on page 11 of this issue – Williamson gives us a cheeky cameo by George Lucas as a denizen of Cloud City. The cameo is based on a photograph of Lucas in Tunisia, while he was directing the first Star Wars movie in 1976. Giving Lucas a cameo in the comic adaptation of his own film is a pretty cool thing to do on Williamson's part and I remember what a kick I got out of it when I eventually realised who this bystander was meant to be...  It's also worth noting that page 19 of this issue is an all new splash page not found in any previous versions of this adaptation. Glynis Wein's colouring is really nice in this instalment and much better than Carl Gafford's colouring of the same scenes in the earlier Marvel Comics Illustrated Version of The Empire Strikes Back paperback. While I'm on the subject of the art, I should note that this issue includes a bonus pin-up section with illustrations of scenes from The Empire Strikes Back done by Terry Austin, Michael Golden, John Byrne, Marie Severin and Frank Miller. Archie Goodwin's scripting is as tight as ever here and, interestingly, we get some different dialogue between Han and Leia in the carbon freezing chamber. It's long been known by fans of the Star Wars movies that Solo's cocky reply of "I know" to Leia's impassioned declaration of her love for the Corellian smuggler, just before he descends into the carbon freezing pit, was ad-libbed on set by Harrison Ford. Here, Han's dialogue is taken directly from the shooting script, as he instead answers, "Just remember that, Leia, 'cause I'll be back." All in all, this is another gripping issue of the Empire adaptation. The artwork, scripting and plot here are all just about as good as we ever see in Marvel's Star Wars comic, so this is another issue that gets full marks from me. Continuity issues: None Favourite panel:  Favourite quote: "That ship saved my life more than a few times, it's the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy!" – Lando Calrissian waxes lyrical about the Millennium Falcon. I hadn’t noticed the Lucas cameo. That is indeed very cool! Most of my observations revolve around differences between the released film and the comic, as usual. On the second page, it looks like Bespin isn't floating, but rather sitting on a long stalk!! Weird. A later panel shows that it doesn't reach all the way down to the surface, though. They also mention Bespin's surface, but it's a gas planet. That’s really a nit on my part, though. The opening conversation between Han & Lando a bit different than in the film, and the bit where Lando tries to charm Leia at the beginning not here, either. Yoda looks really tiny in some panels, as others have mentioned. "Vader" doesn't get beheaded here - his helmet merely falls off. I wonder if that was deemed inappropriate for a “kids” comic or if that was a late script change. Leia wonders if Luke made it to the fleet all right, but a couple of issues ago she had told him that he was going to Dagobah. Here, Han defends Lando, saying he trusts him, unlike in the movie. Obi-Wan refers to Luke as "the last Jedi". Really? Luke’s not a Jedi yet. Boba Fett says Jabba pays double for Han if he's alive. That’s an interesting little fact not mentioned in the movie. Was it in an earlier version of the script, or the novelization? Also, Vader here says Boba doesn't get Han until he has Luke. In this version, there's actually a fight between Han & Lando after Han gets back from Vader’s torture, and Han winds up on the ground. I like the film version better. Lando shouldn't be fighting a guy who just went through what Han did. He’s more noble in the movie, taking his one deserved shot like a man, then doing what needs to be done. As far as Han’s dialogue just before that carbonite freezing, while I certainly prefer “I know” I have to say that the dialogue here is pretty good, too. |
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Post by tarkintino on Apr 27, 2021 18:49:53 GMT -5
On the second page, it looks like Bespin isn't floating, but rather sitting on a long stalk!! Weird. A later panel shows that it doesn't reach all the way down to the surface, though. They also mention Bespin's surface, but it's a gas planet. That’s really a nit on my part, though. Although Williamson's full-on exterior tracings of Cloud City are accurate, its when the cityscapes are revealed that largely pushed aside the actual effects structures and matte painted buildings to go in the too-ornate Flash Gordon mode, which to anyone who saw the film in theatres a number of times (*raises hands*), the differences were pretty glaring. I've always wondered about that. Several script revisions have the reunion play in different ways, but the essence of their meeting is the same as what was in the final cut. However, this adaptation's omitting Lando flirting with Leia seemed like a deliberate choice, since some sources have claimed that scene (like others not in this adaptation) was already in the Lucas-approved edit (he was also an un-credited editor on the film) by the time Marvel started to adapt the film. Yes, and in wide shots, he's thin and standing very upright, but in close-ups, he's closer to the screen puppet. Several scripts had Luke beheading Vader and the shock-reveal of Luke's face in the helmet. Further, by the time this issue had been distributed (December 1980 / January, 1981), millions of children had already watched TESB in theaters (comic readers among them)--including the Vader/cave sequence, so Marvel would have had no reason