Lit I love Marvel Star Wars

I've been reading the first A Long Time Ago...omnibus, and I have to say I don't think Marvel ever really captured the 'feel' of Star Wars in the way other comics have done. They just feel like generic adventures which could feature any Marvel character. The core of Star Wars, the mysticism and the cliffhanger-style thrills, are largely absent.

 

You'll change your tune, CobaltBlue, when you read the omnibus volume that features the glory that is the Hiromi.

YAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

That would be Kiro. I was using a different avatar before the forum changeover, but I don't think it's an option anymore. There was a very deliberate reason I chose Kiro, and this particular depiction of him, but I can't remember anymore.

 

I normally would recognise Kiro but this time i failed to do so.

 

Have you gotten past the Aduba section? I felt like the comics started to click immediately after that story line; Archie Goodwin was great about making the adventures he wrote fun, while taking it seriously, and the comedic touches he throws in are not parody, which is the element that Roy Thomas had going for his brief run.

The thing is, have you already read the whole series? It's a bit of a stretch to say that Marvel doesn't ever capture the feel of SW, from reading through the first of (is it five?) omnibuses. Archie Goodwin's storyline about The Wheel, and Luke's mission into the Yavin gas giant have wonderful doses of mysticism and mystery with Luke exploring his early understanding of the Force. David Micheline's Shira Brie has a more powerful Force-using Luke face a dangerous, scary aspect of The Force that he might never have considered, and I say scary because it really tests Luke's comfort level with the Force as something that he can trust in always.

The stories have that comic book tendency to lead into one another, very much in keeping with the nature of "cliffhanger" serials. One story might be ending, but you get a cliffhanger leading into the next story. It's not like with Dark Horse's mini-series approach, where stories might build off one another, but there's a greater degree of them being standalone. I'm not going to say one is better than the other; I like both approaches.

As far as generic adventures, SW comes from a tradition of generic adventures. And it's so much fun. For my money, many of Archie Goodwin's stories re-captured the original Star Wars movie's energy, sense of fun, and positive spirit. That's true to what Star Wars was from 1977 to 1980. TESB gave the movies a trajectory toward "trilogy" and "saga" storytelling modes. Goodwin was even a little ahead of his time in the sense that he has some characters who have relationships in really awkward ways. He has fun with that too (witness a scene where Han and Leia are eavesdropping unwillingly on a conversation Luke is having with a female character, sooo hilariously uncomfortable).

 

This is an edited version of a post I made on another board:

As a kid growing up during during the days of the SW OOT, the only real SW Expanded Universe was the Marvel series & some novels (SOTME, Han Solo Trilogy by BD, LS novels.) I was a huge SW fan & loved the comic, especially the post-ROTJ issues. There was a lot to like about this series: All of the issues w/art by the great Carmine Infantino (who I attest drew the best Stormtroopers), including "Return to Tattoine", "Day of the Dragon Lords", "The Sound of Armageddon", and others; SW Annual #1 with the winged aliens, w/great art & storyline; Jaxxon the green rabbit & the battle on Aduba 3 (which I believe was inspired by the classic Western film "The Magnificent Seven"); The pirates Crimson Jack & Jolli; The Cyborg Valance the Hunter & his eventual show-down with DV; the amazing ESB adaptation with superb art by AW; Issue #50, again with iconic AW art; the Hunt for Han Solo; the poignant "Droid World"; the great storyline with Fenn Shysha & the Mandalorians w/amazing art by Gene Day; The ROTJ adaptation; "Jawas of Doom", and many others.

 

Any thread singing the praises of Marvel that does not mention Ellie is considerably deficient.

 

What scene is that? I though I remember all Luke's romances, but apparently not

 

Luke is talking to Domina Tagge on a Monastery Planet, and if I recall correctly he started talking about how he feels about Princess Leia. Leia and Han are listening in on a hidden comlink, and one of them says they dearly wish Luke had been told he would have a secret transmitter to keeps tabs on him. I swear that page radiates their discomfiture! And this is written from a pre-RotJ perspective on Luke and Leia, for added awkwardness value.

 

Ooh, yes - I found it! He's talking to Artoo about Leia and Domina. Heh heh yes... Han's one big grin while Leia suddenly gets very tightlipped

 

Oops! I guess the discomfort and awkwardness is the reader's own (this reader...probably). At least it's still funny even when it's not remembered accurately; that's impressive in it's own way. I would have referred back to it for the details, but my seven volume set is in storage, and boy do I miss them, particularly now.

 

This thread makes me miss Genghis12.

It also makes me want to get back into my own Marvel thread.

 

Those campy parts of part of the charm! Old school Marvel is cracktastic.

 

I loved the Shira/Teezel arc - great writing - but as a kid I was mortally offended by Bespin having a surface and gave up. (I didn't get over it until Dan Wallace came up with a brilliant explanation in WOTC's RPG)

 

Just picked up all five Dark Horse omnibus volumes on discount from Amazon, so I now have the complete Marvel run sitting on my bookshelf, and am enjoying the heck out of them. I completely agree with the sentiment that they focus more on the whiz-band cliffhanger adventure and less on the dakr side sturm and drang, and I for one am grateful for it. In fact, I'm considering running an RPG game where the only canon is the Marvel canon, just to see what happens. Probably lots of Lepus carnivorus.

 

I've always wondered if those were inspired by the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog?

 

There's a great website called Home of the Lost Star Warriors which is basically an online Marvel Star Wars RPG sourcebook...keep in mind though, last I checked it's character stat write-ups were for the old West End Games D6 version of the SW RPG. I wasn't sure if you knew that; if you didn't, and are not put off by the older system, that site is a goldmine!

 

Why all the hate towards Aduba? I really enjoyed that one, also did anyone notice in said Aduba arc Don-Wan is wearing shiny white armour and a jousting thingy (sadly no image of this seems to exist on Wookieepedia) like Obi-Wan on muunilist? The accidental links to EU were one of the best parts of the series in my opinion . The giant organic Vong ship from Riders in the Void, and The anti droid sentiment after the Clone Wars to name a few.

 

Pah, how could anyone be put off by D6, D20 has been a blight on RPG gaming ever since the day it killed TACHO!

 

Archie Goodwin is one of the best writers to work on any SW medium. The Classic SW and SW Early Adventures comics are also great. There also aren't too many issues of either so its not going to break the bank to get them.

 

Hate for Aduba? There's a long article in Star Wars Gamer all about that arc. It's great (and has a great cover illustrating Han's crew as well)

 

If I remember that one correctly, Vader is utterly ruthless in it.

 

You remember correctly.

 

Fantastic, I'll be sure to check it out! WEG D6 Star Wars is one of the best systems ever published in my opinion. Thanks for the tip!