Classic Star Wars #1
The Bounty Hunter  of Ord Mantell

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: August 1992
Story: Archie Goodwin
Art: Al Williamson
Colors: Steve Buccellato
Cover: Al Williamson
Editor: Barbara Kesel

The events in Classic Star Wars take place between the first and second Star Wars films, and each issue is jam-packed with action. Our debut issue is no exception: Luke and Leia embark on a scouting mission, are pursued by Imperial troops, and fall into the clutches of a bounty hunter whose real target is Han Solo! Whew! The whole shebang is written by Archie Goodwin, drawn by Al Williamson, and colored by Steve Buccellato, with a new cover by Williamson.

Classic Star Wars #2
The Bounty Hunter  of Ord Mantell &  Darth Vader Strikes

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: September 1992

Classic Star Wars features the adventures of everyone's favorite Rebels during the period between the first and second Star Wars films. In this issue, Darth Vader plots new ways to trip up the Rebels, but a turncoat Admiral may thwart his plans. Meanwhile, Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie make good their escape from a bounty hunter -- only to run afoul of the Imperial fleet!

Classic Star Wars #3
Darth Vader Strikes

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: October 1992

Classic Star Wars is set during the period between the first and second Star Wars films. In this issue, Luke volunteers for an espionage mission aboard Darth Vader's new battleship -- but can he trust the Imperial Admiral he meets there, who claims to be helping the Rebels?!

Classic Star Wars #4
Darth Vader Strikes & The Serpent Masters

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: November 1992

When Luke's spy mission in Imperial territory turns out to be a trap set by none other than Darth Vader, his only hope for escape is a beautiful thief named Tanith Shire. Unfortunately, her only escape route leads straight out of the frying pan and into the fire!

Classic Star Wars #5
Traitor's Gambit & The Night Beast

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: December 1992

After crash-landing their stolen Imperial ship, Luke and his new-found companion Tanith Shire are captured and enslaved by the Serpent Masters of Tanith's home planet. Artoo and Threepio are out of commission and the Millennium Falcon is light-years away, leaving Luke to find his own means of escape -- with nothing but his wit, his skill, and his trusty lightsaber at hand!

Classic Star Wars #6
The Night Beast

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: January 1993

After his adventures with Tanith Shire and the Serpent Masters, Luke rejoins Leia on Kabal just as the planet falls under Imperial attack. Luckily, Han and Chewie come to the rescue once again -- that is, until a false homing beacon leads them into a trap of stellar proportions!

Classic Star Wars #7
The Return of Ben Kenobi

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: February 1993

Leia, Luke, Han, and Chewie make it out of Doctor Arakkus' death trap by the skin of their teeth and head for home at long last -- only to discover that Rebel headquarters is under Imperial attack! Will they find safe haven with new allies on the water world of Aquaris, or will those allies turn out to be as dangerous as Darth Vader?

Classic Star Wars, Vol. 1
In Deadly Pursuit

Published: 1994

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From 1981 to 1984, comic-book greats Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson turned out a popular series of Star Wars newpaper strips. Featuring the adventures of Luke, Leia, and Han in the time between the first and second movies, these strips were science-fiction adventure at its best.

Dark Horse reformatted those strips to make them work as a continuous story in a series of comic books, with Al Williamson himself redrawing and extending many panels for the new format. This book collects the first seven issues of the popular Dark Horse comic, with a new introduction from Archie Goodwin, new cover art, and never-before-seen art from the sketchbooks of Al Williamson.

Classic Star Wars #8
The Power Gem

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: March 1993

When our heroes stop off on the water planet Aquaris to meet with new Rebel allies, they find that at least one of those allies may be an Imperial spy. Han and Leia both have plans to trap the traitor by using Luke's droids as bait -- but their plans may go awry when Luke and Han wind up in the clutches of a deadly denizen of the deep!

