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Classic Star Wars (1992) #1-7
Classic Star Wars, Volume 1: In Deadly Pursuit
From 1981 to 1984, comic-book greats Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson turned out a popular series of Star Wars newspaper strips. Featuring the adventures of Luke, Leia, and Han in the time between the first and second movies, these strips were science-fiction adventure at its best.
Dark Horse reformatted those strips to make them work as a continuous story in a series of comic books, with Al Williamson himself redrawing and extending many panels for the new format. This book collects the first seven issues of the popular Dark Horse comic, with a new introduction from Archie Goodwin, new cover art, and never-before-seen art from the sketchbooks of Al Williamson.
192 pages, Paperback
First published June 15, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
June 12, 2021
This series from Dark Horse Comics takes the old Star Wars newspaper comic strip that ran in the late 70s and early 80s, colors them, and edits them into a comic book format. The result feels a bit weird since it reads like a newspaper comic strip but it doesn't look like one. The stories themselves are work on a pre-Return of the Jedi understanding of the story, so one of the plot points is a love triangle between Luke, Leia, and Han, which feels really odd after knowing what we know. Overall, I would say that this is more of a curiosity than a good read.
May 15, 2023
Collects "Classic Star Wars" issues 1-5 which are these weird redone comics of the Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson newspaper comic strip from 1979-84. Darkhorse decided to take the daily newspaper strips (with a larger Sunday special) and convert them into more traditional 20 page comic books.
It's a good idea because just reading the newspaper strips is an exhausting task with the amount of repetition needed for a daily strip to read well. They also add color (less of a good idea since Al Williamson's ink work is outstanding).
For the most part I will admit that this reads much better, but still has some funny choppy editing (like having 2 cliffhangers on a single page) and still some weird repetition. If you didn't know you were reading a redone daily strip, I think you'd be quite confused with the pacing.
It's a good idea because just reading the newspaper strips is an exhausting task with the amount of repetition needed for a daily strip to read well. They also add color (less of a good idea since Al Williamson's ink work is outstanding).
For the most part I will admit that this reads much better, but still has some funny choppy editing (like having 2 cliffhangers on a single page) and still some weird repetition. If you didn't know you were reading a redone daily strip, I think you'd be quite confused with the pacing.
March 6, 2025
A big fat YES PLEASE and THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
Dark Horse comics did an absolutely terrific job of colouring, editing and reformatting these classic strips from the early 80s into a seamless and thoroughly readable saga, meaning that it's never been easier to switch off and enjoy more adventures with Luke, Leia and Han. Any particular fans of these strips would probably want to get hold of the originals as they were published, but it's worth noting the additional excellent work that's been done here to make this a special publication.
These are fill-in stories, not designed to be earth shatteringly amazing sagas. They're rather little, flippant adventures that might have occurred between Star Wars and ESB and in serialised, newspaper form they have a much more old-fashioned feel to them (I'd make an obligatory Flash Gordon comparison, only I haven't read any...) than the movies they were based on. As long as one accepts this, it's really no bad thing; on the contrary it's exactly what I'd like to see from expanded universe material. The stories are unadulterated fun, and range from Han being tracked by a bounty hunter, to Luke infiltrating Darth's new battle cruiser as a spy and a confrontation with a bunch of slave-lords who control giant serpent beasts. Yes, it's pulpy sci-fi folks. Pulpy sci-fi at its best.
Given the format and the constraint of working inbetween two movies, Goodwin does a good job playing with the characters, particularly enjoying riffing on the Han-Luke-Leia love triangle and exploring the feelings of rivalry and jealousy this might have created in the group. I was pleased to see this, as I always felt it was a fun angle glossed over in the movies. It's also nice to see Darth Vader again as the fearful, yet mysterious commander, distrusted by his colleages, and his using the force being a strange anomaly (he's called "Wizard" at one point). I also squeed with delight when he went out to fight the Millenium Falcon again in his special TIE-Fighter.
