Star Wars: Return of the Jedi #1

History

The adaptation was scripted by Archie Goodwin, who had previously handled the Empire Strikes Back comic adaptation, and illustrated by penciler/inker Al Williamson with inks also by Carlos Garzon — a team that Lucasfilm had specifically championed for their film-accurate character likenesses. Edited by Michael Higgins and Jo Duffy under editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, the issue was published with a cover date of October 1983 and carried a cover price of 60 cents, with interior art credited to Williamson and Garzon and a striking painted cover by Bill Sienkiewicz. The adaptation's full contents had technically already appeared in Marvel Super Special #27 (shipping April 1983, on-sale May 1983), which was recalled after Hamill discovered it on shelves pre-release; the four-issue limited series then followed beginning that October, reprinting and re-presenting the same Goodwin/Williamson material in standard pamphlet format.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First issue of Marvel's four-part limited series adaptation of Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi, cover-dated October 1983 (direct edition on-sale June 7, 1983; newsstand on-sale June 28, 1983 per Grand Comics Database).
• Written by Archie Goodwin, with interior art by Al Williamson and Carlos Garzon — the same core creative team that had adapted The Empire Strikes Back for Marvel.
• Cover art (and credits-page art) by Bill Sienkiewicz, whose painted covers distinguished the series visually from the standard Marvel house style of the period.
• Chapter title: 'In the Hands of Jabba the Hutt!' — the issue follows Darth Vader's inspection of the second Death Star's construction while the Rebels launch their rescue of Han Solo from Jabba's palace on Tatooine.
• Unlike the A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back adaptations, which ran as story arcs within the ongoing Star Wars monthly series, this was published as a standalone limited series — a first for a Star Wars film adaptation at Marvel.
• The full story content of this issue (and the rest of the mini-series) had originally appeared in Marvel Super Special #27, which shipped to stores in April 1983 — weeks before the film's May 25, 1983 theatrical release — and was recalled after Mark Hamill alerted Lucasfilm to copies in stores.
• The series was reprinted as Classic Star Wars: Return of the Jedi by Dark Horse Comics in 1994, and subsequently collected in the Star Wars Omnibus: A Long Time Ago… Vol. 4, Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol. 3, and a recolored edition in 2015.
• In-issue pin-ups include depictions of Jabba's court characters Bib Fortuna, the Max Rebo Band, and Salacious Crumb, as well as an Imperial Shuttle illustration — providing readers with detailed visual introductions to creatures and vehicles new to the franchise.

Cast · 10 characters

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Variants (2)