Several Star Wars teasers were released to the public in 1998 to build anticipation for the next chapter in the Star Wars saga, The Phantom Menace. Even though The Phantom Menace would not open in theaters until May 19, 1999, Hasbro had two preview toy offerings in 1998: A mail away Mace Windu action figure and a STAP with Battle Droid action figure. These sneak preview offerings were eagerly purchased by Star Wars fans and Dark Horse Comics capitalized on this built up demand when they released Star Wars #1 in December 1998 one month after the first trailer for The Phantom Menace was shown to movie going audiences. This would be Dark Horse's first comic titled simply Star Wars. Dark Horse would release another Star Wars #1 in 2013.
Star Wars #1a - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (December 1998)
The big draw for Star Wars #1 was the character Ki-Adi-Mundi, a Jedi Knight who appeared in The Phantom Menace movie during the Jedi Council scene. In a storyline titled Prelude to Rebellion, Ki-Adi-Mundi returns to his homeworld of Cerea where he faces a budding rebellion.
In addition to the regular issue, the now defunct AnotherUniverse.com offered an exclusive chrome cover variant for Star Wars #1.
Star Wars #1b - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (December 1998) AnotherUniverse.com exclusive
AnotherUniverse.com also had a Ken Kelly signed copy of their exclusive comic. This was Ken Kelly's first Star Wars comic cover and he would go on to produce several more Star Wars covers for Dark Horse.
Star Wars #1c - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (December 1998) AnotherUniverse.com exclusive signed
With a new Star Wars movie coming at the end of this year, it should be expected that Marvel Comics will have a teaser of some sort for Star Wars fans.
In the late 1970s, Star Wars was a huge hit, so it makes sense that libraries would want to capitalize on that success. The interior of this library hardcover is a Marvel Special Edition Star Wars #2.
Marvel Special Edition Star Wars #2 - Marvel Comics, U.S. (December 1977) reprints Star Wars #4-6 library bound edition
The original cover would have been destroyed quickly by kids eager to read the exploits of their favorite Star Wars heroes, so this softcover was affixed to the hardcover making the comic more durable.
Marvel Special Edition Star Wars #2 - Marvel Comics, U.S. (December 1977) reprints Star Wars #4-6 library bound edition - interior cover
Star Wars had a fan club as far back as 1978, the year after the first movie was released. The fan club offered a yearly subscription to a Star Wars periodical and a membership kit. From 1978 to 1986, the periodical was called Bantha Tracks. In 1987 Bantha Tracks transformed into the Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine. In 1994 the Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine was renamed to the Star Wars Insider which has been the name of the magazine to this day. Over the years, the membership kits included items like patches, stickers, posters, pencils, and other Star Wars branded merchandise. The name of the official Star Wars fan club from 2004 - 2010 was called the Hyperspace Fan Club. The last year of the Hyperspace Fan Club had a membership kit that included a Dark Horse comic that reprints the Thank the Maker story from Star Wars Tales #6.
Star Wars Fan Club 2010 - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (2010)Thank the Maker is one of the more memorable stories from the Star Wars Tales anthology title. In this story, which fits seamlessly between scenes in the Empire Strikes Back, Dark Vader is haunted by memories of his past life on Tatooine when he encounters the remains of C-3PO. (Remember, C-3PO was blasted to pieces by Stormtroopers on Cloud City.)
This comic is one of the harder to find comics published by Dark Horse. A copy sold on eBay on January 10th, 2015 for $340.
The French anthology magazine Titans had several Star Wars covers during the Star Wars run in that title. Some of these covers are based on the original U.S. covers and others are entirely new depictions of events within the story. Titans #32 features a cover based on the original Marvel Star Wars #26 that is contained within its pages.
Star Wars #26a - Marvel Comics, U.S. (August 1979)Titans #32a - Editions Lug, France (May 1981) Star Wars #26
Neither cover accurately shows the familiar rebel pilot uniform worn by Luke Skywalker at this point in the story. Instead the U.S. cover shows Luke wearing his all too familiar white tunic from the original movie. Outside of the rebel pilot uniform, Luke Skywalker would not change his clothes in Marvel's stories until The Empire Strikes Back! Even though the story was original published in the U.S. before the sequel, the French cover has Luke wearing the jumpsuit he wore in The Empire Strikes Back. Luke is shown viewing his trusty companion R2-D2 after having been shot by a House of Tagge TIE pilot. On both covers the TIE pilot is looming in the background although on the U.S. cover the pilot is menacingly aiming his pistol at Luke's back. Absent from the French cover is the wrecked TIE fighter.
