That's really nice of you to say, Kurt. I consider you one of the foremost (if not the foremost) authorities on comics that we have in this wonderful community of ours. So, to hear that you're enjoying my reviews is quite flattering, if I'm honest, and means that I must be doing something right!




Yeah, as you've no doubt gathered from this thread, I've never been a fan of Chaykin's art on issue #1. I mean, it's well done, dynamic sequential storytelling and everything, but it just looks rushed, messy and a bit ugly to me.

One of the most interesting things that this thread has shown, is that I'm far from alone in really not liking the art in that issue. To also find out this week, thanks to badwolf, that even Chaykin himself thinks it's pretty crappy definitely gives me a sense of "A-ha! I was right all along!" Roy Thomas, on the other hand, has always been really complimentary about the art in that first issue, and the readers whose letters were printed in issue #4 all seemed to love it too! Oh well, one man's meat and all that...

Anyway, glad to have you reading along, my friend.

Star Wars #6
Cover dated: December 1977
Issue title: Is This the Final Chapter?
Script: Roy Thomas
Artwork: Howard Chaykin (layouts)/Rick Hoberg (finished art and inks)/Bill Wray (inks)/Dave Stevens (inks - uncredited)
Colours: Paty
Letters: Carol Lay and Mike Royer
Cover art: Rick Hoberg (pencils)/Tom Palmer (inks)
Overall rating: 7½ out of 10




Plot summary: As the Death Star closes in on the Rebel Alliance's base on the fourth moon of Yavin, the Rebels send a group of X-wing and Y-wing fighters to destroy the space station. A fierce battle ensues above the Death Star's surface, between the Rebel craft and the Empire's TIE fighters, during which Luke Skywalker's childhood friend Biggs Darklighter is killed.

With only seconds to go before the Death Star destroys Yavin 4, Luke – with some last minute help from Han Solo and Chewbacca in the Millennium Falcon – exploits a weakness in the battle station's defences and destroys it, saving the Rebellion. In the final moments of the battle, Darth Vader's TIE fighter is sent spinning off into deep space, sparing the Dark Lord from the exploding space station. Back on Yavin 4, Luke, Han and Chewbacca are all awarded medals by Princess Leia at a special ceremony.


Comments: So, we've reached the final part of the Marvel adaptation of the first Star Wars movie. All in all, it's been a pretty successful, if at times erratic, re-telling of the movie. The artwork has varied wildly in quality over the six issues and really, that would be my biggest complaint about the adaptation overall.

Speaking of the art, there's another change up of artists with this issue, as Rick Hoberg is brought in to finish and ink Howard Chaykin's rough pencil layouts. Hoberg is helped with the inking by Bill Wray and an uncredited Dave Stevens (of Rocketeer fame). According to the Grand Comics Database website, Stevens inked a few pages in this issue, including page 30, in which he redrew Luke Skywalker in the final panel. Take a look...



Actually, I'd have to say that the artwork in issue #6 is some of the best of the entire adaptation. There really is some nice looking stuff here. In particular, Hoberg's use of closely spaced hatching, to create shading effects, is very nice. Also, the full-page splash that shows the Death Star exploding, as Luke's X-wing fighter soars away from the destruction, is a thing of beauty (see my favourite panel below).

Chaykin crams a lot of action into the Death Star battle and we get lots of tightly packed panels, each one bursting with giddying action...





I've been very critical of Chaykin in my reviews so far, but the sequential storytelling in this issue is tense, fast-paced and a thrill a minute: just like in the movie. Sure, Hoberg et al hone the artwork and bring it to life, and in fact, they really make it their own with their inking and embellishing, but the dynamic sequential layout is pure Chaykin.

Roy Thomas is as good as ever in this instalment. I'd have to say that Thomas's scripting has been the most consistently strong thing about this adaptation. I know from the interviews that I've read that Thomas was really enthusiastic about Star Wars as a movie and as a comic, and I think that enthusiasm and energy really comes through in his writing. Also, I must just say that I love how Thomas has prefixed certain nouns with the word "space" throughout this adaptation, presumably to give things a suitably "galactic" feel. So, in previous issues Han gets described as a "space-pirate" and in this issue Roy romantically writes of the "space-gods", "space-dust" and the "space-winds" (even as a kid I thought to myself, "but there's no air in space, how can there be any wind?" ).

As an aside, in 1997, Dark Horse published an entirely new adaptation of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, which was written by Bruce Jones. While that adaptation sticks much closer to the movie than the Marvel one, Jones lacks the sheer passion for the subject that Roy Thomas brings to the table. As a result, I'll take the original adaptation, with Roy's wonderfully breathless narrative prose, over the 1997 version any ol' day of the week!

