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Cover: Gene Day

Star Wars #68

Name: Star Wars #68
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Feb 1983 · Marvel · 0.60 USD; 0.25 GBP; 0.75 CAD

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“The Search Begins”

About this Issue

Star Wars #68 holds a genuinely landmark place in the franchise's mythology as the first comic — and effectively the first official licensed publication of any kind — to name the Mandalorians, introduce their homeworld of Mandalore, and frame Boba Fett explicitly as a product of that warrior culture. Writer David Michelinie and artist Gene Day took a single passing reference in the novelization of The Empire Strikes Back and spun it into a fully realized civilization complete with a history, a code, and a surviving champion, laying conceptual groundwork that every subsequent Mandalorian story — from Dark Horse's Expanded Universe novels through The Clone Wars animated series and the Disney+ flagship The Mandalorian — has built upon or reacted against. The issue also delivers the first full in-story appearance of bounty hunter Dengar, one of the background figures glimpsed aboard the Executor in Empire, giving him a distinct personality and narrative function for the first time. A cover featuring armored Mandalorian warriors looming over Princess Leia turned out to be a deliberate (if unintentional) misdirect that sparked decades of collector debate about who, exactly, is depicted on it.

writer David Michelinie · artist Gene Day · inker Tom Palmer · colorist Glynis Wein · letterer Joe Rosen · cover Gene Day

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $87

CGC 9.8 · 256 in census $1,753

CGC 9.6 · 705 in census $766

CGC 9.4 · 862 in census $561*

CGC 9.2 · 650 in census $428*

CGC 9.0 · 576 in census $305

CGC 8.5 · 455 in census $281*

Show all 19 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 359 in census $241*

CGC 7.5 · 262 in census $205*

CGC 7.0 · 198 in census $182*

CGC 6.5 · 155 in census $149*

CGC 6.0 · 115 in census $145*

CGC 5.5 · 89 in census $125*

CGC 5.0 · 68 in census $123*

CGC 4.5 · 46 in census $105*

CGC 4.0 · 34 in census $96*

CGC 3.5 · 13 in census $90*

CGC 3.0 · 7 in census $81*

CGC 2.5 none in existence

CGC 2.0 · 1 in census $54*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

This exact issue on ebay

CGC 9.9 $400 1 listing

CGC 9.8 ▾ $43.74–$3,395 2 listings

CGC 9.8 · Variant $43.74 CGC 9.8 · Newsstand $3395

CGC 9.6 ▾ $400–$817 4 listings

CGC 9.6 $399.95 CGC 9.6 · Newsstand $522.26 CGC 9.6 $575 CGC 9.6 · Newsstand $816.89

CGC 9.4 ▾ $220–$900 6 listings

CGC 9.4 $220 CGC 9.4 $300 CGC 9.4 · Newsstand $375 CGC 9.4 $523 CGC 9.4 · Signed $549.99 CGC 9.4 $900

CGC 9.2 ▾ $198–$230 3 listings

CGC 9.2 $198 CGC 9.2 $219 CGC 9.2 $230

CGC 9 ▾ $235–$649 2 listings

CGC 9 · Newsstand $234.99 CGC 9 · Signed $649

CGC 8.5 $300 1 listing CGC 8 $170 1 listing CGC 7.5 $111 1 listing CGC 5.5 $215 1 listing CGC $300 1 listing PGX $140 1 listing

Raw — NM ▾ $119–$250 2 listings

NM $118.71 NM $250

Raw — VF ▾ $125–$200 3 listings

VF · Newsstand $125 VF · Newsstand $144.89 VF $200

Raw — FN/VF $137 1 listing

Raw / ungraded ▾ $110–$300 12 listings

Raw / ungraded $109.95 Newsstand $124.99 Newsstand $124.99 Raw / ungraded $125 Raw / ungraded $135 Raw / ungraded $140.2 Newsstand $149.99 Raw / ungraded $174.99 Direct $190.4 Raw / ungraded $220.99 Newsstand $250 Raw / ungraded $300

Verified matches for Star Wars #68 · eBay asking prices, seen 22 days ago

More listings for this title

VF/NM $139.99 FN+ $165 FN $165 CGC 7.5 $200 VF $220 CGC 8 $230 CGC 9.4 $290 CGC 9 · Newsstand $295

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History

The issue carries a February 1983 cover date but went on sale as early as November 16, 1982, placing it squarely in the gap between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. It was scripted by David Michelinie — who was handling the title during a transitional phase before Mary Jo Duffy took over as regular writer beginning with issue #70 — with Gene Day providing layouts, Tom Palmer finishing inks, Glynis Wein (Oliver) on colors, Joe Rosen lettering, and Louise Jones as editor, with Jim Shooter receiving a plot credit. Day also painted the cover, which the Boba Fett Fan Club has noted is unusually dynamic in composition, positioning a helmeted Mandalorian warrior in the looming background role typically reserved for Darth Vader — a conscious or unconscious signal that this armored figure carried comparable narrative weight. Michelinie drew on early Expanded Universe material (including Boba Fett background notes that had circulated in the official Star Wars Fan Club newsletter) to construct Fenn Shysa's account of the Mandalorian Protectors and their role in the Clone Wars, even though that backstory would later require extensive retconning once the prequel films established a contradictory timeline.

Trivia · 7 facts

Title: 'The Search Begins' (Star Wars Vol. 1 #68, Marvel Comics; cover date February 1983, on sale November 16, 1982).
Creative team: script by David Michelinie; layouts by Gene Day; inks by Tom Palmer; colors by Glynis Wein (Oliver); letters by Joe Rosen; editor Louise Jones; plot credit to Jim Shooter.
First appearance of Fenn Shysa, a Mandalorian resistance fighter wearing armor identical to Boba Fett's — one of the very few original characters from the Marvel run to survive into the later Expanded Universe, appearing in subsequent Dark Horse comics and licensed novels.
First mention of the Mandalorians by name and first appearance of the planet Mandalore (capital city: Kedalbe) anywhere in the Star Wars franchise.
First full in-story appearance of bounty hunter Dengar, who had only been a background figure in The Empire Strikes Back; here he is given dialogue, motivation, and an active role in the plot.
Story structure: the Rebel heroes split into three search teams — Leia and C-3PO to Mandalore (this issue's focus), Luke and R2-D2 by X-wing, and Lando and Chewbacca in the Millennium Falcon — launching a multi-issue arc to recover Han Solo from Boba Fett.
The issue has been reprinted in: Star Wars Monthly (Marvel UK) #168 (April 1983); Classic Star Wars: A Long Time Ago #4 (Dark Horse, 1999); Star Wars: A Long Time Ago… #5 – Fool's Bounty (Dark Horse, 2003); Star Wars Comic Pack #29 (Dark Horse, 2007); Star Wars Omnibus: A Long Time Ago… Vol. 4 (Dark Horse, 2011); Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol. 2 (Marvel, 2015); and Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Original Marvel Years Vol. 4 (Marvel, 2019).