Doomworld (Star Wars: A Long Time Ago..., Book 1)

Submitted by Reviewer (not verified) on Saturday, November 12, 2005 - 23:38

Graphic Novels

Roy Thomas: Doomworld

Author	Roy Thomas
Made	Dark Horse
Date	2002-07-17
Media	Comic
Catalog	Book
Sales Rank	561415
List Price	US$29.95

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Reviews:

Rating 4.0/5 from 14 reviews

Ah the memories...

Rating: 5/5 (1 out of 2 think this is helpful) 2008-01-11

I can't tell you how thrilled I was to find these collections. I had most of the originals, but they were all so dog-eared and worn that I either gave most of them away or sold them years ago. That was surely dumb, but finding these more than makes up for it. The stories are fun, often silly and the art isn't perfect. But it's the characters you love from way back when you first fell in love with them. And unlike some of the other reviewers, I find the inconsistencies and incongruencies in the stories and characters (even the terminology) to be a big part of the fun. Everyone was just discovering Star Wars back then, even the guys who made the comic books, so I can forgive the mistakes. Well worth the price. I love 'em.

A long time ago..., A more innocent time for Star Wars and Comic Books.

Rating: 5/5 (10 out of 13 think this is helpful) 2007-01-17

In 1977 Star Wars arrived in theaters and quickly fired the imaginations of millions of young people. In a world without cable TV, DVD's, and home computers, Star Wars fans looking to satisfy their "hunger" turned to the Marvel Comics adaption. The Star Wars comics of the late 70's and early 80's were much more than "just" comics to my generation.

In the 1970's Marvel put in a great effort to bring many popular science ficton films to the comic book format. Marvel had already released "planet of the apes" and "2001: a space odyssey" and were in the process of delivering an outstanding "Logan's Run" adaption when Star Wars arrived. There had not been a film in over a decade that was better suited to become a comic book than Star Wars.

Marvels' "Star Wars" was destined to become a classic, but issue number one was something of a false start. The issue featured a rough and somewhat "experimental" style of artwork. They quickly changed direction with issue number two and it was much smoother sailing from that point forward. But the folks at Marvel didn't have a great track record of producing excellent "non-superhero" content, so the odds were against them when it came to taking the Star Wars series BEYOND the movie adaption.

Some younger Star Wars fans may judge these stories to be corny, bizarre, poorly written and even poorly illustrated efforts. But I can tell you that these comics contain the TRUE spirit of the time and the true spirit of what Star Wars meant to my generation. There is a certain magic within the pages of these comics that can never be fully appreciated by anyone who has come to know Star Wars via Six films and nearly 30 years worth of other media and literature. I'm not claiming that "younger" Star Wars fans will not enjoy this collection, only that it might take an effort to "understand" where this stuff came from.

The comics represented in this compilation were created during a time of great imagination and wonder, a time filled with "a new hope". These comic books are a great way for current fans to take a journey back in time, to a Star Wars universe that was still fresh and unexplored. If you're an original fan, you may feel (as I do) that George Lucas has since destroyed much of his own wonderful creation. Perhaps these stories will stand as a reminder of a much more innocent Star Wars universe that once existed, "a long time ago...".

Product review:

This is a great effort by Dark Horse to pay tribute to the original marvel comic books. The coloring has been revamped and looks bright and quite amazing. It's certainly nice to have all of the original issues contained within seven "easy access" volumes. Well worth the price!

The only cool feature missing from these volumes (that can be found in the original issues), is the "Star Words" page. This page featured "letters" sent in from fans and readers. Today, it's certainly a real treat to read some of those letters which help to demonstrate what fans were thinking about Star Wars and this adaption all those years ago. The missing "Star Words" pages certainly do not detract from the enjoyment of the comic book, but would have been a nice addition!

Also, while Dark Horse claims that all of the coloring is 100% faithful to the original artwork, this isn't entirely true. Cover art from each issue is reproduced within each volume. The cover of Issue #14 has been drastically altered. It originally had an AMAZING colored background behind the drawn warriors and was one of the best covers of the Marvel comics run. I'm only guessing that Dark Horse was not able to faithfully reproduce the incredible effect from the original cover and instead simply made it a "white" background. It's still worth tracking down the original comic just for the great cover design for that issue!

JM

Everything it should be!

Rating: 5/5 2006-04-23

This is the first book in the marvel
star wars series and I enjoyed it.
It shows all of A New Hope and after.
This book also has full vibrant color that makes the pictures stand out.
The only thing I didn't like was that they talked about a old Jedi named Don-Wan Kihotay teaming up with Han solo.
And then in the next issue they just make him disappear and he was a cool character.
I liked in this book how they showed Chewbacca looking like a monkey.
Jabba the Hutt looks weird too.
In one issue Chewbacca is forced to shoot Han and it's really suspenseful.
P.S. Don-Wan has a yellow lightsaber, weird.

All New Adventures, Some Great, Some Not So Great

Rating: 4/5 (2 out of 3 think this is helpful) 2005-12-30

Volume 1 is the weakest of the "A Long Time Ago" collections, but the quality of the stories shows a trend toward improvement. Marvel's adaption of the original "Star Wars" is passable, with wide variations in the quality of the artwork. The first story arc, concentrating on Han and Chewbacca after the movie, is dreadful.

The series gets better with the Waterworld/Crimson Jack stories, and really hits its stride around issue 16. The stories set on The Wheel (based around the schemes of Leia's old nemesis from the Senate and gung-ho Imperial Commander Strom) are quite entertaining. A fun look back at the comics I remember from my childhood, collected in a nice trade paperback format.

Nostalgic and Corny

Rating: 4/5 (4 out of 4 think this is helpful) 2003-12-26

Before the days of Dark Horse there was: THIS STUFF. On the one hand, this is what we once had. On the other hand, some of it was really corny. Sometimes the art was pretty awful. Other times it was the story line. Yet, through it all it was a lot like a grade B movie in comic book form; fun to read though you could never take it too seriously.

Some of the ideas were pure corn. How about a giant carnivorous rabbit (Jaxxon). The Don Wan Kioti character was right out of "The Man of La Mancha." There are other examples, but these suffice to give you a rough idea.

In spite of all the corn, these things are fun to read. The stories take me back to the days of yore when comics really were oriented towards young boys rather than adults, and we ate these things up. Of course, these were what we had, and we had no comparison to the quality graphics in todays comics. Many people in the industry are loath to call them comics.

While the book is a bit pricey, on the other hand you do get 20 comics. The book is pretty thick and the reproductions are good. You have to be a hard-core Star Wars fan or nostalgic for original Star Wars comics to want these, but for either of those groups, enjoy!

Editorials:

Book Description

Dark Horse Comics is proud to present Classic Star Wars: A Long Time Ago... featuring classic Star Wars stories not seen in over twenty years! Originally printed by Marvel Comics, these stories have been recolored and are sure to please Star Wars fans both new and old. Volume 1 contains stories from the original Marvel run like the riveting classics "Eight for Aduba-3," "Star Search," and the smash hit of June 1978 "Doomworld!"

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