The anthology Titans magazine was used to bring the Marvel Star Wars stories to the French public. Star Wars was published in Titans from issue #18 - 95. Each of these Titans issues contained 4 Marvel comics, only one of which was Star Wars. Marvel Star Wars #7 - 10 was never published in Titans. The first Star Wars story published in Titans #18 came from Marvel Star Wars #11.
Titans #18a - Editions Lug, France (January 1979) Star Wars #11
The cover is an original commission for the Titans magazine and shows our intrepid heroes ready for action. Featured are the main heroes from the first movie, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, C-3PO, and R2-D2 on a static white background. Noticeably missing from the ensemble is Chewbacca. The blurb reads "The heroes from the film Star Wars are back in a new cosmic epic." Star Wars ends up rotating cover duty with the other features in Titans during its run.
It is possible the publisher Lug decided to start with Star Wars #11 since this is the first original story from the Marvel Star Wars comic to star all the principal characters. Star Wars #7 - 10 contains a story with only Han Solo and Chewbacca. Lug published the movie adaptation in a separate comic.
In the Star Wars comics, there have been a few characters that have used the Starkiller name. The Starkiller name has significance to Star Wars fans, because it was the original last name for Luke Skywalker. In the first draft of the movie, we had a Annikin Starkiller. The second and third draft were subtitled The Adventures of the Starkiller and The Adventures of Luke Starkiller. Using unused ideas and names is a common occurrence within the Star Wars lore. (As another example, Anniken was changed to Anakin and became the first name of Luke's father.) For Star Wars aficionados, these links add to their enjoyment of Star Wars.
It is doubtful that Marvel Comics came up with the name Starkiller without a tipoff of some kind from Lucasfilm when they named Jimm the Starkiller Kid, a native of Aduba-3 who teamed up with Han Solo and Chewbacca on their Aduba-3 adventure. It could have come about from a peek at an early script or a more direct prodding from Lucasfilm.
Star Wars #8a - Marvel Comics, U.S. (February 1978) Newsstand 1st appearance of Jimm, the Starkiller Kid
The Starkiller name was reused again years later when Lucasarts conceived of a video game titled Star Wars: The Force Unleashed featuring the secret apprentice of Darth Vader. Released in 2008, this game starred Starkiller, a Dark Jedi that Vader hoped to use to overthrow the Emperor someday. In the end, Darth Vader was forced to confront Starkiller. Dark Horse Comics created an adaptation of the story in an original graphic novel also titled Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (August 2008) Darth Vader's apprentice
No successful video game is complete without a sequel. Released in 2010, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II featured the clone of Starkiller from the first game. Unsurprisingly, Dark Horse released an adaptation of this sequel too.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (September 2010) clone of Darth Vader's apprentice
"Fast Now! I want a clean sweep... no survivors!" With those words, Valance the Hunter burst onto the comic scene as his crew attacked a medical facility, killing every being and droid. Valance is the original Star Wars bounty hunter, introduced in the pages of Marvel Comics Star Wars #16, before The Empire Strikes Back gave us Boba Fett and his cohorts. The galaxy that Valance inhabits in the pages of the Star Wars title help shape his character. Marvel picked up on the bigotry expressed by the bartender in Mos Eisley in the Star Wars movie when he said to Luke about the droids "We don't serve their kind here!... Your droids. They'll have to wait outside. We don't want them here." Throughout the early part of the Marvel run, there is an undercurrent of hatred towards droids (we would not find out why until the prequel trilogy) and Valance had an especially vengeful hatred of them. It turns out by the end of Star Wars #16 we learned the origin of Valance's hatred; Valance was an Imperial officer who was wounded in battle and turned into a cyborg to save his life. Cyborgs are treated even more poorly than droids in the Star Wars title.
In Star Wars #16, Valance learns about Luke Skywalker's destruction of the Death Star and kind treatment of C-3PO and R2-D2. Valance becomes obsessed with finding and killing Luke and his droid companions, an obsession that would play out in the Star Wars title in future issues.
Star Wars #16a - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 1978) Newsstand 1st appearance of Valance the HunterStar Wars #16b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 1978) Direct 1st appearance of Valance the Hunter
Star Wars #16 is one of a few Marvel issues that does not focus on one of the main heroes introduced in the movies. Instead, it introduces us to a new villain and wraps us storylines for previously introduced characters like Jaxxon, Amaiza, Don-Wan Kihotay, and the Starkiller Kid.
