Here is a nice (Sunday) example of Ron Goulart’s and Gil Kane’s Star Hawks, the short-lived SF adventure strip which ran from 1977-1981. (Extra nice in that it includes both the strip header and the color proof.)
“Inspired – as so many things were in the late 70s – by the tremendous success of Star Wars, the newspaper feature syndicate NEA (Newspaper Enterprise Association) got it into their heads that a space opera comic strip that evoked the cosmic high adventure and swashbuckling derring-do of George Lucas’ movie might be a popular addition to the nation’s comics pages.” — Christopher Mills
Perhaps most interesting thing about the strip was the that the initial dailies were double tier as well as the Sunday’s — a risky gambit that allowed Kane to showcase his strengths in storytelling and layout. Unfortunately, newspapers weren’t in love with devoting that much real estate to the quirky SF adventure, and it ultimately dropped to the traditional one-tier.
Goulart ultimately left the strip and Kane enlisted frequent collaborator Archie Goodwin, who wrote the one above. He also left after a few arcs, and Roger Mackenzie wrapped things up.
All of the series is available in a three-volume set from The Library of American Comics and IDW Publishing.
Worth every penny, but of course, I’m biased.
Continuing our month long celebration of the great adventure comic strips: Week 1: Superheroes Week 2: Detectives Week 3: SF Week 4: Comic Book Giants
Forty years ago today, life was definitely simpler. All I had to do was how to figure out how to get to the opening night of Empire Strikes Back.
Well, maybe not that simple.
Big films often did not open “wide” in those days, which meant ESB would not be playing anywhere near my college town of Binghamton, New York. Closest theater? In Syracuse. 75 miles away.
Fortunately, I had a car. Gas was (relatively) cheap. And finals had just ended.
That was the good news.
The bad? No on-line ordering. (Ha. We were still using punch cards and booking computer time in the lab.) No advance orders by phone. This was 1980. Horse and buggy era, tickets and technology wise. And in those days, no bank was offering credit cards to broke college students anyway.
So we had to wing it. The “we” in this case, my buddy Bob and I, pretty much the only people that hadn’t packed up for the semester.
Off we went. Up through farm country on Interstate 81. Somehow, even though we didn’t leave that early, and the legal speed limit was still 55mph, we made it to the “purchase tickets” line, and then the “entry” line in time, and had reasonable seats.
Good thing, too.
We had waited three years. I didn’t really want to wait another day.
I enjoyed it. A lot. Despite the fact that the story had been “spoiled” for me by the Marvel Comics adaptation, because I didn’t have the discipline to avoid reading it. (Lesson learned there. I never made that the mistake again, including, and especially, for Return Of The Jedi. Hell, I’ve occasionally forced friends who work on films into vows of silence.)
Alex Maleev’s beautiful painted cover features of one my favorite things about ESB: The battle on Hoth. I have a distinct memory of the first time I saw the Empire trailer tacked on to a Star Wars re-release in 1979. The audience absolutely lost its mind at the Hoth tease. (Well at pretty much everything, I guess.) And the finished battle did not disappoint, stop-motion and all.
Where was I? Oh yes. Great cover. Terrific artist. Wonderful memory.
And somehow Bob and I made it back before the cows came home. But not by much, I imagine.
The Empire rebuilt itself and came back more powerful than ever: The plot of the latest Star Wars Trilogy, or Berkeley Breathed’s prescient look at a well-known mega-corp. 35 years ago?
Star Wars. ATT. Donald Trump. Ruppert Murdoch. Et al. Bloom County may have disappeared for a bit, but many of his frequent satirical topics most definitely did not.
So we might be done with one Empire this week, but the other one is not going anywhere for a while.
The Force is with us indeed. Just a different one than Mr. Lucas imagined.
Fun fact: This strip is the very last one in Volume 2 of the complete Bloom County library
Howard Chaykin returns to Star Wars with an imposing cover of Darth Vader in 2015. You don’t want to mess with this version of Vader, even if you’re on his side.
Howard Chaykin. Star Wars. This might be a greater conflict than the empire vs. the rebellion.
I don’t need to repeat Howard’s many on the record comments about his original artwork on the series (Marvel’s 1977 issues #1-#10, which includes the six-part adaptation of the original film.) You can see more for yourself here, here or here.
Suffice to say, he doesn’t like it. (Reading anything Howard says about his own work — or others, or anything, for that matter — is always highly entertaining, so I recommend taking a deeper dive.)
Objectively, Star Wars is of course, not his best work — not even close. It’s not even as good as his other early comics. He drew three issues (and wrote one) of Marvel Premiere just prior to Star Wars that are excellent, especially for the period. (Howard is generally self-critical of all his earliest work, so I bet he won’t agree. But I digress.)
Licensed comics are always a challenge, especially with limited reference and insane deadlines. That said, given these constraints, and many others, I think his Star Wars art, especially on the first issue, is definitely better than much of what was coming from the big two companies at the time. But, ultimately, not so great on the Chaykin Curve. (A new scientific term coined especially for this post.)