We also get introduced to some fun side-characters who all have their own motivations and it's particularly nice to see a some female characters who are tough or motivated, who fit in nicely as both friends and potential enemies. My only complaint on that score would be that Leia, whilst still a strong leader, has more in common with her toned down characterisation in Empire, than the bolshy tough girl from Star Wars. It's still a far cry from the weak sex-object in RoTJ, though.
For anyone who enjoys Star Wars - particularly "classic Star Wars" - and also comics, this is a no-brainer. It won't tax you or blow you away with its complexity. You won't feel that major or importantant gaps in the saga have been filled in. This isn't essential material, but it's quality entertainment nonetheless.
EDIT 2025 Update
Bloody love it. Appreciating just how good the artwork is this time around and how great and seamless the narrative flow of these stories is (aside from some "they are newspaper strips" quirks). Highly, highly recommended
Dark Horse comics did an absolutely terrific job of colouring, editing and reformatting these classic strips from the early 80s into a seamless and thoroughly readable saga, meaning that it's never been easier to switch off and enjoy more adventures with Luke, Leia and Han. Any particular fans of these strips would probably want to get hold of the originals as they were published, but it's worth noting the additional excellent work that's been done here to make this a special publication.
These are fill-in stories, not designed to be earth shatteringly amazing sagas. They're rather little, flippant adventures that might have occurred between Star Wars and ESB and in serialised, newspaper form they have a much more old-fashioned feel to them (I'd make an obligatory Flash Gordon comparison, only I haven't read any...) than the movies they were based on. As long as one accepts this, it's really no bad thing; on the contrary it's exactly what I'd like to see from expanded universe material. The stories are unadulterated fun, and range from Han being tracked by a bounty hunter, to Luke infiltrating Darth's new battle cruiser as a spy and a confrontation with a bunch of slave-lords who control giant serpent beasts. Yes, it's pulpy sci-fi folks. Pulpy sci-fi at its best.
Given the format and the constraint of working inbetween two movies, Goodwin does a good job playing with the characters, particularly enjoying riffing on the Han-Luke-Leia love triangle and exploring the feelings of rivalry and jealousy this might have created in the group. I was pleased to see this, as I always felt it was a fun angle glossed over in the movies. It's also nice to see Darth Vader again as the fearful, yet mysterious commander, distrusted by his colleages, and his using the force being a strange anomaly (he's called "Wizard" at one point). I also squeed with delight when he went out to fight the Millenium Falcon again in his special TIE-Fighter.
We also get introduced to some fun side-characters who all have their own motivations and it's particularly nice to see a some female characters who are tough or motivated, who fit in nicely as both friends and potential enemies. My only complaint on that score would be that Leia, whilst still a strong leader, has more in common with her toned down characterisation in Empire, than the bolshy tough girl from Star Wars. It's still a far cry from the weak sex-object in RoTJ, though.
For anyone who enjoys Star Wars - particularly "classic Star Wars" - and also comics, this is a no-brainer. It won't tax you or blow you away with its complexity. You won't feel that major or importantant gaps in the saga have been filled in. This isn't essential material, but it's quality entertainment nonetheless.
EDIT 2025 Update
Bloody love it. Appreciating just how good the artwork is this time around and how great and seamless the narrative flow of these stories is (aside from some "they are newspaper strips" quirks). Highly, highly recommended
January 3, 2020
I thought these were the Marvel comics at first; apparently there's another Class Star Wars series before those and after the Russ Manning series. Either way, the Star's End adaptation Goodwin had writing credit on gave me serious reservations about a whole series of original work from him, but while these certainly aren't top-tier, I was pleasantly surprised at least at first. It has all the same limitations as the other old comics: a series of pulpy one-off adventures, mostly for Luke, set on random planets and without an overarching storyline or recurring side characters. No matter where Luke finds himself, remote or exotic or behind enemy lines, everyone always feels instantly recognizable: a friendly damsel who likes Luke instantly and is willing to help him achieve his goals for no real reason, and a stern adult man who doesn't like that very much. Then there's sometimes a male ally who turns out to be treacherous. But that's about the limit of the range of these characters. What really makes it bad is that every is constantly either thinking or speaking their intentions, moods, and motivations.
