365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 355: You can type this stuff, George...

Panels from Star Wars: Infinities: A New Hope #2 (June 2001), script by Chris Warner, pencils by Drew Johnson, inks by Ray Snyder, colors by Dave McCaig, letters by Steve Dutro

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 351: Choosy Jedi Choose Skippy

Whoa, it was waaaaay back in March, wasn't it, that I promised to tell you the story of Skippy the Jedi Droid? I'd better get this one in before the year closes and I shift to 365 Days with Trading Card Squirrel Girl.

Who is this Skippy, you may ask, and how did he get shoved into my late lamented Expanded Universe? Well, to a certain extent, you've already met Skippy, way back in 1977 when droids were droids and the actors who played the Jawas weren't Ewoks yet. Please cast your time-travel-seeing eye to this scene in Star Wars, where the surely-series-derailing choice of Uncle Owen to pick a red R-5 unit rather than our blue pal R2-D2 was such a close call that even Darth Vader issued a sigh of relief:


Panels from Star Wars (1977 Marvel series) #1 (July 1977), script by Roy Thomas, pencils and inks by Howard Chaykin, colors by Marie Severin, letters by Jim Novak
Wait, just what was Luke going into Tosche Station to do before Uncle Owen so rudely interrupted him? We in Star Wars fandom will never know.

Just as every creature in the Cantini scene later had their completely backstory detailed in the Expanded Universe, so too was this ill-fated little R-5 droid's tale revealed by Peter David, first in his "But I Digress..." column in Comics Buyer's Guide and later self-adapted in the very first issue of it-aint-always-canon Star Wars Tales.


Panel from "Skippy the Jedi Droid" in Star Wars Tales #1 (September 1999), script by Peter David, pencils by Martin Egeland, inks by Howard Shum, colors by Harold MacKinnon, letters by Vickie Williams
Skippy was quite possibly the only purely mechanical being in the Star Wars Expanded Universe who could use the Force, which is a dandy concept in so many ways, chiefly that it completely invalidates the idea of biological midichlorians.


Three cheers for Skippy! No midichlorians!


OH FOR PETE'S SAKE STAR WARS

Anyway, Skippy escapes and lets himself be taken in by Jawas so that he can live that soft, plush, Sandcrawler-pimp life...


It's around this time in any self-respecting Expanded Universe story that the protagonist crosses paths with one or two G-Canon Characters, because, as we all know, you are only defined as a supporting character in someone else's saga. For example: I myself know that I'm an important but peripheral supporting character in the canon life story of Jane Wiedlin.


Now, another retelling of the Star Wars saga, which can take place in only one panel because it's only twenty minutes into the movie. Also, it's a good place to dump all the wry and sardonic Peter David "jokes" into a caption box where we can just ignore them for a cinnamon roll visual.


The rest of the story? Well, you know it by heart. Skippy, the red R-5 unit initially chosen by Uncle Owen "You're Going to a State School and You'll Like It" Lars, realizes that it's not himself but true blue R2-D2, possessor of the Death Star blueprint data and all of Darth Vader's embarrassing LiveJournal poetry, must be the droid to accompany Luke Skywalker and finish out the rest of the trilogy and the one before that and maybe there's be a seventh one someday. So Skippy selflessly, bravely, canonically does a Dr. Kevorkian on himself so that Artoo gets to stay with Threepio. Because, as you know, always two there must be.


CUE THE SWELLING TONES OF SAD BUT TRIUMPHANT JOHN WILLIAMS JEDI THEME MUSIC



Later, in his controversial biography There Are You, Force? Yoda, It Is, Jedi Master Yoda contested the truth of this whole story when he wrote "Never a droid Padawan had we. Confused and poorly programmed, must he be, remembering not things as were they, but kind some of universe expanded, was it." Then again, Yoda did spend four chapters of his autobio frantically trying to refute the rumors of his passionate affair with Yaddle, so take that however you want to.

8,100.

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 274: What If? George Lucas Came Up with This Scene One Movie Earlier?

Panels from Star Wars: Infinities: A New Hope #2 (June 2001), script by Chris Warner, pencils by Drew Johnson, inks by Ray Snyder, colors by Dave McCaig, letters by Steve Dutro

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 241: Well, that explains that

Panels from Star Wars: Tag & Bink Are Dead #2 (November 2001), script by Kevin Rubio, pencils by Lucas Marangon, inks by Howard Shum, colors by Michelle Madsen, letters by Steve Dutro

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 201: And another thing, we're all gonna be lot thinner

Panel from "Star-Warz" in Cracked #146 (November 1977), art by art by John Severin

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 202: I've Got a Good Feeling About This Week

Everybody in the Star Wars Universe (extinct Expanded edition) had a bad feeling about this last week, so let's kick off a brand new twist this week with everyone feeling good! Start us off with the new optimistic outlook all the Imperial Stormtroopers are talkin' about, Han Solo!


Panel from Star Wars: Infinities: A New Hope #4 (October 2001), script by Chris Warner, pencils by Al Rio, inks by Al Rio and Neil Nelson, colors by Helen Bach, letters by Steve Dutro
So, that's all good, right? Surely there's nothing that can change Han Solo's mind in the very next panel?


