Star Wars: Life Day Treasury - Holiday Stories From a Galaxy Far, Far Away by George Mann & Cavan Scott

George Mann and Cavan Scott present Star Wars stories set during the Wookiee holiday known as Life Day. Other than Boba Fett, Life Day has become the most enduring contribution to the Star Wars universe to come from the infamous 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special. This treasury of tales show how different cultures and solar systems celebrate Life Day in regards to the winter solstice. As each populated planet has their winter solstice begin at different times, potentially you could celebrate the holidays every day. Coruscant, Tattioone, Alderaan, even the forest moon of Endor celebrate the beginning of winter and the New hope of warm, fertile days ahead.

I like that this book is set during different periods of time. The story on Coruscant occurs during the days of the Old Republic. My favorite story, 'The Song of Winter's Heart' takes place during the early days of the rebellion, showing how a pair of best friends can grow apart on different sides of the political spectrum, with one becoming a storm trooper and the other a rebel, and yet, the shared cultural heritage of the holidays can make even the worst of enemies brothers once more.

I also like that a majority of these stories star established characters. While my favorite tale had all-new characters, whom I hope to one day encounter again, other stories feature some of the most beloved characters across all 3 trilogies. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Wicket and the rest of his tribe are amongst those who appear. You won't get Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker or Princess Leia. But as you could probably guess, Chewbacca and his family, including son Lumpy, star in the Life Day story set on Kashyyyk that closes out this collection. Yup! Han Solo is there too!

Some characters from before Episode I, who have been established in the pages of either Dark Horse or Marvel comics publications appear here too. One such character is Jedi Knight Stellan Gios, who appears on the cover. I only know that Stellan is an established character thanks to a Google search. I'm wondering if he was meant to be based on actor David Tennant. Because that's who he looks like in profile in the beautifully painted cover image by Grant Griffin. All of the artist's paintings were fantastic and added greatly to the intended theme of each story which range from humorous and heartfelt to suspenseful and scary. 

I wouldn't mind a second volume of Life Day stories. Maybe we could see what Life Day festivities are like on Cloud City or when observed by the Hutts. But I would also like to see some sequels. I really would like to know what happened to the opposing main characters of my favorite tale. Did both survive? Did they reconcile? I really want to know more about their story. If that's not reason to believe that is a great read, I don't know what is! And there are several characters, who are not Han or Chewie, in this book that I wanted to know more about.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars 

Droids and Ewoks (Family Comic Friday)

 With The Last Jedi debuting in theaters this weekend, I thought it would be ideal to cover something Star Wars for this week’s Family Comic Friday. While many Star Wars comics are able to be enjoyed by readers of all ages, there was only two series that I felt that really deserved my attention today. Ladies and Gentlemen, as well as kids of all-ages, I present to you Droids and Ewoks!

Both series were published beginning in 1985 by Marvel Comics. Droids and Ewoks were released as tie-ins to the ABC animated series of the same name under the Star Comics imprint. Both series were published bi-monthly. Unfortunately, neither series, just like their animated predecessors, lasted very long.

Droids- written by Dave Manak. Art by John Romita Sr, Mary Wilshire, & Ernie Colon

This comic starred C-3PO and R2-D2. Billed as a prequel to A New Hope, the Droids drift around the galaxy looking for new masters. Every issue had the duo meeting new owners, getting into some sort of trouble, and then saving the day. Space Pirates, corrupt government officials, and dreadful alien smugglers were the usual assortment of baddies.

Like the cartoon it was based on, Droids did not run as long as Ewoks did. With only eight issues published, Droids is one of the hardest Star Wars comics to find. The first three issues were illustrated by Spider-Man legend John Romita Sr. The final trio of issues featured the adventures of Episode IV as told in Threepio’s point of view. They are the most sought after of the Star Comics releases.

