Star Wars

MARVEL SPECIAL EDITION FEATURING STAR WARS — Issue no. 3, July 1978

Book: Marvel Special Edition Featuring Star Wars

Issue No.: 3

Published: July 4, 1978

Title: “Star Wars”

Cover Price: $2.50

Format: Original paper copy

I have written a few times already about my very first comic book (Amazing Spider-Man no. 180, in case you’re new to Marvel Time Warp), which is the most important comic book of my childhood (or at least my pre-teen years) and likely inspired my lifelong love of comic books, superheroes, and general nerdery.

I have also written about my love of the movie Star Wars, and how its release in the late 1970s was a seismic pop culture event for many folks my age.

So it won’t surprise you that the second most important comic book of my pre-teen years is probably Marvel Special Edition Featuring Star Wars issue no. 3. The book’s official title is a bit ungainly, but the book itself is pure awesomeness. It is a treasury-sized (approximately 10" by 13.5"), 114-page (well, 112-page — the “114 pgs.” thing on the front is counting the inside covers as pages), no-ads reprint of Marvel’s first six Star Wars comic books. That’s Marvel’s entire comics adaptation of the movie, plus some pin-ups and other little bonus pages.

I am pretty sure I got this book because I was accompanying my mom on some all-day grown-up errands, and she figured a huge Star Wars comic book would keep me entertained while she was doing whatever it was that she was doing. (I have a vague memory that she was helping a relative move to a new apartment, but I have no idea if that is accurate.) Anyway, yes, this book did keep me entertained, for that day and for many days after that. I don’t know how many times I actually re-read the whole book from beginning to end, but I know I often revisited it, just flipping through it to enjoy the artwork.

And, of course, we didn’t have Disney+ in 1978 (or 1979? I have no idea when I actually got this book, and my guess is it was on store shelves for a long time because Star Wars was popular for a long time), so in those days this Star Wars book was a good way to enjoy Star Wars at home.

I did not re-read Marvel Special Edition Featuring Star Wars no. 3 for Marvel Time Warp. Instead, I thought I’d share a few photos of my copy of the book. Yes, I somehow managed to hold on to this book for more than 40 years! My copy is well worn, to say the least. Far from mint. (And missing at least one page — did young me foolishly rip out one of those pin-up pages and actually pin it up?!) But it’s one of the few books I have from my early comics collecting days, so I’m glad to still have it in any condition.

One more thing before I get to the photos. I have a couple of the early issues of Marvel’s regular Star Wars book that are reprinted in the Special Edition. Aside from being larger, the treasury pages are at a slightly different aspect ratio — the treasury pages are, relatively speaking, wider/shorter than a standard 1978 comic book page. Comparing the regular books to the treasury-sized book, I noticed that there is less white space at the bottom and top of the treasury book pages. Which makes sense, as Bronze Age comics pages tend to have white space at the top and bottom to spare.

But trimming white space doesn’t quite get the art to fit on the treasury-sized pages, so about a quarter-inch of artwork from the bottom of each page also gets trimmed before it is blown up to treasury size. It’s not just lopped off — someone went in and redrew the bottom border line for all of the bottom-of-page panels. It’s a subtle alteration — I doubt anyone ever noticed it who didn’t go in and compare page-by-page (like I just did).

Next time — A big (but not treasury big) Conan book, plus my week 27 wrap-up!