Welcome to the show! The idea behind this blog is to blow the dust on some ancient, and seldom seen (even on-line) Geek Media. No doubt some of it will be familiar but, hopefully, there will be the odd thing that you've either forgotten or never seen.

To start things off... a total self-indulgence. The first “grown-up” comic I ever had (there were the occasional nursery comics before that) and the start of a hobby that's kept me entertained ever since. Hurrah.

STAR WARS WEEKLY N110

2 APRIL 1980

MARVEL UK

12p

STRIPS:

STAR WARS: The Word for World is Death!

HEROES OF THE GALAXY

DEATHLOCK THE DEMOLISHER

TALES OF THE WATCHER: Rocket Ship.

I didn't know it until many years later but I was joining mid-way through The World of Fire (N107-N115), the last of SWW's occasional deadline-busting original SW adventures created by the US Ballpen when the UK schedule threatened to overtake reprints of the US monthly.

It might be a filler but the creative team are hardly second-rate: Chris Claremont (W), Carmine Infantino and Gene Day (A).

To date, this adventure has only appeared in one other place: the B&W US paperback STAR WARS 2: WORLD OF FIRE, published in October 1982.

Dark Horse Comics, currently reissuing the 107 Marvel US Star Wars run in book form (again), have suggested that they also plan to reissue Marvel's UK strips as well as kid-friendly animated spin-off's EWOKS and DROIDS. Fingers-crossed.

All the 107 US issues (with the exception of the final few) also saw print here in the UK.

For the record, SWW included new Star Wars strips in N47-N50 (The Keeper's World), N94-N96 (The Way of the Wookie), N97-N99 (The Day After the Death Star), N104-106 (The Weapons Master) and N107-N115 (World of Fire). All of which, no doubt, we'll revisit in future.

The final page features a brief mention of the upcoming THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. The movie adaptation, and a new name for the weekly, arrived with issue N118 (dated 29 May 1980). 

Back soon for CAPTAIN AMERICA.