A long time ago on a bedroom floor far, far away...

Star Wars age 9: The Unintentionally Comic Adaptation of 1977

Autographed Pages

the cover of the comic, signed by kenny baker

I've been to a some SW shows the last couple of years in Ireland and have been lucky enough to meet some of the original cast and had them sign the comic.
Garrick 'Biggs' Hagon - We Meet Biggs (Apr 2011)
Paul 'Greedo' Blake - Han Shot First (Apr 2011)
Steve Sansweet - an ex-LucasFilm Director - 'The Crawl' (Apr 2011)

Pt.X: "Biggs!" - pg.13

It's the final curtain for Biggs. I really get affected by this page which I must have drawn when quite young. It looks to have been enhanced later with colour and black marker. For all of its roughness it still gets me 'right here'.

In the film, Luke's reaction is very controlled and stoic. The farmboy of a couple of days ago bears the hallmark of a seasoned veteran; putting his emotions aside and getting on with the job. In mere minutes, the Empire will be within firing distance of the Rebel base.

But no such restraint here. Biggs' destruction takes up only 2 square inches or so, in the top-left of the page. A mere blip in the vastness of space. But the real drama takes place - in extreme closeup - in Luke's cockpit. It's over half of the page.

I wonder where this big-mouthed Luke came from: A Logan's Run comic? "FRANCIS - NOOOO!" Tomb of Dracula comic's Blade? Or, just maybe - precociously - my own imagination.

Farewell Biggs.

About the Comic

The artist takes a break from hectic comic
production for a photo. By his mum (Summer '78)

Around Christmas time 1977 a nine year old budding artist (that's me) started to draw his own comic adaptation of his favourite film; just seen in the cinema, with no DVDs, books or comics to guide him (that's me again, hello!). The early results were peculiar, but it was fun and some consolation for only seeing it once. Less obsessed friends would claim "We saw it 6 times!": I yearned to see it again.

Some time later, I got my hands on the British printing of the MARVEL comic and treasured it. My drawing improved and with the comics, bubble-gum cards and the full-colour photos in the novel I began the process of drawing, re-evaluating and redrawing - casting the older pages in the bin.

So now reader, here's the very odd fruit of that 4 or 5 year effort. Rediscovered only last year. The shabby 1977 home-made comic becomes 2010 web-comic.

Grown-Up Pages!

The most recent page - 'Scum & Villainy(2011)'

A brand new Homepage feature! Some bits of the film are missing from the old comic. You know, the boring bits. People standing about talking, instead of shooting and flying and blowing stuff up. Well, I've started to fill those bits in! Take a look at:

'Thank the Maker!' (2010)
'Jammed Real Good' (2010)
'Scum & Villainy (2011)'

ALIEN age 11 - is coming Xmas Day!

The long-awaited, quite silly adaptation of ALIEN is on its way. It'll launch on Xmas day 2011. Here's a teaser!

Think of it as Mid-Life Crisis Pt.II

Special Editions

Life-Pod before and after (c.1977/78 & 2010)

Two can play that game George!

A fun feature of SWa9 is the Special-Editioned versions of the oldest pages of 1977-79. I'd wondered what it'd be like if I took the oldest, wonkiest drawings, cleaned them up and tried to colour them as faithfully to the movie as possible. Read more here or go see and judge for yourself:

'Life Pod' (c.1977/78 & 2010)
'Leia - she's a bit rough' (1978/79 & 2010)
'Tantive IV Pursued' (1977/78 & 2010)
'Meet the Death Star' (1977/78 & 2010)
Princess? What princess?' (1977/78 & 2010)