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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 24, 2017 19:41:08 GMT -5
Keeper's World
Well, the art is a bit better than the rushed, sketchy stuff Chaykin delivered for the movie adaptation, but not by a whole lot. To be honest, the whole thing gave much more a of Star TREK vibe to me that Star Wars.. seeking out new life and all that. I agree 100% the the dialogue was way off (as Confessor points out in his reviews), but I think it's more that it's being written for a non fan than for kids.. it feels very exposition-y to me.
The story is very basic, and has ALOT of flaws. Formost of them... why is there another Rebel base? That was the whole point of the first movie, is that they were making a last stand. Sure, there are other rebels out there, but to casually refer to another base as if there are several makes no sense.
Then there's the fleet.. they refer to it as THE Imperial Fleet... so the Rebels have a network of bases, and the Empire only has one Fleet.. and it's hanging around an uncharted planet that isn't on any star maps? How does that make any sense?
Then we have the Empire discover this amazing self aware computer running a whole planet, and they don't try to capture and exploit it? JUst silly all the way around.
Overall, not a great way to get people into Star Wars.
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rossn
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Post by rossn on Mar 25, 2017 10:16:11 GMT -5
Catching up with these insights. I agree wildfire2099 that there is a lot to like about the Wheel storyline. That sort of 'fringe' territory always really interests me in Star Wars - I have and cherish the short story collections set in the Mos Eisley Cantina and Jabba's Palace that showcase civilian life in the GFFA (usually very, very shady civilians of course but still.) Then there's the fleet.. they refer to it as THE Imperial Fleet... so the Rebels have a network of bases, and the Empire only has one Fleet.. and it's hanging around an uncharted planet that isn't on any star maps? How does that make any sense? Yeah Star Wars writers seem all over the place with how big the Empire is actually meant to be. In general the Marvelverse version feels a bit smaller than the later EU version where the writers tended to treat the title 'Galactic' as literal. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 25, 2017 10:53:16 GMT -5
I had no idea that you'd be reading these Pizzazz strips too, wildfire2099. Are they featured in the same Epic collection as the other issues of the regular series you're reading? Well, the art is a bit better than the rushed, sketchy stuff Chaykin delivered for the movie adaptation, but not by a whole lot. Largely due to Tony DeZuniga's inking, I think. To be honest, the whole thing gave much more a of Star TREK vibe to me that Star Wars.. seeking out new life and all that. That's a good point. The alien world itself and the supercomputer "Keeper" is quite Star Trek like. I agree 100% the the dialogue was way off (as Confessor points out in his reviews), but I think it's more that it's being written for a non fan than for kids. Stan Lee himself mentions in Star Wars #6 that Pizzazz is aimed at kids aged between 8 and 14 and, as far as I can see, the emphasis was definitely on the younger end of that age bracket. So, I think Thomas was definitely pitching the dialogue at a younger audience than he was in the main SW book. The story is very basic, and has ALOT of flaws. Formost of them... why is there another Rebel base? That was the whole point of the first movie, is that they were making a last stand. Sure, there are other rebels out there, but to casually refer to another base as if there are several makes no sense. Then there's the fleet.. they refer to it as THE Imperial Fleet... so the Rebels have a network of bases, and the Empire only has one Fleet.. and it's hanging around an uncharted planet that isn't on any star maps? How does that make any sense? Well, Yavin 4 was the main Rebel base, yes, but there were definitely other Rebel outposts. We see this again and again in the Marvel series and in later Expanded Universe literature too. Of course, here Roy Thomas calls the Rebel outpost on Akuria the "second Rebel base", which is very misleading. As you say, there is only one main Rebel base and then a few, much smaller outposts dotted around the galaxy. The thing is, you have to remember that this story was written right at the very beginning of Star Wars publishing -- in fact. "The Keeper's World" was the very first piece of expanded universe storytelling ever (predating the start of post- A New Hope adventures in the main SW comic). Thomas was really whistling in the dark at this point, probably not fully grasping how the SW universe was structured. I agree that "The Keeper's World" is totally forgettable and not a patch on the stories appearing in the regular Star Wars comic, but we also have to view these stories within the context of when they were written and give Thomas a little bit of leeway for that. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 25, 2017 17:37:45 GMT -5
I didn't realize that story pre-dated the other stuff... that actually makes sense. And yes, the recent Marvel Epic release (Which is what I'm reading from) includes the UK stuff... it has the whole next story, too (started in Pizzaz and finished in the UK). I was pleasantly surprised that it was included when I got it.  |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 25, 2017 19:05:41 GMT -5
