After reading the brief article Star Wars Insider #50 about the prestigious industry awards the American adaptations of these comics have received, I figured it was time to take a look and see what the fuss is all about. (See the complete awards article here.)

Let me just say up front: I don't get it. I know Manga is a big deal right now, and some of my younger friends really seem to like it. Perhaps I am too bourgeois, or perhaps my Baby-boomer roots are showing. I don't get this fascination with Pokemon-like artwork, and I certainly don't get the appeal of yet another rendition of the movie plotlines, this time in black-and-white line drawings. I just thought you should know that up front; although I will try to be unbiased, I don't think this review is going to contain the enthusiasm that a true Manga fan would have.

At least the covers have a certain flair. They're in color, for one thing.

Since I'm admittedly not a Manga connoisseur, my verdict on the quality of the art inside is suspect. But it made me think of a coloring book. Maybe that's the appeal -- the black-and-white line drawings do have a certain simplicity. I hope those of you who enjoyed these will tell us about it on Echo Station's message boards.  (Don't email me with flames, though. As Qui-Gon told Anakin, beating somebody up isn't likely to change his opinion, now is it?) The droids, weapons, machines, spaceships, etc. are very well drawn, and the Eastern-style art complements Star Wars well. I found myself thinking I'd like to see a comic with Manga-style detail for all the non-human stuff, and regular art for the people.

As for the stories, as far as I can tell they adhere very strictly and thoroughly to the screenplays, almost duplicating the movies word for word. A few scenes cut from the movie are rendered, as well as a few extra bonuses. The "camera angles" vary a great deal from the films, though, which tends to give the stories a freshness they sorely need after 20 years and countless viewings. Part of this is due to the reversal of panels -- Japanese reads from right to left, so all the panels had to be reversed in order for the dialogue and action to appear in the correct order. This makes for a bit of vertigo at critical moments.

All of these books have coated cardstock covers with perfect bindings and non-coated bond paper on the inside. They run 96 pages each (88 for the Episode I issues) and cost $9.95 apiece. 

Warren's covers are fun, full of color and action. It's kind of cute to see Han Solo with a button nose and Princess Leia with big doe eyes. Her hairstyle is actually quite appealing, too, a modification of the cinnamon-roll style of the movies softened with wispy bangs and a shag. "Old" Obi-Wan looks like some sort of Samurai avenger. Chewie looks ... scary.

The interior art is good, although as I said before, black and white only. I did a little research, picked up a copy of "Ghost in the Shell" which seems to be the most frequently mentioned Manga comic and the standard by which all other Manga is judged, and I thought this series fared better by comparison. It's a matter of taste, of course, but I think I'm safe in saying that fans of this art form will find nothing to complain about in Tamaki's art. (Although I wonder why everybody has teeth that look like those plastic vampire teeth you can get for Halloween?) The artist must have had the movie right before him the whole time as he worked; every detail of the ships, droids, and other non-human items is rendered with exacting care, down to the appearance of Gonk in the Skywalker homestead. I have to admire the amount of work this series took to get it right.

The story inside follows the movie very faithfully, almost verbatim. You're not going to find anything new here, other than a slightly different perspective on some very familiar events. Most of the cut scenes have been included, such as the first few panels of #1 when Luke is out fixing a vaporator and spies the battle above Tatooine through his macrobinoculars. A bit of dialogue is left out here and there, but what's there is straight from the film. I liked how they inserted the conversation with Biggs on Tatooine into a flashback as Luke stares at the twin sunset.

I was surprised to find myself reacting to this overly familiar story with renewed emotion in places. The very innocence of Luke as drawn in the Manga style makes his expression upon seeing his burning homestead that much more poignant. The lightsaber battle between Ben and Vader is much better here than in the film.

There's a bonus at the end of all but #2, several pages of working sketches from both artists. Cool. (I guess there was no room for extra sketches in #2 because the destruction of Alderaan got ten full pages, much more detail than was in the movie. A bizarre choice.)

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Manga #1-4 (of 4)
Written by: George Lucas & Leigh Brackett & Lawrence Kasdan
Art by: Toshiki Kudo
Cover by: Adam Warren

I really do like these covers by Warren. The whole series could be a neat set of postcards or posters. (There's a marketing idea for free, Dark Horse! No need to pay me ...) The cover for #3, with Boba Fett and the other bounty hunters, is especially good.

Not being an artist, I can't really tell you very much about how Kudo's interior artwork differs from Tamaki's for ANH or Hiromoto's for ROTJ. If you like one, I'm guessing you'll like them all. The noses were less elfin here, and I liked the rich variation in shading. Han even manages to look ... masculine a few times. The wampa attack was well done, but Chewie looked a lot less fearsome in this one. At times the detail was spotty, and the wide-open mouths when people were eating were just weird.

