Star Wars (Marvel UK)




The Star Wars comics from Marvel UK represent a collection of comic book titles, special editions, and annual publications released by the United Kingdom branch of Marvel Comics.

Background

These comics commenced by reprinting the US Star Wars comic series from Marvel, along with comic content from Pizzazz magazine, all under the banner of Star Wars Weekly, debuting on February 8, 1978. The primary series underwent several title modifications throughout its run, ultimately concluding on June 7, 1986. All publications maintained a unified numbering scheme, with the exception of Return of the Jedi Weekly, which restarted its count from #1.

A key distinction between the UK series and its US counterpart was the former's adherence to the British comic tradition of being a weekly anthology, presenting multiple serialized narratives in each edition. Publishing the equivalent content of a single US issue required a minimum of two weekly UK issues. Additionally, the British weekly featured monochrome interiors printed on matte paper, contrasting with the full-color printing on glossy paper used for the front and back covers. Often, several stories would be serialized simultaneously. Many editions also incorporated articles, interviews, and supplementary stories from other Marvel Comics series unrelated to Star Wars.

Over time, this series introduced original stories that were exclusive to it, not appearing in the US Star Wars series or Pizzazz. These stories were later reprinted in the US, starting with two Marvel Illustrated Books trade paperback collections entitled Star Wars and Star Wars 2: World of Fire in 1981 and 1982. No other UK-exclusive stories were reprinted until Dark Horse Comics' Classic Star Wars: Devilworlds miniseries in 1996. The remaining story, "Death Masque," which had not been published since, was finally reprinted in 2013 alongside the other UK stories in Star Wars Omnibus: Wild Space Volume 1.

Following the conclusion of the regular series, Marvel UK continued to republish stories from the US Ewoks and Droids comics until 1989. The final original content consisted of brief text stories featured in Ewoks Annual, which were not reprinted until Marvel's Star Wars: Droids & Ewoks Omnibus in 2016, followed shortly by Star Wars: The Marvel UK Collection Omnibus in 2017.

List of Series

The Empire Strikes Back Weekly #1
  • Star Wars Weekly - Issues #1–117
  • The Empire Strikes Back Weekly - Issues #118–139
  • The Empire Strikes Back Monthly - Issues #140–158
  • Star Wars Monthly - Issues #159–171
  • Return of the Jedi Weekly - Issues #1–155
  • Ewoks Monthly - Issues #1–10

Annual Publications

  • Star Wars Annual No. 1
  • Star Wars Annual 1979
  • The Empire Strikes Back Annual
  • The Empire Strikes Back Annual No. 2
  • Star Wars Annual 1981
  • Return of the Jedi Annual 1983
  • Return of the Jedi Annual 1984
  • Star Wars Annual Featuring Ewoks
  • Ewoks Annual

Special Editions

  • Star Wars Summer Special 1983
  • Return of the Jedi Winter Special
  • Star Wars Special Edition 1984
  • Return of the Jedi Summer Special
  • Return of the Jedi Christmas Special
  • Star Wars Summer Special 1985
  • Droids TV Special
  • Droids Spring Special

Anthology Publications

These publications incorporated comic stories from diverse licensed comics, including reprinted material from US Star Wars comics:

History of Reprints

Star Wars: The Marvel UK Collection Omnibus

Marvel Illustrated Books Series

Classic Star Wars: Devilworlds Series

Omnibus Compilations

  • Star Wars Omnibus: Wild Space Volume 1
  • Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol. 3
  • Star Wars: Droids & Ewoks Omnibus (Ewoks Annual prose stories)
  • Star Wars: The Marvel UK Collection Omnibus

Resources

Additional Information


<AppearanceSection></AppearanceSection>