A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a young George Lucas wrote a screenplay. It wasn’t the screenplay that would become that film that changed lives and indeed the world, but it was close. That rough draft of a screenplay he titled The Star Wars has now seen the light of day in the form of a comic book adaptation. Let’s dive into it, shall we?
Written by J. W. Rinzler
Illustrated by Mike Mayhew
Before Star Wars, there was The Star Wars! This is the authorized adaptation of George Lucas’s rough-draft screenplay of what would eventually become a motion picture that would change the world.
Annikin Starkiller is the hero . . . Luke Skywalker is a wizened Jedi general . . . Han Solo is a big green alien . . . and the Sith . . . Well, the Sith are still the bad guys. High adventure and derring-do from longer ago, in a galaxy even further away!
There’s almost a Twilight Zone/Outer Limits feeling that comes from reading this issue. Everything feels the same, but different in small ways. It’s almost unnerving at times. The proto-Star Wars essence is there, but not in the same form that we’re all used to leading to vastly different characters and locations having names that would be reused in the actual films. Which leads to me, as a reviewer, having an interesting conundrum: seeing as this comic book is a direct adaptation of another screenplay, where would my story complaints, if any, lie? Well, to combat that, I tracked down and read the pages of the rough draft screenplay. If that isn’t dedication, I don’t know what is.
The most striking thing about The Star Wars is just how faithful an adaptation of Lucas’ screenplay it is. Of course, it would defeat the purpose of the exercise if it wasn’t faithful, but it’s a wonder why Rinzler gets a script credit when it feels like Mayhew worked directly from Lucas’ script. That is, surprisingly enough, a point in Rinzler’s favour as he managed to adapt the first nineteen pages of the screenplay into a twenty-ood page comic without losing a single story beat. In fact, the only alterations Rinzler seems to have made is to streamline the dialogue in some scenes. Not only is that impressive, but it’s a testament to Rinzler and Mayhew as storytellers that the comic still feels like an organic story and not simply a carbon copy.
The only real downside to the comic, however, is that the adaptation between screenplay and comic script has meant that scenes feel like they should play out longer than they do. The opening scene of the issue, for example, doesn’t necessarily feel rushed, but they breakneck pace with which it plays out feels like the first six story pages weren’t really enough to contain the scene. That’s the unfortunate position this comic is in: the scenes on the page of the screenplay likely would have had more of a chance to play out longer than how they were written. Here, however, the opening scene is trying to fit a lot of story into six pages and doesn’t really let itself breathe. This, unfortunately, leads to feeling of underdevelopment of characters which is somewhat excusable for it being the first of eight issues.
While Rinzler has done a good job adapting the screenplay to comic script, Mike Mayhew is really the master as work here. It is largely thanks to his designs of the world presented here that makes the comic feel wholly Star Wars, but different at the same time. His character designs speak to both Ralph McQuarrie’s original concept designs for the films and to the actual aesthetic seen on screen. Even when looking at the landscapes of the locations, it’s his art that makes this comic feel at home. Everything is beautifully rendered and painted which, again, gives it that McQuarrie-esque feeling of a proto-Star Wars. Despite the previous complaint that the adaptation doesn’t exactly give scenes room to breathe, Mayhew is really able to work what space he is given. Even the first confrontation with the Sith in the first few pages, which definitely feels like it should have had a couple of pages to itself, feels suitably tense and dramatic thanks to Mayhew’s artwork.
Overall, this feels more like an exercise in bringing a story that has not been seen by many to established fans of the series than anything else. While the faithfulness of the adaptation is admirably, there’s not a lot here for anyone not already enamoured by the universe Lucas created in 1977. It’s a book clearly aimed at those who are already so invested in Star Wars that they’d pick up a comic adaptation of a rough draft script and for that it does it’s job admirably. There’s just not a lot here for anyone else, unfortunately, despite Mayhew’s gorgeous artwork.
Final Verdict: 6.8 – Something to check out for Star Wars fans looking to get back into the swing of things in advance of those new movies.
