Classic Star Wars

Classic Star Wars is a series of various classic Star Wars comics reprinted by Dark Horse Comics between 1992 and 1996. It notably includes compilations of weekly newspaper comic strips written by Archie Goodwin and illustrated by Al Williamson; these were published as 20 single issues between 1992 and 1994 with new cover art by Williamson and others.[1][lower-alpha 1] and collected as three trade paperbacks between 1994 and 1996, also with unique covers by Williamson.[2][lower-alpha 2] While originally achromatic, Steve Buccellato colorized these comics for the Dark Horse reprints.[2]

The Classic Star Wars banner also includes reprints of Marvel's original adaptations of the original trilogy from the self-titled comic (with new colorization in the case of A New Hope),[4][5] Russ Manning's comic strip (as Classic Star Wars: The Early Adventures),[6] and various comics printed by Marvel UK's magazine, including many by Alan Moore (as Classic Star Wars: Devilworlds).[7]

In 1991, Russ Cochran 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,[1] signed by both creators, and featuring new cover illustrations by the latter.[8][lower-alpha 3]

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.[9][10] 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.[11][12]

Between 2017 and 2018, The Library of American Comics 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.[3] 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."[3] 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."[2]

References

Footnotes

  1. Williamson and his assistant Allen Nunis created new art to extend some panels to fit the comic-page-size layouts arranged by Dark Horse's editors.[1] Nunis, Mark Schultz, and George Evans also created some of the cover art.
  2. These are titled In Deadly Pursuit (1994), The Rebel Storm (1995), and Escape to Hoth (1996). The issues beginning the latter two volumes include an opening crawl recapping the story so far.[3]
  3. These were used as reference for the Classic Star Wars compilations.[1]

Citations

  1. Goodwin, Archie (1994). Cooper, Bob (ed.). Classic Star Wars: Volume One – In Deadly Pursuit. Williamson, Al (1st ed.). Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Comics. pp. i, 192–194. ISBN 1-56971-017-1. OCLC 31326940.
  2. Hansen, John (September 23, 2013). "'Star Wars' flashback: 'Classic Star Wars' Issues 1–7 (Goodwin/Williamson newspaper strips, 1981-82) (Comic book reviews) – Cold Bananas Movie & TV Reviews". Cold Bananas Movie & TV Reviews. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  3. Watson, Steve (February 1996). "The Great Library". Arcane. Future Publishing (3): 91.
  4. "Classic Star Wars: A New Hope #1 :: Profile". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  5. "Classic Star Wars: A New Hope #2 :: Profile". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  6. "Classic Star Wars: The Early Adventures #1 :: Profile". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  7. "Classic Star Wars: Devilworlds #1 (of 2) :: Profile". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  8. "Star Wars Newspaper HC (1991 Russ Cochran) comic books". mycomicshop.com. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  9. "Classic Star Wars: A Long Time Ago #1 (of 6) :: Profile". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  10. "Classic Star Wars: A Long Time Ago #6 (of 6) :: Profile". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  11. "Classic Star Wars: A Long Time Ago... Volume 1: Doomworld TPB :: Profile". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  12. "Classic Star Wars: A Long Time Ago... Volume 7: Far, Far Away TPB :: Profile". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
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