Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Original Marvel Years Vol. 1 Kindle & comiXology

"Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Vol. 1" collects stories Marvel Comics published in the late 1970s, when "Star Wars" was merely a hit movie rather than an entertainment franchise. How much enjoyment one ultimately derives from it, though, will depend on their reaction to the artwork.Comics legend Al Williamson set the standard for "Star Wars" comics art in Marvel's adaptation of "The Empire Strikes Back" in 1980. Since this collection's stories were published before then, his work's not to be seen here. Instead, most of the stories were illustrated by Carmine Infantino, a comics artist and editor best known for his work on The Flash and Batman at rival DC Comics, whose artwork seems to be an acquired taste for Marvel fans. Based on the evidence of this collection, it's easy to understand why.Infantino's slam-bang visual storytelling, honed by his work on the aforementioned DC features, is beyond reproach, but his likenesses of the SW characters are another matter entirely. Luke Skywalker looks more like either Fabio or He-Man (of "Masters of the Universe" fame) than Mark Hamill. Princess Leia's face is defined by some rather wonky eyebrows, and Chewbacca the Wookiee looks like what would have happened if Bigfoot from "The Six Million Dollar Man" TV series had spent his spare time pigging out at McDonald's. In addition, Infantino's renderings of the movie's hardware weaponry, and technology never seem quite right. As both my five-star rating and my longtime DC fandom attest, I'm willing to forgive these. Your mileage, however, may vary.Hints of the art styles SW fans prefer are present throughout this volume, though. Walt Simonson, who would take over from Infantino as penciller in the early post-"Empire" days, illustrates issue #16, "The Hunter!," and most of "The Kingdom of Ice," a serialized adventure that began in "Pizzazz," a youth-culture magazine Marvel published in the late 1970s, and ended in Marvel's British "Star Wars Weekly" comic after "Pizzazz" was canceled. Simonson's inker, Tom Palmer, embellishes Infantino's SW pencilling predecessor, Howard Chaykin, on issues #8-10. Other Marvel veterans contributing art include "X-Men" artist Dave Cockrum (who would move on to Marvel's first "Star Trek" comic), "Incredible Hulk" artist Herb Trimpe, and "Amazing Spider-Man" artist Gil Kane. All of them are more artistically consistent with the film than Infantino is.Writing duties are divided between Roy Thomas, who adapted the movie and wrote the first original adventure, and Archie Goodwin, who replaced Thomas as both writer and editor on the series with issue #11. Thomas also wrote most of "Fugitives in Space," the first serialized SW adventure in "Pizzazz," before again being relieved by Goodwin.Thomas has said Goodwin had a better feel for SW than he did, and this collection bears his assertion out. Both of his tales feel more like generic science fiction than the slam-bang science-fantasy for which SW is known.His lone original post-film contribution, "New Planets, New Perils," features Han and Chewie assembling a Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven-style team to defend settlers against a baddie on planet Aduba-3-and make money in the process. Their crew includes a porcupine-like alien and-I kid you not-a human-sized, sentient green bunny rabbit named Jaxxon. (George Lucas-the man who would later create Jar Jar Binks-hated the Grumpy Green Bunny, which not only proved there's no accounting for taste, but also led to Thomas' decision to leave SW behind after issue #10.) Again, though I'm willing to forgive giant green bunnies for nostalgia's sake, your mileage may vary.No green bunnies are present in "Fugitives in Space," which sees Luke, Leia, R2D2 and C3PO crash on a jungle world defending the android children of a massive supercomputer called the Keeper against the Empire in a tale that combines elements of "Trek" and "X-Men."Goodwin begins his run by tying up plot threads Thomas left dangling in his rush for the exit. His first storyline, "Star Search," pits Han, Chewie, Luke and Leia against Crimson Jack, a red-haired space pirate who stole Han's reward from the Rebellion-which our favorite Corellian planned to use to repay Jabba the Hutt for dumped spice-at the beginning of "NPNP." From there, Goodwin once again makes the Empire the focus of the Star Warriors' peril in a story set aboard the Wheel, a space station/gambling casino technically outside Imperial authority. Han and Leia take a comatose Luke to the Wheel for medical treatment after Luke touches Darth Vader's mind with the Force during meditation. There, they run afoul of Imperial Commander Zertik Strom, a Lex Luthor lookalike who's plotting to force the Empire's influence on the Wheel (shades of Cloud City in "Empire") by faking a Rebel attack on a merchant ship. (It's also worth noting that this arc is titled "The Empire Strikes.")If the reader is willing to forgive it its idiosyncrasies in both story and art, "Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Vol. 1" is well worth both the time and the money. (My advice, for what it's worth, is to buy it in concert with "A Galaxy Far, Far Away: Exploring Star Wars Comics" for the maximum reading experience.)

This volume includes the comic adaptation of Episode IV and one or two other interesting stories, but most of the arcs in this volume do not age well. There's a dinosaur that shoots lasers from it's head, a large green rabbit sidekick, sea dragons that are driven crazy by sound, horrible outfits (especially the villans'), and predictable outcomes. The most annoying thing is that half the dialogue is just narrating the action or summing up the previous issues, which quickly becomes boring and tedious. But I can't rate it too harshly, because I know these came out well before anyone knew how the Star Wars Universe should look and feel (a couple issues of the adaptation for A New Hope even came out before the movie!), even though it is a tough read.

Swift delivery of a fine product. Have bought from them before and will continue to do so as long as they're in business.

These Marvel Epic collections are the best idea Marvel has had since the Marvel Masterworks. If you just want to read the old comics for a reasonable price and not have to hunt down old back issues, this is for you.

As advertised...

Great nostalgia. I originally subscribed to this Star Wars comic series when I was 7 years old. So glad to have have you back, old friend.

Good book. Accurately described.

Going back and re-reading the crazy time capsule of Star Wars Legends lore is great.

Bought the original comics (but got rid of them, sadly, many years ago) so it is a pleasure to re-read the old Star Wars comics - they still hold up fairly well.

内容はよかった。ただ絵に関しては好き嫌いあるかもしれないです。

Very expensive for what it is...I guess we are also paying for the Disney name as well as the Marvel Group name too.The Dark Horse compilation was just as big and thick and only cost £15.99 when bought.The double-in-price hike by Marvel is outrageous to say the least.Not worth over £30.00 at all.