Agencia Portuguesa de Revisitas published Portuguese editions of Marvel Special Edition Star Wars #1 and 2 in 1978. They are treasury format and the covers are remarkably similar to the U.S. editions including the colors used. The interior pages are black and white however.
Edição Especial Marvel A Guerra das Estrelas #1a - Agência Portuguesa de Revistas, Portugal (1978) Marvel Special Edition Star Wars #1Edição Especial Marvel A Guerra das Estrelas #2a - Agência Portuguesa de Revistas, Portugal (1978) Marvel Special Edition Star Wars #2
I want to point out that these Star Wars comics are from Portugal, because there is also a Brazilian translation of the Marvel Star Wars comic adaptation which is also published in Portuguese. Portugal had a small population of just 9.558 million people, less than 1/10 the size of Brazil's population of 116.2 million people . The Brazilian adaptation of the Marvel Star Wars comic adaptation is more commonly found. Despite the same Portuguese language, Star Wars was called Guerra nas Estrelas in Brazil, not Guerra das Estrelas like in Portugal.
I had several goals in mind when I started out writing these blogs:
Get Star Wars and comic fans interested in the wide assortment of Star Wars comics from around the world
Meet other Star Wars comic collectors
Document interesting and important information for myself and other collectors
With regards to the first goal, I cannot really say if these blogs have had an impact on anyone and turned them into a Star Wars comic collector. I hope they do get others excited about Star Wars comics and I'll keep writing them as long as I feel there is an audience for them. As for the second goal, in the three months since I've been writing these blogs, I can honestly say I have not met one other Star Wars comic collector. Very few comments are left on the blog postings and most postings have only received a handful of visits. I am encouraged however whenever I share select blogs on various forums because those blogs do receive many more hits than usual. While I wish visitors would take the time to leave a comment or participate in one of the surveys, I understand the mechanism for communication provided by Blogger is awkward unlike a forum like the CGC Forum or The Foreign Comics Forum. As for my third goal, from time to time, I re-read some of my previous blogs and correct errors and add more information. Up until this point, these fixes have all been minor and not noteworthy.
Recently, I decided to update two previous blogs to include more substantial content: images of the interior panels of Boba Fett in two key Star Wars comics, Star Wars #42 and Star Wars #68. I have been reluctant to take pictures of the interior of comic books because I want to retain the comics in the condition they are in. I also refuse to take images from other sites and use them here; I want these blogs to contain images from my collection. Both these decisions have at times limited my ability to clearly explain things as I have had to rely on written words only. To get around this, I have made some purchases recently which will allow me provide scans of all the Marvel comics and many of the Dark Horse Comics. Interior scans for Marvel Star Wars comics will come from my set of Star Wars: A Long Time Ago... trade paperbacks from Dark Horse Comics and interior scans for Dark Horse Star Wars comics will come from the myriad of Dark Horse trade paperbacks I now possess. Interior images will still be used sparingly, but at least it is a tool I can now use in my postings.
The first blog I updated is First Appearance: Boba Fett. The blog now includes the panels from the 2 pages inside Star Wars #42 that contain Boba Fett.
I am not attempting to diminish the value of Star Wars #42 or Star Wars #68 but am instead hoping to inform collectors. In this day and age of encapsulated comics, it has become common for sellers and buyers to take the labels on an encapsulated comic as gospel. This has led to confusion in the marketplace about the significance of a character's appearance inside a comic, whether it is a cameo, first appearance, major appearance, ad appearance, etc. What needs to be understood is grading companies like CGC, CBCS, and PGX make mistakes on labels. My understanding is labels are established by those purchasing the grading service. Unfortunately, it can be costly for the grading companies to correct mistakes on labels, so usually they don't.
Another problem is these grading companies do not necessarily grade all the various formats that comics take, so their labels are applicable to those format they do grade. For many years, CGC did not grade magazines. So, a label for the first appearance of a character in a comic would be affixed to a traditional pamphlet format comic, because that is the first appearance of the character in a format that the grading company grades, even if that character had a previous appearance in a format the grading company does not handle. I'm not saying a conscious decision was made to ignore formats not handled by a grading company, but it might help explain why Incredible Hulk #271 with a cover date of May 1982 is labeled as the first appearance of Rocket Raccoon when Rocket Raccoon's first appearance was in a magazine, Marvel Preview #7 in 1976.
Regardless, from time to time, I will make updates to previous blogs. When those changes are significant, I will let you know about them.
In 1995, Kenner relaunched the Star Wars action figure toy line which was an immediate success. Since then, Star Wars toys have proven to be a perennial fixture in toy stores across the country. One toy store that sold Star Wars toys was KB Toys, a nationwide chain that mostly operated in shopping malls. In 1998, KB Toys distributed Star Wars Special: The Constancia Affair, a free exclusive comic published by Dark Horse Comics in conjunction with Kenner.