Ewoks- Written by Dave Manak. Art by Warren Kremer

The Ewoks comic book was an odd duck just like the cartoon series it was based on. The cartoon ran for two seasons. The first season was considered to be a lot like the Ewoks live-action TV films as that there was a much more serious tone. Issues 1-4 of Ewoks featured some really fierce looking monsters and baddies that often got in the way of Wicket trying to prove that he’s ready to come of age in the tribe.

By issues 7, the second season of Ewoks had begun to debut on TV. ABC television wanted a more kid friendly look and feel to the show. As in the comic book as well as the cartoon, the monsters started to look less scary, the color palette was less serene, and some of the plots were just plain silly. Another thing that hurt the Ewoks comic was that the show’s main villains, the Duloks, a fierce rival species that looked a lot like the Grinch, were only featured in two issues. They were pretty good foils to the Ewoks but grossly underused in the comics.

The series was written by Archie Comics scribe Dave Manak. You could tell that Archie and the gang were a big influence as Wicket and fellow Ewok, Teebo, would have silly competitions for the affections of Chief Chirpa’s daughter Princess Kneesaa.

All 14 issues were illustrated by Warren Kremer, formally of Harvey Comics. Marvel in it’s attempt to rival Harvey with it’s Star Comics imprint, had lured away several big names from the rival publisher .You can really see Kremer’s style was deeply impacted by drawing Harvey Comics for so many years especially in Ewoks #9. There the children of the Undersea Kingdom look a lot like Casper the Friendly Ghost if he was a mer-creature.

A Galaxy Spanning Crossover

Fans of both Droids and Ewoks never got to see their favorite animated characters crossover on Saturday Morning TV. But in October to November, 1986, those fans got their wish in print form. In Droids #4 and Ewoks #10, C-3PO and R2-D2 made an unexpected visit to Endor.

The droids were hired as nannies for an royal alien tot named the Star Child. One of the Star Child’s relatives wants the kid out of the way and jettisons the lad along with Threepio and Artoo into space and then tries to vaporize them. Instead, the escape pod hits a wormhole and are sent to Endor where they crash land.

Artoo thinks he can get the escape vessel mobile again. But it will take some time. That’s a good thing, because those evil Duloks just kidnapped the Star Child.

A Legacy Remembered

There were a number of reasons that Droids and Ewoks got the boot from TV and comics so quickly. It’s hard to believe but by 1986, Star Wars had started to run its course. With no new theatrical movies being produced, kids were interested in other things like Thundercats and Transformers. The action figure line was virtually non-existent and the toys based on these two properties were exceptionally hard to find. The main Star Wars comic was lagging in sales and Marvel had no interest in renewing the license when it came due in 1987. Ultimately, by the summer of 1988, there were no more Star Wars comics of any kind being released.

For several years, there was nothing new Star Wars until in 1991 when an author by the name of Timothy Zahn wrote a little book called Heir to the Empire. Almost immediately interest in Star Wars sky-rocketed again and Dark Horse quickly snagged up the rights to the Star Wars franchise. They would published hundreds of comics based on the George Lucas for over 20 years until 2014 when Disney bought Lucasfilm and the license when back to Marvel.

Near the tale end of Dark Horse’s run on Star Wars, they began issuing collections of Marvel’s run of Star Wars comics. In 2012, they released the Star Wars Omnibus: Droids and Ewoks. This massive volume has over 500 pages and collects all 22 issues plus a bonus coloring book story set during Return of the Jedi.

Last year Marvel reissued all of the Star Comics titles under its Star Wars Legends line of reprinted comics. That volume retails for $75. However, Amazon still has a couple of dozen of the Dark Horse Omnibuses for only $15. So if you are looking to read the entire run of both series without shelling out some big bucks, this is the way to go.

Fun for Star Wars fans of all-ages. Neither of the series were really canon. But in the mid-80s, both Droids and Ewoks were the cartoon and comic fixes we were looking for.

This article was published concurrently at outrightgeekery.com.