Every year I buy myself something for Christmas. It's just a little tradition I have, and it's typically something small that costs no more than $50. It's also usually something that no one else would get me unless I asked for it specifically, and I always feel rather awkward doing that.
This year I picked up the hardback, collecter edition of "The Star Wars" from Dark Horse Comics. "The Star Wars" comics are based on the original, "rough draft" screenplay of what would later become "Star Wars" that George Lucas wrote in the late 60s/early 70s. Dark Horse ran the eight issue limited series from September of 2013 until May of 2014. The handsome, hardback tome that I bought was published in September of 2014.
Getting right down to the nitty-gritty here: "The Star Wars" is kind of all over the place. And when I say "all over the place" I mean that there are too many characters that pop in and out, and too many unwieldy plot threads, most of which revolve around political and/or military skullduggery, that weigh it down. And it was exactly that kind of bloated nonsense that bogged down Lucas' tepid prequel trilogy. On top of that, the famous phrase "May the Force Be With You" is "May the Force of Others Be With You" here, and that's just a little too 60s, commune hippie-esque for my tastes, so I'm glad it was simplified as the script progressed.
"The Star Wars" definitely has more action and violence compared with the "Star Wars" we all know and love, and it is much easier to see the influence of Akira Kurisowa's samurai films ("Seven Samurai," "Throne of Blood, " etc.) and the "Flash Gordon" serials that Lucas always maintained he was inspired by when he was creating the "Star Wars" universe. There also are a good many recycled plot points and names of characters, planets, and ships that long-time fans will instantly notice. Lucas must have kept all of these in a mental drawer somewhere for use in other installments of the franchise.
In terms of the characters, Princess Leia, C-3PO, and R2-D2 remain the closest to what made it on the screen in 1977, although R2-D2 actually talks in English, not beeps and whistles, in this version. Luke Skywalker is here, as are Darth Vader, Han Solo, and Chewbacca. But they are, by and large, vastly different than their on-screen counterparts.
Chewbacca is more like a rather large Ewok with googly eyes. That can be said for the Wookies in general, as the entire section that features them in "The Star Wars" was clearly cannibalized for 1983's "Return of the Jedi." The Ewoks became what the Wookies were originally supposed to be.
The Darth Vader we find here is more a ruthless military leader than anything else...much more like Peter Cushing's Grand Moff Tarkin in the original film. Although the artist goes to great pains to give Vader somewhat similar armor and the iconic samurai-influenced helmet, which we only really see him in once or twice throughout the book. In fact, this Vader is rather disdainful of the ways of the Jedi/Sith. There is a secondary villain named Price Valroum (another name that Lucas reused later with Episode I's Chancellor Valroum, played by Terrence Stamp, who is voted out of the Imperial Senate), a Knight of the Sith, who shows up to assist Vader on the Empire's Space Fortress (which would later become the Death Star...obviously a much better name). Here, Vader consistently talks down to Valorum and his order, but it's quite obvious that in "Star Wars" Lucas wisely streamlined things by making Prince Valorum and Darth Vader become one in the same character.
There's no other way to say this but the Han Solo in "The Star Wars" looks like DC's Swamp Thing. It completely distracted me, and I couldn't find a way to like this version of the character at all. His overall attitude and demeanor are fairly similar to what Harrison Ford portrayed in 1977, but yeah, Han Solo as a big green monster/alien just doesn't work at all. Oh, and there is absolutely no mention of Millennium Falcon either.
Luke Skywalker, or General Luke Skywalker I should say, is essentially what Obi-Wan Kenobi was in "Star Wars" but a beefed up, more action-oriented version, and (much) less the wise old man who will impart the ways of the Force. This version of Luke is probably the best and/or most interesting character we find in "The Star Wars." Also, interesting to note is that artist intentionally drew Gen. Skywalker to look much like an older version of Ewan McGregor who portrayed Obi-Wan in the three prequel films.
There are other characters that were jettisoned altogether or became an amalgam of some sort. I previously mentioned Prince Valorum, but there are also the father and son duo of Kane and Annikin Starkiller and Clieg Whitsun, Gen. Skywalker's right hand man. Kane is the most interesting of these as he possesses elements of both what we know of Obi-Wan (self-sacrifice) and Vader (a mostly hidden robotic body). Whitsun is similar in that he has elements of both what would become the Luke and Han Solo's characters. Annikin (what did I tell you about the recycled names?) is basically a more robust version of Luke, though not so naïve and farmboy-ish. Also, the Annikin here is more of a capable warrior, but not a star-pilot strangely enough.
In terms of the overall presentation of the book itself, the art is extremely well done by Mike Mayhew, having a photo-realistic look and feel that just screams "Star Wars." While Mayhew did a great job making this universe look realistic and properly "Star Wars," the majority of his action scenes feel a bit static and stilted to me on the page. The cover art by Nick Runge is also fantastic, evoking the best of the classic "Star Wars" movie posters.
It's hard for me to speak on the writing by J.W. Rinzler because he is adapting a screenplay (which wasn't included with this volume, I'm sad to say) into the comic form, and while those mediums are similar in that they are both very visual, the nuts and bolts are vastly different. I'm also willing to bet that Rinzler didn't have much leeway to make changes or smooth out the disparate plot points. Case in point, there is a romantic sub-plot in "The Star Wars" between Annikin and Leia that is awful...just ham-fisted, broken, and desperately needed to be fixed and/or rewritten. As a writer myself who has worked on both screenplays and comic scripts in the past that would have been one of the first things I would have fixed. That's why I say that Rinzler's hands were tied here because that "missing" alteration sticks out like a sore thumb to me.
All in all, this book is a fun, informative, and thought-provoking trip down "The Star Wars" memory lane. It's a no-brainer for people like me who grew up with the films, love investigating all the nooks and crannies of the "Star Wars" lore, and appreciate what amount of streamlining and hard work it took for "The Star Wars to become "Star Wars." For more casual fans, this book is more of an interesting curiosity...as they'll probably get bored with all the politics, weird story changes, and radically different characters and put it down after a chapter or two.
