The Fun of Marvel

Unfortunately, Darth Homer, the ending wasn't as great as it could have been. Even up to a few months before its cancellation, they were touting things as normal. The ending story climax was rushed to tie up the important threads before the series bowed out. It was a double-sized issue, though. It was a good end to the series - but could have been better.

 

Well, the Marvel series was incredible. A great series that even now stands up along side anything being put out nowadays. However, there are definately DH comics that measure up to the fun factor that Marvel had. Lets list a few of em! What DH comics remind you of the golden days of Marvel?
Here's my list:

Underworld: It's got Han and Chewie together again, teaming up with folks they wouldn't usually be caught dead with. Eight on Aduba 3 anyone? The series is funny, cool, adventurous (reminds me of an Indiana Jones movie), and full of chases. Great stuff!

Tales: A fun, surprise filled, humorous, thought provoking, dramatic bunch of stories in each issue? That's a good sum up of Tales and the Marvel series.

Ongoing # 17 - 18: Had a real free spirited adventurous feel that most of this series tends to lack.

Vader's Quest: Lots of people didn't like it. I loved it. Amazing stuff, it's funny, but also very touching. And the art is a great throwback.

Boba Fett: Enemy of the Empire: Who else was reminded of Valance and Vader's duel?

Scoundrel's Wages: A lot like marvel # 71 - 72 or 79.

Droids: Not very much like the Marvel series, but it reminded me of the other great Star Wars EU experience of the time, the Droids cartoons.

Keep em coming!
- Chas

 

Anyone remember the issue when Han and pirate Crimson Jack finally had it out? I always loved their last exchange as they drew on each other:

CRIMSON JACK: I always knew it'd be just you and me in the end.
HAN: No, Jack. (POW!) Just me.

 

That was a good one. Who was that female pirate?

 

Jollie!! Great character! I'd love to see some of these character return. I'd especialy love to see a Fenn Shysa and Tobi Dala mini series after episode III comes out. Hell maybe they could co star with Fett in a Han Solo Trilogy esque series of novels set after episode II!
- Chas

 

One of the fun parts of Vader's Quest was that the sequence where Vader learns the identity of the destroyer of the Death Star flows smoothly with the scene where he learns this information in #35.

Phil

 

I agree MER! While I generally disliked Vader's Quest, I have to give it a nod for it's retro roots. While its cyborg character wasn't even half the character Valance was, it seemed like DHC was trying for some conceptual continuity between the two.

 

The rotten thing about the local bookstores is whenever one asks for SW Marvel Comics, one gets a blank stare ("yes, yes, we have Marvel Spiderman..."), and most used book stores don't even sell them

Antiques, you know. That is the major problem. One could only get morsels of it from the TimeTales, which does compensate for the lack somewhat.

It would be extemely nice of Dark Horse to retouch the pictures of Marvel and release some kind of reprint.

 

My favorite moment - and lord, there are so many from the series - has to be the end of issue 65 or so. Luke goes to Shira's 'homeworld', and tries to trigger the hidden transmitter. One turn of the page and suddenly

***BOOM!!***

One honest to god, in your face Dark Lord of the Sith! "Luke! I have come FOR YOU!"

Holy crap! Where the hell did *HE* come from!?!? Gah! I have to wait a whole MONTH to find out what happens?!? GACK!

I tell you, it dont get any better than that. . .

 

Another great moment:

In the story, "In Mortal Combat", the last issue in the sequence when Vader and Luke are representing their respective sides on a diplomatic mission. As they finaly hunt each other in a forest of crystal, they finally come to blows, 'saber to 'saber. And, even then, there's a surprise.
In fact, that whole sequence was great, showing Vader to be a truly cunning and even subtle villain.

Anyone else remeber that one?

 

Kenneth-Morgan, I kind of remember the moment you're talking about. All of the duels between Vader and Luke in the time period between ANH and ESB were interesting, since, as far as I can tell, Luke met Vader for the first time (face to face) in ESB. I thought "Vader's Quest" was interesting since Luke never actually fought Vader (nor even saw him - I think he was blindfolded the whole time)....

(BTW, has anyone noticed that the SW comics drawn by that guy who drew the old "Flash" DC comics (can't remember his name) depicted the villain Baron Tagge (with the visor) as looking very similar to the Flash villain "Captain Cold"? Just an interesting coincidence....)

Several other interesting SW Marvel storylines included:

* The Crimson Forever (Issue #50) - very well-done story, with a flashback to Han and Chewie's past adventures. Quite interesting, and drawn by Al Williamson (whose art I've always liked).

