Comic Info
Comic Name: Droids/Ewoks
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics/Marvel Comics
Writer: Dave Manak/George Carragone
Artist: John Romita/Warren Kremer/Mary Wilshire/Ernie Colon
# of Issues: 22
Release Date: 2012
Star Wars: Droids #7
Reprints Droids #1-8 and Ewoks #1-14 (May 1985-July 1987). R2-D2 and C-3PO find themselves travelling the universe. In an effort to find new masters, R2-D2 and C-3PO find themselves battling gunrunners, political coups, and other robots. Meanwhile, on the forest moon of Endor, Wicket, Teebo, and Kneesaa have adventures in the forest and find that survival can be difficult in the dark world.
Written by Dave Manak with additional writing by George Carragone, Star Wars Omnibus: Droids and Ewoks reprints the Marvel comic series which originally ran under the Star Comics imprint. Droids ran from April 1986-June 1987 and Ewoks ran May 1985-July 1987, and both series were based on the Saturday morning Star Wars spinoff cartoons which aired from September 7, 1985-December 1986. The collection was also rereleased by Marvel when Marvel regained the rights to Star Wars.
When Star Wars: Return of the Jedi was released, Star Wars was at its peak of popularity. Fans devoured the series, but also knew that the series was ending…leading to a drop off in merchandise. With demand still high, the Droids and Ewoks cartoons premiered and started a “new” Star Wars universe. Both series fizzled (Ewoks lasted longer), but Marvel got the right to publish the tie-in comics (they were still publishing the stand-alone Star Wars comic). Here, Dark Horse who took over Star Wars after Marvel published the series.
Ewoks #10
I remember eagerly awaiting Saturday morning to watch Droids and Ewoks when they were premiering. In the pre-internet world, you generally knew little about new cartoons except their title and when they were on. Droids was frustrating with R2-D2 and C-3PO working with non-canon heroes. Here, the series smartly crosses over with Ewoks for an issue and also retells Star Wars from the droids’ perspective…but it still doesn’t work as a title.
The Ewoks’ cartoon worked better than Droids and ran longer as a result. The Ewoks were mostly popular with kids which led Ewoks to seems even more childish and more like a cartoon book than Droids. Both series feel like they are half-baked and not really committed to being anything but a moneymaking grab.
I will say the Dark Horse Omnibus collections are great. The quality of the books and their hefty (but high grade) paper definitely sets them above many DC and Marvel books. Ewoks and Droids however are pretty painful to read at times. The series were aimed at children and they read as children’s comics. If you grew up reading the two series, you might enjoy the nostalgia factor of Star Wars Omnibus: Droids and Ewoks…but if you did not, you probably can find a better Star Wars fix elsewhere.
