The Early Adventures (Classic Star Wars, Volume Four) [Paperback]

Alfredo Alcala (Author)

Book Description

Series: Classic Star Wars

Even with fewer than twenty minutes of "screen time" to his credit, the most popular character from the Star Wars trilogy is Boba Fett. Dark Horse offers a number of comics featuring the merciless bounty hunter, but it all starts here, in this trade paperback collecting Russ Manning's Star Wars newspaper strips. It was in these strips, which originally ran in 1979 and 1980, that Boba Fett made his very first appearance in print, making this a true must-have item for anyone looking to become a Jedi Master! Cover by Star Wars legend Al Williamson.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse (May 27, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156971178X
• ISBN-13: 978-1569711781
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,312,701 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Still one of my "expanded universe" items, October 31, 2001

By 

Steve Miller - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Early Adventures (Classic Star Wars, Volume Four) (Paperback)

One of my fondest memories of Star Wars--fonder even than watching the first movie--is coming upon Russ Manning's "Star Wars" during its run in newspapers. While I can't really quibble with the other reviewers opinions, I think he's being a bit harsh; the style in this volume is classic newspaper story telling, although somewhat redited for the Dark Horse volumes as were all the reprints of the newspaper strips.

Yes, I can't argue that the Al Williamson/Archie Goodwin run on the strip was more in line with the overall thrust of the LFL expansion of their Star Wars property. However, there is a charm and an excitement in the Manning strips that is not present in the slicker, longer storylines that followed.

The tale of Leia and Luke struggling to convince a planet that specialized in the manufacture of starfighter weapons components and the ultimate space battle against Darth Vader and a Star Destroyer, not to mention the mysterious Blackhole who had been charged by Vader to hunt down the Rebels, were among the elements that made up my first long-form writing efforts, fan fiction. I can trace a line directly back to those efforts and that strip and my current career as a writer. Boba Fett's appearance in the final section of the book--created by Alfredo Alcala and another artist after Manning left the strip for health reasons--also sparked my imagination and inspired a love for the character that exists to this day. Boba Fett's appearance here remains my favorite in the Expanded Universe.

I recommend others take a look at these classics. Who knows? Maybe you'll be inspired as I was.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Early SW Comic strip collected., July 23, 2003

By 

JediMack (VALRICO, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Early Adventures (Classic Star Wars, Volume Four) (Paperback)

I am reviewing CLASSIC STAR WARS - THE EARLY ADVENTURES VOLUME 4 ISBN 156971178X which collects issues 1 - 9 of the dark horse comic, published May, 1997 printed in Canada. It is also known as Classic SW Volume 4 - The Early Adventures. This is a Hugh comic book collection running 200 pages.

This is a masterful reproduction of newspaper comic strips that ran in the late 1970's. The strips were made into 9 comics and then into this TPB. The art style is therefore that of a newspaper comic strip rating 2 stars. But dark horse has done great job of inking on high quality paper. My copy has no washed out pages typical of newspaper strips and the binding is excellent.

Star Wars blasted into our consciousness before we knew there would be a trilogy. These comic strips were all we had to fill the thirst for more more more. Of course I did not know about the Brian Daley novels that had been written in 1979 and 1980.
While it is true that the Williamson-Goodwin TPB is a better version, this is a fun reprise from the past. I'm the kind of guy who bought the old flash Gordon serial because I wanted to see it all run together as if it were a movie. Reading a comic strip all put together is fun also.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the cost of admission, December 6, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Early Adventures (Classic Star Wars, Volume Four) (Paperback)

If you don't like the Marvel run or don't know what I'm talking about, stop right here, this book is not for you. This collection is from the newspaper runs of the Star Wars comics. You are only going to get a small piece of a story in every episode. I attribute other readers'opinions that the stories bounce around to the "newspaper style". I would like to say that in my opinion, the pieces are nicely tied together in book form. If you like to see new characters, almost in a "Marvel" style, I believe that you will like this book. Don't expect deeply developed characters with vast histories to be depicted. I am in my late 20's, only had a few of the Star Wars comics from Marvel and saw even fewer of the newspaper toons. Between ANH and ESB there was a need for more Star Wars information. That void was filled with the Marvel comics and newspaper runs. I find this series interesting, in that the direction of the Star Wars series had not yet been decided, but the demand was there for more stories. The newspaper strip represents a humourous, but important, part of the complete picture.