Customer Reviews

Doomworld (Star Wars: A Long Time Ago..., Book 1)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was 6 when Star Wars was first unleashed on the public, and I was lucky enough to have a Mom that supported her young son's comic-book reading habit; The biggest problem of any comic reader in those long-forgotten days was spotty newsstand distribution- It was almost impossible to collect EVERY issue of your favorite comic.....for almost 25 years I've been wondering how Luke and company managed to get off of that Water Planet in Star Wars #14....

THANK GOD FOR DARK HORSE! My wondering days are over! Doomworld collects issues 1-20 of Marvel's original Star Wars series in glorious full-color, on beautiful paper with great production values. The book opens with an incredibly faithful adaptation of the movie, then goes off into some surprising territory: Han and Chewie star in an outer-space "Magnificent Seven", where they team with a giant green Rabbit and an old man named "Don-Wan Kihotay" to face off against "Serji-X Arrogantus", a thinly disguised version of Mad Magazine cartoonist Sergio Aragones; Luke and the Droids crash on a Waterworld years before Kevin Costner made that awful movie; Han squares off against a "Gaily" attired pirate and his man-hating female crony; and everyone ends up in the deep-space Las Vegas for the big cliffhanger. The stories are a bit removed from what the films delivered, but I took a bit of umbrage at the back-cover copy which calls the Marvel stories "Kitschy"; Dark Horse has published a few duds themselves ("Union", anyone...?); At least these stories are entertaining!

As a kid, I hated the artists that worked on these stories. As an adult, I can appreciate the draftsmanship and storytelling ability that they brought to the series. Howard Chaykin, Carmine Infantino, Tom Palmer, Terry Austin, Herb Trimpe, Al Milgrom...They're all legends, and with good reason. (The only gaffe, artwise, is the pairing of Chaykin and Frank Springer in chapter seven. Springer's inks are atrocious!) The art looks better than ever, thanks to the vibrant colors and slick paper. And aside from Roy Thomas' propensity for making Han say (OVER and OVER again!) "WELL then there now!", the characters STAY in character. Lucasfilm may have decided that the stories are no longer canonical, but that doesn't mean they're not fun! And the price just can't be beat! Give Doomworld a try if you're looking for something a little bit different. WELL then there now!

In 1977 Star Wars arrived in theaters and quickly fired the imaginations of millions of young people. In a world without cable TV, DVD's, and home computers, Star Wars fans looking to satisfy their hunger, turned to the Marvel Comics adaption. The Star Wars comics of the late 70's and early 80's were much more than "just" comics to my generation.

In the 1970's Marvel put in a great effort to bring many popular science ficton films to the comic book format. Examples include; Planet of the apes, 2001: a space odyssey, and an incredible adaption of Logan's Run (which was abruptly cancelled after Star Wars arrived). All excellent Sci-Fi films to be sure, however, there had not been a film in over a decade that was better suited to become a COMIC BOOK than Star Wars.

Marvels' adaption was destined to become a classic, but issue number one was something of a false start. The first issue featured a somewhat rough or "experimental" style of artwork. They quickly changed direction with issue number two and it was MUCH smoother sailing from that point forward. When it came time to go BEYOND the movie adapton, it was a big step for Marvel, who were not known for quality "non-superhero" content.

Some younger Star Wars fans may judge these stories to be corny, bizarre, poorly written and even poorly illustrated. But, I can tell you that these comics contain the true spirit of the TIME and of what Star Wars meant to my generation. There is a certain magic within the pages of these comics that can never be fully appreciated by anyone who has come to know Star Wars via Six films and nearly 30 years worth of other media and literature. I'm not claiming that younger Star Wars fans will not enjoy this collection, only that it might take an extra effort to understand where this stuff came from.

The comic books represented in this compilation were created during a time of great imagination and wonder, a time filled with "a new hope". This series is a great way for current fans to take a journey back in time, to a Star Wars universe that was still fresh and unexplored. If you're an original fan, you may feel (as I do) that George Lucas has since destroyed much of his own wonderful creation. Perhaps these stories will stand as a reminder of a much more innocent Star Wars universe, that once existed, "a long time ago...".

Product review:

This is a great effort by Dark Horse to pay tribute to the original marvel comic books. The coloring has been revamped and looks bright and quite amazing. It's certainly nice to have all of the original issues contained within seven "easy access" volumes. Well worth the price!

