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Post by thwhtguardian on Feb 2, 2018 18:17:11 GMT -5
The Final TrapFebruary 6th-March 11th, 1984 Written by Archie Goodwin Art by Al Williamson LA Times Syndicate Summary: After escaping the dastardly clutches of Boba Fett and his gang of bounty hunters Luke, Han and Chewie are returning to the Rebel Base on Hoth when they receive a Rebel distress call and divert to investigate...
Plot: This was a pretty disappointing end to the strip, now that's not to say it was a terrible story in and of itself but as an ending it just felt so, so short. There was some interesting action with the probe droid, fun character moments between Luke and Han and the Force Struggle between Vader and Luke was interesting...but it lacked a real sense of excitement and had little depth. In many ways the last strip was a much better finale as it brought forward elements from the beginning of Archie's run on the strip which gave us a sense of closure that felt both final and lead into the continuing adventures on Hoth that we saw in Empire Strikes Back.
Art: No evident swipes here but there wasn't anything really interesting for him to do either which is another shame.
Grade:6/10
As a whole, I really enjoyed the strip from beginning to end. It had its ups and downs for sure, but when it was good it was Star Wars at it's best with its ability to transport us to strange planets and give us thrilling adventures, and even when it fell short of good it was still entertaining and you can't really ask for more than that. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Feb 2, 2018 18:29:04 GMT -5
The best thing about the ending of the SW newspaper strip (and I agree that the last couple of stories weren't quite as good as the earlier stuff) is that it allowed Archie Goodwin the opportunity to write a proper lead-in to the events of The Empire Strikes Back. Which is something that he hadn't had the opportunity to do in the Marvel series. Though I agree the Boba Fett encounter felt kinda "tacked on". Congratulations on finishing this review thread, thwhtguardian, and steering the ship successfully into port. Or should that be steering the Blockade Runner into the Rebel Transport's docking bay? Anyway, this has been a most enjoyable review thread to follow. Well done! |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Feb 2, 2018 18:42:53 GMT -5
The best thing about the ending of the SW newspaper strip (and I agree that the last couple of stories weren't quite as good as the earlier stuff) is that it allowed Archie Goodwin the opportunity to write a proper lead-in to the events of The Empire Strikes Back. Which is something that he hadn't had the opportunity to do in the Marvel series. Though I agree the Boba Fett encounter felt kinda "tacked on". Congratulations on finishing this review thread, thwhtguardian , and steering the ship successfully into port. Or should that be steering the Blockade Runner into the Rebel Transport's docking bay? Anyway, this has been a most enjoyable review thread to follow. Well done! It's been a heck of a ride, that's for sure. Leading up to this last strip I've been eyeing some stories I have from a fan magazine put out by Scholastic in the late 90's; I don't know if it'd be better to tack them on here or give them their own thread. |
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Post by Confessor on Feb 2, 2018 18:48:06 GMT -5
Leading up to this last strip I've been eyeing some stories I have from a fan magazine put out by Scholastic in the late 90's; I don't know if it'd be better to tack them on here or give them their own thread. Depends how many strips there are to review. I'm a purest, so it seems a shame to tack them on the end of this thread, since they're not actually part of the newspaper strip. I say let this thread stand as it is. Wasn't there a general short reviews thread somewhere, specifically for reviewing shorter runs that don't really warrant their own dedicated thread? I think shaxper started it, if memory serves. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Feb 2, 2018 19:22:13 GMT -5
Leading up to this last strip I've been eyeing some stories I have from a fan magazine put out by Scholastic in the late 90's; I don't know if it'd be better to tack them on here or give them their own thread. Depends how many strips there are to review. I'm a purest, so it seems a shame to tack them on the end of this thread, since they're not actually part of the newspaper strip. I say let this thread stand as it is. Wasn't there a general short reviews thread somewhere, specifically for reviewing shorter runs that don't really warrant their own dedicated thread? I think shaxper started it, if memory serves. I might go dig that up, there were only five stories told over 20 issues but they were a lot of fun and the art was pretty great. |
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Post by shaxper on Feb 3, 2018 8:00:12 GMT -5
Leading up to this last strip I've been eyeing some stories I have from a fan magazine put out by Scholastic in the late 90's; I don't know if it'd be better to tack them on here or give them their own thread. Depends how many strips there are to review. I'm a purest, so it seems a shame to tack them on the end of this thread, since they're not actually part of the newspaper strip. I say let this thread stand as it is. Wasn't there a general short reviews thread somewhere, specifically for reviewing shorter runs that don't really warrant their own dedicated thread? I think shaxper started it, if memory serves. It's the last link on the front page  |
