Fan for Life

Madeline Vega

FAN FOR LIFE

by Luis Vega

For as long as I can remember, Star Wars has held a special place in my life. I remember having the figures as a little boy before I ever saw the film. I remember my brothers talking about the movie and telling me how amazing it was. Needless to say, Star Wars is a big deal to me.

The first Star Wars movie I ever saw was Empire Strikes Back right before I saw Return of the Jedi (see the handy “War Report” on Page 8 for this and many more fun facts) as part of a double-feature. It made such a mark on me, that I drew the characters for months and vivdly remember writing a “What I Did Over My Summer Vacation” essay centered around watching Star Wars, complete with an illustrated cover of Darth Vader with the Emperor high over his head. From the first moment I saw it, I knew I was smitten.

As I stormed through school, it was easy to find like-minded fans. We were like a big geeky tribe. As the movies became a thing of the past, and the comics and the toy lines dwindled, the tribe started to fade. Without any movies to support, new material became scarcer.

That started to change a bit in the early ’90s as a series of excellent Timothy Zahn books started to get adapted into comics at Dark Horse. Dark Empire was a particularly excellent trilogy of books which continued the saga of the Skywalker clan. Sadly, those books are completely out of canon now as they were all erased when Disney purchased the property. On Page 10, I examine a bit of Star Wars history in comics.

With the success of the comics line, Hasbro (which had purchased original toy line producer Kenner) released the Power of the Force figures in 1995. These figures sold like gangbusters. The initial waves featured very muscular sculpts, but it was apparent that the interest was there. Hasbro continued to pump out tons of new excellent products (they still do to this day, as evidenced by the excellent Black Series light sabers pictured above).

With comics and toys making huge waves, George Lucas took notice and announced that he was going back to “A Galaxy Far, Far Away”. A series of prequels were released which provided even more new tie-ins and licensed merchandise. While the movies weren’t critical hits, they were massive box-office hits. More than that, Star Wars was back in the public eye and has stayed there ever since.

As I entered fatherhood, I shared Star Wars with each of my kids. I can only hope that they love it as much as I do.