The only cool feature missing from these volumes (that can be found in the original issues), is the "Star Words" page. A page that featured "letters" sent in from fans and readers. Today, it's certainly a real treat to read some of those letters which help to demonstrate what fans were thinking about Star Wars and this adaption... all those years ago. The missing "Star Words" pages certainly do not detract from the enjoyment of the comic book, but would have been a nice addition!

Also, while Dark Horse claims that all of the coloring is 100% faithful to the original artwork, this isn't entirely true. Cover art from each issue is reproduced within each volume. The cover of Issue #14 has been drastically altered. It originally had an AMAZING colored background behind the drawn warriors and was one of the best covers of the Marvel comics run. I'm only guessing that Dark Horse was not able to faithfully reproduce the incredible effect from the original cover and instead simply made it a "white" background. It's still worth tracking down the original comic just for the great cover design for that issue!

JM

This is Star Wars when Star Wars was fun. I was 9 years old when Star Wars came out and, in my lowly opinion, the stories in this anthology still capture the "WOW!", "No way!", and "What the-?" I remember as a kid sitting in the movie theater. If you like your comics in the "darker, edgier" vein, this book may not be for you. But if you can chuck disbelief out the window and hang on for a thrilling ride, give this book a shot. You get the original Star Wars comic adaptation plus some pretty wild departures (made even wilder by today's concern for "canon" - which IS spelled with one "n", by the way). There's an innocence, and a sense of real fun, to this collection that has been absent from the franchise in recent years. I'll take these stories (and the Williamson/Goodwin comic strips) over the entire "Expanded Universe" as it exists today. But I guess I'm weird that way. Hats off to Dark Horse for making these stories widely available again.

That's right, forget all those old original issues of the Marvel Star Wars series that you may have sealed up in plastic bags, locked away in storage boxes, never to see the light of day again. Now these wonderful stories from childhood are FINALLY available again, in a nice, THICK book, printed on sturdy paper, able to stand up to countless readings. In this first volume, you get the first 20 issues of the Marvel series, starting with the movie adaption. According to rumour, these re-issues were originally going to be in black & white, but thank GOD they came to their senses, and gave them back to us in FULL, glorious color. My advice? Put all those original issues up on an internet auction site, then use the money to score this volume AND the rest of the future SIX volumes in this AMAZING set!

This is a review of Star Wars - A Long time Ago... Doomworld, also referred to as volume I, which collects issues 1 through 20 of the Marvel comic series Star Wars. This is ISBN 1569717540 published June, 2002; made in China.

First the binding. Because Dark horse has had trouble with the TPB's bindings that are made in China, and because this is 369 pages, my copy has excellent binding. I actually read it without the comic falling apart in my hands!

With the exception of the binding problems, Dark horse has been producing comics that are visually awesome in terms of the inking and reproduction quality. You can still argue about the artwork and pencil work itself, because they use so many people and try different styles. There are those artists whose style I just don't care for. I say that to remind one that these are reproductions of comics that marvel created A LONG TIME AGO... Dark Horse has actually enhanced the original quality.

The quality of the pencil work varies here by story, but generally it was not bad. You'll have little trouble identifying who is who. Generally the artwork is a D to a C when compared to what DH produces today. However the inking is excellent. I recall no story where the color appeared to be washed out.

As for the stories themselves, I read these with my son, and he likes the ones with lots of action and vibrant drawings. You get both here, because with 20 different stories you do get variety.

This is a 2.5 star rounded up to 3 for the effort that DH put into improving the quality of this comics visual elements.

Volume 1 is the weakest of the "A Long Time Ago" collections, but the quality of the stories shows a trend toward improvement. Marvel's adaption of the original "Star Wars" is passable, with wide variations in the quality of the artwork. The first story arc, concentrating on Han and Chewbacca after the movie, is dreadful.

The series gets better with the Waterworld/Crimson Jack stories, and really hits its stride around issue 16. The stories set on The Wheel (based around the schemes of Leia's old nemesis from the Senate and gung-ho Imperial Commander Strom) are quite entertaining. A fun look back at the comics I remember from my childhood, collected in a nice trade paperback format.

