Star Wars Art: Comics [Hardcover]

Star Wars: Comics is an art book that collects the original art that have appeared in the comics since 1977.

It's a large hardcover book with 180 pages. Each piece of art is on a page by itself. The artworks are beautiful, big and satisfying to look at. There are pencil works, inked illustration, and full coloured paintings.

Lots of great artists are included, like Dave Dorman (who drew this book's cover), Al Williamson, Howard Chaykin, Adam Hughes, Bill Sienkiewicz, and more.

The selections includes the cover art for the first Star Wars issue that was published by Marvel in 1977, including its special edition. The variety is quite huge, including webcomics pages as well. Besides the pages and covers, there are also new work created just for this book by artists such as Mike Mignola, Paul Pope, Jim Steranko and more.

Reproduction is clear and sharp. Many of the pages and covers are drawn on the Dark Horse comic art boards, complete with bleeding lines, sometimes with blue pencils still visible. Some of the complicated scenes are drawn in higher than usual amount of detail, collected in the book to be admired. I think comic artists can be inspired by the high standard of work. There are a few average pieces, but don't really bring down the quality of the book much.

The book ends with an interview from 1976, with George Lucas, comic book artist Howard Chaykin and Marvel comic book editor Roy Thomas. The Star Wars film was still in production at the time. The interview discusses how they are going to approach creating the comic. They even talk about whether the comic characters should have likeness to the film actors.

Easily recommended to Star Wars fans.

(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

As a longtime fan of both the Star Wars films and the Star Wars comic books, I can honestly say that Star Wars Art: Comics is the book I've been waiting and hoping for (even if I didn't know so until I held it in my hands)--a lavishly designed and beautifully printed collection of the "best of the best" artwork from Marvel, Dark Horse, and Tokyopop comics (including a generous sampling of breathtaking pages by the late, great Al Williamson). The variety within the book was unexpected, with each film in the saga being represented, as well as Expanded Universe tales and the Clone Wars webcomics. And if that weren't enough, Star Wars Art: Comics is peppered throughout with what are apparently all-new works by several well-regarded comics artists. Admittedly, a few of these new commissions are hit-or-miss, but the book's well worth its price of admission for the mind-blowing contributions of JH Williams III, Sam Kieth, Paul Pope (apparently riffing on French adventure comics), Frank Quitely, and Amanda Conner (whose stand-out piece is formally inventive and surprisingly moving). The overall sequencing of the book seems to be loosely rooted in a sort-of "wordless" retelling of the Star Wars saga in chronological order--starting with A New Hope and moving through the Prequel Trilogy and beyond--which is a really nice, subtle touch that helps, say, an Al Williamson original page to be paired on a spread with a new, full-color work by Jeff Smith without it seeming odd or random--this quasi-narrative conceit makes for some really pleasing, nostalgic surprises and juxtapositions. Plus, succinct, informative essays in the front of the book help illuminate how classic comic books and comic strips inspired Star Wars, which then went on to influence, reciprocally, the very sorts of comics that George Lucas drew upon for narrative and visual inspiration. In all, a very unexpected treat for this fan--if you are a diehard fan of either the films or the comics, there's definitely a lot in this book to love.

Thanks in no small part to the comic book medium, fans of the Star Wars films have had the happy opportunity to further explore the many worlds of the Star Wars galaxy for as long as the movies have enchanted audiences over the past three decades. In fact, it was in comic book form that the mythic adventures of Luke Skywalker and his friends first expanded beyond the threatrical screen (In Marvel Comics' Star Wars #7, to be exact; starring Han Solo and Chewbacca in a story called "New Planets, New Perils!" writen by Roy Thomas, and drawn by Howard Chaykin and Frank Springer, published in 1978, for you Star Wars trivia fans! Star Wars in comic book form has come a long way since Mr. Lucas' first dazzled and delighted moviegoers in the summer of 1997. "Star Wars Art: Comics" offers the reader an introduction to the vast contribution talented artists have created as they envisioned the "galaxy far, far away" of filmmaker George Lucas.

