In August 1999 Dark Horse published two version of Star Wars #0, one for the online retailer AnotherUniverse.com and another for AnotherUniverse.com's mail order company, American Entertainment.
Star Wars #0 reprints the story The Keeper's World from the comic strip in Pizzazz #1 - 9.
Star Wars #0b - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (August 1999) AnotherUniverse.com exclusive
The cover artwork for the AotherUniverse.com exclusive is provided by longtime Star Wars artist Dave Dorman. Dorman's inspiration for the drawings of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia are clearly based on well-known publicity photos for the first movie.
Luke Skywalker publicity photoPrincess Leia publicity photo
The image of our heroes being attacked in water by giant serpents-like creatures is a trope in Star Wars stories. The first time this occurs is toward the end of Marvel's Star Wars #11 with a cover date of May 1978. Luke Skywalker, C-3PO, and R2-D2 crash on the water covered planet in the Drexel system. Their wrecked spacecraft is attacked by a giant sea-dragon. They end up escaping the sinking ship in an escape pod while the sea-dragon continued its assault on the doomed craft. These sea-dragons are integral to the Dragon Lords story arc in Star Wars #11 - 15.
Star Wars #11a - Marvel Comics, U.S. (May 1978)
The next time our heroes encounter a giant serpent is in the Star Wars Holiday Special which aired on CBS on November 17, 1978. During this live-action special, an approximately nine minute cartoon shows Luke, C-3PO, and R2-D2 landing their Y-Wing Fighter in a liquid substance very much like molasses on a moon in the Panna system. The Y-Wing is attacked by a giant serpent-like creature forcing Luke to eject the cockpit from the craft. This story is notable for introducing Boba Fett who arrives riding a dinosaur-like creature and chases off the first creature. Boba Fett riding on the larger creature is captured on the Darth Vader #1 Alex Ross Store exclusive cover.
Star Wars: Darth Vader #1p - Marvel Comics, U.S. (February 2015) Alex Ross Store exclusive
In The Empire Strikes Back, released in May 1980, Luke crashes his X-Wing Fighter in a bog on Dagobah. As Luke reaches shore, R2-D2 is swallowed by a dragonsnake which find the droid inedible and spits R2-D2 out. Unfortunately, this scene was not included in The Empire Strikes Back comic adaptation, but Dark Horse does expand on the incident by concocting another tale about the dragonsnake. During Luke's time on Dagobah, Luke has more adventures than what is show in the movie, and the story about the King of Dragonsnakes is told in Star Wars Adventures: Luke Skywalker and the Treasure of the Dragonsnake.
Star Wars Adventures: Luke Skywalker and the Treasure of the Dragonsnake a - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (February 2010)
In the newspaper strip arc It's a Trap published between November 14, 1982 and January 23, 1983, Han Solo and Princess Leia retrieve Luke from the planet Hoth in the Millennium Falcon and embark on a mission to persuade the Rebellion's newest allies, the Mon Calamari, to provide a diversion so they can relocate the Rebel base from Yavin to Hoth. Near the planet Daluuj, they discover a debris field left by a recent battle between the Empire and the Mon Calamari. Several Mon Calamari, including their leader Admiral Ackbar, escaped the battle in escape pods and the Millennium Falcon heads down to the mud planet Daluuj to rescue Ackbar. Our heroes spot the Mon Calamari and set the Falcon down in a mud lake and the ship is swiftly attacked and dragged to the bottom by giant worms. This story arc is notable for introducing the Mon Calamari and Admiral Ackbar before Return of the Jedi and is reprinted by Dark Horse in Classic Star Wars #13 and 14.
Classic Star Wars #13a - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (October 1993)
In Star Wars #76, cover dated October 1983, Luke, Leia, and Kiro are tending to the dead and wounded after a missile from the Imperial-controlled planet Gamandar explodes on the water covered planet Iskalon. While on a wrecked landing platform on the surface, they are attacked twice by a serpent-like Chiaki which is drawn to the site by the blood. During the first attack, one of the creatures is driven off by Kiro and in a second attack, Lando Calrissian kills one of the creatures using the Millennium Falcon's gun turret.
Star Wars #76b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 1983)
Mile High Comics has impressively released an exclusive cover for every issue of the main Star Wars titles to date. The first six exclusive covers are drawn by Humberto Ramos and interlock to form a larger piece.