Star Wars Special: The Constancia Affair - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (August 1998) KB Toys exclusive
Star Wars Special: The Constancia Affair collects a 1979 Star Wars comic strip by Russ Manning who is best known for creating the comic book character Magnus, Robot Fighter. This strip does not appear in the Classic Star Wars: The Early Adventures title which contains most of Manning's other Star Wars strips. Dark Horse Comics had published comics for inclusion in Kenner's Shadow of the Empire toys in 1996 and this comic continued that relationship. Dark Horse benefited from these promotional comics because they provided awareness for the Dark Horse Star Wars comic line to an audience eager to consume new Star Wars products.
KB Toys went out of business in 2009 after 87 years of being in business.
British Star Wars fans were treated to a weekly dose of Star Wars comics in the form of Star Wars Weekly. At first, the Star Wars Weekly title presented stories that were already published for U.S. readers. Eventually, Star Wars Weekly caught up to the U.S. published Star Wars stories and new content was created for the Star Wars Weekly. One story published in Star Wars Weekly before it was published in the U.S. Star Wars title was Silent Drifting, the first half of which was published in Star Wars Weekly #43.
Star Wars Weekly #43a - Marvel Comics, England (November 29, 1978) first half of Star Wars #24
Star Wars Weekly #43 has a cover date of November 29, 1978. The U.S. Star Wars #24 which contains this story has a cover date of June 1979. U.S. comics at the time had a cover date 3 months in the future from the time the comic was on the stands. This was done so the comic had a few months to sell and the news agents knew when to pull unsold issues from the stands. So Star Wars #24 was on sale in March 1979. Star Wars Weekly #43 was most likely printed before Star Wars #24. So, not all Star Wars Weekly issues are just "reprints" of the U.S. Star Wars issues.
Foreign comic collectors do not label foreign printings as reprints. The first printing of comics for a foreign market are instead referred to as foreign editions. So, Star Wars Weekly #43 and #44 are the British editions of Star Wars #24.
In 1977, Marvel Comics began publishing a magazine-sized series of one-shots in a title called Marvel Comics Super Special which ran for 41 issues until 1986. Additionally, in 1982, Marvel kicked off a line of original graphic novels with The Death of Captain Marvel. French publisher Editions Lug brought several of the one-shots from both series to French audiences in a title called Top B.D. Like many Editions Lug titles, this title has an accompanying collection or album called Top B.D. Album Relie. The collections consist of two issues of Top B.D. bound in a new outer cover. The Return of the Jedi adaptation from Top BD #3 - Le Retour Du Jedi (Marvel Super Special #27) and the 2010 adaptation from Top BD #6 - 2010, L'Année du Premier Contact (Marvel Super Special #37) were combined to make Top B.D. Album Relie #3.
Top B.D. Album Relie #3a - Editions Lug, France (1985)
The cover says The saga of the stars Return of the Jedi and... 2010.
I'll be honest, I don't understand all the hoopla surrounding Darth Vader #3. Darth Vader #3 is introducing a new character, Aphra, and two droids. There have been so many new Star Wars characters introduced in the Marvel and Dark Horse titles over the years, it seems unwarranted that the introduction of these characters would receive so much attention. Darth Vader has had several side kicks and apprentices over the years. Marvel introduced two Vader apprentices with Shira Brie in Star Wars #56 and Flint in Star Wars Annual #3. Dark Horse introduced a sidekick for Vader with Jix in Shadows of the Empire #2. Another apprentice was Starkiller from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. As for evil droids, there was that trip to Kligson's Moon R2-D2 and C-3PO took in Star Wars #47 among others.
Regardless, you can read more about the speculation surrounding Darth Vader #3 over at Bleeding Cool.
A common theme you see with foreign comics is the bundling of several printed issues into a collection with a new outer cover. Whether or not the issues that are included in the new collection are returns, warehouse stock that did not sell, or are even new printings is unknown. The French publisher Editions Lug did this with the Titans title and sold these collections under the title Titans Album with its own numbering. The la Guerre des Etoiles and the L'Empire Contre-Attaque trade paperbacks were also bundled into a collection or album.
la Guerre des Etoiles/L'Empire Contre-Attaque Album - Editions Lug, France (1981)la Guerre des Etoiles/L'Empire Contre-Attaque Album - Editions Lug, France (1981) spine
The two trade paperbacks had about 1/4" cut off from the sides and were glued into this the new outer cover. On the picture above, you can see the cover for the La Guerre des Etoiles trade paperback sticking out slightly from this outer cover.