I didn't realize that story pre-dated the other stuff... that actually makes sense. And yes, the recent Marvel Epic release (Which is what I'm reading from) includes the UK stuff... it has the whole next story, too (started in Pizzaz and finished in the UK). I was pleasantly surprised that it was included when I got it. Yeah "The Keepers World" pre-dated the post-Episode IV adventures in the regular comic initially and then ran concurrently with it through 1977. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 29, 2017 0:07:27 GMT -5
Kingdom of Ice FAR better than Keeper's world.. and really pretty good overall, IMO. I thought the art was alot better (I clearly liked it more than Confessor did).. while certainly not the best possible work from Simonson or Cockrum, it's quite passable. More importantly, it felt more properly Star Wars-y, with the ice Wookies, the War Sled (which would have been perfectly in place parked outside Jabba's Palace), and the rocket skis. Plot wise, they answered my concerns.. this isn't a Rebellion base, but a bunch of rebels that want to join.. having it be a recruiting mission makes MUCH more sense, and one could even say that seeing the lay out inspired them to choose Hoth  . I thought the good guys figured things out a little too quickly and easily, and obviously the ending was rushed (I suspect this should have had a couple more parts had Pizzaz not ended), it was nice that an ending did see print. R2 was really great here (though he's colored wrong in one panel.... he's red and white in the ending panel in part 5(not just mood, but maybe), and multi colored earlier. The dialogue was much better, I thought overall, with only a few painfully awkward spots. I'm not sure if vol. 2 will make it in this month's DCBS box or next, I'll find out probably tomorrow!
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 29, 2017 7:16:39 GMT -5
Kingdom of Ice FAR better than Keeper's world.. and really pretty good overall, IMO. I thought the art was alot better (I clearly liked it more than Confessor did).. while certainly not the best possible work from Simonson or Cockrum, it's quite passable. While I agree that the artwork was better than that in "The Keepers World", my problem with the art in this story is that, like a lot of the writing and art in the Pizzazz strips, it just feels dialled in. It's my opinion that none of the creative teams on these strips were taking the work overly seriously, compared to Marvel's regular monthly comics. Walt Simonson's artwork in "Kingdom of Ice" is much better than Chaykin's or DeZuniga's in the preceding story, but I don't necessarily think Klaus Janson was a particularly good match for him in the early installments. I mean, their styles mesh well enough, but, I dunno...I'm not sure it made the best of Simonson's pencils. Dave Cockrum too produces work that is perfectly serviceable, but far below his usual standard. More importantly, it felt more properly Star Wars-y, with the ice Wookies, the War Sled (which would have been perfectly in place parked outside Jabba's Palace), and the rocket skis. I'd draw the line at the Power Skis feeling Star wars-y, but other than that, yes, I agree. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 3, 2017 7:00:19 GMT -5
I thought it might be interesting to see what the Top 10 highest rated (by me) issues of Marvel's original Star Wars series were. I've not included any of the movie adaptation issues because I think it's more interesting to focus on the Marvel originated stories instead. All except one of these issues was published in the inter- Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi era, which confirms my long held belief that this was the era when the comic was at its very best. Of these ten best issues, one is by Archie Goodwin, Al Williamson and Walt Simonson; one is by David Michelinie and Gene Day; three issues are by the Mary Jo Duffy/Ron Frenz team; and four of these highest rated issues are by David Michelinie and Walt Simonson. Again, this does tend to reinforce what I already believed, which is that the Michelinie/Simonson and Duffy/Frenz runs were the two best of the series. Let me know if you agree or disagree with any of my choices. Or was there an all-time favourite issue of yours that you think I gave an unnecessarily low overall score to (I know my savaging of "The Last Jedi!" in issue #49 was controversial). Anyway, here are links to my reviews of the best of the series... • Star Wars #50 (The Crimson Forever!)• Star Wars #51 (Resurrection of Evil)• Star Wars #55 (Plif!)• Star Wars #62 (Pariah!)• Star Wars #63 (The Mind Spider!)• Star Wars #65 (Golrath Never Forgets!)• Star Wars #68 (The Search Begins)• Star Wars #71 (Return to Stenos)• Star Wars #76 (Artoo-Detoo to the Rescue)• Star Wars #81 (Jawas of Doom) |
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Post by rebeljedi on Jun 3, 2017 12:54:44 GMT -5
Confessor congratulations on the completion of your reviews of Marvel's original Star Wars comic series. I'm currently reading the Star Wars Epic Collection The Newspaper Strips Volume 1 and I was wondering if you will be reviewing Dark Horse's Classic Star Wars series?
