Nordic Star Wars Albums

The Swedish media company, Bonnier Group, owned several publishing companies in 1978, including Semic Press, Sweden's largest publisher of comics.  Semic Press published titles in various European countries besides Sweden, including the Nordic countries of Finland and Norway.  Bonnier Group was also a partial owner of Denmark's largest comic publisher, Interpresse.  Star Wars was released to these four Nordic countries in December 1977.  In 1977, Semic Press published an album or trade paperback collecting Marvel's 6-issue adaptation of the movie for Swedish, Finnish, and Norwegian readers, while Interpresse published the album for Danish readers.  Additional albums were released from 1977 - 1981, translating many of the U.S. Star Wars stories up to the Empire Strikes Back adaptation.  In 1983, a sixth album, containing Marvel's Return of the Jedi #1 - 4 was also released.  None of these editions claim to be the sixth album, but the size of them make it easy to see they were meant as a continuation of the previous albums.  By this time, Marvel's Star Wars issues were being translated in more traditional sized comic books for these countries and no album was published in subsequent years.

Early on, the Star Wars title was translated into the language for the country the comic were released in, but by the late 1980s, the English Star Wars would become standard in countries that did not speak English.  When looking at the titles on the album covers, it is easy to see this consolidation starting in the early 1980s, although Sweden was a holdout, using the title Stjärnornas Krig for all six albums.

The same covers were used for all four countries for the first four albums, but for the fifth album, Norway does not use the artwork by the Norwegian Bjørn Morisse.  Additionally, Denmark uses the artwork from the Return of the Jedi style "B" poster instead of the art used for Marvel Super Special #27 for the sixth album.

Denmark

Finland

Norway

Sweden

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Denmark

Stjerne Krigen Album #1a - Interpresse, Denmark (1977)
contains Star Wars #1 - 6

Stjerne Krigen Album #2a - Interpresse, Denmark (1978)
contains Star Wars #11 - 15 (minus some pages)

Stjerne Krigen Album #3a - Interpresse, Denmark (1979)
contains Star Wars #18 - 23 (minus some pages)

Stjerne Krigen Album #4a - Interpresse, Denmark (1980)
contains Star Wars #39 - 44

Stjerne Krigen Album #5a - Interpresse, Denmark (1981)
contains Star Wars #25, 26, 31 - 34

Stjerne Krigen Album #6a - Interpresse, Denmark (1983)
contains Return of the Jedi #1 - 4

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Finland

Tähtien Sota Album #1a - Semic Press, Finland (1977)
contains Star Wars #1 - 6

Tähtien Sota Album #2a - Semic Press, Finland (1978)
contains Star Wars #11 - 15 (minus some pages)

Tähtien Sota Album #3a - Semic Press, Finland (1979)
contains Star Wars #18 - 23 (minus some pages)

Tähtien Sota Album #4a - Semic Press, Finland (1980)
contains Star Wars #39 - 44

Tähtien Sota Album #5a - Semic Press, Finland (1981)
contains Star Wars #25, 26, 31 - 34

Tähtien Sota Album #6a - Semic Press, Finland (1983)
contains Return of the Jedi #1 - 4

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Norway

Star Wars Album #1a - Semic Press, Norway (1977)
contains Star Wars #1 - 6

Star Wars Album #2a - Semic Press, Norway (1978)
contains Star Wars #11 - 15 (minus some pages)

Star Wars Album #3a - Semic Press, Norway (1979)
contains Star Wars #18 - 23 (minus some pages)

Star Wars Album #4a - Semic Press, Norway (1980)
contains Star Wars #39 - 44

Star Wars Album #5a - Semic Press, Norway (1981)
contains Star Wars #25, 26, 31 - 34

Star Wars Album #6a - Semic Press, Norway (1983)
contains Return of the Jedi #1 - 4

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Sweden

Stjärnornas Krig Album #1a - Semic Press, Sweden (1977)
contains Star Wars #1 - 6

Stjärnornas Krig Album #2a - Semic Press, Sweden (1978)
contains Star Wars #11 - 15 (minus some pages)

Stjärnornas Krig Album #3a - Semic Press, Sweden (1979)
contains Star Wars #18 - 23 (minus some pages)

Stjärnornas Krig Album #4a - Semic Press, Sweden (1980)
contains Star Wars #39 - 44

Stjärnornas Krig Album #5a - Semic Press, Sweden (1981)
contains Star Wars #25, 26, 31 - 34

Stjärnornas Krig Album #6a - Semic Press, Sweden (1983)
contains Return of the Jedi #1 - 4

Some of the first elusive international Star Wars comics that I remember seeing are these Nordic albums.  I have been working on putting together the set for a few years and I am happy to finally be able to present all 24 albums together.

For me, the Swedish albums were the easiest to acquire.  The last albums I needed to complete the collection were the first two albums from Norway.  This aligns with the populations of those countries in 1978; Sweden had the largest estimated population with 8.276 million people, followed by Denmark with 5.104 million people and Finland with 4.753 million people.  Norway had the smallest estimated population with 4.059 million people which is less than half the population of Sweden in 1978.