The Star Wars
By Jonathan W Rinzler and illustrated by Mike Mayhew
So as I'm sure most of you were aware, A New Hope didn't just leap out of George Lucas' head fully formed but was the result of a writing process that took several years. The first hack at it was in 1973, a two page outline called Journal of the Whills. Lucas shared with his agent and his agent told him bluntly that he couldn't make heads or tails of the document. Lucas accepted the criticism and trudged back to the writing desk and came up with a ten-page document Star Wars: Story Synopsis. This was shopped around, rejected by United Artists, passed over by Universal but accepted by 20th Century Fox. However the suits at Fox weren't just going to shove money at Lucas, they wisely wanted a full script first.
In May 1974, Mr. Lucas completed The Star Wars: A Rough Draft. Which gave us characters, a plot, and the first outline of the Star Wars galaxy. Not happy with it, Mr. Lucas went back and rewrote it. At least 2 more times before producing A New Hope in 1977. The Star Wars however was not thrown away but was allowed to molder on the shelves of the Lucas archives. Fast forward to the 21st century, Mr. Rinzler was hired to write books that would look at the behind-the-scenes processes and events of making Star Wars, both the main trilogy and the prequels. This gave him access to the archives and during his work, he discovered the rough draft. He approached Mr. Lucas and was at first rejected; to be fair I wouldn't want to share my rough drafts with the public either (None of us would…). However, with the help of Dark Horse Comics producing a few pages of artwork and storyboards he got the go-ahead from Mr. Lucas a few years later.
Dark Horse published the eight-issue run of The Star Wars from September 2013 to May 2014. The comic tells the story of Annikin Starkiller and Luke Skywalker and their efforts to protect the planet of Aquilae from the forces of the New Galactic Empire. Now in this version, the characters are very different. In fact, Luke is a Jedi Bendu General in his 60s and Annikin is a young man just entering his prime. Furthermore, Luke and Annikin are not related, Annikin is the son of another character named Kane Starkiller. In this version of the story, Kane asks Luke to train Annikin to become a Jedi Bendu, being unable to do so because he has become more machine than man (But not twisted and evil? {Not so much} Huh).
The plot follows Luke and Annikin with their allies such as the alien Han Solo and the secret agent Clieg Whitsun as they attempt to keep Princess Leia and her younger brothers from being captured by Imperial Shocktroopers. This is complicated given that the Empire has brought a gigantic Space Fortress into the Aquilae system causing a collapse of organized resistance. The Empire may be on the verge of victory with the death of Leia's father and the capture of her mother but much like how I pointed out in my Arslan review, as long as one member of the royal family stays free there is a center for resistance to form around. So Luke's plan is to basically keep the royal children from being captured while he assembles a rebel alliance to try and destroy the space fortress and throw the Empire back.
To do this, he not only has to gather old allies but recruit new ones, such as the Wookies of Yavin Four led by their Prince Chewbacca (Which, it turns out, actual prince. Though what the hell is it with all this Space Monarchism? {George Lucas was copying Japanese Samurai movies and Flash Gordon, you do that you’ll have space monarchies. You should write me some socialist Space Opera} I have been nursing that idea…). Meanwhile, Annikin has to deal with his romantic feelings toward Leia and try to complete his training (Well at least she isn’t his sister this time around…{Except they never reveal who Annikin’s Mother was…Dun Dun Dun!}). They are in turn hunted by the forces of General Darth Vader, a hulking scarred man, and the Sith Knight Valorum. Darth Vader doesn't get a lot of screen time in this version with Valorum serving as the more central antagonist. The Jedi and Sith are both portrayed as rival warrior orders without much explanation as to why they're opposed to each other and we don't see much in the way of Force powers here. The Jedi and the Sith just appear to be really well-trained fighters and swordsmen. Although I'll note that even regular Shocktroopers carry laser swords in this version so people and creatures are getting chopped into bits all over the place.
This is very much a rough draft and it shows. The cast is simply too large for the size of the story and the plot is also too packed with events and factions. Honestly, I feel Mr. Rinzler, in his desire to stick as close to the script as possible, did himself a disservice because that led to a poorer story. Especially since he only had eight issues to get this all wrapped up in. Which forces him to move at light speed. For example, the Wookies are supposed to be brutal fighters who attack everyone, until they meet Annikin and now they're best friends with the Jedi. We're also never really clear on why the Empire has decided to crush this planet, although there is some vague talk of “scientific and genetic” treasures. Also, the Force called the Force of Others in this story is very ill-defined. It seems to function more as a popular religious belief than anything else.
That said if you're a Star Wars fan there's a lot of value to be had here. You can see story elements from the prequels and you can see the seeds of A New Hope and other stories in this comic and that alone makes it an interesting read. If you're not a Star Wars fan, give this one a miss. If you are, go ahead and take a look but temper your expectations. That said I wouldn't mind someone tackling this and seeing if they could create something different from it than what Lucas did but that's just me. If I have to grade this, I have to give it a D+ at best for the fact that we have incomplete characterizations, only half-realized world-building, and a cast that is too big to be really used in a smart fashion. Which I feel isn't fair all things considered. That said I am a Star Wars fan, if not as intense as some and I enjoyed the peek into the process this provided. So your mileage I think will vary by a great deal.
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