You truly couldn’t wish for a more ecclectic mix of Star Wars comics, stories or artwork than this collection from the team at Dark Horse. Running with classic era tales harvested from numerous sources planet-wide, this distills the very spirit of vintage Star Wars into one handy omnibus. Let’s have a look at what’s inside.
We kick off with Star Wars #0: The Keeper’s World, an American Entertainment Exclusive published in June 1997 by Dark Horse Comics which contained materials originally serialized in Pizzazz magazine issues #1–#9 from October 1977 to June 1978. It’s as vintage as it gets with art by Howard Chaykin and Tony Dezuniga illustrating a story by Roy Thomas. Artoo and Threepio are at odds in a story set right after A New Hope. As Luke, Leia and the droids travel to a secret Rebel base they drop out of hyperspace unexpectedly, right into an Imperial fleet. Over the course of the next few mini issues they encounter all manner of typical Marvel era craziness, and yet the vigour and freshness of the era allows these tales to ‘get away with it’, even today. Purists may not consider much of this cannon, but for old time Star Wars fans, it’s all part of the bigger picture. After all, it’s a big galaxy out there.
Next up it’s a trip to the UK and a series of stories taken from the much-loved UK Star Wars Weekly. Kicking off with ‘Kingdom of Ice’ from #60 (dated 18th April 1979) we’re still with Luke, Leia and the droids as they try to locate the missing rebels. But this is a bit special as we are treated to early Star Wars artwork by the legendary Walt Simonsen and Klaus Janson. On a world similar to Hoth they encounter natives not disimilar to armed wampas, but Luke and Leia are rescued by the rebels. But all is not as it seems as Imperials have hijacked the rebels snow vehicle and Luke, Leia and the rebels have to save the day. With art later in the issues by X-Men legend Dave Cockrum, this is more classic Marvel era action.
‘The Way of the Wookiee’ from UK Weekly #94 (dated 12th December 1979) comes next as writer Archie Goodwin and artists Carmine Infantino and Pablo Marcos bring us a tale set just days before A New Hope as Han and Chewie do a Kessel Run for Jabba the Hutt but run into trouble in the form of captured wookiees that Chewie tries to save, only to be stunned into submission by Solo. We learn something of Chewie’s life on Kashyyyk and drop back to the present with the rescue of an old adversary of Chewie’s from the spice mines and back to freedom.
The omnibus continues it’s trawl through the missing stories printed in the UK weekly, including the classic ‘Death Masque’ from The Empire Strikes back Monthly #149 (dated September 1981). Written by Alan Moore this was previosuly released by Dark Horse in the 2-part Devil Worlds series back in the 90’s, and makes a welcome return here. A strange tale, more like a Gold Key era Star Trek story than Star Wars, this pits Luke against a strange, deadly creature who can affect his waking dreams. Later we are treated to some early art from Captain Britain, Excalibur and D.R and Quinch artist Alan Davis as ‘Dark Knight’s Devilry’ pits Luke and Leia against Darth Vader and the Empire in a quest for a weapon which can alter time.
‘Flight of the Falcon’ from The Empire Strikes Back Monthly is next, showing the history of the Millennium Falcon and how she came to be the amazing ship we grew to love in A New Hope. ‘Blind Fury’ continues the UK stories in a tale focusing on the force which certainly would not have been green-lit by the US arm of the company. A dark Alan Moore story with art by John Stokes, this is followed by ‘Rust Never Sleeps’, where broken and decaying droids are dumped on a rusty world, with Artoo and Threepio unwillingly dropped on the world where they meet the living god of droids who wreaks havoc on the Imperials who land there. ‘The Pandora Effect’ reads more like a sourceres tale than a Star Wars story, throwing Han, Chewie and Leia into another dimension. But the weirdest of these UK stories has to be Alan Moore’s ‘Tilotny Throws a Shape’, a tale which wouldn’t go amiss as a classic Marvel tales of the watcher story. Beautifully illustrated by John Stokes, this sees Leia encounter god-like beings who toy with her and Stormtroopers in a very Star Trek manner before reviving her for no good reason.
We hit the 3D comics from 1987 next, a series focusing on space fights and action, to accentuate the 3D properties of the book. With artwork that wouldn’t look out of place in a West End Games scenario and a story taking us back to familiar locales on Tatooine, this is undemanding fare, but solid gold in terms of nostalgia. The second issue, ‘Havoc on Hoth’ takes us to the ice planet where we see Luke in his landspeeder chase tauntauns. As I said, solid gold.
Star Wars Kids The Rebel Thief by Ryder Windham is next, with the heroes of the DeathnStar decideing to stay o Yavin, believing it’s safe. Which it is, until Solo decides to steal some lost treasure and in the next issue sell it on Dennogra. Which he does, raisning funds to buy a new rebel fleet as well as attempting to pay off Jabba. Again, very much a kids tale, but fun in the process.
More classic era em>Star Wars Kids tales follow, featuring the art of Ken Steacy and then we hit a run of Shadows of the Empire shorts that follow the basic plot of the classic story weitten by 2000AD legend John Wagner. we near the end of the Omnibus with a Dark Horse tale called ‘The Mixed Up Droid’, followed by a tale of Lando proving his worth in Jabba’s Palace called ‘The Gambler’s Quest’. The book finishes with a one-page Droids mini story, free with Apple Jacks.
As Omnibus’ go they can’t possibly come more mixed and ecclectic than this. Runing across decades, the stories are all set between A New Hope through to just after The Empire Strikes Back and cover two decades in the writing. Definitely the tonic if you want to get your vintage Star Wars heads on, the second Wild Space Omnibus due in October can’t come quickly enough.
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