Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison #5

Laurita Tohm and Captain Shonn Volta are preparing to catch another ship using Volta's knowledge of hyperspace lanes in Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison #5.  Meanwhile, Grand Moff Tarkin arrives on Coruscant and is immediately apprehended by Headmaster Gentis.  Before Tarkin is removed for interrogation, Darth Vader, Moff Trachta, Tohm, Volta, and other prisoners from the Prism emerge from Tarkin's shuttle revealing it was Tarkin's craft they intercepted.  A fierce battle takes place and Tohm seeks out and kills his former classmate and friend, Cadet Caul Gentis.  Headmaster Gentis sees his fallen son and rushes to his side.  He is attacked by a recovered Emperor Palpatine who unleashes a wave of Force lightning, killing Gentis and ending the uprising.  Fellow conspirators are rounded up by the Imperials and executed.

In the aftermath of the insurrection, the Emperor promotes Trachta to Grand Moff.  The prisoners who helped battle back the rebellion are freed and exiled to the Corporate Sector.  As their shuttle departs Coruscant, it blows up, a scheme planned by Tohm.  Tohm is promoted to Admiral and Volta has joined the Imperials reporting to Tohm.  The Emperor tells Vader that Tohm is cunning and ruthless and should Vader ever fall, Tohm would be a worthy successor.  At the conclusion of the story, Vader summons Tohm and throws him off a high building to his death.

The cover shows Darth Vader wielding his lightsaber against the insurrectionists on Coruscant.  A blurb reads The Student Surpasses the Teacher! referring to Tohm's idolation of ruthlessness is dealing with the prisoners who helped restore order.

Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison #5a - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (September 2012)

This mini-series starring Darth Vader is a big improvement over the previous Darth Vader and the Lost Command.  He is used sparingly throughout and his action align with how you would expect Vader to react to the events he is place in.  It has an appropriate ending, with the Emperor goading him about Tohm's success, leading to Vader killing Tohm.

Hey! I'm walkin' here! I'm walkin' here!

Back in January of this year, I was let go from my fintech job of 10 years.  I had planned on retiring early anyway, but would have preferred doing so on my own timeline for obvious reasons.  I did something stupid and I had let my manager know I was contemplating retirement and so my being let go was not entirely unexpected since the company always does layoffs in January.  It was easier to give me the pink slip than another co-worker who would have been blindsided.  The biggest disappointment was not getting a farewell lunch with co-workers and thanks after a software engineer career that lasted well over 30 years!  I'm in my mid 50s, so I feel fortunate that I'm still young and have my health.

I spent a few months moping around the house initially, but then I began pondering what I wanted to do with the next leg of my life!  I'm married, my wife still works, and both my kids are older and have completed 4 year degrees at college and moved out of the house.  I'm sure some of you have noticed I stopped creating content for my blog back in 2020 which coincided with work becoming extremely busy.  At the end of this summer, I started posting again and want to keep doing so for the foreseeable future.  I have the time now and I love the process of reading comics, researching interesting tidbits, and sharing the information.  I still have a ton of comics in my collection that have not been posted including a fair number of international books.

I found myself watching too many YouTube videos earlier this year when the idea hit me to spend some of my time making my own videos about this hobby I enjoy.  I released my first video last week to little fanfare!  It is rough, but taught me a bit about the process.  Earlier today, I just completed my second video which I'm a little more happy with and is emblematic of the type of videos I want to create.  This video is Star Wars Dark Empire Surprising Comic Cover Changes and, while sensationalistic in nature, I feel is full of the interesting content I love researching and writing about.  In fact, the bulk of the content in the video is taken from a posting I created back in 2016, Wizard Ace Edition #13 - Star Wars: Dark Empire #1.  The video is undoubtably rough, but every outing, I plan on improving one thing until these videos rival the best content for Star Wars comic fans.

I plan to create 4-5 blogs a week and 1 video.  I feel the videos are an extension of what I've already been doing here, but I'm hoping it can reach a larger audience and truth be told, monetize my passion.  The money I earn will be put back into this hobby so I can continue to provide content!  If you happen to read this blog and enjoying the content, you would be doing me a tremendous favor if you went over to YouTube and watched the video I posted today.  If it interests to you, I would be grateful if you decided to like the video and subscribe to my channel.