Star Wars #1af - Marvel Comics, U.S. (January 2015) Mile High Comics exclusiveStar Wars #2g - Marvel Comics, U.S. (February 2015) Mile High Comics exclusiveStar Wars #3e - Marvel Comics, U.S. (March 2015) Mile High Comics exclusiveStar Wars #4f - Marvel Comics, U.S. (April 2015) Mile High Comics exclusiveStar Wars #5d - Marvel Comics, U.S. (May 2015) Mile High Comics exclusiveStar Wars #6c - Marvel Comics, U.S. (June 2015) Mile High Comics exclusive
A few days back, I mentioned that all the Photobucket images were broken in this blog. Photobucket decided to change the terms of their service without notifying me and for a mere $400 they were willing to fix the issue. Since $400 is no small amount for a blog I make no money from, I decided to move all the images to Imgur. Since I've been experiencing Photobucket issues on and off for over a year, I had already started using Imgur for newer images starting back on March 16th and have been very pleased with the service. As one door shuts, a new door opens.
I'm happy to report that I only have about 200 more images to move to Imgur and this blog will be completely off Photobucket. I've been fixing links in the postings as I go. I expect to have all the images in the postings fixed in the next day or so. But that will still leave the Cover Galleries with broken thumbnails. I will start working on them next, but I'm not eager to tackle them with the same vigor I did the images in the postings. I'm planning on taking up to a month to fix the thumbnails so I can get back to making frequent postings. I apologize for the trickle of new postings the past few days, but I thought it was important to restore the existing postings first.
Editorial Novaro began translating Marvel's Star Wars in their Clásicos del Cine or Film Classics title starting with issues #299. The first four Star Wars issues in the title are in the smaller sized aguila or eagle format. Starting with issue #303, the format was changed to the avestruz or ostrich format which are standard sized issues. The title ended with issue #315 and Star Wars was published in every issue from #299 - 315. When the title ended, the Star Wars translations were moved to Novaro's Domingos Alegres title starting with issue #1427 where they would appear every four issues alternating with other features until that title ended with issue #1457. The Star Wars issues in that title are all in the aguila format.
The Star Wars movie translation was published for Mexican readers in Clásicos del Cine #299 - 302. Since it was published in four issues instead of six like in the U.S., each issue contains one and a half U.S. issues. The covers used for the Mexican issues are those for the complete issues inside which are the covers for issue #1, 3, 4, and 6.
>Clásicos del Cine #299a - Editorial Novaro, Mexico (July 1978) contains Star Wars #1 and 1st half of #2
>Clásicos del Cine #300a - Editorial Novaro, Mexico (July 1978) contains 2nd half of Star Wars #2 and #3
>Clásicos del Cine #301a - Editorial Novaro, Mexico (August 1978) contains Star Wars #4 and 1st half of #5
>Clásicos del Cine #302a - Editorial Novaro, Mexico (August 1978) contains 2nd half of Star Wars #5 and #6
The second publisher of Star Wars comics in Spain, Ediciones Vértice, published nine magazine sized issues in 1981 and 1982. These comics reprinted the material that was originally published by Editorial Bruguera and are considered foreign reprints. Each issue consists of two U.S. Marvel Star Wars issues. The first two issues are titled Guerras Estelares and the remaining issues are titled la Guerra de las Galaxias.
Guerras Estelares #1a - Ediciones Vértice, Spain (October 1981) Star Wars #1 and 2Guerras Estelares #2a - Ediciones Vértice, Spain (October 1981) Star Wars #3 and 4la Guerra de las Galaxias #3a - Ediciones Vértice, Spain (December 1981) Star Wars #5 and 6la Guerra de las Galaxias #4a - Ediciones Vértice, Spain (December 1981) Star Wars #7 and 8la Guerra de las Galaxias #5a - Ediciones Vértice, Spain (January 1982) Star Wars #9 and 10la Guerra de las Galaxias #6a - Ediciones Vértice, Spain (February 1982) Star Wars #11 and 12la Guerra de las Galaxias #7a - Ediciones Vértice, Spain (March 1982) Star Wars #13 and 14la Guerra de las Galaxias #8a - Ediciones Vértice, Spain (April 1982) Star Wars #15 and 16la Guerra de las Galaxias #9a - Ediciones Vértice, Spain (May 1982) Star Wars #17 and 18
All of the covers are redrawn from U.S. covers. The artwork is very close in many cases, but upon closer inspection, it is easy to see where the artist for these magazine covers took liberties with the original art.
I am sure some of you have noticed by now that all the Photobucket images are broken on this site. Photobucket has changed the terms of their agreement and now want $399.99/year for me to continue to host those images for display by a third party site. If this had been a few dollars, I would have reluctantly paid and everything would be good. But to go from free to $400/year is entirely too much. I am making plans on moving the images to Imgur, but it is going to take time. Please bear with me during this transition.
