Today's cover comparison shows very minor changes made by Editorial Novaro to the cover of Star Wars #14.
Star Wars #14a - Marvel Comics, U.S. (August 1978)
Star Wars #14 is noteworthy since it is the first time all of our heroes, droids included, appear on a cover together in the Marvel title. Inside the issue, the heroes do all coalesce on a single panel on the last page. Prior to this issue, the last time they were together was on the first page of Star Wars #7 when Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia were saying farewell to Han Solo and Chewbacca.
Clásicos del Cine #306a - Editorial Novaro, Mexico (December 1979) contains Star Wars #13 and 14
Clásicos del Cine #306 contains Spanish translations of Star Wars #13 and 14 for Mexican readers. The cover artwork is identical to Star Wars #14 except for the background. The U.S. cover has a wave effect in the background and the blurb reads The Sound of Armageddon! The Mexican cover has a plain orange background and the blurb has been changed to La Batalla Decisiva or The Decisive Battle.
The technique used to get the wave effect is called screentone. Up through the 1990s, it was common for comic fans to refer to the technique as Zip-A-Tone, but that is a brand name for the material to create the effects that stopped being manufactured in the early 1990s.
I actually prefer the cover for Clásicos del Cine #306 over Star Wars #14. I feel the background detracts from the Carmine Infantino artwork. Without the effects, the characters stand out more and the cover looks more aesthetically pleasing.
Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin is the third Darth Vader mini-series published by Darth Horse Comics starting in April 2013. Like the previous mini-series, this story takes place during the first months of the Galactic Empire.
A mining operation run by a rich industrialist on an ice planet is visited by the Empire seeking concessions. Darth Vader is there to oversee the renegotiations. The industrialist's son is upset and pulls a blaster on one of the negotiators and Vader intercedes, killing the son.
Later, on another planet, the son's father is being escorted by mercenaries through a swamp. At their destination, the father uncovers a scanning device and uses a severed hand to activate the entrance to an underground fortress. In the fortress, the mercenaries are confronted by belligerent alien guards who the mercenaries kill. They enter a chamber with an alien sitting on a throne and the father drops to his knees, begging the alien to help him. He says money is no object and he seeks vengeance on Darth Vader for killing his son. The father tells the alien his has hired eight other assassins, but they all failed. When the father turns around, he sees that all his mercenaries are dead.
An armored assassin that killed the others in the room tells the father he paid a high price to come there and he may not be willing to pay the price for the help. The father says if the assassin brings him Vader's head, he will pay any price. The assassin accepts the deal and leaves it to the alien on the throne to work out the details of the payment. Days later, back in the mining establishment, the father is seen sitting at a desk, his now eyeless sockets covered in bandages, gleefully anticipating Darth Vader's demise.
In the first issue, neither the planet or the characters are named outside of Vader. We know the father's son is a cruel individual because of how he treats the slave laborers working in the mines shown on the opening page of the story. It is a safe assumption the rich industrialist is also a cruel and ruthless individual. It is a decent setup and it will be interesting to see how the story unfolds in future issues.
The cover by Ariel Olivetti shows the industrialist and his mercenaries standing in front of the alien sitting on his throne. I like that the story subverts our expectations that this menacing looking alien is the ninth assassin. Instead we find out the alien is just an associate of the assassin.
Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin #1a - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (April 2013)
An exclusive black and white cover was given out at the 2013 Diamond Retailer Summit in Chicago. This cover shows Darth Vader wielding his lightsaber just after he has killed the father's son. In the foreground, the father can be seen holding his son's lifeless body.
Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin #1b - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (April 2013) Diamond Retailer Summit Chicago 2013 exclusive
Star TV Junior is a comic published by Aventures et Voyages in France. It ran for 16 issues from April 1986 to September 1987. The series brought select issues from Marvel's Star Comics line to French readers including 6 of the Ewoks comics. Like many European countries, the individual issues were collected into albums.
Star TV Junior Album #3 is a collection of Star TV Junior #7 - 9 which contain Ewoks #1, 3, and 4. The cover uses the same artwork from Star TV Junior #6 which is an interesting choice. There are only 3 Ewok covers for the Star TV Junior series, including Star TV Junior #7 and 9. One of these covers would have made more sense for an album containing 3 of the 6 Ewok appearances.