In this first volume, I was kind of okay with that. It does a couple things I like. The stories are slightly on the campy side, but they feel more familiar and contemporary than the Manning stories. This isn't ultimately that different from the modern Marvel Star Wars line. It takes a few questions from the films (the Ord Mantell line), creates a few more reasonable inferences (how did the Rebels find Hoth? What happened after the DS was destroyed? What did the Rebels know and do about the Executor?), and uses those to weave the individual stories together when the character stuff won't. It also takes a pretty direct approach to Luke and Han's romantic rivalry for Leia. This was the high point for me, since it's the only real drama in the series. Luke feels genuinely emotional at times about the way Leia seems to be favoring Han, and Tanith Shire comes in all horny for him and it makes him have to wonder if he's a fool for even pursuing her, etc. All very nice. There's just not much of it.
I have mixed feelings about the art. I love that each issue opens with the same 2/3 page spread of empty space, that's a great touch. But the scifi landscapes in general are not my style. I do like the aliens, for the most part, and the ship and weapon designs, while occasionally a bit retro-future-rocket-ship, are genuinely impressive. There are dozens of unique new ships here and most of them are great. Plus, it's got the AT-AR, which I had assumed was new for Galactic Battlegrounds, but apparently originated here (or at least was first put into a story here--it does seem to be from concept art for the AT-ST). The character faces are laughably unrecognizable but I kind of like that--it's like they're recast as different actors. The clothes aren't quite as 70's as the Manning comics but they're not particularly convincing. And a lot of them feel like they're copied straight from Conan cover art.
In this first volume, I was kind of okay with that. It does a couple things I like. The stories are slightly on the campy side, but they feel more familiar and contemporary than the Manning stories. This isn't ultimately that different from the modern Marvel Star Wars line. It takes a few questions from the films (the Ord Mantell line), creates a few more reasonable inferences (how did the Rebels find Hoth? What happened after the DS was destroyed? What did the Rebels know and do about the Executor?), and uses those to weave the individual stories together when the character stuff won't. It also takes a pretty direct approach to Luke and Han's romantic rivalry for Leia. This was the high point for me, since it's the only real drama in the series. Luke feels genuinely emotional at times about the way Leia seems to be favoring Han, and Tanith Shire comes in all horny for him and it makes him have to wonder if he's a fool for even pursuing her, etc. All very nice. There's just not much of it.
I have mixed feelings about the art. I love that each issue opens with the same 2/3 page spread of empty space, that's a great touch. But the scifi landscapes in general are not my style. I do like the aliens, for the most part, and the ship and weapon designs, while occasionally a bit retro-future-rocket-ship, are genuinely impressive. There are dozens of unique new ships here and most of them are great. Plus, it's got the AT-AR, which I had assumed was new for Galactic Battlegrounds, but apparently originated here (or at least was first put into a story here--it does seem to be from concept art for the AT-ST). The character faces are laughably unrecognizable but I kind of like that--it's like they're recast as different actors. The clothes aren't quite as 70's as the Manning comics but they're not particularly convincing. And a lot of them feel like they're copied straight from Conan cover art.
