So what evil lies behind that door?
Can you remember the first comic book that ever landed in your hands? More than a decade ago I first met one of my comic book creator heroes, Howard Chaykin. Chaykin created the very first Star Wars movie poster, a stylized, action-filled cover in his unique style:
Chaykin was visiting town at a local Con and luckily for me most of the visitors at the show were in line for the newest young comic artist, and didn’t realize all Mr. Chaykin had done in his long career in comics and television, so I got plenty of time to chat with him, and have him autograph my first comic book: Star Wars, Issue #8, featuring a story called “Eight for Aduba-3,” influenced by The Magnificent Seven/Seven Samurai story. I’ve bragged up Chaykin before here at borg.com. He’s one of the most interesting guys in the comics business.
“Eight for Aduba-3″ came out when Marvel Comics first had the license to create the Star Wars movie adaptation, drawn by Chaykin and written by Chaykin and the great Roy Thomas, after a quick look at materials from the film and conversation with George Lucas. They were tapped to take the characters from the new phenomenon in a new direction following the events in Episode IV: A New Hope. “Eight for Aduba-3″ included more than one tough recruited mercenary, much like its source material, but the big standout was Jaxxon, a giant, angry green rabbit-man.
The Marvel Comics series ran to 107 issues, three annuals, and a four-issue adaptation of Return of the Jedi. Then Dark Horse Comics later took over and gave us 20 years of great stories. As we reported here back in July during Comic-Con, Marvel Comics announced that January 2015 will see the first of Marvel taking over the Star Wars comic book line from Dark Horse with three initial series. Fellow Elite Comics regular Jason Aaron will write and John Cassaday will serve as artist on the new series taking place just after A New Hope, where the original 1978 Marvel Comics line began and the current main Dark Horse title takes place.
Today Marvel Comics made public a variant cover for Aaron and Cassaday’s new series–Star Wars, Issue #1, featuring none other than Jaxxon himself.
We couldn’t be happier with the result. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your tastes), we won’t likely see much more of Jaxxon in the ongoing monthly–the cover is more of an homage to Marvel’s first foray into the expanded Star Wars universe. Drawn by John Tyler Christopher, this “Party Variant” will only be available at Star Wars launch parties in January. We also couldn’t be happier the future of Star Wars canon will be in the hands of our pal Jason Aaron, one of Marvel’s best story writers.
Look for a Star Wars Marvel launch party near you in January 2015 with more details coming soon.
C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com