Classic Star Wars #9
The Night Beast

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: April 1993

Leia, Luke, Han, and Chewie finally make it back to Rebel headquarters in the Yavin system only to find it under attack by Imperial forces! With the Millennium Falcon's help, the Rebels emerge victorious. But even as they celebrate, the battle sparks some unexpected results -- in the form of an ancient threat that lurks within the very heart of Yavin's moon!

Classic Star Wars #10
The Return of Ben Kenobi

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: May 1993

Following the frightening threat of the Night Beast, Luke and inadvertant stowaway Threepio travel to the desert world of Aridus -- ostensibly to ensure the continuation of the Rebel Alliance's weapons-smuggling operation there. But Luke is more interested in checking out rumors of a mysterious stranger who's appeared on Aridus claiming to be... Ben Kenobi!

Classic Star Wars #11
The Return of Ben Kenobi  & The Power Gem

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: June 1993

Continuing with Dark Horse's popular reprint series, this issue Luke Skywalker encounters a menacing Darth Vader at the Iron Tower on Aridus, and a new friend posing as an old one gives his life to save Luke and the natives of Aridus from Vader's treachery. Meanwhile, a Rebel scheme for destroying Vader's private cruiser unfolds, with the legendary power gems of the pirates of Iridium holding the key. Han Solo and Chewbacca volunteer to retrieve the gem, but don't count on being thrown to the wolves in the bargain!

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: July 1993

Out of the frying pan... just as Han Solo and Chewbacca manage to escape the wiles of Mystra and the arena of Raskar with the last of the legendary power gems... Luke and Threepio turn up missing. They've in fact crash-landed on the ice planet Hoth, where they're rescued by a mysterious benefactor who has decidedly different plans for the pair than her father: he wants to off Luke and dismantle the loyal droid for scrap!

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: August 1993

Our Rebel heroes seek help from the Mon Calamari in evacuating their Yavin base, but soon get embroiled in a mystery involving a distress beacon of unknown origin, scads of Imperial troopers, giant sea worms, an amphibian rescue, more giant sea worms, a droid or two, a few more scads of Imperial troopers, and just a bit more excitement than a 32-page color comic book has any right to provide.

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: September 1993

With the help of their new allies, the Mon Calamari, the Rebels battle the monstrous sea worms of Daluuj. Meanwhile, Darth Vader is cutting a swath of destruction toward the Rebel base on Yavin -- where Luke Skywalker and General Dodonna's son Vrad prepare for a suicide mission!

Classic Star Wars, Vol. 2
The Rebel Storm

Published: 1995

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There was no peace for the crew members of the Millennium Falcon between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back! Follow their adventures as they plunge head first into an underwater hunt that leads to a demonsquid, a treasonous and plotting Kraaken, the ferocious night beast, lost power gems, stranded Calamarians, and giant sea worms! Will the depths of the oceans spell defeat for the Rebels, or will they emerge victorious?

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: October 1993

It's finally time for some honest-to-goodness "Star Wars," as Luke Skywalker and Vrad Dodonna head for a climactic showdown in space with Darth Vader. Meanwhile, the rest of the Rebel alliance struggles against time to evacuate Yavin Base for their new home on Hoth, as Darth Vader and the Imperial forces plan for a major strike on the Rebel moon. Luke, however, suspects that Vrad is a traitor to the Rebel cause, which leads to an exciting confrontation -- as well as a startling turn of events for one of our Rebel heroes.

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: November 1993

As Luke leads the Rebel fleet on its escape to its new base on Hoth, the Rebels' new allies, the Mon Calamari, plan a diversion to help them escape an Imperial blockade. But the Imperials soon realize that the Mon Calamari attacks are a diversion for the real Rebel escape, and they set off with the intent of destroying the Rebels once and for all. Meanwhile, Han, Chewie, and C-3P0 take off in the Millennium Falcon to find an alternate escape route to Hoth, but what they discover is a seemingly impassable route that would take them dangerously close to a gigantic stellar flare!

Allen Nunis and Al Williamson himself retouch Williamson's original artwork and add some new art of their own, and Steve Buccellato adds the perfect color complement to the classic newspaper strip art. The new color cover is a Nunis space spectacular!