* The storyline from issues #7 - #10 with Chewie and Han hooking up with some aliens who were fighting a group of oppresive warlords. Sure, the art wasn't the best, the story was cheesy (among the characters they hooked up with were Don Quixote and Jax, a green humanoid rabbit), and the dialogue was, at times, painful, but it was still "fun". This is the first time in the Marvel series that prejudice against cyborgs (half-man/half-machine) is shown, and the story was loosely based on the western film "The Magnificent Seven".
I really liked that Porcupine alien, though (even though he wasn't that original), and always thought it would be cool if DH brought him back in another storyline...

I agree that DH should reprint these stories - they are hard to find, and when they are found, they're always inordinately expensive, and not always in the best of shape.

 

Those were happy days. In the UK, the comic came out every week, so it was even cooler!
Hey, I wonder if James Cameron got the idea of the Terminator from Valance?

 

Marvel, ahhhh, the good old days of my childhood and the golden age of Star Wars Comics. Those were good times.

 

Star wars gamer says they love marvel and they will bring it back to the surface of the new star wars "canon" as much as possible.

 

Another interesting Marvel moment:

I forget which issue it was, but there was a one-issue story between ANH and TESB that was a flashback to Kenobi, back in the Clone Wars era. As I recall, he faced some dangerous characters on a starliner that was threatened by pirates.
But the main thing I remember was that Kenobi wasn't dressed in his usual Jedi robes in the story. Instead, he was dressed in an all black uniform. And this was four years or so before Luke's ROTJ outfit.

Was Marvel ahead of it's time on this, did Lucas see this and remember it down the line, or was it a pretty odd coincidence? You make the call!

 

Blur wrote: 'It was cooler when everyone thought that Vader was an evil, one-dimensional villain, while Luke and Leia were just friends, not brother and sister. Things were a lot less complicated that way....In fact, my favorite EU stories are the ones that took place between ANH and ESB (before Luke found out Vader was his father). Also, for what it's worth, one of my favorite EU novels is "Splinter of the Mind's Eye", which is the only novel that takes place between ANH and ESB....'

Blur, you are a fan after my own heart. The beautiful simplicity of the pre-ESB days is something I deeply miss. To me, the mythology was clouded by the later complications. My only nit to pick with your words is your description of Vader as being "one-dimensional". A purely evil character without a dramatic fall-and-redemption story is not necessarily one-dimensional. For example, Adolph Hitler seemed to be thoroughly evil; and yet he is so interesting a figure (i.e., NOT one-dimensional) that countless biographers have written thick volumes about him.

But that is only a nit. Your words were music to my ears.

 

Man, those stories were all true classics.


Blur...
"* The storyline from issues #7 - #10 with Chewie and Han hooking up with some aliens who were fighting a group of oppresive warlords. Sure, the art wasn't the best, the story was cheesy (among the characters they hooked up with were Don Quixote and Jax, a green humanoid rabbit), and the dialogue was, at times, painful, but it was still "fun"."

Yeah, the Goodwin homage to Spaghetti Westerns - even the antagonist, Sergi-X of course was a tribute to master Western director Sergio Leone (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly). Who can ever forget the impact that Jaxxon, Amaiza, Don-Wan Kioti, Hedji, Jimm the Starkiller Kid and Effie, his droid. Among the important things this series offered were the idea of swoops and speederbikes some 6 years before ROTJ and some 18 years prior to Shadows of the Empire. There's no question that Sergi-X and his gang were riding some repulsor-bike of some sort.

"I really liked that Porcupine alien, though (even though he wasn't that original), and always thought it would be cool if DH brought him back in another storyline..."

Hedji - he is one of the last of his kind. There's certainly a story to be told there, alright. Something along the lines of the Mistril - powerful, deadly fighters who are all but extinct. But, of course Marvel had it in early 1978, some 20 years before the other EU authors.

Darth Homer...
"Hey, I wonder if James Cameron got the idea of the Terminator from Valance?"

Stranger things have happened. After all, look at all of the similarities between Marvel's SW stories and nearly all of the later EU stories to come. They certainly formed the foundation of Sci-fi/fantasy in the '80's.

Valiento...
"Star wars gamer says they love marvel and they will bring it back to the surface of the new star wars "canon" as much as possible."

