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jaredkwheeler's review against another edition
3.0
Star Wars Legends Project #238
Background: Doomworld, released in June 2002, collects the first 20 issues of the original Marvel run of Star Wars comics (originally published from April of 1977 to November of 1978). Issues #1-10 were written by [a:Roy Thomas|10180|Roy Thomas|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1317242199p2/10180.jpg] and issues #11-20 were written by [a:Archie Goodwin|44712|Archie Goodwin|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1276897601p2/44712.jpg]. [a:Donald F Glut|18171527|Donald F Glut|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] co-wrote issue #10 and [a:Chris Claremont|15091|Chris Claremont|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1206644417p2/15091.jpg] co-wrote issue #17. [a:Howard Chaykin|2718|Howard Chaykin|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1541394781p2/2718.jpg] drew issues #1-10 and also co-wrote issues #7, 8, and 10. [a:Carmine Infantino|44723|Carmine Infantino|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1585519034p2/44723.jpg] drew issues #11-20 except for issues #16 & 17 which were drawn by [a:Walt simonson|20308767|Walt simonson|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] and [a:Herb Trimpe|10300|Herb Trimpe|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1578412280p2/10300.jpg], respectively. [a:Tom Palmer|150000|Tom Palmer|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] and [a:Alan Kupperberg|324211|Alan Kupperberg|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] also contributed to the art for issue #10. Thomas and Chaykin were both prolific in comics at the time, but did very little Star Wars work aside from those first 10 issues. Goodwin wrote a few dozen more issues of the series, collaborating mostly with Infantino, plus a smattering of other work. The rest may bear mentioning in connection to other works at some point in the future. In particular, Glut is best known for writing the novelization of The Empire Strikes Back.
Doomworld depicts the events leading up to the Battle of Yavin and continues into the weeks after. The main characters are Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, Threepio, and Artoo, with occasional appearances by Darth Vader and a rotating cast of colorful characters. The most notorious of these is Jaxxon the carnivorous green space rabbit. So, yeah . . . that's what we're working with here.
Summary: After the events of Star Wars: A New Hope, the Rebellion sends Luke on an urgent mission to find them a new secret base before Darth Vader can get back and expose their location to the Empire. But when Luke mysteriously vanishes, Princess Leia takes action. Meanwhile, Han is on his way back to pay off his debt to Jabba, but complications arise and his plans change. The adventures never stop as our heroes struggle to survive in a galaxy they have just helped turn upside-down.
Review: This is the true beginning of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and as such I've picked up bits and pieces of what to expect over the years. To be honest, what I was expecting, given the style and the time it was created and some of the elements I'd heard about, was something barely readable and certainly not enjoyable. This comfortably cleared that extremely low bar and I found myself really getting into it for the most part. It's not the '90s Star Wars EU that I'm most fond of, but it has a certain charm. The first 6 issues are just an adaptation of the original movie, but even there I found some of the writing to be quite good.
It's also more fun than annoying to spot the rough bits where this comic runs afoul of a canon that still isn't quite set in stone . . . like the assumption that Luke's father was Owen's brother, or the consistent references to "Jabba the Hut" (and at least one declaration that he is on "Dantooine.")
The title of this collection is drawn from the major arc that covers about 10 issues following the destruction of the Death Star, and I have to take this opportunity to once again point out that even this series understands that the very first job the Rebels would have would be looking for a new base. Can't resist another swipe at that nonsense from the Rebel Force series. Anyway, Han immediately loses his Rebel payout to a pirate named Crimson Jack and is forced to scrounge up work elsewhere to try and generate some money (this leads to the first of many Star Wars versions of the plot of Seven Samurai). But eventually all of our heroes end up on the titular "Doomworld," a water planet where a group of galactic castaways have split over philosophical differences and now wage war against each other. I particularly appreciated how this arc started out with a few different things going on, and over the course of the series they all come together in a pretty epic conclusion. Marvel clearly put people on this property that know their stuff when it comes to telling a serialized story.
The 2 issues following the climax of this arc are one-offs (though one will almost certainly tie-in to later events) and the collection ends on a cliffhanger in the midst of the next arc. This one finds Luke, Han, and Leia trapped aboard a giant space station casino where patrons bet on things like deadly gladiator fights. The casino has enjoyed freedom from Imperial interference in exchange for a healthy cash flow, but the Rebels have stumbled across a plot by the Empire to blame the Rebellion for attacks on the casino's ships so they can move in and take over. I'm not enjoying this arc as much as the one before it, but we'll see how it resolves in future issues.
In any case, this is definitely worth at least checking out, not only as a priceless bit of Star Wars history, but on its own merits. I look forward, at least a little bit, to reading more.