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: December 1993

As the Rebels manage to escape the wrath of Darth Vader and the Imperials while escaping to Hoth, they discover that the Millennium Falcon didn't make it out of hyperspace. Crippled by a malfunctioning navigational computer, Luke Skywalker and friends land on the nearest planet -- a veritable tropical paradise -- to make repairs. Luke soon runs into a woman appearing to be Talia Shire under attack from a carnivorous plant, and uses the Force to get out of a tight jam. But what's Talia Shire doing alone on this mysterious outlying planet? The young Rebel is about to find out the real story behind "The Paradise Detour."

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: January 1994

In the midst of a perilous "Paradise Detour," Luke continues his hunt for the missing S'ybll, while being pursued by what appears to be his old foe, the Night Beast. Eventually, the mystery of the successive unexplained appearances of Tanith Shire, the Night Beast, and Ben Kenobi is solved... and as it turns out, S'ybll has some very sinister -- and selfish -- plans for the young Jedi. Needless to say, Luke escapes S'ybll's clutches, after another Rebel rescue just in the nick of time. He, along with our other Rebel heroes, finally arrive at the new Rebel base on Hoth, ready for "A New Beginning." They're greeted there by a perturbed Princess Leia, who, before they can so much as look around, has another potentially dangerous mission for the unflappable Luke, Han, and Chewie.

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: February 1994

This series of reformatted and newly colored newspaper strip reprints is winding to a close. And lest anyone forget, Han Solo's still got a bounty on his head -- and there are plenty of opportunists who are dead-set on collecting. Han and the Rebels' recent adventures throughout the galaxy have not gone completely unnoticed by those interested in taking advantage of the easy money. In fairly short order, they meet up with an old foe who turns out to be a friend, and a couple of enemies -- who will have a much greater role to play in Return of the Jedi. A series of adventures ultimately winds up with our heroes crash-landing on Hoth, searching for a treasure which may or may not exist. This penultimate issue is graced by a brilliant new cover by veteran comic-book artist George Evans.

Place in timeline - between A New Hope and Empire

Published: March 1994

Developments in our favorite far-away galaxy a long time ago are winding their way rapidly to the point at which the events of the movie The Empire Strikes Back begin -- with the Rebels engaged in battle with Empire forces on the ice planet Hoth. But before that, our Rebel heroes will have to face a regular rogues' gallery of Star Wars rapscallions and wretches -- Darth Vader, Raskar, Skorr, and even that most nefarious of bounty hunters... Boba Fett! This wonderfully received reprint series comes to a climactic conclusion with a special 48-page issue featuring Al Williamson's original newspaper strip art, new never-before-seen Al Williamson Star Wars art, and, of course, a brand new Al Williamson cover! Who could ask for more!

Classic Star Wars, Vol. 3
Escape to Hoth

Published: 1996

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After the initial euphoria of the Rebel Alliance's first major success -- the destruction of the dreaded Imperial battle station known as the Death Star -- the Empire began to rally. It had been staggered, but not destroyed. Even Darth Vader still lived. And he sought to avenge himself upon the still-ragtag forces of the Rebel Alliance. This is the story of how Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, and the droids graduated from the triumphal reception at the conclusion of Star Wars: A New Hope to their new lives as hardbitten guerrillas fighting against the tyrannies of a still-dangerous Empire in The Empire Strikes Back.

Published: August 1996

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away . . . Those words began the first Star Wars movie in 1977, a movie that became a phenomenon the likes of which hasn't been duplicated since! Now, almost twenty years later, the phenomenon continues. New generations discover the mythos, even as the next trilogy of Star Wars movies approaches.

For the completist, for the collector, for those who were there when it started: The Classic Star Wars boxed set. Thrill to the original adventures of Luke and Leia, Han and Chewbacca, and the faithful droids Artoo-Detoo and See-Threepio -- and prepare yourself for the next installment of the greatest battle the galaxy has ever seen!