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The Circle is Now Complete: Classic Marvel Talents

Walter Simonson

Back in the late seventies and early eighties, when the classic Star Wars trilogy was still young and the label “expanded universe” did not even exist, the base of material that extended beyond the films was relatively small. There were the novelizations, six 100+ page books focusing on the pasts of Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, and a handful of children’s books, but the meat of what came to be known as the expanded universe belonged to the visual realm of comics.

In those early years, Star Wars comics could be found in two different forms: the newspaper, predominantly shaped by the hands of Russ Manning, Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson, and those published in the traditional comic book format by Marvel Comics. In the mid-1990s, Dark Horse Comics reprinted the newspaper strips. This month, Dark Horse continues its trip back in time with Classic Star Wars: A Long Time Ago. The first installment reprints the initial 20 issues of Marvel’s regular Star Wars run, and is the first of seven volumes bursting at the seams with 336 pages of stories, the majority of which haven’t been seen for 25 years.

Two of the artists who contributed considerably to Marvel’s Star Wars series were Walter Simonson, who worked on the series after the release of The Empire Strikes Back, and Cynthia Martin, who contributed after Return of the Jedi.

Simonson is a veteran of the comic book industry, working on such projects as Thor, Fantastic Four, Orion of the New Gods, and is presently working on The Path. He has also worked on a licensed product for Dark Horse before, in the form of Robocop vs. Terminator. Simonson had already been in comics for nine years when he was asked to take the reigns of Marvel’s Star Wars monthly from artist Carmine Infantino.

“I was offered the opportunity to pencil the book by the editor and I liked the characters,” Simonson says. “I thought it would be fun to do, so I accepted.”

Simonson co-plotted most of the issues he worked on with writer David Michelinie. “[We] did run into a few unexpected problems,” Simonson says. “When I was working on the comic book, it was right after the second film had been released, so our continuity had to match the state of things at the conclusion of The Empire Strikes Back. This had some implications. For example, we couldn’t use Han Solo. But it gave us some room to work in that probably wouldn’t be available these days.”

Marvel’s series was inarguably a bold enterprise in terms of continuity. Unlike the current ongoing series, the early monthly series had the freedom to build its stories directly around the exploits of the classic trilogy’s main characters while the trilogy was still in progress. However, this understandably led to some difficulties.

“We did run into an immediate story snag,” Simonson says. “David’s first idea was extremely logical. It was to do a story about the Empire building a new Death Star and putting chicken wire over the exhaust ports — not really chicken wire but you catch my drift — and we were told we couldn’t. We weren’t told why not, but it was instantly obvious to us that that was going to be the thrust of the third film.

“In addition — and this is absolutely true — we had an idea for some sort of storyline involving small creatures and hang gliders. However, we were told we couldn’t do it, again without explanation. I have to say, that did puzzle us. We’re walking around thinking, ‘So, the third movie has some sort of hang gliding creatures versus the Death Star!?’ It was pretty funny.”

Eventually, after the release of Return of the Jedi, Marvel published a Star Wars comic with elements similar those described by Simonson — #73 “Lashbane,” though the issue was written and illustrated by the team of Jo Duffy and Ron Frenz.

Simonson also elaborates on a thematic problem after Empire. “Other restrictions became apparent as David and I went along, but they were generally more about characters than plots. We were told we couldn’t have anything romantic develop between Luke and Leia although we were not told why. We also found that we couldn’t have Darth Vader actually meet Luke face to face. That was a bit of a crimp, actually. Here we’re doing a comic in which one of the principal heroes couldn’t actually confront the principal villain, the other principal hero [Han] wasn’t available at all, and the heroine couldn’t become involved with the hero we did have access to.”

Despite the restrictions, Simonson says that the experience was a positive one. “I really enjoyed working on the characters and the situations back then, and I thought David and I did creditable work with the material. I’m very pleased that some of the stories are apparently remembered fondly by fans.”

Cynthia Martin

In contrast to her predecessor, Cynthia Martin had very little experience when she was asked to illustrate the Star Wars series after Jedi. “I had penciled exactly one book, a double-sized issue of Ms. Victory for an independent publisher. I was never paid, so strictly speaking, Star Wars was my first pro job. I leapt at it.”

Excitement was Martin’s initial reaction to the assignment, the illustrator says, though that quickly changed to dread. “I had been an enthusiastic fan since the summer A New Hope opened in theaters. Once the joyous delirium wore off, though, I realized that I had no experience drawing a monthly book. I was scared stiff.”

