Star Wars #8

History

After six issues adapting A New Hope, writer Roy Thomas and co-plotter/artist Howard Chaykin found themselves with a hit title and no further source material from Lucasfilm, who contractually restricted them from exploring major story beats until George Lucas had mapped out his next film. Operating under those constraints — no Darth Vader as a central villain, no Clone Wars backstory, no Luke-Leia romantic development — Thomas devised a Han Solo-led Seven Samurai homage spread across issues #7 and #8. Thomas later acknowledged in Marvel's FOOM fanzine that a cantina alien in early Star Wars script drafts reminded him of Porky Pig, which sparked the creation of Jaxxon, whose specific template was Bugs Bunny; Jaxxon's very name is a riff on 'Jackson,' a term Bugs used for strangers. The cover for this issue was penciled by Gil Kane with inks by Tony DeZuniga, while the interior story was penciled by Chaykin and inked by Tom Palmer, with Archie Goodwin serving as consulting editor alongside Thomas's editorial role.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Published on-sale November 8, 1977, with a cover date of February 1978; written and edited by Roy Thomas, plotted with Howard Chaykin, interior art by Chaykin (pencils) and Tom Palmer (inks/colors), cover by Gil Kane and Tony DeZuniga.
• First appearance of Jaxxon (Lepi smuggler), Amaiza Foxtrain, Don-Wan Kihotay, Jimm 'Starkiller Kid' Doshun, Hedji, droid FE-9Q ('Effie'), and the Cloud-Riders — all Marvel-original Star Wars characters introduced in a single issue.
• Story title is 'Eight for Aduba-3,' part two of a four-issue arc (beginning in #7) structured as a deliberate homage to Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and its American remake The Magnificent Seven, with Han Solo in the Takashi Shimura/Yul Brynner role.
• Villain Serji-X Arrogantus was modeled on the appearance — including his signature mustache — of MAD Magazine cartoonist and Groo the Wanderer creator Sergio Aragonés, as confirmed in the issue's own production notes.
• The name 'Cloud-Riders' for the outlaw gang was later repurposed by Lucasfilm for Enfys Nest's marauders in the 2018 film Solo: A Star Wars Story, giving this issue's invented terminology a direct connection to current canon.
• A parallel Luke Skywalker subplot — with C-3PO and R2-D2 — depicts the trio departing Yavin 4 on a scout ship to search for a new Rebel Alliance base, establishing the post-Battle of Yavin status quo for the ongoing series.
• Jaxxon was eventually made part of official Star Wars canon via the Star Wars Adventures Annual 2018 story 'The Lost Eggs of Livorno,' and subsequently received a Hasbro Black Series action figure — a remarkable rehabilitation for a character once regarded as the series' most embarrassing invention.
• The issue has been reprinted numerous times, including in Star Wars Weekly (Marvel UK, 1978), the Dark Horse omnibus Star Wars: A Long Time Ago... Vol. 1: Doomworld (2002), and Marvel's own Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol. 1 (2015).

Cast · 10 characters

Full credits

Key issues in Star Wars

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#1 1st appearance — Luke Skywalker

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#16 1st appearance — Beilert Valance

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#24 1st appearance — Senator Bail Organa

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#5 1st appearance — Wedge Antilles

Variants (1)