March 20, 2017
I have some great memories of this comic, and the subsequent two volumes. I used to get them out of the library all the time as a kid and I loved seeing this brilliantly written and illustrated adventures of Luke, Leia, and Han. I'm much too young to have read the original newspaper version, but from reading the intro and appendix as an adult, it seems that I've actually gotten the best version by reading this. All of the redundancies and awkward plotting necessitated by the daily comic strip format have been edited out, and the comic book version even has new bits of art from the original artist to fill in the gaps. The art is generally pretty great, doing a good job of showing the Star Wars heroes alongside plenty of new spaceships and aliens. I do feel like Luke Skywalker often doesn't quite look like himself, but other than that, Al Williamson and the colorist have done a great job. And the plotting is just fantastic. The heroes race from one adventure to another with plenty of action and excitement. We get to find out just what happened with the bounty hunter on Ord Mantell that Han mentions in Empire Strikes Back, we see the origin of Darth Vader's Super Star Destroyer, and Luke deals with a bunch of scavengers riding flying lizards that would feel right at home in a John Carter novel. Plus, consistent with his old Marvel Comics appearances, Darth Vader is treated as an evil mastermind and what might be Luke's earliest love interest appears. I don't know if Tanith Shire appears again after this, but she's awesome enough that I wish she'd stuck around more. All in all, while these stories are basically super non-canon at this point, I don't really care. They're a great series of adventures in that galaxy far, far away, and that's what really matters. Sadly, the same library copy that I borrowed as a kid is really falling apart, and this edition is long out of print, but Marvel is releasing these comics so hopefully a new generation of Star Wars fans will get just as much enjoyment out of them as I do.
January 2, 2021
The context of these comic strips are important - created after ESB but before ROTJ, and set between ANH and ESB, the character focus is squarely on the love triangle between Luke, Han and Leia but Tanith Shire, the shuttle thief he meets while on a spy mission, steals the show. To my knowledge, she is the first serious non-Leia love interest Luke has in Star Wars (now-Legends) canon and it's a shame they didn't do more with her. She serves to ease Luke's agony over the blooming relationship between Han and Leia, which seems a bit overdone with the script having Han repeatedly call Leia "your worship". It's interesting to see these stories attempt to divine/simplify the relationship between one of the biggest "Big 3" in fictional history while the trilogy is still in progress. I guess they had to work with what they had/knew, but I dock one point for the somewhat reductive nature of how they portray the dynamics between the three. Then again, these were just comic strips and not intended to be deep portrayal of the saga so for what it is, these are unique stories with good action and solid art that has more freedom to roam around and get creative given when they were written. Pick up the second volume to finish the Silver Fyre story.
February 27, 2020
I really loved the introduction and final words on how newspapers comics are made and then converted to book format. It's so interesting!
Within the comic...
- *laughs* at paper
- Hot diggity, we got the bounty hunter on Ord Mantell
- Luke's jealousy is appropriately juvenile, but the way Leia handles it is frustrating.
- "blondy" - that is SO spelled wrong. But I guess one fewer character saves money and space.
- Tanith Shire is extremely annoying. It bothers me that she's hot on Luke after 3 seconds and that they kiss after knowing each for like a day or two. UGH "How could he turn down an evening with ME?!" *gags*
- An Imperial Admiral is a spy but a two-timing one. It's an interesting subplot.
- Arakkus makes me think of Hoole from "Galaxy of Fear"
- The name of Aquaris is dumb.
- I was seriously hoping Silver Fyre was older...and not seemingly romantically linked to Han. I was excited for more of a Maz figure.
Within the comic...
- *laughs* at paper
- Hot diggity, we got the bounty hunter on Ord Mantell
- Luke's jealousy is appropriately juvenile, but the way Leia handles it is frustrating.
- "blondy" - that is SO spelled wrong. But I guess one fewer character saves money and space.
- Tanith Shire is extremely annoying. It bothers me that she's hot on Luke after 3 seconds and that they kiss after knowing each for like a day or two. UGH "How could he turn down an evening with ME?!" *gags*
- An Imperial Admiral is a spy but a two-timing one. It's an interesting subplot.
- Arakkus makes me think of Hoole from "Galaxy of Fear"
- The name of Aquaris is dumb.
- I was seriously hoping Silver Fyre was older...and not seemingly romantically linked to Han. I was excited for more of a Maz figure.
