Four Color Grails is a comic variant subscription service that started in March 2015. In their first months offering of 4 variant comics was another Star Wars #1 variant that was not included on many of the Star Wars #1 variant checklists that were available on the web. This Star Wars #1 variant features the same art as the J. Scott Campbell 1:50 variant, but is in black and white.
Star Wars #1i - Marvel Comics, U.S. (January 2015) J. Scott Campbell 1:50 variantStar Wars #1aa - Marvel Comics, U.S. (March 2015) Four Color Grails exclusive
The Four Color Grails Star Wars exclusive is still available from Four Color Grails website bundled with the other 3 variants from March 2015 in their shop. Their price is $44.99 for the 4 variant comics, which should be the ceiling for the price for their Star Wars variant for the time being.
If you are like me, you might have ordered your Star Wars comics for June 2015 earlier this month at an online retailer. If so, you are going to want to add 2 new releases that Marvel Comics has just announced: Star Wars #1 Director's Cut and Darth Vader #1 Director's Cut. These issues are scheduled for release on June 17 and will feature script pages and in-progress artwork as well as all the story pages from the first issues.
Blackthorne Publishing was started by Steve Schanes and Ann Feras in 1985 and at one time was the 5th largest U.S. comic publisher. Previously, Steve Schanes was a co-founder, with his brother Bill Schanes, of Pacific Comics which had gone bankrupt a year earlier. While at Pacific Comics, Schanes created a 3-D comics, Alien Worlds 3D, but Pacific did not publish any more 3-D comics due to poor sales. Steve Schanes brought the 3-D comic idea to Blackthorne Publishing however, which published 80 different 3-D comics, including 3 Star Wars 3-D comics.
Star Wars 3-D #1a - Blackthorne Publishing, U.S. (December 1987)Star Wars 3-D #2a - Blackthorne Publishing, U.S. (July 1988)Star Wars 3-D #3a - Blackthorne Publishing, U.S. (October 1988)
Ironically, a 3-D comic led to Blackthorne Publishings downfall. In 1989, they licensed Michael Jackson's Moonwalker movie as a 3-D comic which proved to be a costly mistake. By 1991, Blackthorne Publishing was out of business.
As far as I can tell, only the first issue came polybagged with 3-D glasses. Prices vary widely for these issues. Issue #1 is the most common, and issue #2 and 3 are a bit harder to find in high grade.
Ewoks #14 has a cover date of July 1987 and was the last Star Wars issue Marvel Comics published until January of this year. Later in 1987, Blackthorne Publishing would release Star Wars 3-D #1. Blackthorne would release 2 more Star Wars 3-D comics in 1988 and we would not see another Star Wars comic published in the U.S. until the end of 1991.
The ad for Star Wars: Dark Empire actually appeared in Marvel Age Preview #1 in June 1990. Marvel was going to publish Star Wars: Dark Empire as 3 64 page prestige format issues[1], but Dark Horse acquired the Star Wars license and published the story as a 6 issue mini-series. The writer for Dark Empire is Tom Veitch and the artist is Cam Kennedy. The first issue went on sale in December 1991 and was released bimonthly with the final issue selling in October 1992.
Star Wars: Dark Empire #1a - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (December 1991)Star Wars: Dark Empire #2a - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (February 1992)Star Wars: Dark Empire #3a - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (April 1992)Star Wars: Dark Empire #4a - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (June 1992)Star Wars: Dark Empire #5a - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (August 1992)Star Wars: Dark Empire #6a - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (October 1992)
The return of Star Wars to comics was a huge hit for Dark Horse. The first issue sold out at comic shops immediately and went to a second print. (Issue #2 and 3 would also see a 2nd print.) Due to the success of this mini-series, Dark Horse went on to publish Star Wars comics for 23 years; over twice as long as Marvel held the license. Dark Empire has seen print for most of that time as well in the form of a trade paperback. It would also inspire 2 more comic sequels, Dark Empire II and Empire's End.
Star Wars: Dark Empire was a serious continuation of the Star Wars story, unlike the final issues of the Star Wars title as well as the Ewoks and Droids titles published by Marvel at the end of their tenure. While it was conceived before Timothy Zahn's wildly successful Thrawn Trilogy, the book series actually beat the comic series to market by 6 months and the Thrawn Trilogy is widely seen as the start of the revival of the Star Wars brand that has continued to this day.
In my opinion, this is the most important Star Wars title published by Dark Horse. It showed that there was an audience hungry for additional Star Wars tales told in the four color world of comics. The story is grand in scope and logically expands on the situations left at the end of the Return of the Jedi. The art is superb and the story is more mature than any Star Wars comic that proceeded it. It is also one of the most undervalued Star Wars titles; Star Wars: Dark Empire #1 - 6 is routinely sold for $15 - 20 or roughly cover price. My suspicion is the continuous publication of the trade paperback by Dark Horse has subdued the demand for the original issues.
The Star Wars movies introduced several droids that were in the services of the Galactic Empire. IT-O is the interrogation droid that is used by Darth Vader on Princess Leia while aboard the Death Star. In the Empire Strikes Back, we are introduced to an Imperial Probe Droid, one of thousands that were dispatched to locate the Rebellion. Also in the Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader employs IG-88, a bounty hunter to help hunt down our heroes. Finally, onboard both Death Stars, we encounter several droids including: RA-7 (the "Death Star" droid), MSE-6 (the "mouse" droid), and R4- and R5-series astromechs.
