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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

BTS DH Comics to release 'The Star Wars' in September

Discussion in 'Star Wars Saga In-Depth' started by Darth_Nub, Apr 5, 2013.

  1. ATMachine

    ATMachine Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2007
    Also present, interestingly, is the use of nuclear weapons by the Empire--an idea clearly derived from Dune which didn't make it beyond the first draft.
     
  2. purplerain

    purplerain Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 14, 2013
    They should also adapt the rough drafts of the other 5 movies.
     
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  3. Lt.Cmdr.Thrawn

    Lt.Cmdr.Thrawn Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 23, 1999
    That would be fascinating:

    Empire: The Brackett draft, with Darth Vader feeding gargoyles from a golden bowl, at his castle in the lava flows. Father Skywalker appears, and mentions Nellith, the Sister. Lando Kadar is a clone.Han goes off to look for his stepfather (?) Ovan Marekal at the end.

    Jedi: The Rebels are setting up multiple Ion Cannons on the Sanctuary Moon (Tarasind?) of Had Abbadon, to knock out the comms satellites and some of the city on the planet's surface. Luke has been training with Yoda the whole time. The Rebels meet up on the grass planet of Sicemon, and discuss whether there should be peace accords with the Empire, which Luke argues against.

    Episode I: Very similar to the final movie except most of what Qui-Gon does is given to Obi-Wan instead. We know barely anything about the earliest notes for this movie.

    Episode II: I don't think we know anything about the rough draft of this one. (The script was very late, being written as it was shot or very close to it, right?)

    Episode III: Similar to the final movie except Anakin turns after killing Dooku in a mirror of the ROTJ duel. When Mace Windu leads the posse against Palpatine, Anakin is at the Chancellor's side. Anakin's political motivations may be stronger (?) in this version.

    The thing about the latter two prequels is that it's hard to tell what the earlier versions were like, or even if those versions compare in finished-ness to the others; editing and reshoots played a large role in the development of those movies. So even after they were shot, they were still evolving.
     
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  4. purplerain

    purplerain Jedi Knight star 4

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    Sep 14, 2013
    This is why we have Rinzler.

    Anyway, I'd really love seeing Had Abbadon and Anakin turn earlier.
     
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  5. Alexrd

    Alexrd Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 7, 2009
    Turns out I was right. Valorum appears on the latest issue. A bit dissapointing really. I was expecting a more iconic armour.

    Also, Vader's helmet without the mask feels like a joke. Nothing that detracts from the issue's overall quality though.
     
  6. Darth_Nub

    Darth_Nub Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Apr 26, 2009
    Just got issue #3 - yep, you were right all along, that's not Valorum on the cover of issue #1. I did like Valorum's appearance, though - his mask with no helmet seems to be inspired by an early McQuarrie sketch of Vader:

    [​IMG] [​IMG]

    Also might have taken some inspiration from the KOTOR character Darth Malgus:

    [​IMG]

    The real pleasure to be taken from this comic series is in the way various elements from all sorts of SW sources have been utilised. The story itself isn't brilliant - this was the rough draft, after all - but the series continues to give coherence and relevance to GL's early vision through such visual references (another one I liked in issue #3 - General Luke Skywalker donning a poncho just like Qui-Gon's in Mos Espa).

    Although the rough draft was the genesis of SW/ANH, you can also see TPM in there, along with Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress. Once it's done, I'm going to have to compare it with the actual rough draft and see how much has been added or changed.

    And yes, the Vader helmet with no mask did look ridiculous - desperately trying to link the 'Darth Vader' of this draft to the character we know in such blatant ways is about the only thing I don't like so far.
     
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  7. Alexrd

    Alexrd Chosen One star 6

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    Jul 7, 2009
    Indeed. I think ANH and TPM are the ones most faithful to Lucas' original vision. They also happen to be my favourite movies of the saga, coincidence or not.
     
  8. Vthuil

    Vthuil Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 3, 2013
    Yeah, they're totally overselling that. I get that they're playing with the connections between the draft and the saga as we know it, but this Vader is really a bit player - I'm not at all certain I'd even call him as important as Tarkin.

    And I suspect Darth Malgus's mask was based on that concept art in the first place.
     