to censor what had been seen throughout the spring and summer of 1980. Yes, that's a large continuity problem, and what's worse, both scenes were shot, but cut from the final edit, so not only does Luke only tell R2 that's he's going to Dagobah, but on Cloud City, none of the heroes bring Luke up at all until Lando reveals Vader is using them to lure Luke to Cloud City. But Luke--being the only trainee of a group long destroyed by Vader, et al., is technically the last of their kind. In the film, Vader tells Fett: So, Vader's demands are largely the same in the film. Comic book drama. I thought Han saying he will be back is far too confident, and robs the scene of the sense of overwhelming hopelessness presented in the film. There, audiences were purposely led to believe that Han was never going to be seen again--there was not even a glimmer of hope (not even from Luke's arrival, since he was steered into the trap). |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Apr 28, 2021 8:04:09 GMT -5
Star Wars #22Cover dated: April 1979 Issue title: To the Last Gladiator!Script: Archie Goodwin Artwork: Carmine Infantino (pencils)/Bob Wiacek (inks) Colours: Bob Sharen Letters: Clem Robins Cover art: Carmine Infantino (pencils)/Bob Wiacek (inks) Overall rating: 6 out of 10  I re-read my few issues of the Wheel story arc yesterday, and there's one funny detail in the letters page of issue #22 (or thereabout): a reader complains that the romance between Luke and Leia is not addressed in the comic, and that they behave like brother and sister! I can imagine Archie Goodwin, a few years later, saying "See? I knew it all along!!!" |
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 28, 2021 8:16:22 GMT -5
Star Wars #44Cover dated: February 1981 Issue title: Duel a Dark Lord!Script: Archie Goodwin Artwork: Al Williamson (pencils & inks)/Carlos Garzon (pencils & inks)/Rick Veitch (pencils - uncredited) Colours: Glynis Wein Letters: Rick Veitch Cover art: Al Williamson (pencils & inks)/Carlos Garzon (pencils & inks) Overall rating: 10 out of 10  Plot summary: As Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 arrive at Cloud City to rescue their friends, Darth Vader hands the frozen body of Han Solo over to the bounty hunter Boba Fett for transportation to Jabba the Hutt. Vader then instructs his men to make arrangements for a permanent garrison to be set up in Cloud City, so that Princess Leia and Chewbacca can be held there, under Lando Calrissian's care. Lando objects, insisting that this was never part of the deal he made with the Empire, but Vader threateningly tells him that he is altering that deal. As Imperial troops escort Leia, Chewbacca and C-3PO from the carbon freezing facility, a firefight breaks out, as Luke attempts in vain to rescue his friends. Feeling guilty about having betrayed Han, Lando frees the princess and her comrades, before leading them to the landing platform where Boba Fett's ship is docked. Arriving too late to save Han, Lando then leads the Rebels back to the Millennium Falcon, through fierce resistance from Imperial stormtroopers, and they leave Cloud City in the Corellian freighter. Meanwhile, Luke encounters Vader in the carbon freezing facility. Igniting their lightsabers, the pair begin a ferocious duel, as Vader encourages the youngster to join him in the dark side of the Force. Their fight eventually takes them along a gantry, high above one of the city's exhaust shafts. Vader slices Luke's right hand with his saber, as he backs the wounded Rebel onto the end of the gantry. Luke accuses Vader of killing his father, but Vader shockingly replies that, in fact, he is Luke's father. Distraught and disbelieving of this revelation, Luke throws himself off of the gantry, plunging down into the exhaust shaft and eventually catching hold of a weathervane beneath Cloud City, where he precariously hangs. Calling out through the Force, Luke communicates with Leia on board the Falcon and the princess turns the ship around, rescuing Luke and escaping from the Empire. Some time later, on aboard a Rebel medical frigate, Luke's hand is replaced with a cybernetic extremity, as Lando and Chewbacca leave in the Falcon to begin their search for Han. Comments: So, the comic adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back comes to a close with Star Wars #44, and what a fantastic finish it is. The excitement and pace of this issue just doesn't let up from the first page to the last, as our heroes are hounded and hemmed in by the Empire, narrowly escaping with their lives. As with the other parts of this adaptation, Al Williamson and Carlos Garzon absolutely knock it out of the park with their artwork and it's worth noting that Page 18 of this issue is unique to this comic and not presented in any of the previously published versions of the adaptation. Just like issues #40, #41 and #42, letterer Rick Veitch lends a hand with pencilling here, this time drawing background tech during Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader's lightsaber fight. There's also a five page pin-up section at the end of this issue featuring art by Walt Simonson, Joe Jusko, Fred Hembeck, Bob Layton and Marshall Rogers. Archie Goodwin's scripting is just as strong and tight as it has been all through this arc. Among the differences to the film found in this issue, perhaps the most interesting is that Goodwin has Vader order his men to set up a permanent garrison on Cloud City, so that Princess Leia and Chewbacca can be imprisoned there under Lando Calrissian's stewardship...  