Star TV Junior Album #3a - Aventures et Voyages, France (1987) collects Star TV Junior #7 - 9 contains Ewoks #1, 3, and 4
Back when the original trilogy was released, it was common for movies to be released to different countries at widely different dates. The Empire Strikes Back was released to theaters in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom on May 21st, 1980. It then began rolling out weekly to other countries for the next nine months and some countries like Hungary, Turkey, and Poland did not receive the movie for a few years. West Germans did not have to wait years to see the movie, but they did wait over 6 months when it was released on December 11th. At the time, Egmont Ehapa had the license to publish Star Wars comics in German and they released the movie adaptation in two issues.
Krieg der Sterne: Das Imperium Schlägt Zurück #1a - Egmont Ehapa, Germany (1980) contains Star Wars #39 - 41Krieg der Sterne: Das Imperium Schlägt Zurück #2a - Egmont Ehapa, Germany (1980) contains Star Wars #42 - 44
The cover for Krieg der Sterne: Das Imperium Schlägt Zurück #1a is the same as the cover for Marvel Super Special #16. The artwork inside the cover from Marvel Super Special #16 is uses for the cover for Krieg der Sterne: Das Imperium Schlägt Zurück #2a.
My dad was stationed at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany when the Empire Strikes Back came out and I have fond memories of seeing the movie at the theater near base housing in Kaiserslautern. Some of the German comics in my collection are from my childhood including these two issues.
Captain Phasma jumps from the cliff into the R'ora village and begins killing them. She is soon joined by TN-3465 and eventually the Lup'ror they befriended. With the R'ora occupied, Captain Phasma spots a tower where the R'ora keep Lieutenant Sol Rivas. In the tower, Rivas is tied up and severly beaten. Phasma orders Rivas to confess, but he instead tells her he knows she is one one who lowered the shields. Without receiving the fake confession, Phasma kills Rivas and the entire exchange was overheard by TN-3465.
TN-3465 meets up with Phasma and does not let on she knows the truth about Phasma. TN-3465 has misgivings about setting up the Lup'ror to fight the R'ora but they leave the island to return to their TIE Fighter anyway. Back at their spacecraft, TN-3465 prepares for departure while Phasma destroys the BB unit. Phasma then kills TN-3465, tying up the final loose end. She boards the fighter and takes off. While leaving the planet, she records the events that occurred on the planet, accusing Rivas of killing TN-3465.
The story ends with Phasma rejoining the First Order fleet. Aboard the battlecruiser, The Finalizer, she recounts her version of events to General Hux.
General Hux:I should have known that even an exploding planet could not kill you, nor impede your devotion to the First Order, Phasma.
Captain Phasma:Indeed.
There are four generic covers for this issue which could be used for any comic that features Captain Phasma. I'm not a big fan of covers that do not relate to the interior story. They are all decent covers, but nothing that stands out.
Star Wars: Captain Phasma #4a - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 2017)Star Wars: Captain Phasma #4b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 2017) movie variantStar Wars: Captain Phasma #4c - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 2017) Elsa Charretier variantStar Wars: Captain Phasma #4d - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 2017) Rod Reis variant
The story told in the 4-issue mini-series is solid and enjoyable. Captain Phasma's ruthlessness is apparent in the final issue when she does not help the Lup'ror colonist and kills both Rivas and TN-3465 at point blank range. I want to read other stories about her to see if they explain just why she is with the First Order, since it is apparent she is not indoctrinated to their cause.
While I like the tale, this 4-issue series could have been told in one issue and is typical of decompressed storytelling these day. This final issue has six full splash pages and several pages with just 2-4 panels. The art by Marco Checchetto is nice, but the padding is noticeable. I recommend the series, but with the warning that it is a quick read.
Sick #122 contains a 25 page story broken into chapters spoofing Woody Allen and several television shows including Police Woman, The Bob Newhart Show, and Wonder Woman. The framing story is the Nerd Broadcasting System (NBS) is facing low ratings, so the executives are meeting to review their talent and shows. The executive include Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman, King Kong, Jimmy Carter, Earnest Borgnine, and Barf Vader among others. The Darth Vader caricature, NBS' network president, appears on numerous panels throughout the story.
Sick #122a - Charlton Comics, U.S. (August 1978)
The cover, nominally related to the story with Darth Vader, is by Jack Sparling who worked on other Charlton comic books like The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman.
Sick #122 page 15Sick #122 page 26
The story ends with an appearance by a R2-D2 caricature, R2-Doo-Doo.
Sick #122 page 38
The entire issue can be read on the Internet Archive. The interior pages displayed here were taken from there.