Hopefully, they'll follow in the footsteps of WEG - a company that had a number of Marvel SW fans producing material for the SWRPG. One of the best known is Eric Trautmann, who wrote a story starring Jaxxon which was slated to appear in one of the cancelled issues of SWAJ. Perhaps it could show up in SWG. As a side note, for some decent added info on Amaiza and Jaxxon, check out the Beyond Hyperspace Cantina near the bottom of the "Rogues" section:
http://www.rpghost.com/bhyper/hyp13.html

Kenneth-Morgan
"I forget which issue it was, but there was a one-issue story between ANH and TESB that was a flashback to Kenobi, back in the Clone Wars era."

It was issue #24 - an excellent PT Obi-Wan story. Truly shows that Marvel was ahead of its time and could certainly do stories in the "off-limits" era without screwing anything up. It's a shame that later EU authors just simply botched things like dates of the Clone Wars, how long the Empire has been around, etc. One of the reasons why Marvel SW was fun. It doesn't have all of the continuity problems that later stuff has.

Good stuff all around!

 

There's another Marvel character I remember that hasn't been mentioned yet: Capt. Wermis, who is Vader's main subordinate for several issues.
He's a particularly interesting character. For example, in his first appearance, he dismisses one of Vader's opinions and refers to him, in a rather British fasion as "dear boy". Vader's wonderful reply (this is not an exact quote) is, "I haven't been a boy in many years and I've never been considered 'dear' by anyone. And the main reason the Rebellion could succeed is the presence on our side of wimpish incompetants like you!" (Bravo, Archie Goodwin!)
In some ways, Wermis is a forerunner of Capt./Adm. Piett. A good officer who's thoroughly dwarfed by Vader's presence. And, wonder of wonders, Vader doesn't kill him for failure!

Would that some of the later EU material was this good.

 

The writer of Crimson Empire (while I don't much care for CE) wrote an amazing story in #86, that details how Leai lost her "snobbish princess act" between ESB and ROTJ. IF you think about it - she was a lot less snobbish in ROTJ than in the previous two movies, and there's no real explanation - yet the Yinchorr storyline was amazingly written. I cried (of course I was just a pre-adolescent at the time).

 

As hard as it is to believe, I think Marvel SW just got even a little bit more fun:

http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=2246490&start=2249992

 

Is #86 the one with the Alderaanian Stormtrooper?

One of the best Sw comics ever, it made me bawl like a little girl.

I loved it.

Also whats the address to the Marvel Comics SW site? I lost it.

 

The one where Leia made friends with a Stormie? Yeah, that was good.

Binary, good to see you here. I know Vader was cool when he was pure evil, but I think he was also one-dimensional. In ANH he was basically Tarkin's lackey. He only had depth once his character revealed non-evil dimensions in ESB and ROTJ. If that makes sense

 

DarthHomer, I agree that the sequels added depth to Vader, but I think they did so in an unfortunate way. His character could have been given more depth without him being Luke's father or being redeemed. After all, I don't think Palpatine is a one-dimensional character.

 

Excerpt from The Apprentice. Flynts mother has been killed in an Imperial attack and Lord Vader confronts him.


Flynt: Oh..Oh please Mother NO! (she is dead) It is all just a game..We were useless..We couldnt do a thing..And they let us go on..Pretending..we could help...But we couldnt...We were useless..I was useless...And now..Youre dead...I swear..I swear to you..I'm going to learn..I'm going to get the same training my father had..(he was a Jedi)..I'm going to become someone who matters...AND THEN SHOW THEM ALL!

VADER: I know how you feel..I had almost forgotten what it was like to feel that way...It has been some time since I heard anyone speak the way you do now..I did not take you seriously before and I should have..Forgive me. Let me make it up to you now...I could not single you out for special training right away...You would be just one of our men at first...But I have sensed the power in you..In time i promise you, you will be tutored specially...And if you really wish it...You will become someone who matters very much!

Of course Vader trained that boy to be the next Dark Lord of the Sith and he failed miserably.

However I put this here to show not only how diabolical and evil Vader was in those days but also to say..It felt like foreshadowing for the prequels since Shmi Skywalker is rumored to die in Ep II. It seems in Flynt, Vader see's a bit of Anakin Skywalker, of himself in the boy.

Very cool. Sends chills down my spine reading it.

A very cool issue.

 

the marvel comics were fun because they werent in continunity and no one expected them to be the actual story of what happened between the films because the movies were actively being made and everyone knew that the movies with their top secret plots could have a completely different story than the comics.

That's why non-EU people like them, not because they were good (they were okay, but I liked the Battlestar Galactica comics better) but because there were no debates about canon and the non-EU people can easily dismiss the Mavrel comics as the fluffy entertainment they are without people yelling about them being canon or official or the Lucas approved version of what really happens to the characters.