Chinese Star Wars Lianhuanhua (A New Hope Adaptations - Part 3)

The Maggie Greene discovered Chinese comic adaptation of Star Wars: A New Hope is not the only adaptation of the movie in the linhuanhua format.  This Star Wars adaptation was drawn by someone who had access to the movie or photos from the movie.  In fact, many of the drawings are so much like pictures from the movie, the artist could have traced those pictures.

星球大战 d - China (1981)
faithful A New Hope adaptation

This comic is a faithful adaptation of what was seen in the movie.  The cover art is as accurate as the interior art. 

The next two Chinese Star Wars comics contain the Star Wars story again, but this time it is told over 2 issues.

星球大战 e - China (1982)
A New Hope adaptation part 1

星球大战 f - China (1982)
A New Hope adaptation part 2

The artist on these two issues has a very similar style to Gold Key's legend Jesse Santos with lots of swirly line work.  From the artwork, the artist would have seen still photos from Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, but definitely has not seen the movies.  These comics were released a year before the Return of the Jedi, but the covers (which are identical) look like the they are inspired by the scene where Luke Skywalker battled Darth Vader on the Death Star in silhouette.  I'm guessing the advanced Revenge of the Jedi poster was the inspiration for these covers.

The story line in these two comics follows the movie pretty closely, even though the details are strange.  Princess Leia is wearing her Bespin gown.  Luke Skywalker is wearing dark slacks and not the familiar tunic.  Chewbacca looks more like a monkey than a Wookiee.  When the droids escape from Tantive IV, it looks like the U.S. military is contemplating shooting them out of the sky.  Tatooine is drawn like a desert, complete with cacti.  The landspeeder looks like a craft from a Buck Roger's episode.  All the story elements are here, but the art and details are definitely different.