Something else I want to mention is that it's pretty cool to see Thomas explain that Chewbacca actually got a medal too, it's just that Leia was too short to put it on him during the award ceremony. It always bugged me as a child that the heroic Wookiee didn't get given a medal at the end of the film, so it's nice that Thomas solves that inequality in the comic.

The Rick Hoberg and Tom Palmer cover is, like last issue, the result of extreme dramatic license. Absolutely nothing like the scene depicted happens in the comic or the movie. But I can definitely imagine it tempting young readers at the spinner rack.

We also get the return of the "Star-Words" letters page in this issue, which features reader reaction to issues #1 and #2. The correspondents seem split on whether they prefer the all Chaykin art in issue #1 or the Chaykin/Steve Leialoha art in issue #2. We also get some explanatory blurb from someone at Marvel detailing a "story summit" for future issues of the comic between Roy Thomas, George Lucas and Mark Hamill, and explaining that new, post-movie adventures will be starting from next month.

So, the adaptation of the first Star Wars movie is done and it's definitely ended on something of a high. These six issues were a huge success for Marvel and have been reprinted many, many times since they initially appeared. The huge sales that the adaptation generated must've felt like a vindication of sorts for Roy Thomas, who fought hard to convince a skeptical Stan Lee to publish a Star Wars comic in the first place. For my money, issue #2 was the best of the six-parts, but this issue definitely runs it a very close second. Next up, we get "New Planets, New Perils!"


Continuity issues:

• The X-wing fighters that attack the Death Star are designated as Blue Squadron, rather than Red, as they are in the film.
• On the opening splash page, it appears as if Wedge Antilles (Blue Two) is in a Y-wing fighter, whereas in the movie and later on in the comic itself, he's piloting an X-wing.
• The Rebel pilots make two runs along the Death Star trench, but in the film they make three.
• The Y-wing fighters that participate in the Death Star battle are designated as Red Squadron, rather than Gold, as they are in the film.
• During the Rebels final run down the Death Star trench, Wedge Antilles' damaged X-wing fighter leaves the trench after Biggs Darklighter is killed, whereas in the film he leaves before.
• The front cover shows Luke and Vader having a lightsaber duel – something that never happens in the film. Also, Luke's lightsaber is coloured red instead of blue/white.

Favourite panel:




Favourite quote: "Stand by to lock 'S-Foils' in attack positions!" – Blue Leader preps Blue Squadron for their assault on the Death Star.

Yeah, it came out at the same time as the Special Edition of Star Wars: Episode IV hit cinemas. The dialogue is, as I recall, word for word the same as the film and, of course, it incorporates all the changes and additional scenes that appeared in the Special Edition. Also, I must say that the Eduardo Barreto drawn and Al Williamson inked artwork is really very nice.

However, for me, it's a totally characterless and therefore quite forgettable adaptation. I bought it and read it as it was coming out and, although it's still in my collection, I don't think I've read it again since. In a way, it's a bit too close to the movie. I mean, if I want the movie, I'll watch the movie, you know? The nice thing about the Marvel adaptation is the differences between it and the finished film. Those differences change the story experience subtly and that's what keeps me returning to it. It's a slightly different flavour of Star Wars, whereas as the Dark Horse adaptation is the same flavour as the film.

The nose of a Y-Wing is visible on the opening splash page (lower right hand corner) and it appears as if Wedge Antilles is in it! Also, the nose of another Y-Wing is shown in panel 3 of page 8. The Y-Wing Squadron are referred to as Red Squadron in the comic too.




Yeah, I was thinking this only today. I'm not actually that excited about it to be honest, I'm more like "well, let's wait and see if it's any good." I will be posting my thoughts on the issue in the "May The Force Be With You" thread though, as soon as I've read it.

Yeah, I thought of that, and maybe that is what he meant. But it's just as likely that he was being wistfully romantic when he wrote of "time and the space-winds".

"The Greatest Space-Fantasy Film of All!"?

Confessor, being a fan of the franchise and not meant to be snarky at all, as I realize for Marvel it's a sales pitch, but I'd be interested to hear what you think of that. Not so much on a judgement of the comics, as the movies. Like you with SW I am a big fan of the Alien franchise, but if I were to point out the one flaw in the franchise, it would be the movies as a whole. I think that the comics and novels have far surpassed what the film side of the franchise is willing to do, and thereby, in the film side, retarding what it could be. I enjoy the Alien franchise, but the films would be the weakest link to me, even though Alien and Alien 3 rank in my top 10 movies, period.

My computer desktop for the last 18 months.

Star Wars is my favorite movie of all time. Greatest space fantasy film of all is a no doubter to me.

I like wide swaths of the Star Wars media empire that have been produced in the last 38 years in books, comics, cartoons, movie sequels, movie prequels, special editions, video games, rpgs, holiday specials, etc. etc. etc., but the first movie is still the undefeated undisputed champion.