December 17, 2019
Archie Goodwin, Al Williamson, and vintage Star Wars? Thank you, yes, I'll have some more, please.
Growing up, my city had two big newspapers and the one my folks subscribed to didn't carry the Star Wars strip. I only had a chance to read it sporadically when I visited my grandparents but I loved it. Back then, you just couldn't get enough Star Wars.
In my head canon, this is now the definitive bounty hunters of Ord Mantell story.
Growing up, my city had two big newspapers and the one my folks subscribed to didn't carry the Star Wars strip. I only had a chance to read it sporadically when I visited my grandparents but I loved it. Back then, you just couldn't get enough Star Wars.
In my head canon, this is now the definitive bounty hunters of Ord Mantell story.
November 25, 2020
A fun read of the classic Star Wars stories that ran from 1981-1984. This captures several (non-canon) adventures. The Luke-Leia-Solo love interest of episodes 4 & 5 are on full display and drive much of the story.
October 3, 2021
Loved this
A fun "what if" story of how things may have played out differently after the death star being blown up. It's packed full of new planets and characters that our heroes and villains meet and work & deal with. A very good read and highly recommended
A fun "what if" story of how things may have played out differently after the death star being blown up. It's packed full of new planets and characters that our heroes and villains meet and work & deal with. A very good read and highly recommended
January 28, 2019
Brings Star Wars back for me. Fun read. Looking forward to reading the others.
September 20, 2019
This was a lot of fun and I even enjoyed it more than the rebooted version under marvel comics.
March 30, 2020
This was a fun read. I know nothing of the Star Wars universe besides the basics but this seemed pretty on brand.
June 7, 2020
Classic star wars comic strips are collected and turned into graphic novels in this collection. Gorgeous art and fun stories.
July 3, 2021
3.5 - Not exactly classic, either...
April 20, 2022
Alright but I wish Leia was written better
June 28, 2022
*3 and a half stars*
June 23, 2025
loved the comic strip
This compilation is a great read and a wonderful bit of nostalgia. Posting this review arbitrarily required eight more words.
This compilation is a great read and a wonderful bit of nostalgia. Posting this review arbitrarily required eight more words.
January 25, 2016
Before I begin my review, let's get one thing straight: Classic Star Wars is by far the most confusing Dark Horse title EVER! Classic Star Wars is a 3-volume collection of newspaper strips by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson that ran in papers nationwide from 1980 until 1984 when the title was cancelled. I've always thought that this series should have been titled Star Wars Daily and that the original Marvel Comics run should have been designated CLASSIC! Instead the Marvel reprints were packaged as CLASSIC STAR WARS: A LONG TIME AGO... Added to the confusion is yet another series of trade paperbacks that reprint the 1979-1980 non-Goodwin penned strips called Classic Star Wars: The Early Adventures!
Having read the introductions, a little bit of this confusion is finally cleared up to me. Dark Horse in the early 90s had just received the rights to publish Star Wars comics and they were desperate to start raking in the sales. They didn't have the original Marvel books in their possession yet, so they went on to print the newspaper strips.
For some reason, the first 18-months of the strips was MIA. Desperate to present rabid Star Wars fans with anything original, Dark Horse found its answer in rival publisher Russ Cochran and series artist Williamson. Russ Cochran had a few years earlier put out these giant sized hardback editions of the strip. But they were in black and white and they were reprints from a collection of clippings a fan made during the strip's original run. The images weren't all that great. Plus, since some strips didn't carry the weekly strip while others didn't carry the Sunday edition, to keep the reader from getting lost there were redundancies galore. Enter: Al Williamson!
Strip artist Al Williamson apparently was ultra-meticulous. Not only did he have all of the original artwork but they were catalogued to such a degree that his files actually found flaws in the Russ Cochran archives! Working with Dark Horse, Williamson and company produced what I am just about to review, a beautiful collection of the strips, edited to look more like a classic format comic book, repetitive panels deleted; now colored, re-inked, and featuring original covers and filler art by Al!
