It’s about time I got down to writing a bit about the official Marvel Comic adaptation of 1977. I’m interested in the changing practical and stylistic approaches to the first 6 issues that covered the film itself, and on what basis they might be judged. The obvious deviations from the actual look of the film including scenes that never made the final edit have been covered elsewhere.

Comparing the illustration styles in Marvel's 1977 adaptation of Star Wars.

People judge Howard Chaykin’s work on issue#1 harshly, and I can understand perfectly their misgivings (misgivings held inspite of Chaykin’s limited access to photographic references for a film not even at rough-edit stage). However that initial pass at illustrating the film is interesting from a variety of  viewpoints – particularly from our present day one. Looking at the approach taken to the sequel’s adaptation, it almost appears as if they were hoping to avoid the stylistic gulf that had opened on the first comic, that had been closed somewhat from issues 2-7 by access to production stills and an expanded team of inkers, and then been torn wide open once again with the incredibly peculiar and mannered – if skillful – work of Carmine Infantino. Infantino’s work which looked very little like anything in the original film was somewhat disturbing to my 10 year old self who, starved of VCRs, DVDs or YouTube craved an accurate or more visually representative rendition of the expanding Star Wars Universe. It would be a bit of a wait until the next movie appeared in cinema – probably only to be viewed twice: so the interim material had to fill a very pressing need.

Top Illustration

Left: Howard Chaykin’s freely and expressively self-inked issue#1. Some artful touches, but Chaykin had to recruit help for issue#2 onward. It was too off-style anyway.

Middle: Hideously bad inking of Chaykin’s artwork. I suspect Colletta may have been the culprit.

Right: More on-style and true-to-the-film inking, but lacking the freedom and maturity of Chaykin’s own. More comicky and stiff.

(Article to be continued this Thursday)
Until then you might like to visit Joshua Lapin-Bertone’s: ‘Marvel Star Wars blog & Podcast reviews‘

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She's a bit rough

Yet again: I can’t claim all the credit. This time it’s when Leia spits on Vader. It’s… in the blasted novel.

Crap, crap, crap. It even sizzles when it lands on him.

Having said that, the princess in the 10 year old version is grubbier than in Lucas’ text. This is a princess and senator of the Royal House of Alderann – or Antilles or something (Look, I haven’t been a SW nerd for over 30 years ok?).

I could have done so much more with it though. Oh the missed opportunities. Did she do a big nose-honk first? If we look closely, is she wearing a chunky sovereign ring? Is the Pocahontas hairdo actually a council-estate-facelift gone wrong? See the strip at Star Wars age 9 >

The Star Wars novelisation of '77

Well, I’m just re-reading the 1977 Star Wars novel – for the first time since I was a kid I might quickly add (I’m surprised even at myself)! I’m curious to know where the better-written bits of Star Wars age 9 came from. Er, that’s my excuse for the moment: research. Lines like “Their expressions every bit as worry wrinkled as their uniforms”.

The cover’s fallen off, so I’m using it as a bookmark; and it seems that I painted the inside back cover with black poster paint! Why? Who knows? On the left, you can see one that’s on eBay. It’s the only one, so mine must be worth literally millions. Beautifully painted cover artwork incidentally. Not all airbrushy, this illustration comes from the days when illustrators could paint wonderfully and weren’t afraid of visible brushstrokes.

But… do you know what? The ‘Vader Levitating and Drinking Coffee’ mystery has been solved. Am I spoiling the mystery..?

Yep, there it is, in the Death Star Conference scene. Lucas mustn’t have included it in the film because of budgetary constraints.

“Jesus, which one will we do Gary (Kurtz)? The floating coffee cup with all that expensive black thread – or – the Death Star exploding?

Coffee cup – Death Star – Coffee cup – Death Star. Agh… I can’t decide!”

Finally, the Bean Counters at 20th Century Fox prevailed. The coffee cup was axed. John Dykstra wept because he’d never wow audiences with the first ever levitating coffee cup.

Incidentally, here’s my tiny, almost imperceptible version c.1980 >

Now I’m worried: If I read the rest of the novel, I might just find that Luke’s quizzical exclamation to Ben: “What’s a Duck?” actually came from the Novel too. Do I really want Lucas to take all the credit for that masterstroke? (See it in context here).

Vader drinking coffee?

Over on Blue Milk Special Vader drinks coffee: for comic effect. It’s a parody of the film. I mean, honestly: how on earth could he possibly drink coffee? Well look what I found the other night in a box of old comics in the attic…

In the Howard Chaykin/Marvel comic adaptation of 1977 – Vader is actually depicted holding what looks like a paper cup of coffee! During the death star conference room scene when he half chokes a colleague. Even weirder: in the top left panel, the cup seems to float in mid-air, steam rising from it, then in another panel it’s in his hand!

Honestly, I wonder sometimes if the team working on the earlier issues had actually even seen the film.”

Rod Hannah of BMS is as surprised as I am!

I’d like to discuss the Chaykin/Marvel adaptation at some point, as it’s an interesting visual interpretation. Seriously though… did the studio not even give them a few production stills to work from?

Here’s a great quote I discovered in my comic adaptation. A few lines that Star Wars Director & Writer George Lucas hadn’t thought to add to one of Obi Wan Kenobi’s snippets of wisdom:

Despite countless script rewrites, George Lucas could never come up with this.

Kenobi: (Emits an animal wail to scare off the Sandpeople)
Luke: “That’s a Krayt Dragon Call!”
Kenobi: “It just takes a set of well trained vocol cords (sic) that’s all. Oh well: a duck can quack!“
Luke: (Without pausing to ponder this nugget exclaims, wide eyed) “What’s a duck?”

Classic stuff. Kenobi has seen more things in the universe than poor Luke could ever dream of. You know, ducks for instance.

See the previous chapters at: Star Wars age 9

Imperials enter the rebel ship via the sanitation block

As I said, I ripped out much of the original comic and replaced it with newer stuff. Now, I’m glad that I have the newer versions of the pages but I wish – how I wish – that I still had all the old ones. They have a charm all of their own. It does remind me of what George Lucas is doing with the original film.

Funny (old) blog post about it here: Stop it George! on Robert and Anna’s blog. I get the impression that if you start analysing the differences between versions you’re headed where madness lies. Someone’s even made a site minutely tracking the differences!

Sometimes it’s a relief to know that you’ve very little time on your hands.

Star Wars: the Definitive comic strip adaptation (note the Liebherr packing tape)

One of the most fascinating things is the comic strip adaptation of Star Wars that I started aged nine and a half. I have most of the first version, but some was sadly culled as my drawing improved. I’d remove pages no longer deemed up to scratch and replace them with better versions. These were the pages my mum wanted me to keep safe. Between dad and mum as I said, I have most of them. The odd thing is, the earliest, poorest ones are my favourites. The dawing is so poor, so out of proportion, so in need of a ruler at times! – but it brings me back immediately to that happy time, immersed in my drawing and the imaginary escapist alternate universe of Star Wars. It was also executed very quickly so has a wonderful immediacy and freshness.

To close, I must apologise to all the people that I bored senseless with my youthful Star Wars obsession!

Read more about this cover and see more of the comic at Star Wars age 9