Droids #8, June 1987
George Lucas thought SF comics legend Al Williamson (EC, Flash Gordon) was an ideal choice to draw the original Marvel adaption of Star Wars. (Now officially titled Chapter IV: A New Hope.)
Unfortunately, Al was locked into his deal for the Secret Agent Corrigan newspaper strip and couldn’t take the gig.
(Fortunately for George, his other choice came through: Howard Chaykin, who was extraordinarily familiar and comfortable with SF and swashbuckling came on board for the adaptation and a few additional issues. But, as always, we digress.)
Al ultimately ended up doing wonderful adaptations of both Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The stories are gorgeous.
But… Al gets another shot on the original film, when, 10 years after the fact, Marvel decides to adapt A New Hope again — this time as a three-part story in the kids’ comic, Droids.
Ernie Colon provides lovely storytelling, and Williamson provides his beautiful inks, giving him credits on all three Star Wars original trilogy films.
As for the story itself — the main selling point is that this adaptation is told from the Droids’ point of view — which seems odd, since Lucas told interviewers that the films were told from the Droids’ POV, in the first place.
Deja Vu all over again?
