The first chapter of a 2013-14 miniseries from Dark Horse Comics. It's based on a complete first rough draft from George Lucas that he completed in 1974. A few years before the release of this 8 issue series (9, if you count the #0 issue that acts as a primer for this completely different take on the Star Wars universe with character breakdowns and sketches), Lucasfilm had published the script on their website. With Lucas in talks with Disney to sell the franchise, Jonathan W. (J.W.) Rinzler, the executive editor of LucasBooks, obtained blessing from the creator himself to publish a visual representation of the original vision of Star Wars before it was too late.
Rinzler, a noted writer and historian of several Star Wars novels and non-fiction works about the filming of the movies, adapted the rough draft. While Rinzler was extremely faithful to the script, artist Mike Mayhew sprinkled the pages with hidden treasures in the background like the Easter Bunny with an unlimited amount of eggs. Mayhew referred to the original character designs of artist Ralph McQuarrie. But he also made sure to make this new vision of Star Wars seem a little bit familiar to established fans.
The Star Wars opens with that familiar title crawl, explaining the story before. The old Empire has fallen. The Sith have established a new Empire by exterminating almost all of the Jedi-Bendu after a massive rebellion. One of the last surviving Jedi, General Luke Skywalker, leads the military forces of the planet Aquilae. The Emperor, seeking the planet's cloning technology, has demanded Aquilae's full surrender or face total war. Kane Starkiller and his son Annikin, have arrived to warn General Skywalker, of a sneak attack. Starkiller also makes a dying wish that Annikin becomes Skywalker's Padawan apprentice in the ways of the Jedi.
As Kane Starkiller departs to arrange transport for the royal family to flee Aquilae, planetary defense radar sensors go wild. Something massive has entered the solar system. It's the size of a small moon. It moves with the speed of a comet. Also, it's man-made. The Emperor's Space Fortress has arrived!
There's a lot of drastic differences that look like they came from a galaxy far, far away. It's just not the galaxy you are used to. The Star Wars comic reads like an alternate dimension, similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe's multiverse. General Luke Skywalker is more like a mixture of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Han Solo. The Han Solo here isn't even human. He's more like the Swamp Thing if the DC legend had only 3 fingers and toes on each appendage. The legendary star destroyers look the same. Only they're now shrunk to house only a 2-man crew and boast TIE fighter level maneuverability. As for the Death Star, referred to as the less intimidating Space Fortress, it's firepower is nowhere near on par to being able to destroy a planet with a single laser blast.
While much of the first rough draft of Star Wars wouldn't make it to the silver screen in 1977, Lucasfilm has been like a Native American tribe taking down a buffalo: nothing went to waste. The original design of the Wookiee, of which Chewbacca is a proud member of, would eventually become Zeb Orrelios, from Star Wars: Rebels. The royal family escape plot would evolve into the basis of the opening act of Episode I: The Phantom Menace, with Jedi knights rescuing Queen Amadala of Naboo from invaders. Speaking of the prequel film, this issue is rather dull as diplomacy dominates a majority of the plot. The slow churn of the wheels of democracy is one of the biggest complaints of fans about Phantom Menace. Hopefully, the action will pick up in issue #2.
The swan song of Dark Horse's tenure as the comic book publisher for the Star Wars franchise. This is an essential read for the most fervent of fans who thrive on the technical manuals and creature compendiums that reveal the inner workings of the Galactic Senate, its Sith-led Imperial predecessor and the order of the Jedi Knights. It's unlike anything one has ever seen aside from those early McQuarrie drawings and paintings and with the Star Wars universe in the hands of Disney, it's a corner of the galaxy that looks to never be rediscovered anytime soon.
Completing this review completes Task #39 (A Star Wars Comic) of the 2026 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.
Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.
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