Just a few years later (1982) he created the astonishing American Flagg. Groundbreaking, although often overused, barely does that series justice. (Much more on that in a future post). Based on Flagg alone, Mark Chiarello DC’s long-time Art Director has described Chaykin as one of the architects of the modern comic book.
Unfortunately, Flagg was published by a smallish independent publisher, which means that few casual readers ever saw it. Although knowledgeable long-time fans are well aware of the series, it doesn’t have the legacy it deserves.
Star Wars? Reprinted about a zillion times, in more formats than I can count. And I am one of the guilty parties here, publishing the Star Wars Artifact Edition (IDW), showcasing the original art — in its original (11×17) size.
Shortly after Flagg, Chaykin went on to other fascinating projects, geared for older readers. Times Squared. Blackhawk. The Shadow. Black Kiss. Etc. Ultimately, after a long stint in Television, he returned with other series that reflected his interests and passions. Mighty Love (feels like a television show and was apparently originally developed for that medium) and City of Tomorrow are two personal favorites. He’s currently working on Hey Kids! Comics!, a fascinating fictionalized look at the drama, jealousy and scandals in the history of comic book business itself.
His innovative and realistic storytelling is complex, violent, sexual, and political. He left space operas behind a lifetime ago.
So if you were a kid when you saw Star Wars, loved Star Wars, and only had the Star Wars comics to read over and over again, because there was no home video, I get it, you love those comics.
I think that’s cool. Even Howard is probably ok with you remembering those comics through the warm glow of childhood nostalgia.
But if you’re an adult? Just don’t remember HIM for them.
That’s like remembering Nolan Ryan only for his one World Series appearance for the 1969 “Amazing” Mets. You’ve missed the point.
Chaykin’s first Star Wars art was a promo poster available at SDCC 1976 for a buck, followed by Star Wars #1 in Spring 1977. Howard revisited the Star Wars saga for Star Wars Insider in 2010 with a similar composition to the originals, incorporating iconic imagery from Empire Strikes Back to celebrate its 30th anniversary .
Chaykin’s art from the same early period includes his own Monark Starstalker, and two Solomon Kane (Robert E. Howard) stories co-written by Roy Thomas.
At first glance, Russ Manning’s clean art style is an
unusual choice for Star Wars. The saga (the original film specifically) is a
bit rough around the edges, with scorch marks, dusty landscapes, dirty
uniforms, and beat-up droids.
Manning, best know for his beautiful art on Tarzan and
Magnus Robot Fighter, is anything but.
His work is crisp and polished. Magnus lives on Earth 4000 AD, a world populated by handsome men and gorgeous woman inhabiting a shiny futuristic city. The battle against the sentient robots? Terminator this is definitely not.
But, Russ’ imagination and enjoyment for Star Wars is obvious on these strips.
Even if the stories themselves, like those in Marvel comics,
were often “B” level because they weren’t permitted to do very much with actual
film-related plots, his storytelling and renderings provided more than enough visual
interest to keep the strips engaging.
This specific example, which features most of the Star Wars main cast, comes at the conclusion of Russ’ penultimate story. He died of cancer too young at 52, a few months after this strip was published.
Had he lived, I’m certain he would have come back to Star
Wars at some point.
After all, he created a city-covered planet, very much like Coruscant, years before George Lucas did. In fact, when Magnus debuted, George Lucas was still a teen who, among other interests, had a passion for comic book art.
Wait a minute… (*)
Dark Horse colored and reprinted the strips as comic books in the Classics series. Marvel has since reprinted those versions as well.
A little bit of Manning’s love for Tarzan appears in a Star Wars Sunday strip.
The entire run of Manning’s Star Wars strips (and AL Williamson’s as well) have been reprinted in the Library of American Comics line, published by IDW.
Russ Manning referred to Magnus Robot Fighter as his Tarzan of the future.
*Ok, Lucas (definitively) and Manning (likely) were influenced by Fritz Lang’s ground-breaking film Metropolis, and this is just a fun coincidence. But still.
Mike Mayhew cleverly envisions Lando Calrissian’s ’s microsecond moment of glory in the Empire Strikes Back — interrupted by Vader and company.
Lucasfilm has not always encouraged more whimsical interpretations
of its characters and storylines, so it was good to see this one approved to
print.
Mike had submitted a few ideas (see below) for this variant cover and this one received the green light.
And Mike was kind enough to thank me for reminding him to
file and back-up everything in his archive so that when art obsessives like
myself come along, he has digital copies of the roughs and pencils to provide.
You’d be surprised at how much comic art material will never see the publishing
light of day again because no can find the files or scans.
Happily, here we can see the progression from thumbnail to
sketch to pencils to finals, etc.
As for Lando? (Billy Dee Williams, a spry 82-years old.) I’m
happy that he gets to make one final appearance in the Star Wars saga. But if
he’s there just to make some grand sacrifice, I will be annoyed. (Ditto for
Chewie. And the Falcon, too, for that matter.)
