This item is getting a little interest in another thread (starting with post #231), so I’m spinning it off here. An early 1980s comic adaptation of Star Wars made by people who had never seen the movie and who apparently traced over other artwork.
Heh. Thanks, DG, for sharing this. Did J&B pay anything, I wonder, for the product placement in Obi-Wan’s bachelor pad?
I liked that half the stormtroopers are wearing Boba Fett’s armor. Including Han & Luke when they were rescuing Leia. And Tarkin is apparently being played by Peter Dinklage.
It makes me wonder what source material the writer & artist were using. They clearly didn’t watch the movie. They probably read the novelization - the part about sandpeople being part organic, part mechanical is straight from the novel. So maybe that plus some stills & magazine articles with pictures? It also appears that comic artists giving female characters impressive cleavage is universal.
And the Kennedy Space Center map is just nuts.
Pretty sure the main problem with the prequels is that Jedi Knights didn’t look like this.
I’m guessing that the artist’s only visual reference for this was a handful of action figures from Empire. He gets the look of a lot of the characters right, even if they’re not the right character - for example, he gave this medical droid a sassy cape and put him on the bridge, but other than that, it’s very accurate to the original. His Luke’s outfit looks a lot like Cloud City Luke, too. On the other hand, none of the settings or vehicles I’ve seen (I’m about half way through it) are remotely accurate. (I’m particularly fond of the Imperial Star Destroyer Yamato.) If he’d seen stills from the movie, I’m pretty sure he’s have copied more than just the character designs. And if he’s trying to make it look like the action figure, it turns out he didn’t do that bad a job on the face after all…
They sure have a thing for Leia. And drawing her quite inconsistently.
That’s a good point on the figures Miller- note that IG-88 is in the same panel that you posted, and Bossk is ogling Princess Leia after her capture.
And I’m more & more convinced that the story is based off the novelization - Luke is in Blue squadron during the Death Star attack, the trooper who goes into the Milllenium Falcon is THX-1138, not TK-421, Luke is almost destroyed by flying through an explosion early in the Death Star battle, etc.
It’s interesting that the Force isn’t mentioned at all - nothing about it being the source of a Jedi’s power, nothing about Darth Vader being seduced to the Dark Side, Luke just “quickly masters” the light saber, etc. Was China particularly anti-religious at the time?
And my new favorite panel - Threepio kissing Artoo goodbye before attacking the Death Star.
Princess Leia is really giving off a Princess Ozma vibe in that last one.
Like I said in the Solo thread: Judge Dredd’s Lawmaster meets Romero’s Knightriders (Yes, that is Ed Harris).
I love the Space Battleship Yamato cameos in this Star Wars comic. After all, Yamato came out first!
That was my fave as well. The out-of-character award goes to… 
Is there any explanation on why Leia is a different person in each scene? Starting as a Homely red-head, Then showing up as an Asian stripper, then a 10 foot tall blonde, then a skinny Brunette etc?
Still better than the prequels…
Many of the images seem to be based on tracing/looking at still images from various sources such as other comics and illustrations and slightly modifying them.
This is glorious. My favorite panel is Darth Vader starring in “A Princess of Mars” by Frank Frazetta.