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Jun 3, 2017 18:53:04 GMT -5
Confessor congratulations on the completion of your reviews of Marvel's original Star Wars comic series. Thanks. It's been a labour of love, but after two years of writing reviews of the series, I was glad of taking a break from SW comics. I'm currently reading the Star Wars Epic Collection The Newspaper Strips Volume 1 and I was wondering if you will be reviewing Dark Horse's Classic Star Wars series? I won't be, no, but luckily thwhtguardian has almost finished a review thread of the SW newspaper strips, which Dark Horse reprinted in the Classic Star Wars series. Here's the link... classiccomics.org/thread/1080/star-wars-dailies-inspired-confessor |
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bran
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Post by bran on Jun 12, 2017 7:23:42 GMT -5
not a comment Confessor, but here some more trivia regarding the series:
so Roy brought in SW to Marvel (before anyone knew what in Hell is Star Wars), made a good deal, went on with Chaykin and created comics that would beat Spider-Man in sales 4x over. that's amazing.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Jun 13, 2017 12:21:33 GMT -5
not a comment Confessor, but here some more trivia regarding the series: so Roy brought in SW to Marvel (before anyone knew what in Hell is Star Wars), made a good deal, went on with Chaykin and created comics that would beat Spider-Man in sales 4x over. that's amazing. Not a bad little video. There wasn't anything majorly inaccurate in it and it gives a reasonable overview of the series. Nice that they saw fit to mention Jaxxon though, as well as George Lucas's displeasure over him. |
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Post by rom on Jun 14, 2017 19:51:49 GMT -5
Good points re: Marvel & Star Wars comics in the '70's. Prior to reading the below article, I hadn't realized how much Marvel really "owes" the Star Wars films/comic franchise. Re: this article, the strong implication here is that Marvel comics (and possibly the comics industry as a whole) may have died a slow & painful death in the late '70's...if the Star Wars film & comic tie-in hadn't been released: io9.gizmodo.com/5840578/how-star-wars-saved-the-comic-book-industry |
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Post by urrutiap on Aug 29, 2017 14:36:13 GMT -5
Ive been reading the first 12 issues of the original Marvel Comics Star Wars comic and I happen to like them.
Jaxxon, I dont see anything wrong with the character. Everyone else seems to blow things out of proportion about the character. Hes only there to help Han and the other recruits to save a village and thats it.
So whats the big freakin deal anyway?
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 29, 2017 15:09:42 GMT -5
Ive been reading the first 12 issues of the original Marvel Comics Star Wars comic and I happen to like them. Jaxxon, I dont see anything wrong with the character. Everyone else seems to blow things out of proportion about the character. Hes only there to help Han and the other recruits to save a village and thats it. So whats the big freakin deal anyway? He's certainly less embarrassing that Jar-Jar Binks!!! However, George Lucas didn't seem to think so. I fear he found Jaxxon too cartoony. Me, I see Jaxxon as a relative of Space Usagi... and so as a honourable character! |
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. I thought the good guys figured things out a little too quickly and easily, and obviously the ending was rushed (I suspect this should have had a couple more parts had Pizzaz not ended), it was nice that an ending did see print. 