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Post by tarkintino on Feb 3, 2018 16:34:48 GMT -5
The best thing about the ending of the SW newspaper strip (and I agree that the last couple of stories weren't quite as good as the earlier stuff) is that it allowed Archie Goodwin the opportunity to write a proper lead-in to the events of The Empire Strikes Back. Which is something that he hadn't had the opportunity to do in the Marvel series. Though I agree the Boba Fett encounter felt kinda "tacked on". Congratulations on finishing this review thread, thwhtguardian , and steering the ship successfully into port. Or should that be steering the Blockade Runner into the Rebel Transport's docking bay? Anyway, this has been a most enjoyable review thread to follow. Well done! Yes! Well done, the thwhtguardian. I guess the direct lead-in to ESB could not be so explosive/thrilling that it takes the importance of ESB's opening or central conflict, so I can excuse this final strip's tone. Its funny--only a year after Return of the Jedi dominated the movie houses of 1983, Star Wars as a big, popular culture concept quickly faded, with the Marvel comic only having a couple of years left in its run. Its surprising that such a major entertainment/cultural event lost its grip almost as fast as it earned it (pre-Zahn novels), when something like the original Star Trek was a cancelled TV series, but rapidly grew into a phenomenon only a couple of years after it aired its final first run episode, with an animated series, a boat load of merchandising, massive conventions and had no end in sight (in public interest) for a decade right up to the release of the first movie. Star Wars was different, and I'm wondering if the film's hard ending of the main conflict took all of the wind out of SW's sails, since a SW galaxy without Vader, the Emperor and the war won by the Rebels, what was left to draw audiences back? Personally, the strip--outlasting the films, but going the backstory (or filling gaps) maintained the spirit of the movies. I was sad to see it end. |
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Post by rom on Feb 3, 2018 17:40:36 GMT -5
I see where you're coming from, since I was a kid at the time and was hungering for anything & everything to do with SW after ROTJ was released in '83. There definitely wasn't a lot out there at that time - however, between '83 - '86, you did have: The Marvel SW comic, which continued until Spring '86. New Star Wars figures in '83, '84 and '85. The underrated Droids & Ewoks cartoon on Saturday mornings - Droids ran from '85 - '86, and Ewoks ran for two years, from '85 - '87. And, post '86 the West End Games Role made numerous SW Role playing game sourcebooks, modules, and even some little metal figurines. WEG continued with the SW material until well into the 1990's. And then of course the first Timothy Zahn SW novel "Heir to the Empire" made it's debut in Spring 1991, and in late '91 Dark Horse released #1 of "Dark Empire". To me, both of these kick-started the resurgence of interest in SW that continued throughout the '90's. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Feb 3, 2018 20:59:48 GMT -5
The lean years of the late 80's were definitely a weird period; and one that's always baffled me. It was a huge cultural hit and then poof! nothing, I've often wondered if Lucas just got bored with it all.
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Post by rom on Feb 4, 2018 15:11:44 GMT -5
The lean years of the late 80's were definitely a weird period; and one that's always baffled me. It was a huge cultural hit and then poof! nothing, I've often wondered if Lucas just got bored with it all. I strongly suspect that it didn't have anything to do with Lflm. not trying to market SW at that time. I think it was more that kids like me that the films were primarily aimed at when they were first released (I was six when ANH was released to theaters in '77, and getting into my late teens by the late '80's) were getting into other things & temporarily losing interest in the franchise - note that I emphasized the word temporarily . Also, with no new films on the horizon, there wasn't a lot of new material for fans to latch onto. I did buy some of the West End Games Sourcebooks & some of the figurines during that time, but there wasn't that much else out there. I also remember being a big fan of the Droids cartoon when it was on - I liked Ewoks as well, but not as much. That being said, SW fandom was just "in hibernation", as was seen when Tim Zahn's Heir To the Empire HC novel was a huge & immediate hit when it was released in Spring 1991. I remember first seeing this in bookstores & being surprised that a new SW book was out there - especially after there hadn't been any new material for years. |
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Post by tarkintino on Feb 4, 2018 18:05:08 GMT -5
