Star Wars: Doomworld Review
Barry Harter is back with another nostalgic review.
Before “A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away…” usurped “Once upon a time,” Marvel Comics brought its own brand of swashbuckling sci-fi adventure to the Star Wars universe on a monthly basis.
Read on for the complete review!
Star Wars: A Long Time Ago… Volume 1: Doomworld
Review by Barry Harter
Before “A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away…” usurped “Once upon a time,” Marvel Comics brought its own brand of swashbuckling sci-fi adventure to the Star Wars universe on a monthly basis.
And, for an audience with an Andean-sized appetite for anything Star Wars, it was the best thing since Ben “Obi-Wan” Kenobi sprung the Force on an unsuspecting farm boy.
Star Wars and Marvel teamed early offering the first real licensed collectible, a Howard Chaykin original poster sold for five bucks at the San Diego ComiCon prior to the movie’s release. At the time Star Wars was still an unknown commodity and the poster undersold its print run.
When the film premiered and world of mouth turned it into a cinematic National Anthem for a generation, all bets were off and creator George Lucas became the taffy with too many pullers as companies lobbied for licensing rights.
Marvel’s six-issue adaptation of the movie was one of the first, evolving into a regular series. Writer Roy Thomas and Chaykin plotted the first nine issues. Don Glut stepped in to script issue 10 and Archie Goodwin and a past-his-prime Carmine Infantino signed on for the next 27.
Now, for the first time, all 107 issues, July 1977 to July 1988, including three annuals, are collected in seven volumes. The twist is Dark Horse, who now holds the comic license, has released them - sanitized of any reference to Marvel, of course.
What makes these otherwise over the top tales so memorable is the innocence they convey. Remember, this was way before Lucas became the architect of the prequel.
As the film eclipsed the previous feel-good movie of the seventies, Jaws, in box office ticket sales and with The Empire Strikes Back three years on down the road, Marvel turned its attention to the further adventures of Luke, Leia, Han and Chewie.
But, there weren’t any.
So, the House of Ideas simply prefaced the cover of issue seven with: At Last! Beyond the Movie! Beyond the Galaxy! and sent our heroes into the final frontier for many a merry Marvel escapade.
Later, with issue 16, the banner was changed to: Beyond the Greatest Space Fantasy Film of All!
And what a ride it was.
With little or no guidance from LucasFilms, Inc., Marvel brought camp to the Star Wars Universe.
To paraphrase Rod Serling - imagine, if you will, a world where Chewbacca is snuggling with an alien hootie queen while Han has to save the farm teamed with a green, space-suited rabbit that would’ve sent Jimmy Stewart screaming to the optometrist.
Meanwhile, Luke and Leia are traipsing around the galaxy looking for a good replacement base for the rebels who spend three years trying to find enough U-Hauls to get their stuff off the fourth moon of Yavin - all the while in the same togs they sported through most of A New Hope.
Collecting 20 issues, Star Wars: Doomworld is a hyperspace jump crammed into 369 glossy pages. Luke and Leia take a back seat to Han and Chewie who are hired to protect Aduba-3 after their reward from the princess is hijacked by space pirate Crimson Jack. But, the fab four are reunited on an unnamed planet in the Drexel system where they find themselves between the Dragon Lords and the Sanford and Son of the celestial set.
The trade ends in a space opera cliffhanger like the films of the thirties and forties that inspired Lucas. Han and Chewie are gladiators at the galaxy’s “most wretched hive of scum and villainy” this side of Mos Eisley (pause for dramatic effect) the Wheel! Simply Las Vegas in zero gravity.
Doomworld will have reader pulling out the credit card for the next installment, Dark Encounters, to see how our heroes get out of this one, so may the finances be with you at $30 a pop.
Four out of five lightsabers only because Infantino’s artwork drove me crazy.
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