I actually kind of regret adding the upcoming omnibus to my wish list now, as I think someone has purchased it for me. If I'd known I would have tried to get the Dark Horse books instead.

I read the first half of issue One last night. Then I got caught up in a Rifftrax Shorts DVD with my boys. But I'm going to try to play along. No guarantees though. I have a hard time maintaining focus on funnybooks lately.

Earlier I said that I was frustrated by the coloring as a child but that I now missed it in comparison to the coloring in new edition and after reading the first issue over again I can say that as an adult I absolutely love the coloring. The contrasting colors just give the action so much life and a feeling of warmth that even the film was missing. And it's no wonder its so good as I just realized for the first time who did it...Marie Severin! Her work is always fantastic and this issue is no different, I particularly love the flames in the panel where C-P0 and R2-D2 blast off in the life pod. The yellows and blues she uses are perhaps unrealistic in their depiction of flame but the contrast between them and the blackness of space is very striking.

Overall, even after all these years, this if a fun little issue even if I could have perhaps done without the narration.

I always figured he stole the coffee from Admiral Motti just to be a dick.

Star Wars #2
Cover dated: August 1977
Issue title: Six Against the Galaxy
Script: Roy Thomas
Artwork: Howard Chaykin (layouts)/Steve Leialoha (inks)
Colours: Steve Leialoha, Carl Gafford
Letters: Tom Orzechowski
Cover art: Rick Hoberg (pencils)/Tom Palmer (inks)
Overall rating: 8 out of 10




Plot summary: The issue opens with an unconscious Luke Skywalker being rescued from the Sand People by Obi-Wan Kenobi and taken, along with his droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, to the safety of Kenobi's home. While there, R2 plays a holographic message from Princess Leia, in which she asks Kenobi to transport the droid and the Death Star plans he is carrying to her father on the planet of Alderaan. Kenobi reveals to Luke that he was once a member of the Jedi Knights, the "guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic." He also tells Luke about the Force, an energy field that gives the Jedi their power, and presents the youngster with a lightsaber (a sword-like weapon used by the Jedi, with a blade of pure energy) that once belonged to Luke's father. Kenobi explains that Luke's father was also a Jedi Knight and was murdered by Kenobi's former disciple, Darth Vader.

Obi-Wan asks Luke to accompany him on his journey to Alderaan. After initially refusing, Luke changes his mind upon discovering that his home has been destroyed and his aunt and uncle have been murdered by Imperial stormtroopers. Luke, Obi-Wan, R2-D2 and C-3PO travel to the spaceport town of Mos Eisley, where they hire a smuggler named Han Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca to take them to Alderaan in their freighter, the Millennium Falcon. After take off, the Falcon is attacked by Imperial Star Destroyers, but manages to escape, bound for Alderaan.


Comments: The first thing to say about this comic is how much better the artwork looks compared to the previous issue. Howard Chaykin drew rough layouts for this second instalment, but any trace of the scratchy, messy art style that we saw last issue has been eradicated beneath Steve Leialoha's smooth, confident inking. So much so, in fact, that it's quite hard to see anything of Chaykin's influence in the finished art (at least to my eyes). Given the seemingly rushed work that Chaykin turned in last issue, the art here is a huge improvement.

The story of the film really starts to build pace from this issue, with the introduction of the mysterious Obi-Wan Kenobi, the roguish Han Solo, and the concept of the Force. Roy Thomas's scripting seems slightly stronger and more assured than last issue, as he really starts to get into the swing of things and find his voice on the series. This is particularly true in the issue's caption boxes, where Thomas gives his eloquent prose free rein, with pleasing results.

Another improvement over last issue is that Thomas's writing and Leialoha's artwork really start to come close to capturing the magic and alien wonder of the film itself. It's also worth mentioning that the dialogue in this issue is much closer to the dialogue that we hear in the film than it was last issue; presumably this is because less changes were made to the shooting script that Thomas worked from during the filming of this segment of the movie.

I think my favourite parts of this comic are the scenes set in Mos Eisley. The entire issue is chock full of really nice artwork, but in the spaceport panels there's lots of background detail to explore, with the shadowy denizens of Mos Eisley being just as interesting, exotic and other-worldly as they were in the movie.

There's also a scene in this issue that was omitted from the finished film, in which Han Solo meets Jabba the Hutt. However, Jabba looks entirely different from the huge slug-like being that we would later see in Return of the Jedi. The reason for this is because, at the time, Lucasfilm had yet to come up with a finished design for the Hutt. Chaykin and Leialoha therefore depicted him as a human-sized, two-legged alien, with beady eyes, hanging jowls, whiskers and yellowish skin (although this skin colouring was changed to green in some reprints).

That's Jabba on the left hand side of the following panel, by the way...



The inspiration for this take on the Hutt crime lord was actually an alien seen in the background of the cantina sequence of the movie, later named as Mosep Binneed, which Chaykin must've seen a production still of or something. This Marvel comics version of Jabba the Hutt would again appear in issues #28 and #37 of the series.

My only real criticism of Star Wars #2 would be that the Rick Hoberg pencilled and Tom Palmer inked front cover is less striking than the cover of issue #1. It's more like a traditional comic book cover of the era, with an action packed fight scene and corny speech balloon that has Luke Skywalker shouting, "Swing that lightsabre, Ben -- or we're finished!" The only other slight negative to observe is that, with Leialoha's more refined line work, the transition from Chaykin's scratchy interior art last issue is quite jarring. This is especially noticeable when the separate parts of the adaptation are collected together.

Regardless of those two minor criticisms, this comic book might just be the best single issue of the movie adaptation. There's a confidence to the storytelling here that really serves to convey George Lucas's vision on the comic page. Oh, and just in case you were wondering, in the cantina scene where Greedo confronts Han Solo...Han definitely shoots first!

Continuity issues:

• Leia states that her father's name is Bail Antillies, rather than the correct Bail Organa.
• The blade of Luke's lightsaber is pink instead of blue/white.
• The Imperial interrogator droid is depicted as a green, humanoid robot, rather than as a floating black sphere.
• When Luke sees his family homestead destroyed he calls out for Uncle Ben, instead of Uncle Owen.
• Jabba the Hutt looks different from how he will appear in Return of the Jedi and subsequent films.
• The cloaked informant in Mos Eisley is depicted as a cerise-skinned human, rather than as an alien with a long snout.
• On the final page, the interior layout of the Millennium Falcon is noticeably different to how it appears in the film, with the cockpit clearly visible from the recreational lounge area.

Favourite panel:




Favourite quote: "It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 par-secs! I've outrun Imperial starships -- not the local bulk-cruisers, mind you -- these are the big Corellian ships I'm talking about." – Han Solo bragging to Obi-Wan Kenobi about the Millennium Falcon.

I recently read an interview with Chaykin on CBR where he said that if he'd known how big Star Wars was going to be, he would have done a better job.  I guess he figured it was just going to be a throwaway movie adaptation like so many others.

The art does feel a bit unpolished but I absolutely love the panel lay outs. In fact there are a few places in issue #1 that I think are framed better than even Lucas was able to in the film; an example would be the panel where Tarkin walks into the conference room to announce the dissolution of the Senate and Vader is just this hulking shadow behind him, that image is just far more menacing than the shiny, clearly defined look at Vader we got in the film.