Amazon Customer Reviews of this item: (Average Rating is 5/5.00)
Rating: 5 [ Green Rabbits and Cyborg Bounty Hunters... ]
I've just ordered the reprint trade paperback reprints of these Marvel books. I remember reading and re-reading all of these "beyond the movie" adventures when I was a kid. It was just such an incredible charge to see what Luke, Han, and company were doing between the movies. Water worlds, gambling satellites, Darth Vader learning the name of the Death Star's destroyer(a nice plot device), the blocky artwork and awkward poses of Carmine Infantino artwork, wondering WHY these adventurers NEVER changed their clothes as they NEVER seemed to make their way back to Yavin Base after their Flash Gordon-esque side-adventures... Oh, and we can't forget that Obi-Wan Jedi story with the droid 68RKO (which were the call letters of a radio station if I'm not mistaken)...They really DID capture the imagination. Hopefully, Dark Horse will get around to publishing a VOLUME 3 because therein lie the BEST Marvel STAR WARS tales. But these first two will take you to a Long Time Ago in a Decade Not Far Away Enough--The Seventies. You'll see the pop-cultural impact of the first wave of STAR WARS mania, in many ways as endearingly cheesy as that Thanksgiving Holiday special. If you remember these, you will LOVE them all over again...if you don't, then prepare to be mightily entertained, whether you like comics, STAR WARS, or pop-culture in general. These books definitely belong on your shelf...
Rating: 5 [ Even better than the first collection! ]
This is the second trade paperback reprinting the original Marvel Star Wars comics from the late 70's/early 80's. It picks up immediately following the first trade paperback, and goes forward (timeline-wise) up to the first issue of Marvel's Empire Strikes Back adaptation.
Now, I've already given the first volume a good review, and this one's not going to be any different. I enjoyed these stories immensely when they first came out, and it still gives me a thrill to glance through my collection every now and then. Some of the covers were amazing!
The stories, for the most part, are the strongest from Marvel's entire line. The very last story in the collection, a fill-in tale where Luke and Leia end up on a large ship that is alive and has emotions, is probably the strongest in the entire batch. But there are other great moments mingled in with the rest. I think the issues featuring bounty hunters (including a cyborg) and the role they play in the Star Wars Universe are particulary interesting reads. And the story where Han and Chewy are trapped in a cavern with metal-eating termites chewing away at the Millenium Falcon (while a very thin Jabba the Hut stands outside the cave waiting for Solo to exit) is a classic.
Of course, not all of the stories work. There are some cheesy moments when Luke returns to Tatooine, and a few other issues that look like the artwork was rushed to meet a deadline, but overall, most of the issues are still fun to read.
Should you buy it? If you're a Star Wars nut, of course! But I think these stories would also be great for a parent looking for some good safe stories set in the Star Wars universe to give to their son/daughter.