Martin got over her fear, however, in part due to her partner on the series, writer Jo Duffy. “I had the great fortune to work with Jo Duffy, a writer of exceptional imagination and talent. She was a tireless source of funny, clever ideas, and provided mountains of reference for the visuals she wanted to pursue.”

Like Simonson, Martin says there were things she was not allowed to do. “At one point, we had finished a cover that portrayed a victorious Ewok wearing a stormtrooper helmet, and it was pulled with the directive to redraw it immediately — it made the Ewok look too ferocious, or something.”

Martin, along with Duffy, was responsible for creating the Nagai, a race of slender and pale post-Jedi intergalactic invaders, anticipating the Yuuzhan Vong from Del Rey’s New Jedi Order series. Described in the expanded universe as looking like “emaciated specters” and flaunting eighties-style punk hair, Martin explains how she came up with their visual design.

“Jo Duffy suggested that I look at anime for inspiration for the Nagai,” Martin says. “This was back when anime was scarcely known in the mainstream; Jo was really ahead of her time. She showed me a Japanese comic about a tragic vampire that had a strong influence on my concept drawings.

“Jo’s main baddie, Den, was a rather conflicted dude, despite his propensity for cruelty, and I made him as thin as I could to imply that he had certain vulnerabilities. I retain a great affection for that look…and that hair.”

Along with Duffy, Martin worked on the very last issue of the series, #107 “All Together Now,” which they did not realize was going to be the last issue until the last minute. “To my recollection, that last three-fourths of an issue never saw print. Jo and I got our kill fee and it went into the bin, and I believe we scrambled to get another issue together that would tie up a few plot threads. I felt pretty bad about the cancellation, as I had just hit a kind of stride with the [series] and was starting to feel like I could produce some exceptional work. But that’s the way it goes.”

Martin states that she would love to work on Star Wars again. She especially feels an affinity for the work of young adult novelist, Jude Watson. “I would give a lot to work on a comic based on Jude Watson’s Jedi Apprentice books. I think it’s a natural. Or a limited ‘prequel baddies’ series, starring [Watson’s] Xanatos, of course.

“I’m still an enthusiastic fan of Star Wars in all its forms: the movies, the EU books, the comics,” Martin says. “It’s been a source of enjoyment for many years, and I’m always astonished at what a fertile source of inspiration it is for so many gifted people. I really enjoyed being a part of that.”

Randy Stradley & Jan Duursema

There are a select few creators that worked on the Marvel Star Wars series that have been chosen to return to the galaxy far, far away under the Dark Horse banner. One, Al Williamson, was already a veteran when he did work on Marvel Star Wars, helming the artists’ side of the adaptations for both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. But for the most part, Williamson only did Star Wars covers for Dark Horse, though he inked the adaptation of the A New Hope Special Edition. With Episode II, the reigns have been passed down from one Marvelite to another. Jan Duursema and Randy Stradley may have started out at Marvel as Padawans, but now they’re taking over Star Wars movie adaptation and editing chores, respectively.

“Issue #86 [‘The Alderaan Factor’] of the Marvel Star Wars comic was my very first comics job, right out of the gate,” says Stradley, who recently became Dark Horse’s new Star Wars editor. “I had been working with both Chris Warner and Mike Badger on comics stories for APA-5 (an Amateur Press Association publication) that we shelved when we both started getting professional work, so I had some experience in writing comics scripts. However, the Marvel job required me to write ‘plot-style,’ which was a new experience.” (For trivia hounds, Stradley was able to sneak an APA reference somewhere into “The Alderaan Factor.”)

Duursema, who illustrated the comics adaptation of Attack of the Clones this year, was also relatively green in the business when she worked on issue #92 “The Dream,” having done work on Arion Lord of Atlantis and Warlord. “I had only been in the [comics] industry for a few years before working on Star Wars at Marvel. Being such a big fan, I could not have passed up the opportunity to work on Star Wars when it was offered! I was working on another project at the time, but worked overtime to be able to draw the Star Wars issue as well. I figured I would never get another chance.”

That chance, and the motivation, came back to Duursema in 1999. “I returned to Star Wars because of The Phantom Menace. When I went into the theater to see that film, I was not sure if I wanted to draw comics anymore. After seeing the story of Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon and the Jedi of the Episode I era, after seeing the final battle with Darth Maul — I knew I had to draw Star Wars comics again.”

Duursema says that she was hesitant to ask for more Star Wars work during the Marvel days because she was so new to the industry, but Stradley reveals that he tried submitting a number of other stories… without much success. “Then-editor Ann Nocenti asked me to write more Star Wars stories, but she wanted all of the stories to include Hoojibs — those little, telepathic bunny-rabbit aliens,” Stradley says. “I tried coming up with stories to include hoojibs, but since about all they could do was ride around on Luke’s shoulder, I could never satisfy myself that they needed to be in the stories. Consequently, I’m sure most of my submissions that included them sucked.”