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  9. Darth_Nub

    Darth_Nub Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Apr 26, 2009
    Ironically, all this emphasis on matching this Vader with film Vader distracts from the far more important connection between Valorum and film Vader - an evil Sith Knight/Lord who turns good, something that was there from the start (although we've yet to see much of Valorum so far).
    Making Kane's chest command panel identical to Vader's was a really clever touch, but the treatment of this Vader is both heavy-handed and misdirected. I quite like the character, it's just not all that faithful to the draft.

    I agree, although the comic almost seems to have designed it with the Malgus mask in mind as well.
     
  10. Vthuil

    Vthuil Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 3, 2013
    All right. I'm not sure if I should make a new thread or revive this one, but I can't let this go without comment any longer: what the heck is this guy talking about?

    I have no idea what this lofty-sounding nonsense was supposed to mean. The Star Wars was always going to be an illustrated adaptation of the rough draft; the art might get creative but the story would be the same. What was this person expecting if not that?
     
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  11. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Haven't followed this series at all.
     
  12. bstnsx704

    bstnsx704 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 11, 2013
    I'm holding out for the inevitable TPB or Hardcover release myself. I'm dying to read it, but individual comics aren't really my thing. I prefer to have them collected.
     
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  13. Alexrd

    Alexrd Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 7, 2009
    Don't know, but he has been writing similar nonsense ever since the series started, so...
     
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  14. Darth_Nub

    Darth_Nub Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Apr 26, 2009
    Yeesh, talk about missing the point. It was always going to be more interesting than necessarily 'good' as an original work, and I think it's been incredibly creative. Still looking forward to Valorum's redemption & the Wookiee ground battle.
     
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  15. Dark Lord Tarkas

    Dark Lord Tarkas Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 29, 2011
    I got issue #1 and absolutely love it but the local comics shop stopped getting it...I really need to order the new ones. This is a dream-come-true series for me.
     
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  16. Darth_Nub

    Darth_Nub Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Apr 26, 2009
    Dark Horse no longer has the SW license - Marvel (Disney) now does - but I'm hoping that they'll be inclined to recruit the same people anyway, much as Rebels seems to be getting made by much the same crew as TCW.

    Already mentioned it, as have others, but a comic series of the Brackett draft of ESB would be great fun. The Critter/Minch/Yoda duelling with ghost Obi-Wan, Darth Vader feeding his gargoyles, the ghost of Luke's father telling Luke about his sister Nellith, the Emperor in gold - it'd be more mind-bending than this one or any of the Infinities series.

    I haven't had enough time over the last few months to really sit down & appreciate the latest issues, although I've been trying to grab them when I get a chance (my missus gave me a TGIF surprise by picking up #5 & the #0 'guide' issue last week when she was out & about near a comic store, Force bless her :) ).

    In the last couple of issues, I think the story itself has stagnated a bit - which is simply a reflection of the fact that it was a first draft. Recently there haven't been as many of those clever nods to the finished films which really click as genuine connections - we've seen Han Solo as a reptilian alien, but he's just something completely foreign, he doesn't resemble Han Solo at all, even putting aside the physical appearance. If anything, we're probably seeing more of the differences & abandoned ideas now.

    And although it's not over yet, I think they've botched Prince Valorum by giving most of the Darth Vader iconography to the lesser 'Darth Vader' character of this rough draft.
     
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  17. Vthuil

    Vthuil Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 3, 2013
    Yeah, that was kind of a shame. He's Vader's true precursor, but they largely squandered that in favor of the nobody who happened to be the origin of the name.
     
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  18. thejeditraitor

    thejeditraitor Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 19, 2003
  19. Alexrd

    Alexrd Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 7, 2009
    I'm buying it as well.
     
  20. Darth_Nub

    Darth_Nub Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Apr 26, 2009
    Can't see myself bothering with the TPB, I've got issues #0-8 (#0 has a heap of concept art and a rough 'pilot' of the first scene), but let us know if there's any good bonus material.

    EDIT: Having read the last two issues a couple of weeks ago, my overall impression of the series has stayed much the same, and I stand by my position that they botched Prince Valorum.
    The character really should have been a parallel to the Darth Vader we know, an authentic verification of the whole 'redeemed villain/Sith Lord' existing so early in the story's development - instead, they went for easy, cheap visual parallels with the character who is Darth Vader in name only, and Valorum was left with little to echo what he would actually evolve into.