While I hated the title, I loved the content. The great introduction by writer Archie Goodwin helped me to better understand the way the strips were organized. There's lots of drama and action but it's framed in such a way that every other panel had to be a cliffhanger in order to entice the reader back the next day.
In this volume, we learn of what really happened with Han and that bounty hunter on Ord Mandell. Then Luke accepts a deadly mission to the Imperial shipyards before he's a captive of the Serpent Masters. Lastly, before Han sniffs out a rebel traitor on an ocean planet, the crew of the Millenium Falcon are trapped in the wake of a collapsing star.
The stories were exciting and I was riveted. There was one thing that really bugged me storywise and that was the love triangle between Princess Leia, Han Solo, and a certain farmboy from Tatooine. True, all of this happened before the big reveal in Return of the Jedi that Luke and Leia were brother and sister. But you'd think Lucas would've put the kibosh on this plotline. Plus, looking back at the massive hots Luke has for his (at the time unknown) sister, it's kinda creepy.
But the thing I loved the most about this book was the art. Now when these strips were first published I was of the ages of 3-7. Yet, looking at Williamson's deft artwork and dramatic shading, I was taken instantly back to the days of having my uncles or parents read to me the daily adventures of my favorite Star Wars characters. Williamson's art is so identifiable. Though Luke may not look like Luke on every panel, the artist's renderings of spaceships, droids, and Darth Vader are so perfect.
George Lucas was clearly influenced by the Flash Gordon serials of the 40s and 50s in making Star Wars. Here, Al Williamson's work is inspired by the classic strips that starred Flash and the Merciless Ming. Plus, I think the artist loves to draw lizards because he hides them in his artwork a lot. It's like a cool signature Easter Egg.
With Marvel owning the rights to these properties again, you might see this series get a new reissue one day soon. But, the original Classic Star Wars volumes are not hard to find. Amazon has a ton for sale and I often find the books in this series at LCS and used books stores nationwide. And for a decent price too.
A forgotten treasure in the Star Wars comic universe.
Having read the introductions, a little bit of this confusion is finally cleared up to me. Dark Horse in the early 90s had just received the rights to publish Star Wars comics and they were desperate to start raking in the sales. They didn't have the original Marvel books in their possession yet, so they went on to print the newspaper strips.
For some reason, the first 18-months of the strips was MIA. Desperate to present rabid Star Wars fans with anything original, Dark Horse found its answer in rival publisher Russ Cochran and series artist Williamson. Russ Cochran had a few years earlier put out these giant sized hardback editions of the strip. But they were in black and white and they were reprints from a collection of clippings a fan made during the strip's original run. The images weren't all that great. Plus, since some strips didn't carry the weekly strip while others didn't carry the Sunday edition, to keep the reader from getting lost there were redundancies galore. Enter: Al Williamson!
Strip artist Al Williamson apparently was ultra-meticulous. Not only did he have all of the original artwork but they were catalogued to such a degree that his files actually found flaws in the Russ Cochran archives! Working with Dark Horse, Williamson and company produced what I am just about to review, a beautiful collection of the strips, edited to look more like a classic format comic book, repetitive panels deleted; now colored, re-inked, and featuring original covers and filler art by Al!
While I hated the title, I loved the content. The great introduction by writer Archie Goodwin helped me to better understand the way the strips were organized. There's lots of drama and action but it's framed in such a way that every other panel had to be a cliffhanger in order to entice the reader back the next day.
In this volume, we learn of what really happened with Han and that bounty hunter on Ord Mandell. Then Luke accepts a deadly mission to the Imperial shipyards before he's a captive of the Serpent Masters. Lastly, before Han sniffs out a rebel traitor on an ocean planet, the crew of the Millenium Falcon are trapped in the wake of a collapsing star.