This is different to the film, in which Vader merely threatens to leave a garrison on Cloud City unless Lando co-operates. This is not something that Goodwin got from the film's shooting script either, which is pretty much identical to the finished movie at this point, it's his own plot change. I kind of like this addition actually because it gives Lando much more motivation to rebel against Vader and then free Leia and Chewbacca. It's also interesting that Lando suggests heading for the Millennium Falcon in order to pursue Boba Fett's ship, once the Rebels realise that Fett has escaped with the frozen Han Solo. Again, this is Goodwin's addition, since in the film and screenplay the Rebels only race towards the Falcon in an attempt to escape from the Empire's stormtroopers. Another quite noticeable difference between the events of the film and this instalment of the comic adaptation is that Luke doesn't have his hand chopped off by Vader. Goodwin's narration simply says that Luke's hand "will never grasp anything again." Likewise, Williamson's artwork shows Luke's lightsaber falling away, but his severed hand is not clasping onto it, as it is in the film...  It's tempting to assume that this was something that Marvel insisted on, perhaps feeling that having the hero's hand severed was too violent for their comics. However, a look at the film's shooting script shows that Luke's hand is not severed there either, and instead the exposition describes Vader's lightsaber coming "down across Luke's forearm, cutting it", but not entirely removing it. Obviously having Luke's hand chopped off by Vader was a change that was made on the set by director Irving Kirshner, while the comic, being based on the shooting script, doesn't included this change. Goodwin has said that he always regretted not having Williamson draw a shot of the huge Rebel Escort Frigate from the end of the film and, indeed, it is tempting to see the adaptation's conclusion as being somewhat rushed. Once the Millennium Falcon has escaped the Empire, the movie's closing scene is told in just three panels. But you know what? I've never thought that it feels rushed at all. The story winds down to a very satisfying conclusion and to do that in just three panels is surely testament to the creative team of Goodwin, Williamson and Garzon. As far as Goodwin is concerned, I think it would be fair to call the Empire adaptation a fitting climax to his time as writer and editor on Marvel's Star Wars comic. I say climax because there's a message from Goodwin on the letters page of this issue, announcing that it is to be his last as editor of Marvel's Star Wars comic. He also announces that he will gradually be leaving the book as a writer too, although he still has a few stories yet to be published (these would be "Death Probe!", "Droid World!" and the double-size special "The Crimson Forever!" in issues #45, #47 and #50 respectively). The reason for his departure is due to his new job as editorial director on Marvel's Epic Illustrated magazine, which has been demanding too much of his time to continue to edit Star Wars as well. Louise Jones will be taking over full editorial duties from the next issue onwards, with help from assistant editor Danny Fingeroth. As amazing as this adaptation of Empire has been, I would say that the original issues of the Star Wars comic aren't necessarily the best place to read it. For one thing, there's a weird issue with the reproduction of the artwork in these six issues that isn't present in any other version. Some of the line work in these comics is squiggly or wobbly, as if seen through a heat haze or something. There are some comparison examples of what I mean below, with the "wobbly" lines circled in red...   I've no idea what caused this effect, but it's clearly an error of some kind. Maybe some of the more knowledgable comic fans out there in the forum can help out and explain what caused this. EDIT: The CCF's very own comic historian extraordinaire, Cei-U! has kindly provided an explanation of this "wobbly line" phenomena below. Just scroll down to read his comments on the subject. The other thing that I want to say about Star Wars #39 – 44 is that, unfortunately, a lot of the adaptation looks quite murky, when compared to the treasury and magazine-sized publications of the same material. I think that the highly detailed art, which shone so spectacularly in the pages of those other versions – no doubt because of the better quality paper and higher production values – looks muddy when transferred to newsprint. Without doubt the best looking edition of this adaptation – at least among its initial releases – would definitely be the version found in the treasury-sized Marvel Special Edition Featuring Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back #2. The larger treasury size really allows Williamson and Garzon's artwork to shine at its glorious best. Overall, this is another excellent issue of Star Wars that I simply have to give full marks to. It's really tough to find anything to criticise with the contents of a comic like this. In next month's issue we'll be getting back to all new, original stories from the post- Empire era. Continuity issues: None Favourite panel:  Favourite quote: "No, Luke, I am your father!" – Darth Vader reveals to a shocked Luke Skywalker that the young Rebel's parentage is not as he was led to believe. Overall, I thought this was one of the best issues of the TESB adaptation. Anyway, some