Marvel UK's Star Wars was a group of comic book series, specials and annuals published by Marvel Comics' United Kingdom imprint.[2]
History
The comics began with reprints of Marvel's US Star Wars series and Pizzazz magazine comic stories released under the Star Wars Weekly title, starting on February 8, 1978.[1] The main series went through several name changes throughout the years before its end on June 7, 1986.[3] All titles continued a single numbering system until Return of the Jedi Weekly, which reset the numbering to #1.[4]
The main difference between the British series and its American counterpart was that the former took at least two and sometimes up to several issues to publish all the content printed in only one issue of the latter. More than one story would often run concurrently. Many issues also included articles and interviews, as well as additional stories from other Marvel Comics series not related to Star Wars.[2]
This series did eventually contain original stories that did not appear in either the US Star Wars series or Pizzazz. Reprints of these stories in the US would happen over many years, the first being two Marvel Illustrated Books trade paperback collections titled Star Wars and Star Wars 2: World of Fire in 1981 and 1982. No other UK-exclusive stories were reprinted until Dark Horse Comics' Classic Star Wars: Devilworlds 1996 miniseries.[5][6] The one remaining story never published after that, "Death Masque," was finally reprinted in 2013 along with the other UK stories in Star Wars Omnibus: Wild Space Volume 1.[7]
After the regular series ended, Marvel UK continued republishing stories from the US Ewoks and Droids comics up until 1989. The last original stories were short text stories printed in Ewoks Annual, which were not reprinted until 2016's Star Wars: Droids & Ewoks Omnibus from Marvel,[8] followed shortly by 2017's Star Wars: The Marvel UK Collection Omnibus.[9]
Series
- Star Wars Weekly - #1–117
- The Empire Strikes Back Weekly - #118–139
- The Empire Strikes Back Monthly - #140–158
- Star Wars Monthly - #159–171
- Return of the Jedi Weekly - #1–155
- Ewoks Monthly - #1–10
Annuals
- Star Wars Annual No. 1
- Star Wars Annual 1979
- The Empire Strikes Back Annual
- The Empire Strikes Back Annual No. 2
- Star Wars Annual 1981
- Return of the Jedi Annual 1983
- Return of the Jedi Annual 1984
- Star Wars Annual Featuring Ewoks
- Ewoks Annual
Specials
- Star Wars Summer Special 1983
- Return of the Jedi Winter Special
- Star Wars Special Edition 1984
- Return of the Jedi Summer Special
- Return of the Jedi Christmas Special
- Star Wars Summer Special 1985
- Droids TV Special
- Droids Spring Special
Anthology series
These series included comic stories from various licensed comics, including reprints from US Star Wars comics:
- Spidey Comic 661–666: Ewoks (1985) 2 and 3 (November 9-December 14, 1985)
- Spider-Man and Zoids 15–22: Star Wars Annual 3 (June 14-August 12, 1986)
- The Marvel Bumper Comic 14–25: Stories from the Star Wars: Droids comic book
Reprint history
Marvel Illustrated Books
Classic Star Wars: Devilworlds
Omnibus collections
- Star Wars Omnibus: Wild Space Volume 1
- Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol. 3
- Star Wars: Droids & Ewoks Omnibus (Ewoks Annual prose stories)
- Star Wars: The Marvel UK Collection Omnibus
Sources
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Star Wars Weekly 1
- ↑ 2.0 2.1
Star Wars in the UK: Star Wars Weekly on StarWars.com (backup link)
- ↑ Return of the Jedi Weekly 155
- ↑ Return of the Jedi Weekly 1
- ↑ Classic Star Wars: Devilworlds 1
- ↑ Classic Star Wars: Devilworlds 2
- ↑ Star Wars Omnibus: Wild Space Volume 1
- ↑ Star Wars: Droids & Ewoks Omnibus
- ↑ Star Wars: The Marvel UK Collection Omnibus