The stories were exciting and I was riveted. There was one thing that really bugged me storywise and that was the love triangle between Princess Leia, Han Solo, and a certain farmboy from Tatooine. True, all of this happened before the big reveal in Return of the Jedi that Luke and Leia were brother and sister. But you'd think Lucas would've put the kibosh on this plotline. Plus, looking back at the massive hots Luke has for his (at the time unknown) sister, it's kinda creepy.
But the thing I loved the most about this book was the art. Now when these strips were first published I was of the ages of 3-7. Yet, looking at Williamson's deft artwork and dramatic shading, I was taken instantly back to the days of having my uncles or parents read to me the daily adventures of my favorite Star Wars characters. Williamson's art is so identifiable. Though Luke may not look like Luke on every panel, the artist's renderings of spaceships, droids, and Darth Vader are so perfect.
George Lucas was clearly influenced by the Flash Gordon serials of the 40s and 50s in making Star Wars. Here, Al Williamson's work is inspired by the classic strips that starred Flash and the Merciless Ming. Plus, I think the artist loves to draw lizards because he hides them in his artwork a lot. It's like a cool signature Easter Egg.
With Marvel owning the rights to these properties again, you might see this series get a new reissue one day soon. But, the original Classic Star Wars volumes are not hard to find. Amazon has a ton for sale and I often find the books in this series at LCS and used books stores nationwide. And for a decent price too.
A forgotten treasure in the Star Wars comic universe.
January 1, 2021
Star Wars Legends Project #243
Background: In Deadly Pursuit, released in July of 1995, collects the first 7 issues of Dark Horse's Classic Star Wars reprints (August 1992-February 1993) of the original Star Wars newspaper strips (February 1981-March 1982). If you're confused, you're not alone. It took me far too long to realize that Dark Horse decided to issue these newspaper comics under the title Classic Star Wars and the Marvel Star Wars run (which was happening at the same time and is all set during the same period) under the title Classic Star Wars: A Long Time Ago. Oh, and if that weren't enough, Archie Goodwin (who wrote these strips), was also writing the Marvel run during this time. It's this kind of nonsense that leads me to suspect that comics are deliberately confusing on purpose to keep casual fans out. Anyway. Al Williamson did the art for this whole run. He and Goodwin both have a list of Star Wars credits a mile long from these years.
In Deadly Pursuit is set in the months after the Battle of Yavin. The main characters are Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Darth Vader. The stories take place in a variety of locations, mostly one-offs, but Ord Mantell figures prominently a couple of times.
Summary: A routine stop-over on Ord Mantell turns deadly when a bounty hunter spots Han Solo and kidnaps Luke and Leia so that he can force Han to surrender himself. But each narrow escape only leads straight into new dangers and new enemies, even as the Empire continues its implacable pursuit of our heroes.
Review: Like with the early Marvel stuff, I'm grading on a curve here, but this was way less terrible than I was expecting it to be. Maybe that's not saying much, but I figured a newspaper strip all strung together into a book-length comic would be nearly unreadable, moving at a glacial pace and constantly reiterating information for readers who might have missed a day or two. And there was some of that repetition, but far less than I'd have thought. At no point could I tell where a particular day's strip would have begun or ended, and the whole thing pretty much flowed. And while it's certainly hokey in spots, this run also lacks a lot of the truly goofy stuff that tripped me up in the early Marvel stories.
I recognized that the name "Al Williamson" kept appearing, but somehow didn't connect that he was doing a lot of the writing for both of these until after the fact. It's very weird that he's basically doing a retread of the same post-Yavin timeframe, but he can't use any of the same stories he's already told. And mostly he doesn't, but there are definitely a few that feel . . . strangely familiar. Like he took the same working title and then ran it in a different direction. Still, this is most probably going to appeal to the nostalgia factor and to completists.