In Darth Vader #3, we are introduced to a pair of droids, 0-0-0 (Triple 0) and BT-1. These droids are the evil equivalent of C-3PO and R2-D2 with Triple 0 serving as the protocol droid and BT-1 serving as the astromech. These are not the first Imperial droids introduced by Marvel however; the original Marvel title had its fair share of droids that worked for the Empire too.
In Star Wars #45, the first Star Wars issue after The Empire Strikes Back adaptation, we are introduced to a specially augmented Imperial Probe Droid, designation 13-K, that takes over a Rebel Blockade Runner and kills all aboard. Luke Skywalker ends up confronting the droid. In the end, 13-K uses the Blockage Runner to ram and destroy a Star Destroyer, a fate it had in mind for the Rebel fleet.
Star Wars #45a - Marvel Comics, U.S. (March 1981)
A couple of issues later, in Star Wars #47, C-3PO and R2-D2 visit Kligson's Moon, aka Droid World, to get the schematics for a damaged Imperial Warbot. On Droid World, they encounter Z-X3, an Imperial designed droid used in extreme conditions Stormtroopers were incapable of operating in. Z-X3 plans to take over Droid World for the Empire but is defeated by the planet's namesake, the cyborg Kligson.
Star Wars #47a - Marvel Comics, U.S. (May 1981)
In Star Wars #75, we are introduced to K-3PX, a protocol droid, that subjugates Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, and Mone who are on a mission to the planet Gamandar. In Star Wars #76, K-3PX reports to Darth Vader that Luke Skywalker is on the water planet Iskalon. This scene is depicted on the cover of that issue.
Star Wars #75a - Marvel Comics, U.S. (September 1983)Star Wars #76b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 1983)
Marvel Comics announced a new Lando 5 issue mini-series that will start in July 2015. Since Lando Calrissian's first appearance in The Empire Strikes Back, he has had a prominent role in Marvel's original Star Wars title, filling the vacancy left by Han Solo. Two issues after the Marvel adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back ended, Lando would co-star with Chewbacca in Star Wars #46 in a story titled The Dreams of Cody Sunn-Childe!
Star Wars #46a - Marvel Comics, U.S. (April 1981) NewsstandStar Wars #46b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (April 1981) Direct
The story starts like many of the post-The Empire Strikes Back tales, with Chewbacca and Lando in the Millennium Falcon searching for Han Solo. The Falcon encounters drive problems and is ripped from normal space and crash lands on a floating island with a large domed city in an alternate dimension. There, they are attacked by a humanoid beast but are saved by another humanoid which looks remarkably similar to the beast called Cody Sunn-Childe. Cody takes Lando and Chewbacca to the city with other inhabitants. At the city, we learn Cody was part of the Rebellion who, along with his fellow Rebels, had a reputation for violence. In his final battle, he fell into a hole where he encountered subterranean beings called the M'usts where he gained incredible powers and was taught about peace. Cody swore off his life of violence and created the island and domed city with his powers and he brought his Rebel companions to live in this domed city in peace. Lando scold Cody for forsaking the war against the Empire and not using his powers to help. As Lando slaps Cody, several more humanoid beasts attack and Cody Sunn-Childe quickly dispatches them and we learn they are actually his repressed violence. Meanwhile, in normal space, a fleet of Star Destroyers led by the female Captain Plikk discovered the tear the Falcon made in space to Cody's alternate dimension. They proceed to open the tear further by firing lasers at it, creating a door to enter the dimension. They succeed in breaking through to the alternate dimension as Lando, now working on repairing the Falcon, is lecturing Cody on his responsibilities to those he left behind. The Star Destroyers begin attacking the city and Lando takes off with Chewbacca in the Millennium Falcon on a suicide mission to confront the fleet. Cody Sunn-Childe is enraged by the attack and unleashes his violence in the form of giant beasts which attack the Star Destroyers. Cody changes his mind though and recalls his beasts. The fleet proceeds to destroy the city, killing everyone in it. A distraught Lando on board the Falcon oversees the destruction and along with Chewbacca leaves the alternate dimension. The Star Destroyers used their remaining power to destroy the city and are unable to follow the Falcon as the dimension's doorway closes.
Originally, the story was written with Lando Calrissian agreeing with Cody Sunn-Childe's decision to die instead of fighting at the end, but Lucasfilm asked for the ending to be changed to show that Lando disagreed with Cody. For this reason, John Marc DeMatteis asked that his name not be used as the writer of this issue, but instead the pseudonym Wally Lombego was used.[1]
This was the first of many Lando Calrissian centered stories in the Marvel Star Wars title.
What started as a joke has now become recognized worldwide as Star Wars Day, "May the 4th be with you." Star Wars fans have quite a bit to celebrate this year: Marvel's new titles have been a smash success and Shattered Empire is just around the corner, Disney XD's Star Wars Rebels was well received and we have Darth Vader to look forward to this season, and most importantly, a new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, is being released around Christmas this year.