Although the most devoted fans of the "Star Wars" genre take it more seriously than it should be taken, the reality is that it is a fairy tale. To understand that, all that is necessary is to read the opening caption, "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away." This is a more literary equivalent to the classic opening line of the fairy tale, "Once upon a time."
If you treat "Star Wars" as a fairy tale, then features such as scientific impossibility, inconsistencies in the storylines, unusual and annoying characters and poor dialog are easy to ignore. You will then be reading or viewing the material to enjoy it rather than to subject it to a hard critique.
This book is a collection of the entire comic book series published by Marvel Comics (as of 2002). All are in full color and begins with a retelling of the original episode IV and the destruction of the Death Star. Subsequent stories begin immediately after Han, Luke and Chewie receive their medals, Han gets his reward and flies back to pay off Jabba while Luke flies out to look for another base for the rebels before the forces of the Empire arrive at Yavin.
Even though they are separated, Han and Luke fight off the forces of evil, monsters and anything else wishing them ill. Han commands a makeshift group with some odd characters, including a six-foot green rabbit that eats meat, a creature capable of throwing body quills as weapons, a wise-cracking pistol packing, semi-naked former woman in Solo's life and an old man named Don-Wan, although he is more like Don Quixote.
If you can turn off your absurdity detectors, this book is fun to read, there is no serious purpose to the stories, they are just meant to entertain.

A long time ago in a merchandising universe far, far away... In the 70s Marvel Comics had a few hits with licensed comics like 2001: A Space Odyssey so they took a chance on an upcoming science fiction movie with the rather unimaginative name of 'Star Wars'. At the time there were no Star Wars novels (other than the novel of the movie itself), no cartoon, no video games, so for rabid fans Marvel's book was the only way to get their fix.

The books sold millions of copies and became one of the biggest hits of the 70s.

Doomworld reprints the first 20 issues, covering the time from 1977 to 1979. At the time Marvel had a blank slate to fill in. Talented writers like Roy Thomas and Archie Goodwin were teamed with artists like Howard Chaykin and Carmine Infantino to tell the further adventures of the 'Star Warriors'.

The results are mixed. After a 6 issue adaptation of Star Wars we get a retelling of the Seven Samurai (featuring Don Quixote as a Jedi and a 6' tall rabbit), battles with space pirates, sea serpents and gladiatorial battles. The stories are fine for 70s comics but a mundane, they could have been told with any science fiction characters, they're not really related to Star Wars.

Over time the series would get much, much better as Marvel figured out how to use the setting without contradicting upcoming films. I'd recommend picking up volume 3 or 4 of this series to get an idea of what they were really capable of. This book is an interesting bit of nostalgia but not much more.

It seems Doomworld is now out of print, I've seen copies going for over $100. I would not recommend spending more than the original cover price of $30.

EDIT - Dark Horse is planning to re-release this book in their smaller, cheaper Omnibus format. Volume 1 will have the first 26 issues for $25 ($16 on Amazon).

If you'd been an editor at Marvel Comics in the 70's, who would you pick to illustrate a new science fiction series? EC's legendary Al Feldstein and Wally Wood were no longer doing monthly comics; Al Williamson was busy with the "Secret Agent Corrigan" comic strip; Jim Starlin was finishing up his "Warlock" series; Jack Kirby and George Perez were busy on other books and Walt Simonson was a relative newbie, years away from "Alien," "Starslammers" and other works that would make his reputation. So there was only one logical choice: Howard Chaykin ?!?

Chaykin actually is an interesting choice but his style is better suited to something that doesn't have to match somebody else's vision. The fact that, judging from the book and movie release dates, early issues must have been drawn while the movie was in post-production and finalizing the look of some of the special effects doesn't help.

What spoils the first half of this volume for me is the open-ended nature of the series after the movie adaptation concludes seems to have been too much for scripter Roy Thomas. After Chaykin leaves the book, illustration turns into an artistic "musical chairs."

Things improve a great deal when the underrated Archie Goodwin takes over as writer, aided by the artwork of Carmine Infantino, long known for his DC science fiction tales of Adam Strange. Archie introduces the Tagge family, who will be creditable opponents of both Vader AND the Rebellion. There is also a terrific standalone story by Walt Simonson.

Although much of the early stories I would consider for diehard fans only, the quality improves over the course of this volume and sets things up for a terrific run. Rating (for SW fans): 4 stars. (for everyone else): 3 stars.

I had a lot of trouble tracking this book down in the UK and ended purchasing from the states and paying the package as it worked out more cost effective.
Have not read the entire volume yet, but thoroughly enjoyed the opening chapters covering the first star wars film and the subsequent adventures of han and chewie and how they lose the money they received for helping the rebels which is meant to pay jabba the hut......
Great nostalgic 70's marvel art in great glossy paperback form. In no way a deep read but great if you've got an hour and you want to slip away into a different part of the galaxy and watch jedi knights with lightsabers or even giant bunnies with blasters!! ( the book / comic's takes you down very different story arcs to the film).
If you enjoy marvel comics and you enjoyed the star wars films a must, if not you might find it all a bit silly.