'STAR WARS' MEMORIES: A BRITISH TOY LEGEND BEGINS...

Star Wars Weekly advert for the newly arrived figures of 1978.

With all the incredible advances in today's toys creation, the Original Trilogy run of action figures from the UK's Palitoy, from 1978 onwards, may seem pretty basic to modern fans eyes, but they'd ultimately give fuel to so much incredible and imaginative playtime for so many children, which in turn would deservedly inspire generations of affectionate tribute and nostalgia by the time they reached their adult years...

AN 'EMPIRE' AT 40: A DARK LORD OBSESSED...

He'd been the second villain, very much the strong arm to the evil Governor Tarkin, for most of the original Star Wars, but not so with the return of the Sith Lord Darth Vader in the then eagerly-awaited The Empire Strikes Back, and an epic tale that would feature the world's favourite super-villain in a more darkly complex, darkly thoughtful and monstrously dangerous way than we'd seen before. Vader was not previously happy with the destruction of the Death Star, nor thrilled by having his prototype TIE fighter damaged and spinning out into deep space by a surprise appearance from the Millennum Falcon. Both the hunt for Luke Skywalker, destroyer of the Death Star, of whom the Force is very strong within him, and the capture of his unique friends, being the obsessive focal point to Vader's psyche within the important first sequel's plotting...

Terrific 1980 art by Al Williamson and Carlos Garzon of Vader, later to adorn a memorable full colour cover to the UK's Star Wars Weekly comic, from Marvel.

'STAR WARS' AT 40: 'THE DEATH-STATION OF DARTH VADER!'

It's a wonderful fusion of Classic MARVEL'S larger than life visual excitement of the seventies mixed with the ambitious, beyond its time cinematic storytelling of the original STAR WARS, as the cover of the UK's STAR WARS WEEKLY issue II (from 1978) shows us a defiant Darth Vader, lightsaber raised to the enemy forces, realizing what a threat these seemingly puny and small fighters actually are to the Death Star, that there is some ultimate purpose to the enemies attack on the surface, and soon issuing orders that the TIE fighter crews are dispatched for engagement.

I think it's unlikely that series art starter Howard Chaykin did the cover for the weekly- it doesn't look his style, and his work Stateside for MARVEL on the comic was likely nearing its end. If anyone knows the artist please get in touch.Tony Dezuniga, perhaps?

http://episodenothing.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/looking-back-at-star-wars-weekly-issue.html

TIE fighter pilots scramble:
https://starwarsaficionado.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/classic-image-death-star-battle.html

'STAR WARS' AT 40: 'THE TENTACLES OF DOOM!'

The walls of the cramped trash compactor will soon be life threateningly closing in on them, but first our heroes have to help Luke Skywalker survive his confrontation with the sneaky underwater beast offscreen named the Dianoga, as seen in the great cover artwork by comics legend Gil Kane for the British STAR WARS WEEKLY comic of March, 1978.

'STAR WARS' AT 40: WHEN SANDPEOPLE ATTACK!

Artoo has finally been found and his Tatooine walkabout temporarily ceased, but Luke Skywalker's curiosity about some nearby nomadic Sandpeople gets the worst of him, as the creatures make a vicious surprise attack on both Luke and a shocked Threepio- a scene well depicted on the cover of the second issue of the UK's STAR WARS WEEKLY comic, from February 1978.

Episode Nothing: Star Wars in the 1970s: Looking back at Star Wars Weekly – issue 2

AFICIONADO ARCHIVES REVISITED: 'WORLD OF FIRE'

Luke and Leia have their hands full fighting an Imperial garrison, in an action-packed cover for the UK's STAR WARS WEEKLY comic. Image via the REBELSCUM site.

My local newsagents never had the original US full-colour STAR WARS MARVEL COMIC monthlys (I would eventually acquire most of them through the likes of book stores like FORBIDDEN PLANET and DARK THEY WERE AND GOLDEN EYED later in my childhood), though my dad religiously got me the STAR WARS WEEKLY COMIC published by UK's MARVEL office. Despite it B/W printing, one of the nice things about the title was that it often printed original material and stories that wouldn't appear States-side until a few years later, and not necessarily in the main title, but special SW publications or in other magazines, like PIZZAZ. One such notable strip in the UK edition was towards the end of the original comics run-before it became THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK WEEKLY in May 1980: World of Fire, a terrific Luke/Leia adventure written by X-MEN legend Chris Claremont, with art by Carmine Infantino and inks by Gene Day. It would become one of my all-time favourite SW adventures. Back when the first issue of AFICIONADO came out in 2003, it was also to be the premiere Archive feature.

A few years ago, I revised the original archive with additional material and scans, but never got round to putting it online. In this Tenth Anniversary of AFICIONADO, readers can now check it out here: STAR WARS ARCHIVE WORLD OF FIRE