Oh well. Seems like the only person who has that can-do attitude in the Star Wars Universe is Grand Moff James Brown!

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 194: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This Week, Day 1: Let's All Go to the Movies

Hey, I'm hooked on a feeling!


No, no, wrong feeling...also, wrong space-fantasy franchise. Nope, I'm talkin' 'bout the reccuring in-joke of the Star Wars Universe — the line "I've got a bad feeling about this," spoken by everyone from Han Solo to…well, Han Solo's pals. It pops up in every single G-canon Star Wars movie, altho' I'm not certain if it's in The Star Wars Holiday Special or The Ewok Adventure. Because that would require me to watch those. And, just as the Star wars comic book adapt the swashbuckling lightsaber action and all-out blaster adventure, they too adapt that famous line into the comic book universe, right from the very beginning with the first Marvel adaptation.



Panels from (top) Star Wars (1977 Marvel series) #4 (top) and #5 (bottom) (October-November 1977), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Howard Chaykin, inks by Steve Leialoha, colors by Carl Gafford (#4) and Glynis Wein (#5), letters by Tom Orzechowski

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 190: "Open the blast doors!"

Panels from Star Wars: Tag & Bink Are Dead #1 (October 2001), script by Kevin Rubio, pencils by Lucas Marangon, inks by Howard Shum, colors by Michelle Madsen, letters by Steve Dutro

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 137: So you thought you hated the Ewoks

Panels from Droids (Marvel 1986 series) #6 (February 1987), script by Dave Manak, pencils by Ernie Colon, inks and colors by Marie Severin, letters by Ed King

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 126: That wizard is just a MAD old man

panel from "Star Roars" in MAD #196 (January 1978), script by Larry Siegel and Dick DeBartolo, pencils and inks by Harry North

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 88: Threepio continues to spread despair and destruction across the universe

Panels from Star Wars: Tag & Bink Are Dead #1 (October 2001), script by Kevin Rubio, pencils by Lucas Marangon, inks by Howard Shum, colors by Michelle Madsen, letters by Steve Dutro

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 85: Robot Roll Call!

Panels from "Skippy the Jedi Droid" in Star Wars Tales #1 (September 1999), script by Peter David, pencils by Martin Egeland, inks by Howard Shum, colors by Harold MacKinnon, letters by Vickie Williams

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 67: The long-lost Jack Chick Star Wars comic

Panels from Contemporary Motivators: Star Wars (Pendulum Press, 1978), script by by Linda A. Cadrain, pencils and inks by Charles Nicholas
Page from an "easy-to-read" adaptation of Episode IV. Notable for its early appearance in the Star Wars Universe of Joel Robinson, Tom Servo, and Crow T. Robot:

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 47: Star Wars Bromance Week

Panels from Star Wars (1977 series) #17 (November 1978), plot by Chris Claremont, script by Archie Goodwin, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Al Milgrom, colors by Marie Severin, letters by Rick Parker




Panels from Star Wars (1977 series) #1 (July 1977), script by Roy Thomas, pencils and inks by Howard Chaykin, colors by Marie Severin, letters by Jim Novak




Panels from Star Wars (1977 series) #5 (November 1977), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Howard Chaykin, inks by Steve Leialoha, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Tom Orzechowski



Panels from Star Wars (1977 series) #6 (December 1977); script by Roy Thomas; layouts by Howard Chaykin; finishes by Rick Hober; inks by Bill Wray, Rick Hoberg, and Dave Stevens; colors by Paty Cockrum, letters by Carol Lay and Mike Royer


Biggs Darklighter
21 BBY - 0 BBY

Oh heck, I can't do this all week. Tomorrow: something normal.

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 35: Just like the old fortune teller woman said!

from Star Wars (1977 series) #4 (Marvel, October 1977), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Howard Chaykin, inks by Steve Leialoha, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by Tom Orzechowski

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 9: Leia gets a leg up on the competition

House ad for Marvel Special Edition Featuring Star Wars #2 (September 1977), printed in Marvel Special Edition Featuring Star Wars #1 (August 1977), pencils and inks by Tony DeZuniga, based on the poster art of Tim Jung and the Brothers Hildebrandt

Original Star Wars poster art by (L) Tim Jung and (R) The Brothers Hildebrandt
(Click picture to zoom in on Leia's cleavage-size)

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 1: He Got that Hat at The Gap

Well, hey, how about last year's 365 Days of KirbyTech feature that I never quite finished, huh? (shuffles hoof nervously, clears throat)

Hey (he said, frantically gesturing in the other direction), look over here...something new for 2015! This year, all year, every day, it's 365 Days of Star Wars Comics! Starting with January 1 and running right up to and through the at-your-local-cinema release of Star Wars Episode VII: There Better be Wookiees In This One.

Let's kick things off with a scene cut and never seen in the original movie, from the very first Star Wars comic book! Then we only got approximately seventy-three thousand left to go through.


Panels from Star Wars #1 (Marvel, July 1977), script by Roy Thomas, pencils and inks by Howard Chaykin, colors by Marie Severin, letters by Jim Novak
So check in daily, and May the Thingee Be With You!