The Star Wars #1 cover - art by Nick Runge

The Star Wars is a new Star Wars comic book miniseries from Dark Horse Comics.  Written by J.W. Rinzler and drawn by Mike Mayhew, The Star Wars is a comic book adaptation of, The Star Wars, a first rough-draft screenplay written by George Lucas in 1974.  Lucas would eventually turn that first script into the legendary, Oscar-winning film, Star Wars.

Dark Horse Comics provided the Comic Book Bin with a PDF copy of the first issue of The Star Wars, with the request that reviews not contain spoilers.

The Star Wars #1 opens after the recent “Great Rebellion,” in which the Empire has given way to the “New Galactic Empire.”  On the fourth moon of Utapau live Kane Starkiller and his two sons, Annikin and Deak.  Events force great change, which present to Annikin Starkiller the chance to follow in his father’s footsteps.  Meanwhile, the Emperor sets his sights on the Aquilaean System, the last of the independent systems.

THE LOWDOWN:  Of all the Star Wars comic books that I’ve ever read, The Star Wars is the one that I think will have the least appeal to readers who are either not interested in Star Wars or are only casually interested.  Still, it is good to get this visual and graphical interpretation of early Star Wars, which makes The Star Wars the comic book equivalent of a curio-piece.

If anything The Star Wars makes it obvious how much influence Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Barsoom” book series had on George Lucas.  In fact, Mike Mayhew’s art, with Rain Beredo’s colors, recall the magazine illustration and pulp art from the first half of the twentieth-century that Lucas says influenced his storytelling.  As of now, Mayhew and Beredo are good reasons to keep reading.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Fans of Star Wars will definitely want to try The Star Wars.