I think we’ve had enough of that.
The production process: Concepts, sketches, pencils, colors and finally, the published copy, signed by Mr. Mayhew for good measure.
Lush brushwork. Clear storytelling. Impeccable detail. Accurate anatomy and likenesses. Al Williamson’s page from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi adaption speaks volumes about realizing potential in adapting other mediums to comics.
George Lucas had the power to choose the artist to draw the Marvel
Empire Strikes Back adaption and he had the good sense to choose Al Williamson.
Al’s gorgeous art on classic EC science Fiction stories as
well as Flash Gordon had clearly made an impression.
Fortunately for us, Williamson agreed to also illustrate the
Star Wars newspaper strip (after Russ Manning’s untimely passing), and he
ultimately came back for Return of the Jedi adaption as well.
On all three projects — plus a handful of stories in the
regular comics — Al delivered. It’s some of his finest work.
Williamson kept much of his Star Wars related art, and his estate now owns it. Nearly all the originals that have come on the market are those once owned by his assistants or inkers.
This great page from ROTJ has a more interesting provenance. Superstar inker Mike Royer received it from Al (see inscription) shortly after publication. It remained in his collection for many years.
So it’s not only a great piece of original art, it has a
great story behind it as well.
And it’s a cornerstone of my collection.
The complete adaptation was printed all at once in a Marvel special magazine — it appeared in Direct Market stores a few weeks prior to the film’s release. Imagine if that happened in 2019. Covers for the magazine and the comics by Bill Sienkiewicz.
Print, Star Wars Celebration IV and Star Wars Celebration Europe, 2007
Continuing our multi-part countdown to Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker, opening December 20, and concluding, apparently, the Skywalker saga.
This print, limited to 250, and now selling for as much as a nice page of original art, checks three great boxes for me:
Adam Hughes. Star Wars. Art Nouveau via the master, Alphonse Mucha.
(And a fourth actually — a wry sense of humor not seen often enough in Star Wars related content)
Stellar artist Hughes is supposedly keeping his original art for this giclee. Who can blame him? For an artist who generally sells all his originals, that probably tells you all you need to know.
Some great prints by the Nouveau Jedi Master, Alphonse Mucha.Adam also tackled “Slave Leia” earlier in this reprint of the Return of The Jedi adaptation.
Continuing our countdown to Star Wars:The Rise of Skywalker, opening December 20, and concluding, apparently, the Skywalker saga.
I discovered this dynamic undated commission by Mike Deodato a few months ago. Something about it — the composition, Luke’s face, the overall “loose” style — reminded me of Carmine Infantino’s enjoyable run on the original Marvel series 40 years ago.
When I acquired the piece at NYCC, it was pencils only, and although it looked great, my gut told me to get it inked. (Sadly, my guts often have opinion.)
Fortunately, my pal Andrew Pepoy, the talented inker, happened to be nearby. Turns out, he always wanted to ink the late Infantino, and well, maybe this is the next best thing…
He nailed it — keeping the looseness intact, while adding polish and more depth to make it pop. (Look at Luke’s Lightsaber against Vader’s cape for instance.) This is especially impressive because the pencils were created on an odd thin paper stock, nothing like the more typical Bristol board artists employ. Definitely not an easy task.
Carmine’s run comes during the period leading up to to Empire Strikes Back, and I’m sure Lucasfilm was giving Marvel and writer Archie Goodwin fits, keeping them from, well, just about any story element that would spoil the film. Which is… well…. just about everything. Nerveless, they manage to have a few confrontations between Luke and Vader. Even if, of course, nothing is what it seems.
As for this Deodato piece? Mike’s modern Star Wars (see below) art looks nothing like this commission — someday I hope to get the backstory on the art. Until then… stay tuned.
Detailed pencils… but it still needed finishes.
Deodato’s modern take on Vader
Classic Carmine Infantino Star Wars pages from the late 1970s.Check out the length of Luke’s hair in the middle page. Yikes!
A fan favorite Infantino cover… in original and published form.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens in two short weeks, and the Star Wars Skywalker trilogy of trilogies (I can’t bring myself to call it a ennealogy) will apparently conclude, 42 years after it began.
In honor, the next two weeks of posts will feature original art from Star Wars, showcasing one or more of the “original trilogy” characters.
James Robinson and Tony Harris (Starman) reunite for a one-shot C-3PO story that explains the droid’s red arm in The Force Awakens.
Their Starman run was one of the great comic book series of the late 20thcentury and it was nice to see them back together, even if only for a one-shot. And a pretty good one at that — a surprisingly moving tale about droid sacrifice.
The story is packed with eccentric droids in tight spots, and this splash is perhaps the best page in the book — a full image of C-3PO rendered with delightful and quirky detail by the talented Mr. Harris. He painted the striking “A” cover as well.
I love the final coloring, also by Harris, but as is often true, the art is especially striking in glorious black and white.
May the force… Well, you know.
A knockout wraparound cover from the hardcover collections of Starman Robinson and Harris stories.
