Lit I love Marvel Star Wars

The Marvel panel at Celebration, IIRC, said that LFL was really disappointed with the Aduba arc.

 

I was at the panel; I was the guy that said he was waiting for the Boba Fett/Valance story. That would be big.

I would anxiously await each issue back in the pre-EU days. Even as a kid, I was impressed how much time they devoted to the whole idea of prejudice against droids and cyborgs. And it had one of my favorite Han Solo lines, from his last showdown with Crimson Jack:

JACK: I always knew it'd just be you and me in the end.
HAN: No, Jack...
BANG!
HAN:...just me.

Oh, and from the Valance/Vader battle in "Dark Encounter":

VADER: A bounty hunter with your abilities would serve me well.
VALANCE: A useful freak. Not unlike your own position with the Empire.

And what do we learn in TPM?

 

Remember when Vader claims a young poor kid who loses him mom reminds alot of himself in the third annual? Accidental connections for the win!

 

Yeah, the Aduba storyline has gotten a lot of flack over the years by fans, and the main reason is probably Jaxxon the green rabbit.

However, I have fond memories of this storyline when I first read this as a kid back in the day - in fact, Star Wars #7 amazed me; first of all, the cover was incredible, and IMHO is one of the best SW Marvel covers - Han Solo & Chewie fighting unknown enemies on some desolate planet with their wanted posters in the background; this was great, and was very much in the spirit of the "western in space" that ANH really celebrated. And, I remember when I first saw the comic (at a friend's house, I think), I was surprised that it even existed, since at that time I didn't know that there was a SW comic series that continued the characters' adventures beyond the films. This was definitely my first exposure to the EU, and as such I have fond memories of these particular issues.

Years later, after seeing the excllent movie "The Magnificent Seven", I realized that the Aduba storyline was "inspired" by that film, which gave the storyline another dimension.

However, in re-reading these issues as an adult, my main problem is not with the storyline itself (which I think is great), but with the art & continuity, which is inconsistent. I don't have the issues in front of me, but IIRC the artist for #7 is different than the artist in #8-10; when Han Solo runs into the villagers at the end of #7 they look a certain way - they then look completely different at the beginning of issue #8; in fact, all of the characters from #7 look either slightly or completely different in #8 because of the artist change. This kind of jarred me & took me out of the story slightly; I would have preferred if the art had been the same for all 4 issues, thereby giving these issues some consistency. I realize this kind of thing is impossible in comics, though, because of deadlines, other commitments, etc.

 

Yeah, I don't get what problem LFL had with the story - I think the assumption by Marvel was that they weren't supposed to make any presumptions that might contradict upcoming ESB.

I like the concept in SW Gamer that Don-Wan was a librarian with a Jedi fixation that went a little crazy.

 

The Aduba arc was fine until the point the Godzilla-like creature with a laser cannon on its head emerged. I thought that was unnecessary and over the top...even for Marvel (I know that the monster has been retconned as a Sith creation) It was also weird the way they seemingly killed Don-Wan Kihotay and then suddenly decided to bring him back the next issue. I never had any problems with Jaxxon, on the other hand.

 

Wasn't Marvel SW #7 the first EU of any kind, so to speak, leaving aside the ANH novelization?

 

Technically, another Marvel work in October 1977, The Keeper's World, was first, with the first EU novel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye, being published a little over a month after Marvel #7 in February 1978.

 

Wasn't aware of The Keeper's World (sounds like a Marvel UK comic?!), but if it pre-dated Marvel SW #7 then I guess it was the first EU.

For what it's worth, DH will start reprinting the very HTF & rare Marvel UK comics next year (along with other obscure comics) in Omnibus form.

 

I am looking forward to that Omnibus.

My brother's first exposure to Marvel SW was "To Take the Tarkin." That was a hoot to read. He loved it.

 

Ah, so that's where Doctor Evil got the idea for sticking lasers on sharks.

Surprising Omnibus reprints haven't been forced to add Crimson Jack shooting first.

 

Marvel was, in general, excellent at ruthless, mastermind Vader. Of all that Marvel did, that's maybe the element I miss most.

 

I liked how the other Imperial officers were so frightened of him that they actually formed a group and plotted to kill him.

 

Never read the comics, heard bad things, but they gave us Zeltrons so they can't be all bad. Makes me wonder how far Marvel would have taken the sexuality thing if they kept the license.



Also, anyone else think that Jaxxon wasn't that bad, all things considered? I mean, aside from being a cartoon bunny the character seems very Star Wars. Hell, you know what? If they made Sam and Max canon Star Wars characters I would have no problem with it whatsoever. They we're a Lucasarts IP so they could've done that any damn time they wanted.

It don't even have to be Sam and Max, just a... I dunno, a Klatooinian and albino Bimm who behave a hell of alot like Sam and Max.

 

Jaxxon was awesome. I have nothing but respect for the giant green space rabbit. He is also my Firefox skin.

 

For perhaps the best representation of this, there's the three-issue story just before the TESB adaptation (starting with "Dark Lord's Gambit") where Vader thoroughly bamboozles Luke and seems almost contemptuous of him (though I suppose we can now chalk that up to trying to push him to the Dark Side).

 

They are actually (and thankfully) Steve Purcell characters. Lucasarts produced the games under license.

 

Max is canon. Yeah, that's right. Jason and Abel went there.

 

Some "pint-sized lagomorph" is canon, not Max.

Now, the Jefferson Staship, on the other hand...

 

Chaykin hated writing Star Wars and he probably wanted to be fired, that's why came up with him.

 

DUDE that means that by association Simon The Killer Ewok is canon!(Leland compared his status in canon to that of Max's)

 

http://www.cracked.com/article_20091_the-5-most-hilariously-misguided-comic-book-adaptations.html

Struck me as relevant..

 

Considering the Aduba arc was a riff off Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, I wouldn't call it misguided, at all. It was more aware of Star Wars's influences than most modern EU.

 

Marvel comics had a good run along with the star comics stuff. It was different, full of wonder, magic, wonder and less jedi and even less sith.

 

For my money, my main objection to the Aduba arc, apart from some rough continuity issues (and Han's characterization), is the fact that there's a lot of parody going on in it. Don-Wan Kihotay may be a funny name, but it's definitely overdoing it on parody. Serji-X is a parody of a person in real life IIRC, and Jaxxan (fun as he can be in the right mindset) seems very much a parody of another well known bunny. The whole story line can be taken in good fun, but this doesn't seem like the sort of story that should have been done as the Star Wars comic's first original story, and one of the EU's first original SW stories. This isn't a good way to start (or maybe it is, and I'm totally off, perspective-wise). But I read it, and I had fun with it, I didn't take it too seriously, I took notes in my head about many things that didn't work. And then Archie Goodwin's run started, and I was blown away by how well it found a good balance of humor and seriousness. Humor without parody. It started working well, dramatically, consistently, for quite a while.