Argentinian Fantasia Anuario #18

Founded in 1928 by brothers Ramón and Claudio Columba, Editorial Columba would become one of the largest comic book publishers in Argentina and South America.  Argentina's economy began shrinking in 1998 starting the 1998-2002 Argentine great depression.  This led to the Crisis of 2001 which was the height of political, social, and economic upheaval in the country during the depression.  Unfortunately, Editorial Columba was unable to navigate the troubled time and they went out of business in 2001 ending the longest running comic publisher in the country.

Editorial Columba brought the popular Marvel superheroes to Argentinian readers in the 1960s, so it should be no surprise that they released adaptations of the original Star Wars trilogy movies as well.  What is interesting however, is rather than publishing the official adaptations for Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back they printed unofficial adapations for these two movies.  For Return of the Jedi they published the Marvel adaptation.

Fantasia Anuario #18 contains the unofficial Empire Strikes Back adaptation.  Just 20 pages long, the comic was drawn by Uruguayan Eduardo Barreto under a pseudo-name.  The art is nice, at times rivaling Al Williamson's adaptation, which is not surprising since Barreto's artistic influences include notable greats like Hal Foster and Russ Manning.

Fantasia Anuario #18a - Editorial Columba, Argentina (January 1981)

The cover artwork for the magazine is taken from an Empire Strikes Back poster from 1980.

1980 Empire Strikes Back Poster

The characters on the cover are redrawn using the art from the poster.  Luke Skywalker is at the center of both the poster and cover and where his lightsaber disappears behind the AT-AT on the poster, it is completely shown on the cover.  Chewbacca is repositioned lower and over Luke's right shoulder.  C-3PO has the most changes with a skinnier head and motion lines (why?) and is positioned further to Luke's left.  R2-D2 has also been moved to the left.  The Millennium Falcon is mirrored from how it is presented on the poster.  Notably missing are Han Solo, Princess Leia, Lando Calrissian, and Darth Vader's visage.  Also missing are other minor characters and vehicles found on the movie poster.  Random laser effects are instead added to the background for the cover.

Star Wars: Captain Phasma #3

Star Wars: Captain Phasma #2 starts with Phasma, TN-3465, and the Lup'ror Dar'en standing on a cliff overlooking the island inhabited by the R'ora who took Lieutenant Sol Rivas.  Phasma questions Dar'en about the tide and monsters in the water before returning to the village.  There, Phasma asks about a necklace worn by a villager and is led to the remaining spacecraft that brought the Lup'ror to the planet giving Captain Phasma a idea on how to reach Rivas.  Back at the village, she changes back into her First Order uniform and gives a rousing speech to the villagers about leading them to victory over the monsters and the R'ora.  She confesses to TN-3465 that she is just using the villagers to further their pursuit of Rivas.

Phasma has the villagers use parts from the old spacecraft to build a machine on the cliff overlooking the island.  At low tide, they activate the machine, sending powerful electrical current into the water, killing the monsters.  Phasma leads villagers on boats across the water to the island where they scale a cliff.  At the top of the cliff, they see the village of the R'ora, who look like human-sized versions of the monsters in the water.

The main cover shows a silhouette of Phasma reflecting off her helmet lying on the ground.  Never in this story is Phasma's real face shown, even though the opportunity presented itself last issue when she disguised herself and this issue when she changes back into her uniform.

Star Wars: Captain Phasma #3a - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 2017)

There are 3 variant covers and none of them have anything to do with the content of the story.  Marvel clearly has a quota of variant covers they need to fill.

Star Wars: Captain Phasma #3b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 2017)
movie variant

Star Wars: Captain Phasma #3c - Marvel Comics, U.S. (September 2017)
Mike Mayhew variant

Star Wars: Captain Phasma #3d - Marvel Comics, U.S. (September 2017)
David Lopez variant

This issue provides some understanding into how Phasma achieved the rank of captain in the First Order.  She has a tactical mind and is able to inspire those who serve under her.  It also shows she does not lead others for a purpose other than furthering her own goals.

Ewoks #7 and Ewoks #4 (Brazil)

Ewoks #7 from Marvel's all-age Star Comics imprint contains the story The Perilous Laughing Spell.  Teebo touches a loonee bird which causes him to have an uncontrollable laughter along with an urge to prank.  After his pranks cause problems for several villagers, Logray sends Wicket, Kneesaa, and Teebo to Mount Sorrow to find the cure.  At the top of Mount Sorrow, they learn the mountain is sentient and its tears restore Teebo to his normal self.

