A bit of a nostalgic treat for some, though others may wonder where the charm lies.
What They Say:
Based on the children’s television cartoon series of the same names, Droids and Ewoks explores further adventures in the lives of the Ewoks on Endor and the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO. The Ewoks become embroiled in the dangers of their planet – lizard warriors, underwater kingdoms, magic spells – and the outside world – pirates, invaders, and more! The Droids encounter more than one new master, war droids, megaweapons, time travel, and even Ewoks! This omnibus collects all the issues of the Ewoks and Star Wars: Droids comic series, released in the 1980s by Marvel’s imprint Star Comics.
The Review:
The history behind the Droids and Ewoks comics that are reprinted in this release are a product of a seeming convergence of fate in one particular place at one specific time that allowed for the two series to come into existence. Obviously the biggest event was the success of the original Star Wars trilogy, the final film of which hit theaters just over two years before the cartoons that are based on some of the characters presented there was green lit for television. The respective cartoons followed characters that reflected the titles of the series with the Droids focusing on the pre-Star Wars misadventures of C-3PO and R2-D2 while Ewoks was set in the village of the diminutive furry creatures and largely focused on the adventures of the young Wicket, Tebo and often the princess Kneesaa as they faced (children appropriate) adventures and danger in their world and went about proving they were on the cusp of entering adulthood.
The second half of the fortunate timing is found in the path Marvel Comics, the original publisher of this material, was attempting. In addition to their regular comic line Marvel had founded a more children targeted imprint known as Star Comics and among their offerings were a fairly sizeable number of licensed series based on cartoons or toys that would give fans of the franchises additional adventures to read.
The timing for all of this came to a head as the Star Wars franchise was kind of slowing in the post (at the time) final film having been released. That isn’t to say that the franchise was yet in a moratorium like state but despite two live action Ewoks Adventure television specials which helped keep the franchise visibility up somewhat the toy line from Kenner was slowing dramatically, the Marvel Comics run was coming to a close and it would be some years before the Heir to the Empire trilogy that reignited many fans which left an impression in some ways that the property may be on the way out after years of popularity. Whether this environment allowed for more chances to be taken with the two cartoon series or if the atmosphere was just a product of the nature of Saturday morning cartoons at the time, both series took some rather liberal interpretations of the characters which met with not a lot of success as the Droids cartoon lasted only one season and 13 episodes while the Ewoks managed to squeeze out a two season, 26 episode run and neither really produced a long toy line tie in either.
The concept of the Droids series placed the two droid characters into an environment where C-3PO and R2-D2 were traveling the galaxy looking for a new master to serve while invariably finding themselves stuck in precarious situations from which their efforts often helped their current master come out on top of. In many ways the series was kind of an amalgamation of the movie characters crossed with a comedy duo along the lines of Laurel and Hardy as they often bumbled across the events in a comedic heavy type of way, though the effect of the humor was very audience reliant when it came to acceptance as the droids movements often were far more agile and varied than those of their film counterparts.
Ewoks on the other hand set itself squarely on the forest moon of Endor and it followed the encounters that the tribe of furry creatures shared their home with as it created creatures and antagonists that went well beyond what were shown in Return of the Jedi. Largely these adventures revolved around a duo or trio of young Ewoks working through the episodes dilemmas as they encountered these creatures as well as the occasional threat from beyond their world in which they had to overcome the challenges often with a good dose of action and some not quite hidden morality lesson with more than a pinch of humor on the side.
The comics here expand what I remember from the television series- though honestly I admit I remember the comic series far better than either the cartoon series. I’m probably not alone in that as even during the reignited height of the Star Wars popularity with the original films Special Edition release and then the second trilogy release failed to get either series completely released on the home video market and revisiting the franchise through this collection probably gives a hint as to why. Frankly time hasn’t been kind to this material as the nature of children’s entertainment has changed a bit over the years and it is hard to figure that the audience age range the material was originally aimed at would be as thrilled today with the series structure and humor, especially when considering how this material is so different in tenor than the current Clone Wars series.
Which then leaves this release largely targeting itself at either the nostalgic crowd or those willing to open themselves to explore a time when a more “anything goes” attitude seemed to be the approach taken to the Star Wars franchise which some may enjoy in some light tales but others may feel is rather apocryphal. It is likely like what a reader gets out of this series will depend largely on what they bring in terms of attitude but a number of things will probably prove inescapable. Along these lines the artists from the comics, particularly Droids, seem to have a lot of freedom when it comes to the various stories and the writers go well beyond what the characters did onscreen as they attempt to tell their tales without these limitations.
For the most part this works as long as the reader has an open mind about the material and is willing to accept the radical departure as the series sets its own timing and narrative that is pretty different from that seen in the feature films. This release probably works best for those really forgiving of some of the peculiarities that any given story could have either in a rather imaginative plot or some points where some of the characters seem to lack a basic model of character design that the artists are to stick to.
For myself, I found there was a limit to how much I could read at any giving sitting due to some of the flaws in the material. I remembered the material somewhat fondly (at least for Ewoks) when I thought back to the series before getting the chance to revisit it through this review opportunity. With the span of over a quarter century in time and experience in between some of the changes I didn’t register at the time turned out to be just a bit too much for me if I didn’t use a hue of nostalgia to view it through. This isn’t really a fault of the material as such as it was aimed at a younger demographic (which I was in at the time) and as such the tales were aimed to entertain that group and an older and (perhaps) more jaded fan at that time had a similar reaction to what I felt myself in rereading them when my cynicism broke past the nostalgia. The thing is that when the cynicism didn’t break through I found some light hearted adventures that were well worth the time, though I don’t know that the trip back to the past was enjoyable enough for the release to be one I revisit often in the future and those without the nostalgic connection and/or who dislike frivolity in the Star Wars universe may find that this is really a release they should leave on the retailer shelf.
Also a major note- the material provided for this review was digital but there were points where it looked like entire lines of dialogue weren’t completely printed as it is scrunched up across the entire panel, though given the artwork doesn’t suffer from this I likely is a source problem and it wasn’t all that uncommon from what I recall back in those days.
In Summary:
This collection of the Droids and Ewoks comics originally released from Marvel’s Stat Comics imprint brings together all the comics from that label and is probably best viewed either with a heavy lens of nostalgia for those who remember it or with a large understanding of the intended audience and the time period for those who either missed the series when they originally ran or are too young to have lived through them. In many ways it is the kind of Star Wars stories we don’t see much these days as they take a rather light hearted and comedic approach to the material which has in large part been lost to the more serious tones that the franchise has as part of its underpinnings. I suspect this release will be fighting with the Star Wars Dance Kinect game for getting up the ire of a good deal of the Star Wars fanbase who dislike the more “outside the box” stories and marketing that the franchise occasionally attempts but those who remember these tales fondly and those who are willing to let (quite) a bit slide when it comes to continuity and the franchises more serious (at times) tone may find this an entertaining if not canonical trip with some old friends.
Grade: B
