Now that the trailer for the new Star Wars film, The Force Awakens has been released, I want to revisit a post from earlier this year. A look at the comic adaptation of George Lucas’s original rough draft script, The Star Wars. 
Creators
Writer:
J. W. Rinzler
Artist:
Mike Mayhew
Colorist:
Rain Beredo
Letterer:
Michael Heisler
Cover Artist:
Nick Runge
A while back I began reading a limited comic series called The Star Wars published by Dark Horse comics. This eight-issues series was based on the original rough draft screenplay by George Lucas. This would evolve over the course of the 1970s to eventually become the movie we know as Star Wars.
I had never read a Star Wars comic before in my life, so when I was in my local shop and I saw the cover of issue one, I though this was a comic adaptation of the original film, when I saw it was of Lucas’ original version I had to check it out.
In my previous post, I noted that this is Star Wars in name, but not what your are used to seeing. You see character names, but they are not the same characters. For example, Luke Skywalker is not the heroic young aspiring Jedi we all know and love, but a battle hardened general. He basically fills in the role for Obi-Wan Kenobi. And in the role of the young hero, we have Annikin Starkiller, son of Kane who takes up the mantle to save the galaxy from the evil empire. We also have our princess, still named Leia, our two droids, also named C3PO and R2D2. The names are spelled slightly different however. Our bounty hunter Han Solo is not human, but an alien. And of course the villain, who is still named Darth Vader.
As a comic, this was a lot of fun to read it had great artwork. Very bright colors. Even though this was not the same Star Wars story, it certainly had the same epic, adventurous tone as the original film did. Since this is an adaptation, I can only assume that the dialogue between characters was Lucas’. Just like his work on the prequel films, it is very cheesy and just like in Episode II: Attack of the Clones, the romance between Annikin and Princess Leia is so cringeworthy, I actually felt nostalgic. Guess the good news is that we can’t say Lucas lost his talent for writing dialogue, it never was really there.
But I certainly can say, that he does have an imagination, and seeing some of his original thoughts in some form of visual is quite rewarding. This could never have been an actual film I feel, it could have possibly been worse than the prequels, which I actually do like those movies.
My reccomendation: Head to your local comic shop and pick up The Star Wars issues 1-8. I had a blast reading and most likely will pick it up when it is released in a special collected format. Go visit a galaxy not too far from the one that is far, far, away.
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Moonraker (1979, dir. Lewis Gilbert) is also known as “Bond in Space”, because it’s the film where the one and only James Bond – this time played by the very charming Roger Moore – actually makes it out to the vast expanse of space. But in the beginning, before the outer space shenanigans occur, Bond is assigned on a secret mission to respond to a critical incident where an MI6 space shuttle has been hijacked. It seems that a millionaire named Hugo Drax is involved, and Bond must investigate this suspicious individual to prevent further damage to the British Crown.