B-
Background: In Deadly Pursuit, released in July of 1995, collects the first 7 issues of Dark Horse's Classic Star Wars reprints (August 1992-February 1993) of the original Star Wars newspaper strips (February 1981-March 1982). If you're confused, you're not alone. It took me far too long to realize that Dark Horse decided to issue these newspaper comics under the title Classic Star Wars and the Marvel Star Wars run (which was happening at the same time and is all set during the same period) under the title Classic Star Wars: A Long Time Ago. Oh, and if that weren't enough, Archie Goodwin (who wrote these strips), was also writing the Marvel run during this time. It's this kind of nonsense that leads me to suspect that comics are deliberately confusing on purpose to keep casual fans out. Anyway. Al Williamson did the art for this whole run. He and Goodwin both have a list of Star Wars credits a mile long from these years.
In Deadly Pursuit is set in the months after the Battle of Yavin. The main characters are Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Darth Vader. The stories take place in a variety of locations, mostly one-offs, but Ord Mantell figures prominently a couple of times.
Summary: A routine stop-over on Ord Mantell turns deadly when a bounty hunter spots Han Solo and kidnaps Luke and Leia so that he can force Han to surrender himself. But each narrow escape only leads straight into new dangers and new enemies, even as the Empire continues its implacable pursuit of our heroes.
Review: Like with the early Marvel stuff, I'm grading on a curve here, but this was way less terrible than I was expecting it to be. Maybe that's not saying much, but I figured a newspaper strip all strung together into a book-length comic would be nearly unreadable, moving at a glacial pace and constantly reiterating information for readers who might have missed a day or two. And there was some of that repetition, but far less than I'd have thought. At no point could I tell where a particular day's strip would have begun or ended, and the whole thing pretty much flowed. And while it's certainly hokey in spots, this run also lacks a lot of the truly goofy stuff that tripped me up in the early Marvel stories.
I recognized that the name "Al Williamson" kept appearing, but somehow didn't connect that he was doing a lot of the writing for both of these until after the fact. It's very weird that he's basically doing a retread of the same post-Yavin timeframe, but he can't use any of the same stories he's already told. And mostly he doesn't, but there are definitely a few that feel . . . strangely familiar. Like he took the same working title and then ran it in a different direction. Still, this is most probably going to appeal to the nostalgia factor and to completists.
B-
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September 15, 2008I read my copy of Classic Star Wars Volume One as a way to remember my grandmother. The comic is a reformatted version of the Star Wars newspaper strip by the legendary Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson. Gran received the Sunday edition of the strip and would cut it out for me every week to mail to me every few months; it's interesting to have a lot of the missing material filled in. Williamson is a master of science fiction illustration, he's of the mindset of "If there is a panel of a spaceship flying over a planet why not fill every square inch of space with a gazillion planets, asteroids, and weird looking spacecraft whenever possible. I love the aliens that wear humanoid spacesuits but who's heads look like wads of chewing gum with bugged eyes. Definitely takes me back to my childhood.
April 30, 2014
This was great! Inspired work from two comics legends Getting Al Williamson to draw the old Star Wars daily comic was an inspired choice, as it was his work on the Flash Gordon strip that inspired the look of Star Wars films. Archie Goodwin managed to do something very few comic writers pull off; make a daily adventure strip that felt like an adventure EVERY DAY.
April 12, 2015
A series of short stories from the 80s. A bounty hunter is after Han, Luke goes undercover in the Empire, and Luke rides a dragon. The stories flow seamlessly into each other. It is set between episode 4 and 5, so there is still a weird love triangle. The characters are well written and it is a fun read. It is very much of its time. A good read.
September 29, 2015
From newspaper to comic book
This is a collection of newspaper comics turned into a book. There were lots of good adventures for Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, and the droids after the battle of Yavin.
This is a collection of newspaper comics turned into a book. There were lots of good adventures for Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, and the droids after the battle of Yavin.
January 15, 2015
Entertaining and surprising interesting for vintage Star Wars. The volume of Han vs Luke competition for Leia is a bit weird knowing the sibling reveal that was written later but otherwise, not bad.
September 11, 2022
More fun space opera and gorgeous Russ Manning art.
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