''Classic Star Wars'' is a series of various classic
''Star Wars'' comics reprinted by
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...
between 1992 and 1996. It notably includes compilations of the weekly newspaper
''Star Wars'' comic strips written by
Archie Goodwin and illustrated by
Al Williamson
Alfonso Williamson (March 21, 1931 – June 12, 2010) was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western, science fiction and fantasy.
Born in New York City, he spent much of his early childhood in ...
; these were published as 20 single issues between 1992 and 1994 with new cover art by Williamson and others,
and collected as three
trade paperbacks
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as wrappers, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardback (hardcover) books are bound with cardboar ...
between 1994 and 1996.
While originally achromatic, these comics were colorized for the Dark Horse reprints.
The ''Classic Star Wars'' banner also includes reprints of
Marvel
Marvel may refer to:
Business
* Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company
** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment
** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe
** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...
's original adaptations of the
original trilogy
The original ''Star Wars'' trilogy, formerly marketed as the ''Star Wars'' Trilogy (and colloquially referred to as the 'original trilogy' or classic trilogy), is the first set of three films produced in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, an Americ ...
from the
self-titled comic (over two issues each in 1994, with new colorization in the case of ''A New Hope''),
Russ Manning
Russell George Manning (January 5, 1929"United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VMMT-NZN : accessed 28 Aug 2014), Russell Manning, Dec 1981; citing U.S. Social Security Administratio ...
's comic strip (as ''Classic Star Wars: The Early Adventures''), a reprint of issue #98 of Marvel's ''Star Wars'' (as ''Classic Star Wars: The Vandelhelm Mission''), and various colorized comics originally printed by
Marvel UK
Marvel UK was an imprint (trade name), imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint United States of America, US-produced stories for the United Kingdom, British weekly comic market. Marvel UK later produced original material by British cr ...
's magazine, including many by
Alan Moore
Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', Swamp Thing (comic book), ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman: The Killing Joke' ...
(as ''Classic Star Wars: Devilworlds'').
Trade paperbacks
* ''Volume One: In Deadly Pursuit'' (collects ''Star Wars'' #1–7, 196 pages, June 1994, )
* ''Volume Two: The Rebel Storm'' (collects ''Star Wars'' #8–14, 208 pages, July 1995, )
* ''Star Wars'' (collects ''Star Wars'' vol. 1 #1–6, 104 pages, November 1995, )
* ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (collects ''Star Wars'' vol. 1 #39–44, 104 pages, November 1995, )
* ''Return of the Jedi'' (collects ''Star Wars: Return of the Jedi'' #1–4, 104 pages, November 1995, )
* ''Volume Three: Escape to Hoth'' (collects ''Star Wars'' #15–20, 208 pages, January 1996, )
* ''The Early Adventures'' (collects ''Star Wars: The Early Adventures'' #1–9, 240 pages, May 1997, )
* ''
Han Solo at Stars' End'' (collects ''Star Wars: Han Solo at Stars' End'' #1–3, 104 pages, October 1997, )
*''
Marvel Epic Collection:'' ''Star Wars – The Newspaper Strips'' vol. 1 (January 2017, )
*''Marvel Epic Collection:'' ''Star Wars – The Newspaper Strips'' vol. 2 (July 2019, )
Related publications
In 1991,
Russ Cochran
Russell Earl Cochran (born October 31, 1958) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions, having previously been a member on the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour. He is one of the few natural left-handed players to wi ...
published a 2500-copy limited run of a three-volume hardcover boxset of all of Goodwin and Williamson's ''Star Wars'' comic strips from 1981 to 1984,
signed by both creators, and featuring new cover illustrations by the latter.
In 1999, Dark Horse released six issues of black-and-white reprints of Marvel's self-titled comic and related works as ''Classic Star Wars: A Long Time Ago....'' with covers utilizing conceptual design by
Ralph McQuarrie
Ralph Angus McQuarrie (; June 13, 1929 – March 3, 2012) was an American conceptual designer who worked in film and television. His career included work on the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy, the original ''Battlestar Galactica'' television se ...
. Recolored versions of Marvel's entire comic series were released across seven trade paperbacks as ''Star Wars: A Long Time Ago...'' between 2002 and 2003:
* ''A Long Time Ago...: Doomworld'' (collects ''Star Wars'' #1–20, 336 pages, July 2002, )
*''A Long Time Ago...: Dark Encounters'' (collects ''Star Wars'' #21–38 and ''Annual'' #1, 336 pages, July 2002, )
*''A Long Time Ago...: Resurrection of Evil'' (collects ''Star Wars'' #39–53, 344 pages, November 2002, )
*''A Long Time Ago...: Screams of the Void'' (collects ''Star Wars'' #54–67 and ''Annual'' #2, 376 pages, January 2003, )
*''A Long Time Ago...: Fool's Bounty'' (collects ''Star Wars'' #68–81 and ''Annual'' #3, 376 pages, March 2003, )
*''A Long Time Ago...: Wookiee World'' (collects ''Star Wars'' #82–95, 360 pages, May 2003, )
*''A Long Time Ago...: Far, Far Away'' (collects ''Star Wars'' #96–107, 312 pages, July 2003, )
Between 2017 and 2018,
The Library of American Comics
Library of American Comics (abbreviated as LoAC) is an American publisher of classic United States, American comic strips collections and comic history books, founded by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell in 2007.
History Background
Dean Mullaney ...
collected the entirety of the ''Star Wars'' comic strip in its original black-and-white form in three volumes as ''Star Wars: The Complete Classic Newspaper Comics''.
Reception
Steve Watson reviewed ''Classic Star Wars 3'' for ''Arcane'' magazine, rating it a 3 out of 10 overall.
Watson comments that "This is very weak indeed. The ''Star Wars'' concept deserves much better treatment than this basic pulp and clearly does not work in this format."
Conversely, internet reviewer John Hansen says, "The Goodwin/Williamson strips are all about the childhood wonder brought out by the original trilogy and fans' memories of seeing the films for the first time."
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See also
* ''Splinter of the Mind's Eye
''Splinter of the Mind's Eye'' is a 1978 science fiction novel by American writer Alan Dean Foster, a sequel to the film ''Star Wars'' (1977). Originally published in 1978 by Del Rey, a division of Ballantine Books, the book was written with t ...
''
References
Footnotes
Citations
{{Star Wars comics
1992 comics debuts
Comics based on Star Wars
Comics by Archie Goodwin (comics)
Dark Horse Comics titles