    Incidentally, there was an odd little addition at the very end of Issue #8 - a 'tease' for a sequel, which was similar to the same tease which exists at the end of the Second Draft (which mentions the Lars family being kidnapped, and was called 'The Princess of Ondos'), but not the (Rough/First) draft this series was based on.
    It's not identical, just presented and worded in a very similar manner (I don't have my copy of #8 to hand, it's literally 100km away). I think it was meant to be a tribute to the tease for the Second Draft, but it just seemed strange, given the disparity.

    Anyway, The Star Wars was a fascinating, worthwhile experiment of a comic series, I'd definitely recommend it, and I hope Marvel continues with similar projects.
     
  21. thejeditraitor

    thejeditraitor Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 19, 2003
    but he wasn't that character in that script was he? i didn't think he had much character yet. from memory he had no deeper character at that point.

    Espaa Valorum - Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki

    His Eminence Prince Espaa Valorum was the Master of the Sith, a Bogan Master, and the real ruler of the Galactic Empire at Alderaan. His second in command was Darth Vader. He dressed in the black uniform of the Sith One Hundred.

    Valorum first appeared in the rough draft as a Sith knight. After being demoted to stormtrooper after failing to capture the Rebels aboard a Baltarian freighter and witnessing the torture of Annikin Starkiller aboard the space fortress, Valorum became disgusted with the Empire, and joins the heroes in escaping the space station as it is destroyed.

    he was a sith knight but i don't think he and vader were combined yet. the comic is meant to reflect the rough draft not what the script would become later. so he shouldn't be like vader at all and rightly so.
     
  22. Darth_Nub

    Darth_Nub Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Apr 26, 2009
    Different character, for all intents & purposes (this 'Sith/Bogan Master' would eventually merge with the Emperor). The Wook entry's description reflects the next incarnation of the character (Second Draft), not the Valorum in the Rough/First Draft.

    (TBH, I don't know why Wookieepedia allows characters, events, planets, etc, from abandoned drafts to appear as if they were a part of normal continuity, it's incredibly misleading. I'll have to double check, but I think the entry's actually a jumble of misinformation, anyway, combining bits from multiple drafts)

    My point was that Prince Valorum in the Rough/First Draft, i.e. the draft the DH series was based on, was an early representation of an idea that GL had in his mind regarding a villain who turned good, just as Kane Starkiller was the first appearance of a cyborg - he wasn't a villain, but he was the hero's father, and the comic series' incorporation of parts of Darth Vader's chestplate into his costume was extremely clever.

    The Darth Vader we all know and love took his DNA from several characters who appeared in these early drafts - what irritated me was that the series emphasised this too heavily on a character who he really only shared a name with, and barely at all on the one he truly evolved from.
     
  23. ATMachine

    ATMachine Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2007
    Prince Valorum is a character distinct from Darth Vader in the rough draft, yes. But in that draft Darth Vader is merely the name of an Imperial army officer, a mere henchman. It is Prince Valorum who fills Vader's role in the story, as the villainous black knight who is ultimately redeemed. Valorum is an awe-inspiring, lightsaber-wielding Sith Knight (though mind you, the Sith were much different in the rough draft); General Darth Vader is nothing of the sort.

    EDIT: Nub beat me to it. I'll second his point about the second draft, too. In the second draft "Prince Espaa Valorum" is the name of an evil sorcerer, Darth Vader's boss, who is the real power behind the Emperor's throne. It's in the second draft that the Sith truly became evil wizards in themselves; in the rough draft they were merely warriors who misguidedly served a corrupt state.
     
  24. thejeditraitor

    thejeditraitor Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 19, 2003
    well i still haven't read it so i'll have to see. i read all the drafts but it's been a while.
     
  25. darklordoftech

    darklordoftech Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 30, 2012
    I have two questions:

    1. Where in the second draft is Espaa Valorum said to be the power behind the Emperor's throne?

    2. Do you agree with Nub that "The Star Wars" should have equated Prince Valorum with modern Vader instead of equating General Darth Vader with modern Darth Vader?