differences from the film and some observations. Vader give Lando a little Force choke here. I don’t think that happened in the film, unless it was so subtle that I missed it, or more likely, misinterpreted it. There’s slightly different dialogue here and there, but not as marked as in some previous issues. It's not shown here that Leia is initially in favor of Chewie choking Lando. Also, here, Lando wants to get to the Falcon to chase after Boba Fett's ship and the Slave I gets away. They don't really show Luke's hand getting chopped off. Not that the film really showed it graphically, either. Also, Luke screams "never" as he jumps off the gantry in Cloud City. And people complain that Lucas added a scream from Luke in the newer editions of TESB! Luke's rescue scene different, as he actually falls from the weather vane and the Falcon has to catch him in mid-air. Finally, Leia saying "Thank the Force" just sounds weird to me. And thanks to Cei-U! for the knowledge about plastic printing plates! Goshdarn plastic! |
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Post by tarkintino on Apr 28, 2021 11:43:05 GMT -5
Vader give Lando a little Force choke here. I don’t think that happened in the film, unless it was so subtle that I missed it, or more likely, misinterpreted it. In the film, he does not choke Lando, but it is clear Lando feels threatened in a way that (off screen) made him so fearful of Vader. But the film clearly shows Luke's hand severed by Vader's blade--  Once again, there was no reason for the comic to omit one of the most dramatic moments of the film, when millions of children (if that was Marvel's concern) had witnessed the scene in the film, and in fact, children playing with the Kenner action figures often replayed that exact moment. This very distracting censoring would be slightly corrected in the forthcoming Star Wars #45, where Infantino shows Luke's stump twice in a flashback page:   The comic images above also show he illustrated Luke's on-screen boot details--  --a distinctive part of Luke's memorable costume, with its straps placed along its length, something Williamson inexplicably never bothered to capture. Then, there's the cover--  Luke is dueling Vader...but Williamson has another Lightsaber hilt hooked to his belt. The "never!" line appeared in various script drafts, and was also used by Donald F. Glut in his novelization of TESB: Something else from early script drafts, making the rescue one of a nick-of-time appearance, instead of Luke--as in the film--holding on until the Falcon moved into place beneath him. Perhaps not; the term "May the Force Be With You" is based on the Biblical quote, "May the Lord Be With You," so comic-Leia's "Thank the Force" is likely a continuation of taking real world religious expressions or quotes, as it clearly reads like "Thank the Lord". As posted this a few days ago, my favorite page from this final issue of TESB's adaptation is also the best of the entire adaptation:  Williamson leaves the tracing behind and just sets up the most important scene of the movie, and with limited panel space, effectively used angles to get as much of the early part of the duel in as possible. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 29, 2021 13:00:42 GMT -5
Star Wars #45Cover dated: March 1981 Issue title: Death ProbeScript: Archie Goodwin Artwork: Carmine Infantino (pencils)/Gene Day (inks)/Chic Stone (inks) Colours: Glynis Wein Letters: John Costanza Cover art: Larry Hama (pencils)/Al Milgrom (inks) Overall rating: 8½ out of 10  Plot summary: A battle-damaged Rebel blockade runner is racing towards its rendezvous with the Rebel fleet, when a prototype Imperial probe droid collides with it. Smashing through the ship's hull, the probe droid slaughters the entire crew and takes command of the vessel's automated functions. Elsewhere, Imperial Admiral Krell monitors the probot's progress from aboard his Star Destroyer, since it was he that dispatched the robot on its mission. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 are paroling near the hijacked blockade runner in an X-wing fighter, when the Rebel cruiser opens fire and destroys Luke's craft. Hurled clear of the explosion, Luke and R2 manage to board the blockade runner, as the probot launches a series of automated attacks on the pair. Making their way to the main computer chamber, Luke and R2 find the probe droid, but realise that it cannot be tampered with, in case it initialises a self-destruct sequence. In addition, Luke realises that the probot intends to fly the blockade runner into the heart of the Rebel fleet and detonate the ship, causing untold devastation. The probe droid realises that it is Luke Skywalker who is aboard and initiates a prior programming order, in which it is directed to capture the young Rebel for the Emperor. As a result, the Probe Droid changes course, flying away from the Rebel fleet and heading back towards the Star Destroyer it was launched from. Luke and R2 leave the ship in an escape pod, just as the blockade runner goes into hyperspace. With its reactor core still primed to overload, the blockade runner comes out of hyperspace and collides with Krell's Star Destroyer, obliterating both ships. Comments: Star Wars #45 sees the return of the regular creative team of Archie Goodwin and Carmine Infantino to the series, after an absence of seven months. Right off the bat, things seem to be grittier than in the pre- Empire Strikes Back stories, as if Goodwin has taken note of the darker mood and