Ewoks #7a - Marvel Comics, U.S. (May 1986)

At first, Mount Sorrow finds Teebo unworthy of his tears and the cover for Ewoks #7 shows the sentient mountain attempting to rid himself of the Ewoks by blowing Wicket and Kneesaa away.  Teebo, standing nearby, sees the peril his friend are in.  The cover is very accurate to the story.

Ewoks #4a - Editora Abril, Brazil (1989)
contains Ewoks #7

Ewoks #4 published by Editora Abril for Brazilian readers contains the same story as the U.S. Ewoks #7.  The cover artwork from the U.S. issue is manipulated to reposition Wicket and Kneesaa and these two characters are enlarged to take up more of the space.  Teebo is also moved and the background with the mountain blowing is cropped losing some of the detail shown on the U.S. cover like the clouds overhead and the rocks below the cliffs.

Both covers are representative of the event from the story.  I would have to say the U.S. cover is better since it is the source for the Brazillian cover and contains more detailed.

One thing I had not pointed out before is the Ewoks logo difference between the U.S. and Brazil covers.  The U.S. version is a flat, stylized, curvy logo which is present on much of the Ewok merchandise from the era whereas the Brazillian logo is sharper with a three dimensional effect.  I like the logo on the Brazil Ewoks comics better.

Mike Allred

Mike Allred was the first cover artist I featured in Mike Allred on Classic Star Wars: The Early Adventures #1.  Since that blog, he has contributed three outstanding covers for Marvel.

Classic Star Wars: The Early Adventures #1a - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (August 1994)

His variant cover for Star Wars: Han Solo #1 exudes the fun you would expect from an Allred piece.  Han Solo is leaping from the top of the Millennium Falcon to avoid being caught in an explosion.  The colorful pallette Allred is known for adorns the background creating the illusion that Han is leaping off the cover.  Of the three pieces he has done for Marvel, this is far and away my favorite.

Star Wars: Han Solo #1f - Marvel Comics, U.S. (June 2016)
Michael Allred variant

Each of the Han Solo 2016 mini-series issues had a Millennium Falcon cover variant.  In my opinion, Allred's talent is wasted on the cover of Star Wars: Han Solo #2.  It is a good depiction of the Falcon and some of Allred's color choices can be seen in the effects behind the Falcon, but there is only so much you can do with a cover focusing on the venerable ship.

Star Wars: Han Solo #2b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (July 2016)
Millennium Falcon variant

Allred's cover for Star Wars: Droids Unplugged #1 is another distinctly Allred masterpiece.  A variety of familiar droids are floating around C-3PO, R2-D2, and BB-8 in space.  It is a fun cover to look at.

Star Wars: Droids Unplugged #1b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (June 2017)
Michael Allred variant

It is a shame Allred has not worked on a Star Wars series.  Russ Manning, one of Allred's influences, worked on the newspaper strip and it is some of the best comic work Star Wars fans have.  We should be given an opportunity to see what this legendary artist and writer could do with our favorite heroes in that galaxy far, far away.

Star Wars: Vader Down Hastings Exclusive Connecting Cover Variants

Vader Down is the first Star Wars crossover event published by Marvel Comics when they reacquired the license in 2015.  Beginning in Star Wars: Vader Down #1 and alternating between the main Darth Vader and Star Wars titles, this event was told in 6-issues.  There are Hasting exclusive covers for the first 3 issues of this crossover which connect to form one image.  The art is by Aleksi Briclot, an accomplished French illustrator known for his fantasy and science fiction work including for Magic: The Gathering.

The Star Wars #13 cover is a montage of the heroes over an image of Vader's crashed TIE Fighter.

Star Wars #13e - Marvel Comics, U.S. (November 2015)
Hastings exclusive

The Star Wars: Vader Down #1 cover is an image of Darth Vader walking away from the crashed fighter.  In the background is a stylized image of the Death Star and X-Wing Fighters.

Star Wars: Vader Down #1i - Marvel Comics, U.S. (November 2015)
Hastings exclusive

The final cover shows a montage of other villains Doctor Aphra, Black Krrsantan, 0-0-0, and BT-1.  Also pictured is a squad of Imperial Stormtroopers.

Star Wars: Darth Vader #13d - Marvel Comics, U.S. (November 2015)
Hastings exclusive

Below are the connecting covers together.