“Alderaan Factor,” however, has always been a favorite among fans. The hard-hitting story deals with a stormtrooper who struggles to reconcile his Alderaanian background with his service to the Empire.

“I wanted to give the stormtroopers a face,” Stradley says. “It seemed so strange that we never saw any of them without their helmets in the films. It’s easy to hate and kill a faceless enemy. It’s harder when you see how human they are.”

Besides these stories, Stradley says that he also submitted a Han and Chewie story that was rejected because it was deemed “too dramatic,” as well as a story involving the remnant of the Emperor’s Royal Guard. “I was told that Luacsfilm had, at that time, put [the Royal Guards] off-limits. Luckily, twelve or so years later, I got to use them in Crimson Empire.”

Crimson Empire is only one of several Star Wars comics that Stradley has penned for Dark Horse, including its sequel Crimson Empire II: Council of Blood and the Jedi Council mini-series, Acts of War.

Stradley said that while the Star Wars films concentrate on epic themes, he likes to scale the action down a bit. “I always like the smaller, more personal stories best. Because the movies contain so much big action and so many galactic threats, a lot of writers want to replicate that in the comics and fiction. Unfortunately, because the stories are almost all considered ‘canon,’ it means that the Star Wars galaxy is subjected to a constant stream of dire threats. To me, it strains credibility.

“I’d much rather see a smaller story, the events of which are important to just one or two characters. I say, leave the big stuff to the films. I guess my favorite would have to be the good parts of ‘The Alderaan Factor,’ and the Kir Kanos solo story, [Bounty Hunters #3] ‘How the Mighty are Fallen.'”

While Stradley’s Star Wars work has tended to favor masked characters — stormtroopers, Royal Guards, and bounty hunters — Duursema seems to have a thing for Sith Lords, illustrating Darth Maul for that title series and both Anakin and Count Dooku for the Clones adaptation. But Duursema’s first dark side villain was the character Flint for “The Dream.”

“Flint’s character was sort of an analogy for Luke… sort of a, ‘What if Luke had gone to the dark side?’ kind of story,” Duursema says. “Flint was a cool character to design. [Writer] Jo Duffy and I both liked the samurai influences on Vader’s costume, and wanted to hint at that, but we both really wanted to pull in something stylistically unique to Flint. So I researched Far Eastern armor, as well as medieval armor, and tried to come up with a blend for Flint’s costume. Lucasfilm was really open to interpretation of design for this character.”

Currently, Stradley is working on a story for Star Wars Tales. Don’t look for his name in the credits, though — the story will be written under a pseudonym. As for Duursema, she is currently working on a story arc titled “Rite of Passage” for Dark Horse’s monthly Star Wars series, which highlights Aayla Secura — an expanded universe character that makes an appearance in the film version of Clones.

Bob Layton

Bob Layton is a giant in the comic book industry. Besides working on a number of comics titles, including Iron Man with his friend and fellow Star Wars scribe David Michelinie, Layton is the founder of two comic books companies, Valiant Comics and the Future Comics, the latter along with Michelinie.
While Layton only worked on one Star Wars comic for Marvel, it was a biggie. Layton co-scripted and illustrated #78 “Hoth Stuff!” the first time the expanded universe every shined the spotlight on the beloved working man of the classic trilogy, Wedge Antilles.

Layton says that several factors contributed to his decision to create a story around Wedge. “Mr. Lucas felt that Wedge was important enough to include him in every feature film. So [I thought], why not? I got the impression that Wedge represented the ‘everyman’ in the Star Wars epic. Also, we didn’t have to worry about continuity or stepping on anyone’s toes at Lucasfilm with a Wedge story. It just made sense at the time.”

In “Hoth Stuff!” Wedge, is stranded on the frozen planet with his gunner Janson after the events of The Empire Strikes Back, and the soldiers have to survive the elements, the native fauna, and scrupulous scavengers until help can arrive.

“[Wedge] seems to be a survivor of horrendous events, the guy that was there to see the ‘Big Battle,’ but not of consequence to the major players in the struggle,” Layton says. “Since he was always near the action, it seemed appropriate to focus on him in our story.”

Layton says that he and Michelinie did pitch some ideas for new Star Wars comics, but nothing ever came of them. “They were very good springboards that dealt with aspects of the Jedi that haven’t been explored to this day.”

guest-written by Abel G. Peña

This Article was Originally posted 2022-09-10 02:44:33.