tone set by the recent Star Wars sequel. For example, in just the first four pages of this issue we see men getting sucked to their deaths in the vacuum of space, the entire crew of a Rebel blockade runner being slaughtered, and an unfortunate Rebel soldier having his head violently smashed against a computer console by an Imperial probe droid. This comic definitely seems slightly more "mature" than the earlier issues that the pair worked on. It's long been my belief that Goodwin and Al Williamson's work on the comic adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back had been of such a high calibre that it upped the ante for what was expected of creative teams on Marvel's Star Wars comic in the months and years that followed. As a result, I believe that it spurred Goodwin and Infantino on to greater heights in their own original stories and, indeed, this comic is probably my favourite Goodwin/Infanino issue of them all. I really like that this adventure is set just days after the events of Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back and there's certainly some good mining of recent continuity from Goodwin here, with the Rebel blockade runner on the opening page struggling to find its way back to the Rebel fleet, following the evacuation of the Rebel base on Hoth. Also, it's cool to see Luke Skywalker recovering from his duel with Darth Vader and agonising over whether what Vader told him about being his father is really true or not. Likewise, using a souped-up, "super Imperial probe droid" is a neat idea, since it takes one of the threats from Empire and makes it even more dangerous to the Rebels. On the downside, there's a fairly big continuity problem in this issue, with Luke inexplicably having a blue-bladed lightsaber in his possession. This is a problem because he lost his saber at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, during his duel with Vader, and it's not explained how or why he now has a replacement one. Luke will eventually construct a new lightsaber with a green blade, just prior to the events of Return of the Jedi, but that's a fair way off in the future. Of course, the real reason that Luke still has a lightsaber is because Marvel didn't want to have to tell stories in which Luke is without his signature weapon. Nevertheless, the lack of any kind of explanation does make this a bit of a continuity problem. I dunno, maybe the Rebel Alliance had an old lightsaber from the days before the Empire just laying around somewhere? I certainly didn't give a hoot where this new lightsaber had come from as a kid. However, something that did bother me as a kid is how the hell Luke and R2-D2 could have survived being in the middle of an exploding X-wing fighter! That seemed like a bit of a stretch to me, even as a child. If you've been following my reviews over the months you'll know that I'm not always Infantino's biggest booster, but his artwork has never looked better in the Star Wars comic than it does here. There is some really nice framing and staging in his panels, with Infantino really pulling out all the stops to translate Goodwin's exciting and energetic script. Gene Day returns as inker, although Chic Stone helps out by inking pages 22-27 of this comic. Day brings his usual "fine line" (for want of a better term) and precise touch to proceedings and he also brings a whole lot of dense, brooding shadow work. Again, it's tempting to see the influence of Williamson in this, but that's pure speculation on my part. In addition, for once it actually appears as if Infantino is trying to draw the various Star Wars space craft correctly. As I said earlier, I am definitely of the opinion that the high quality of The Empire Strikes Back adaptation pushed other talent working on the book to new heights. It's certainly tempting to conclude that Williamson's photo-realistic artwork had thrown Infantino's more stylised interpretations of the various Star Wars vessels into a poor light and, as a result, Infantino got his act together a bit more in these post- Empire issues. On a related subject, there's a gorgeous recap page in this comic, in which Infantino depicts several key scenes from The Empire Strikes Back. However, he does so very much in the style of Williamson's comic adaptation. It's fascinating to see Infantino aping Williamson in this manner and I remember, even as a kid, appreciating how much this recap page echoes the panels that we saw in the Empire adaptation. It provides a nice sense of consistency and cohesion between Williamson's work and the continuing original stories in the Marvel series...  All in all, this is a great, done-in-one story, with some of the best Infantino artwork that we've seen in the series so far. I also like that this story tries to fit in so closely with the events of The Empire Strikes Back. It's just a shame that the "mystery lightsaber" problem sabotages that to a greater or lesser degree, depending on your own tolerance of such things. This is a simple, but exciting, action-packed story, with the threats coming fast and furious for Luke and R2. It's also a story that eschews the rest of the Star Wars cast, but nevertheless, it's a very enjoyable comic, with thrills and spills aplenty, along with some clever ideas on Goodwin's part in order to get Luke and R2 out of some difficult situations. Continuity issues: - Luke has a blue-bladed lightsaber in his possession in this story, but he lost his during the duel with Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back.