This artbook reproduces a wide canvass of great comic art from such gifted creators as the above mentioned Howard Chaykin (who pencilled the first 6 Star Wars comics which adapted "A New Hope" before it was given that subtitle), Tom Palmer, Ron Frenz, Paul Gulacy, P. Craig Russell, Dave Dorman, Ken Kelly, Hugh Fleming, and other artists of stellar creative caliber. For this reviewer and comic fan, special mention must be given to the late great Al Williamson, who drew some of the greatest Star Wars illustrations for comics, beginning with his classic contribution to Marvel Comics' adaptation of "The Empire Strikes Back" movie (Issues #39-44), along with writer Archie Goodwin, and inker Carlos Garzon.

"Star Wars Art: Comics" contains major gifts for comic art enthusiasts in that within its pages are photographic plates of art taken from the original comic pages. Thus the reader can joyfully gaze at the original cover illustration to the premiere Marvel Star Wars comic cover by Howard Chaykin and Tom Palmer; Dave Cockrum and Rick Hoberg's cover to the first Marvel Special Edition, a treasury-sized reprint version of Star Wars comics #1-3 (showcased on the back and front of the book's hard covers); Princess Leia's "First Impressions" of Coruscant, by Kilian Plunket from Dark Horse Comics' "Star Wars Tales" #15; or some of the beautifully rendered pencilled pages drawn by Doug Wheatley for the comic series "Dark Times."

Another artistic treat of this book is its wealth of "Private commissions:" original artwork done by comic masters such as Amanda Conner, Joe Kubert (!), George Perez(!), Paul Pope, Tale Sale, and more, all exclusive to this special collection.

Still, even with the above mentioned treasures this book displays, there are disappointments as well. With a 30 plus year history of artistry to showcase, there are bound to be creators not represented or only briefly featured. This critc regrets that Carmine Infantino's contribution to the original Marvel comic series (a creative run of over 25 issues) was spotlighted with only one page.

Another very gifted Star Wars artist, Jan Duursema, has been a cherished creator to the "Prequel Era" of Dark Horse Star Wars comics. Ms. Duursema, along with her longtime collaborator, John Ostrander, also took the Star Wars Saga into a future beyond the time of Luke Skywalker with the epic "Legacy" comic series. But unfortunately this book only gives the reader one illustration from this great Star Wars artist.

In this reviewer's opinion, "Star Wars Art: Comics" also falters in the decision to exclude the Star Wars Comic Strip from its pages. Distributed by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, this early version of the "Expanded Universe" ran in newspapers across the country from 1979 through 1984 and featured the work of Archie Goodwin, Alfredo Alcala,and Al Williamson. But most importantly, this unique series of Star Wars comic art also showcased the last work of another comic art master, Russ Manning. Mr. Manning wrote and drew the strip with his clean and elegant style in its debut year but was forced to leave the project due to declinning health. The creator of the classic "Magnus Robot Fighter" comic for Gold Key Comics in 1963, Mr. Manning also contributed highly regarded artistry to Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Tarzan of the Apes" in comic strip and comic book form for many years. He died in 1981.

Mr. Manning was my very first favorite comic book artist and creator when I was a child. When I learned that he would be devoting his talent to a comic strip version of my all-time favorite movie, "Star Wars," I couldn't have been happier! But as the years have grown into decades, this great comic artist's work in the Star Wars Saga has nearly been forgotten. While some of Mr. Manning's comic strip work has been reprinted by Dark Horse Comics in 1994-1995 in a 9 issue series called "Star Wars: The Early Adventures," the strips were edited and reformatted to fit the dimensions of a comic book. Mr. Manning's full and complete Star Wars art has never been given a proper exhibition. It would have been an extra special joy for this reviewer to see some of Mr. Manning's work displayed within the pages of this book, along with other of his fellow artists. But it was not to be.

In closing, "Star Wars Art: Comics" opens the pages of Star Wars history to its long interpretation in the comic book world. Because it is a vast and varied history still being revealed, this book's all too few pages offer only glimpses of that history, that myth from "a long time ago." Still, the glimpses are grand! It comes recommended to any who take joy in the art of Star Wars.