I'm not aware of anyone who doesn't admire the work of Russ Manning. Manning created a sleek handsome future world for Magnus the Robot Fighter, a world which was visually sometimes at odds with the dangerous threats it faced from too much reliance on technology. He'd broken in on Brothers of the Spear and made himself an international star with his definitive work on Tarzan of the Apes. So when the Star Wars folks wanted to take their stripling concept and expand it onto the funny pages, they found the ideal translator in Manning.
Manning was in complete command in the beginning, partly because that's the way he preferred to work and partly because the behemoth that was to become the Star Wars machine was still forming. Eventually they decided they needed to pre-approved things and at that point Manning gave up writing the strip though he continued to draw it.
There were three stories during the Manning-only period, the most famous of these is likely "Gambler's World" which ran in the daily strip and introduced a new villain named "Blackhole". Given the understandable mandate that none of the real status quo of the series could be affected, the story has a frivolous quality to it which was not to my mind in keeping with the Star Wars feel, but there's no denying Manning's skill at capturing the characters likenesses.
In the Sunday pages two other Manning-only efforts ran and they were both more like the movie. They introduced a new character named Gyla Petro who was at once a minor romantic interest for Han Solo and someone for him to talk to since he couldn't have both Luke and Leia at the same time in the series, one of the early restrictions on Manning. Han and later Luke shows to help save a culture from Empire and later we get a glimpse of Wookie culture.
At that point Steve Gerber of Howard the Duck fame steps aboard for an adventure which takes Luke back to Tatooine. It's probably my favorite of the stories as it really evokes the classic feel of the movie. A writer named Russ Helm comes aboard with a few stories and later Don Christensen writes a few. By the time it's over we've met some really interesting new characters such as Lady Tarkin (loved Peter Cushing in the movie and liked seeing him remembered here). Even Boba Fett turns up to make things hot for the trio as that embargo seems to have been lifted at some point.
When Manning fell ill his assistants Dave Stevens and Rick Hoberg take the helm for a short transitional period and then the duo of Helm and new artist Alfredo Alacala take over. Now I'm a huge Alacala fan, but he was not well used here and the last strip in this collection is several notches in quality below the rest. The sleek futuristic lines of Manning have been replaced with Alfredo's heavier touches and not to good effect and I have to wonder how much reference Alcala had since the characters look very different and only vaguely like the the movie stars they represent. It's a tragedy indeed that Russ Manning died so young.
But this is just the beginning for the strip as in the next volume Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson step aboard.
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