The lean years of the late 80's were definitely a weird period; and one that's always baffled me. It was a huge cultural hit and then poof! nothing, I've often wondered if Lucas just got bored with it all. I strongly suspect that it didn't have anything to do with Lflm. not trying to market SW at that time. I think it was more that kids like me that the films were primarily aimed at when they were first released (I was six when ANH was released to theaters in '77, and getting into my late teens by the late '80's) were getting into other things & temporarily losing interest in the franchise - note that I emphasized the word temporarily . Also, with no new films on the horizon, there wasn't a lot of new material for fans to latch onto. I did buy some of the West End Games Sourcebooks & some of the figurines during that time, but there wasn't that much else out there. I also remember being a big fan of the Droids cartoon when it was on - I liked Ewoks as well, but not as much. That being said, SW fandom was just "in hibernation", as was seen when Tim Zahn's Heir To the Empire HC novel was a huge & immediate hit when it was released in Spring 1991. I remember first seeing this in bookstores & being surprised that a new SW book was out there - especially after there hadn't been any new material for years. I remember many SW fans being into the movies only--so for them, ROTJ was the anticipated end, and they did not care about the Ewoks TV movies or the Droids/Ewoks cartoons, so that could explain why SW fandom dropped off of a cliff almost overnight in the short time after ROTJ left theatres. Some bought the videotape releases as they became available (ANH was already on VHS by 1982, while ESB--if memory serves--hit home video in 1985, followed by ROTJ in '86), but like videotapes, SW as a cultural "thing" was also placed on a shelf. Further, there was a shift toward more "bullets and brawn" sci-fi that followed, such as Robocop, Aliens, Predator, Total Recall and the first two Terminator films, or others leaned in the direction of the arguably sillier productions associated with Amblin like the Back to the Future movies, Gremlins, etc. No matter what caused the fall, by 1984, SW was treated like film series that ended their run in the 70s, in other words, like it was already something of the past. |
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Post by rom on Feb 4, 2018 19:23:35 GMT -5
I forgot to mention that in Fall 1984 & in Fall 1985, two made-for-TV Ewok films came out, the "Caravan of Courage" and "The Battle for Endor". While COC was just OK, I felt Battle for Endor was excellent. This was a great sci-fi drama that had a lot of fantasy-like elements, including a witch that could change form. It was interesting that while these were released only on TV in the U.S., they were released theatrically outside the States. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caravan_of_Courage:_An_Ewok_Adventureen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ewoks:_The_Battle_for_Endor |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2018 22:36:47 GMT -5
The lean years of the late 80's were definitely a weird period; and one that's always baffled me. It was a huge cultural hit and then poof! nothing, I've often wondered if Lucas just got bored with it all. I wonder that too ... It's bothered me a great deal here and all my friends were talking about too ... |
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Post by Confessor on Feb 5, 2018 7:14:27 GMT -5
That's right: I saw both of these at the cinema in the UK in '85 and '86. I think they're pretty good for what they are; Star Wars movies for little kids. |
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Post by Confessor on Feb 5, 2018 7:41:11 GMT -5
The lean years of the late 80's were definitely a weird period; and one that's always baffled me. It was a huge cultural hit and then poof! nothing, I've often wondered if Lucas just got bored with it all.Actually, I think that was a large part of it. The original Star Wars trilogy had taken a huge toll on Lucas emotionally and in his personal life. I think he was done with it once the two Ewok spin-off movies came out. He moved on to making other films like Labyrinth, Willow and Tucker: The Man and his Dreams. Of course, there were other factors to Star Wars's decline in popularity, not least the fact that the original fan base for the franchise hit puberty in the early-to-mid 80s. I think a lot of fans were just burned out on SW and we're growing up and focusing their energies and finances on more adult pursuits As others have said, the fact that the story was finished with ROTJ also resulted in interest waning. You have to remember though that SW had reigned supreme as the sci-fi and fantasy franchise -- and "must have" toy purchase -- for 7 years (1977-1984). That's a long, long time for a pop culture phenomenon to keep a grip on the youth of the day and it was especially a long time back in the late 70s and early 80s. Something else I just want to mention is that the early '90s SW revival that was initiated by the Thrawn trilogy of novels was only a mini-revival, focused exclusively on members of the geek demographic. By that I mean that, folks like us were aware of those novels and things like the new Dark Horse comics, action figures etc, but to the mainstream public, SW was still yesterday's news. Joe Public didn't begin to get excited about SW again until the late '90s, with the 1997 Special Edition releases of the original trilogy and the 1999 release of The Phantom Menace. |
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