C+
Background: Doomworld, released in June 2002, collects the first 20 issues of the original Marvel run of Star Wars comics (originally published from April of 1977 to November of 1978). Issues #1-10 were written by [a:Roy Thomas|10180|Roy Thomas|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1317242199p2/10180.jpg] and issues #11-20 were written by [a:Archie Goodwin|44712|Archie Goodwin|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1276897601p2/44712.jpg]. [a:Donald F Glut|18171527|Donald F Glut|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] co-wrote issue #10 and [a:Chris Claremont|15091|Chris Claremont|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1206644417p2/15091.jpg] co-wrote issue #17. [a:Howard Chaykin|2718|Howard Chaykin|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1541394781p2/2718.jpg] drew issues #1-10 and also co-wrote issues #7, 8, and 10. [a:Carmine Infantino|44723|Carmine Infantino|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1585519034p2/44723.jpg] drew issues #11-20 except for issues #16 & 17 which were drawn by [a:Walt simonson|20308767|Walt simonson|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] and [a:Herb Trimpe|10300|Herb Trimpe|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1578412280p2/10300.jpg], respectively. [a:Tom Palmer|150000|Tom Palmer|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] and [a:Alan Kupperberg|324211|Alan Kupperberg|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] also contributed to the art for issue #10. Thomas and Chaykin were both prolific in comics at the time, but did very little Star Wars work aside from those first 10 issues. Goodwin wrote a few dozen more issues of the series, collaborating mostly with Infantino, plus a smattering of other work. The rest may bear mentioning in connection to other works at some point in the future. In particular, Glut is best known for writing the novelization of The Empire Strikes Back.
Doomworld depicts the events leading up to the Battle of Yavin and continues into the weeks after. The main characters are Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, Threepio, and Artoo, with occasional appearances by Darth Vader and a rotating cast of colorful characters. The most notorious of these is Jaxxon the carnivorous green space rabbit. So, yeah . . . that's what we're working with here.
Summary: After the events of Star Wars: A New Hope, the Rebellion sends Luke on an urgent mission to find them a new secret base before Darth Vader can get back and expose their location to the Empire. But when Luke mysteriously vanishes, Princess Leia takes action. Meanwhile, Han is on his way back to pay off his debt to Jabba, but complications arise and his plans change. The adventures never stop as our heroes struggle to survive in a galaxy they have just helped turn upside-down.
Review: This is the true beginning of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and as such I've picked up bits and pieces of what to expect over the years. To be honest, what I was expecting, given the style and the time it was created and some of the elements I'd heard about, was something barely readable and certainly not enjoyable. This comfortably cleared that extremely low bar and I found myself really getting into it for the most part. It's not the '90s Star Wars EU that I'm most fond of, but it has a certain charm. The first 6 issues are just an adaptation of the original movie, but even there I found some of the writing to be quite good.
It's also more fun than annoying to spot the rough bits where this comic runs afoul of a canon that still isn't quite set in stone . . . like the assumption that Luke's father was Owen's brother, or the consistent references to "Jabba the Hut" (and at least one declaration that he is on "Dantooine.")
The title of this collection is drawn from the major arc that covers about 10 issues following the destruction of the Death Star, and I have to take this opportunity to once again point out that even this series understands that the very first job the Rebels would have would be looking for a new base. Can't resist another swipe at that nonsense from the Rebel Force series. Anyway, Han immediately loses his Rebel payout to a pirate named Crimson Jack and is forced to scrounge up work elsewhere to try and generate some money (this leads to the first of many Star Wars versions of the plot of Seven Samurai). But eventually all of our heroes end up on the titular "Doomworld," a water planet where a group of galactic castaways have split over philosophical differences and now wage war against each other. I particularly appreciated how this arc started out with a few different things going on, and over the course of the series they all come together in a pretty epic conclusion. Marvel clearly put people on this property that know their stuff when it comes to telling a serialized story.
The 2 issues following the climax of this arc are one-offs (though one will almost certainly tie-in to later events) and the collection ends on a cliffhanger in the midst of the next arc. This one finds Luke, Han, and Leia trapped aboard a giant space station casino where patrons bet on things like deadly gladiator fights. The casino has enjoyed freedom from Imperial interference in exchange for a healthy cash flow, but the Rebels have stumbled across a plot by the Empire to blame the Rebellion for attacks on the casino's ships so they can move in and take over. I'm not enjoying this arc as much as the one before it, but we'll see how it resolves in future issues.
In any case, this is definitely worth at least checking out, not only as a priceless bit of Star Wars history, but on its own merits. I look forward, at least a little bit, to reading more.
C+
hstapp's review against another edition
3.0
This book is a surprisingly fun read. The stories are reasonably interesting and generally fit pretty well into the Star Wars universe. In fact despite not being canon even before the new star wars line. Many of the old canon (now legend) sources drew material from this comic series.
Definitely a good read. Unfortunately the book cuts off in the middle of an arc.
Definitely a good read. Unfortunately the book cuts off in the middle of an arc.
count_zero's review
3.0
This is certainly a mixed bag, when it comes to the storylines. On the one hand, the first Annual, with the Flyers, is very well done, as is the whole storyline with The Wheel. On the other hand, the clear "Seven Samurai"/"Magnificent Seven" storyline that kicks off the the comic's first original story after the events of A New Hope is a bit much.
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