The classic newspaper
strips collected in IDW’s Star Wars: The Classic Newspaper Comics Volume 2 hit their stride as writer Archie Goodwin got a complete handle on the
films’ plot threads and the characters’ voices and recently-recruited artist Al
Williamson mastered their likenesses. The third and final volume of this series
continues those highs with more tales set between Star Wars and The Empire
Strikes Back. They find the rebels evacuating their base on Yavin 4 and
finding a temporary new home on Hoth, and Obi Wan Kenobi making his first ghostly
appearance to Luke. We also find out why General Dodonna never made it to Hoth.
One of the more ingenious decisions in creating
these strips was to limit the action to the period between the second and third films even
though almost half of these strips were published after the release of Return of the Jedi. This saved Goodwin from
having to come up with a lot of crazy situations to keep the Rebels engaged
after their defeat of the Empire or leaving Han Solo on ice for three years. Goodwin
devised ways of introducing characters such as Admiral Ackbar (debuting in
newspapers six months before his cinematic debut), Jabba the Hutt, Bib Fortuna,
Boba Fett, and Dengar in ways that are respectful to what happened on screen
(less respectful to Kenner, Dengar goes by his originally-intended name:
Zuckuss). The final strip brings us right up to the initial events of The Empire Strikes Back…complete with a
cornily on-the-nose declaration from Darth Vader.
Story-wise, the only downsides are the
irritating tendency to sideline Princess Leia (Williamson’s ability to write
her bickering with Han Solo is spot-on, though) and the superfluousness of the
Sunday strips, which tend to offer nothing but redundant exposition. The Sundays’
full-color art is nice, though, and it looks particularly grand on IDW’s
authentically non-digitized pages. Once again we get a lovely hardcover
presentation with an informative, extended introduction by Rich Handley and a
neat ribbon bookmark. Best of all are the stories and art, which may amount to
the finest non-canon Star Wars stories
of all.
