It may be difficult for some to believe, but there was a time where the only place Star Wars existed outside of the original trilogy was in Marvel comics. No animated series, no regularly published novel series, no video games, no prequels, no new movies, nothing but the monthly adventures that Marvel published between 1977 and 1986 to whet fans appetites. It was a long wait between movies and the comics were the one thing we could look forward to. Of course after Return of the Jedi came out and it became clear that there wouldnt be any other movies to follow (at least not for another 16 years), the Star Wars comics from Marvel were all we had, as our beloved movie series seemed to fade towards a quiet, sad death. (Yes folks, believe it or not, but there was a time in the late 80s where Star Wars, for all intents and purposes, died in pop culture.) But of course now Star Wars is more popular than ever. With production on Episode VII moving forward and the announcement that most of those novels, comics, video games and the like released over the last 20 odd years dont really count, it seemed a good time to go back and review Marvels work on the original Expanded Universe. While Im sure fans all have their favourites from the comic series, what follows is this writers take on the best of the bunch. Punch it, Chewie!
I've been a huge sci-fi fan ever since going to see "Star Wars" at the tender age of 3 (and yes I actually do remember it! I love pretty much any intelligent and entertaining film and television series (some of my all time favorites are 2001, Lawrence of Arabia, Battlestar Galactica [SyFy], and The West Wing). Must thank the stars above for such things as HBOGO and Netflix (Am thoroughly enjoying Ripper Street btw). I've also been an avid comic book collector since childhood. I earned a bachelor's degree in creative writing with a second emphasis in film studies from Florida State University (Go Noles!) and definitely enjoy sitting back and watching pretty much any sports. I wish I had a joke to end with, but I don't so I'll simply say "The End."