Favourite panel:  Favourite quote: "Get under fast, Artoo, I'm tumbling right behind you!" – Luke Skywalker instructs R2-D2 to escape a blazing inferno by going under a partially opened door. Yes, it was good to show Luke agonizing over what Vader told him. I definitely had a problem with Luke and Artoo surviving the destruction of their X-Wing. That was too much, and spoiled things a bit for me. I did like how Goodwin told us a little about the doomed rebel aboard the blockade runner, Rad Torlent. Though he was only in a few panels, this gave his death more impact. I wasn’t as enamored of the art as you in this one, though we do share similar views on Infantino’s art. While normally an excellent storyteller, I did have a little trouble following the battle with that hold-tender robot. But yes, like you said, the recap page showing the events of TESB is wonderful. The bit where that door would only stay open if Luke kept his light saber in the control panel was weird. That really doesn’t make any sense, but I’m sure they were just trying to increase the drama by forcing Luke to quickly dive under a falling door. I didn’t quite understand how Luke was using the Force to hide his actions from the probe droid, when the droid believe Luke was still unconscious. However, I thought it was kinda neat, and a nice little twist, that Luke was indirectly saved by the fact that the probe droid found out who he was, and wanted to take him to Vader. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 29, 2021 16:42:28 GMT -5
I'm not sure about Splinter of the Minds Eye off the top of my head, but the first time it happened in the comic was waaaaayyyy back in issue #1! Vader causes a mug of steaming hot beverage to float into his hand -- although, as someone else pointed out earlier in this thread, how the hell was the dark Lord going to drink it?!!! "as someone else pointed out earlier in this thread..." Hey, that was me! Way back on pg. 46 of this thread, in my first-ever post... Heeyyy, huladollar...how ya doin'? Great to see you back around these parts. Sorry that I failed to cite you by username for picking out that little detail. I remembered the comment, but couldn't quite locate the poster in the corridors of my memory. It's been a while since I've commented here, but I'm still a regular reader! Still enjoying all of the comments and discussion, and an extra big thanks to dbutler69 for kicking this thread (which, to be clear, never disappeared) into high gear again. Yeah, I agree. I've been really enjoying reading and responding to dbutler69's comments. Overdue Compliments Department: Confessor, your 6-part Classic Comics Forum Star Wars podcast with Crimebuster was a real pleasure to listen to (even if I never changed your mind about Star Wars Annual #3! ). I spent many an hour doing yardwork or out for a run while your enthusiastic and informed back-and-forth brought back all kind of nostalgic memories of reading these books the first time around. Much as this thread has done! Awww...that's really nice of you to say, thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed listening to me drone on. I do have a new appreciation of SW Annual #3 though, since you and I discussed it earlier in the thread. I definitely rate it higher these days because of you, so thank you for that. Having said that: Infantino's art was wonky and off-model (although certainly energetic), and Williamson and Garzon's work is sheer masterpiece. Objective fact. Ha ha...I couldn't agree more. |
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). I spent many an hour doing yardwork or out for a run while your enthusiastic and informed back-and-forth brought back all kind of nostalgic memories of reading these books the first time around. Much as this thread has done!
