Releasing this Wednesday, August 7, from IDW Publishing is the long-awaited artist edition of Marvel Comics’ Star Wars comic book series that legendary creatosr Walter Simonson and Tom Palmer worked on in the early 1980s.  Scanning the original black-and-white artist pages from Simonson and Palmer’s personal archives and presented at 100% their actual size – that’s 12” x 17” – this edition will be a must-have.  

This volume includes the following issues and their corresponding creative team:

Star Wars #51 “Resurrection of Evil” (September, 1981): David Michelinie (writer); Walter Simonson and Tom Palmer (artists); John Morelli (letterer)

Star Wars #52 “To Take the Tarkin” (October, 1981): David Michelinie (writer); Walter Simonson and Tom Palmer (artists); John Morelli (letterer)

Star Wars #55 “Plif!” (January, 1982): David Michelinie (writer); Walter Simonson and Tom Palmer (artists); Joe Rosen (letterer)

Star Wars #56 “Coffin in the Clouds” (February, 1982): David Michelinie and Walter Simonson (plot beats); David Michelinie (script); Walter Simonson and Tom Palmer (artists); Joe Rosen (letterer)

Star Wars #57 “Hello, Bespin, Good-Bye!” (March, 1982): David Michelinie and Walter Simonson (plot beats); David Michelinie (script); Walter Simonson and Tom Palmer (artists); Joe Rosen (letterer)

Star Wars #60 “Shira’s Story” (June, 1982): David Michelinie and Walter Simonson (plot beats); David Michelinie (script); Walter Simonson and Tom Palmer (artists); Joe Rosen (letterer)

As mentioned above, this artist edition presents the original black-and-white pages at 100% their original size.  Because of this and without the addition of colors, readers can truly begin to appreciate Simonson’s pencils and Palmer’s inks.  All sorts of details come to the surface, such as small ship details, minute star clusters of an asteroid belt, and the epic mise-en-scene of establishing shots and transition action panels.  Areas saturated with marker ink show signs of rippling and in a few places, and pencil marks are visible.  

Shading and textures accentuate the action and lend to the overall energy of the storytelling that unfolds with each page.  That said, with issue #56, there is an increased occurrence of clip art textures that were cut to fit certain spaces.  The towers behind Lando on the cover of the issue and defining puffy clouds in the issue’s opening pages are just two instances of incorporating the clip art.  The use of this clip art seems distracting from the rest of Simonson and Palmer’s work. Perhaps with colors, this is downplayed, so, fortunately, these textures are sparingly used.

Additionally, this edition provides some intriguing ancillary observations:   

• Many corrections are found in the narrative boxes and speech balloons where changes to the text are visible. 
• The price of the comics jumped ten cents between February and March, 1982. 
• Notes regarding issue deadline expectations.
• Outlines of banner clip art visible.
• Presence of issue approval signatures.
• The ever-changing job title of Jim Shooter conveys a sense of humor and a sense that readers are part of an inside joke.
• References to use blue and red surprint.
• Sporadic notes from/to Louise Jones, editor/plot, in red ink.  

Obviously, serious fans of Star Wars will not want to miss getting this special artist edition for their collection; however, artists looking to better understand their craft will find this volume useful as a reference tool.  And, it’s an opportunity to read some of the early stories, which are thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable!

Creative Team: Scott Tipton (proofreader); Serbco (cover design); Claudia Chong (interior designer); Scott Dunbier (editor); Louise Jones Simonson (original series editor)
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Click here to purchase.