Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Retro Foreign

Indonesian Star Wars (Part 5)

These two Indonesian Star Wars comics were published by Yayasan Karya Bhakti Bandung in 1978.  These pamphlet sized, black and white comics contain the Marvel Comics Star Wars adaptation.  The first issue, published in July 1978, contains Marvel Star Wars #4 - 6 and has 54 pages of story.

Star Wars a - Yayasan Karya Bhakti Bandung, Indonesia (July 18, 1978)
contains Star Wars #4 - 6
cover from Marvel Special Edition Star Wars #2
This first issue has the same cover as Marvel Special Edition Star Wars #2.  The treasury-sized Cypress comic also published in Indonesia uses the same cover.  Much of the cover is in English, including the blurb The War in Space.

Star Wars a - Yayasan Karya Bhakti Bandung, Indonesia (July 18, 1978)
back cover
The back cover is an ad where the movie is spelled Star War and again uses the blurb The War in Space. The text in the ad is interesting (I did some cleanup of the text after translating it):

Flying saucers ... Beware of Flying saucers ... Flying Saucers ... Flying saucers are stalking Our Earth. The daily Kompas on 29/6/78 on the first page proved with a clear photo the existence of flying saucers on top of our Earth ... When flying saucers attack Earth, what will happen???

World War reveals not a nuclear war but a war between Earth and space.
The inconceivable, the city of New York, Tokyo, London and other major cities vanished instantly when attacked from space with x-ray guns. Star Wars, has been breaking records around the world ... in America, Europe, Japan, Singapore and other places, it has been seen by millions of viewers and is still playing ... Now the opportunity for you to enjoy it instead of in the film, but in the cergam (book?), a chance for those of you who haven't watched the movie ... can be purchased at all bookstores. Here are some bookstores:


The second issue, published in September 1978, contains Marvel Star Wars #1 - 3 and also has 54 pages of story.

Star Wars Episode #2a - Yayasan Karya Bhakti Bandung, Indonesia (September 30, 1978)
contains Star Wars #1 - 3
original cover
This second issue's cover contains original art.  It depicts the main heroes from the movie, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2.  It also contains English on the cover like the first issue.  The last panel on the last page of the story shows the Indonesian word Tamat which means Completed.

It isn't clear why the first issue contains Marvel Star Wars #4 - 6 and the second issue contains Marvel Star Wars #1 - 3.  I find it interesting that the comic created by Cypress which was published in August 1978 contains redrawn art from Star Wars #4 - 6 but used original art for the first half of the adaptation.  Is it possible Star Wars #1 - 3 were not available when these 2 comics were being created?  In either case, 2 months later, the second issue does contain Marvel Star Wars #1 - 3.

Star Wars Episode #2a - Yayasan Karya Bhakti Bandung, Indonesia (September 30, 1978)
back cover
The back cover has an ad with art by legendary Filipino comic book artist Alfredo Alcala.

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