I noticed in the first few pages that quite a bit of dialogue was being left out, a sentence here, a sentence there. In addition, a few shots were in a different order from the film. I didn't notice this in the other manga adaptations. It was a bit annoying, actually. Having seen the movies roughly six jillion times, any variation is like a claxon going off in my head. I won't complain when new stuff is added, though -- like Leia's reaction when Han finally responds to Zev's hail after being outside all night in Hoth's unforgiving cold.

As with the others, we get a few of Warren's working sketches at the back of #1 and #4 and a Toshiki Kudo pinup gallery at the end of #3.

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - Manga #1-4 (of 4)
Written by: Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas
Art by: Shin-ichi Hiromoto
Cover by: Adam Warren

Ooh, I do like this version of Luke in black. As before, Warren's covers capture the essence of each story part with lots of action and drama -- not to mention a boatload of cool looking TIE Fighters, Interceptors, and Bombers on the cover of #1. Check out the Emporer's face on #4 -- his evil mug could give a person nightmares! And did you notice? Not an Ewok in sight!

As for the interior art, I enjoyed it perhaps a touch better than Tamaki's from ANH; Hiromoto uses a lot more and finer shades of gray, and some of the full-page panels look like paintings rather than line drawings, but sometimes his faces and backgrounds lack definition. Again, art's a hard thing to describe and judge. Suffice it to say this is high-quality work with lots of detail (check out the creepy-crawlies in Jabba's Palace). I like this rendering of Chewie -- fiercer and less cuddly. But Admiral Piett looks nothing like his counterpart in the film. Oh, well.

The story, as with the other series, sticks very closely to the movies. I was glad to note they chose to use Han's "trust me" line to Lando in place of the bland Special Edition replacement line, "I can see a little better now." It's the nitpicking that counts, after all! Speaking of which, I was surprised at some of the other choices. Luke's line to Leia as he hugs her: "Ask me again sometime" is left out, but Han's line about feeling he's never going to see the Falcon again is left in. (Digression: What we need is a programmable DVD version of the Holy Trilogy so we can create our own personalized versions of the films. Somebody tell George that Toryn suggested this, please.)

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace - Manga #1-2 (of 2)
By: George Lucas
Art by: Kia Asamiya
Cover by: Kia Asamiya

I really liked the covers for this one, the overall colors, the extremely detailed art, and the way the two covers form one picture. I think this would make a cool poster. However, I was a little confused at first. On the cover of #1 there is a huge face in the background, left profile. It looked somewhat masculine to me, and I couldn't figure out who it might be. I had assumed it was supposed to be Obi-Wan, even though it had the wrong color hair, etc. Then I saw the cover of #2 and realized it couldn't possibly be Obi-Wan.   When studying the interior artwork, I thought it might be Padme, but no ... there she is in the center of the cover. It has to be Shmi. But why would she get such a large share of cover real estate?

I really thought the interior artwork was the best of the lot. The others have won awards, and this one has not (to my knowledge), so what do I know? But I appreciated the rich detail and the shading that let me understand the scenes at a glance. The faces were okay -- Asamiya seems to have one nose for guys (hooked), and one nose for gals (pointy). That gets weird when Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan have the same profile ... even Mace Windu has the same nose!

With only two books of 88 pages instead of four at 96 pages, this adaptation seems more rushed than the others. Mercifully, the bongo scene is only two pages long, and the podrace only ten. Still, with all the cutting back and forth among the four battle scenes at the end, it gets confusing. Lucky I've seen the movie so many times, eh?

The Phantom Menace Manga blurb says, "The only Phantom Menace adaptation to give you all the speedlines you can handle!" I have to admit, I don't even know what speedlines are. I guess they're highly desirable ...

To sum up, as an example of Manga art, these are top of the line. However, I found these comics mostly boring. Sorry. Sue me for being an ignorant philistine, but at least I'm honest. Anyway, if you love Manga and Star Wars (or perhaps speedlines), hop on down to your local comics store and take a gander at these. I'm not even going to venture a grade this time. Use your own judgement.

AWARDS

Star Wars: A New Hope Manga (American edition) - Eisner Award, 1999, Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Manga (American edition) - Harvey Award, 2000, Best American Edition of Foreign Material.
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Manga (American edition) - Harvey Award, 2000, Best American Edition of Foreign Material.

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(Toryn Farr knew everything about Star Wars back in 1977 thanks to Starlog Magazine. She's been trying to keep her know-it-all reputation ever since. During the 90 minutes per day her preschooler is napping, Toryn attempts to run an internet design business and write fantasy fiction.)