Marvel Comics acquired the licensing rights to produce comics based on the 1977 movie Star Wars, and the company produced a six-issue adaptation of the film. It proved remarkably successful, and Marvel continued the series, which continued to sell well.

Marvel’s stories were hamstrung by limits placed on them, as part of the terms of the license. Because the company couldn’t develop the series’s main characters, in ways that might contradict future films, new Jedi characters were introduced. When the entire Star Wars franchise was still a single film, there wasn’t much to base the comic on, and its tone sometimes feels at odds with what the Star Wars franchise became. But the appetite for Star Wars material was very strong, and the comic continued to thrive. In 1979, the series got its first annual.

When The Empire Strikes Back was released in 1980, the comic adapted it over six issues (#39-44), just as it had the first film. New stories were now hamstrung by the absence of Han Solo, who had been frozen in Empire and wouldn’t be revived until the next film. Characters were theoretically searching for Han Solo, and thus sometimes spurred new adventures, during which the need to find Han would often be forgotten. The comic continued to sell, and two additional annuals were produced (in 1982 and 1983).

By the time Return of the Jedi was released in 1983, mini-series were a lot more common in comics, and Marvel elected to adapt the film as a four-issue mini-series, rather than in the main title. Beginning with issue #81, the main title began telling stories set after this new film. With the Empire defeated, the comic now had to establish new threats.

In 1985, the Star Wars franchise expanded into animation with two animated TV series: Droids, starring C-3PO and R2-D2, set before the first film; and Ewoks, set between the first and second films and starring the popular and cute diminutive aliens from the third film. Ewoks had the advantage, especially since the Ewoks were also the subject of two live-action TV movies (1984 and 1985). In 1985, Marvel’s child-focused Star Comics imprint launched a bimonthly Ewoks series, alongside the monthly Star Wars. Sales on the main title had slid, however, and it shifted to bimonthly after #103 (Jan 1986). Star Comics added a bimonthly Droids comic (#1, Apr 1986). For a brief time, Marvel was thus publishing three Star Wars comics — although all were bimonthly.

Despite this expansion, the end was near. The Droids cartoon show was cancelled, after one season, shortly after the comic’s launch. The Ewoks cartoon lasted only one more season; it was cancelled in 1987. All three Star Wars comics were cancelled within a 12-month period in 1986-1987. The bimonthly comic Star Wars was cancelled with #107 (Sept 1986). Droids and Ewoks lasted slightly longer, ending with #8 (June 1987) and #14 (July 1987), respectively.

Some consider Marvel’s Ewoks and Droids separate from its more adult Star Wars comic, and it’s true that they had different styles and were set in different eras. But this reflected the source material and the Star Wars franchise itself at the time. Moreover, publication of the three different series overlapped, and they were all part of the Marvel era of Star Wars comics.

After these cancellations, Marvel announced that it would launch a new Star Wars comic by Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy. But the company lost the license to Dark Horse Comics, which would publish the announced story as Star Wars: Dark Empire. Dark Horse would continue to publish Star Wars comics for over two decades, expanding to a number of offerings that dwarfed Marvel’s output — although never with the same level of sales as the early years of Marvel’s Star Wars.

Marvel U.K. Material

During this period, Marvel reprinted certain titles through its Marvel U.K. division. Because U.K. comics were traditionally weeklies, U.S. stories would be cut up for reprinting. However, even this wasn’t enough to fill a weekly, and new stories were commissioned to fill the gaps. This was the case with Star Wars too.

Star Wars (U.K.), a.k.a. Star Wars Weekly, reprinted and concluded (in issues #47-50 and #57-60) two stories begun in Marvel U.K.’s Pizzazz magazine — which had begun the tales during the very first post-movie issues of the U.S. Star Wars, making these tales among the first new stories produced for comics.

Between reprinting U.S. #37 and #38, Star Wars (U.K.) serialized six new stories (in issues #94-96, 97-99, 104-106, 107-109, 110-112, and 113-115). The first of these took place shortly before the first movie, and the second took place immediately after it. The fourth, fifth, and sixth stories, written by Chris Claremont, continued into one another to tell one larger story. Star Wars (U.K.) also reprinted Star Wars Annual #1 during this time.

With issue #118, as Star Wars (U.K.) began reprinting the issues adapting The Empire Strikes Back, the series changed its title to The Empire Strikes Back (U.K.) — presumably to take full advantage of publicity surrounding the film. After concluding the adaptation, the series began reprinting U.S. issues in an erratic order, skipping U.S. #50 and reprinting U.S. #16, which had already been reprinted. With #140, the series shifted to monthly, allowing it to reprint entire U.S. issues in a single U.K. issue. With issue #152, reprinting U.S. #55, the erratic order of the reprints stopped.

Despite being monthly like the U.S. series, no less than eight new stories appeared in this period (#149, 151, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, and 159), including several written by Alan Moore. However, these were not as long as the earlier original stories, which had multiple chapters. These were the last original U.K. stories.

With #159, the final issue to have an original story, the title reverted to Star Wars (U.K.), although it remained monthly. It reprinted U.S. issues in sequence (from U.S. #60-71). Issue #171 was the final issue of the U.K. series. When Return of the Jedi was released, instead of simply changing the title again, the series was relaunched as Return of the Jedi (U.K.), now a weekly once again, again splitting each U.S. issue across multiple U.K. issues. It began by reprinting the Return of the Jedi adaptation, then reprinted the first eight U.S. issues, then mixed reprints of previously-unreprinted U.S. issues with reprints of reprints, rather than creating new material. (Thus, U.S. #50, which had been skipped earlier, finally got reprinted.)

Marvel U.K. also published several annuals and specials, although they contained only reprints. The one exception seems to be the 1988 Ewoks Annual, which combined reprints with a few new text stories.

Note: The U.K. series is only included below through The Empire Strikes Back (U.K.) #135. Annuals and specials are not included.

Blackthorn Publishing

In the mid-1980s, Blackthorn Publishing offered 3D comics featuring several licensed properties. Three issues of Star Wars 3-D were produced in 1987 and 1988.

Note: Star Wars 3-D has not been included below.