The Wild Space Omnibus is a trade paperback that gathers together many of the early Marvel stories originally published in the Marvel UK. The Wild Space Omnibus is 480 pages of previously published stories dating back to 1977 only months after the May 25th, 1977 premiere of ‘A New Hope’ and continuing on past ‘Return of the Jedi’.
The stories are a collection of Marvel magazines like Pizzazz (1977-1979), Marvel UK, from cereal boxes, Star Wars Kids, and stories originally in 3-D. The Omnibus collects together stories from major heavy weights in the comic book kingdom. Writers like Archie Goodwin, Roy Thomas, Mike Barr, Chris Claremont, Alan Moore, and Len Wein with artists like Walt Simonson, Bill Erskine, Alan Davis, Carmine Infantino, Klaus Janson, and Dave Cockrum.
The characters we all know, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Princess Leia, R2-D2, and C-Threepio were all present and accounted for along with characters like the Snow Demons, Colonel Odan, Giles Durane, Mici, and Zoltan Starkid.
Readers will discover alien races, super computers and android elemental children, Darth Vader’s viciousness, outer rim planets, origin tales about Princess Leia, the Millennium Falcon, and stories bridging gaps between each of the original movies (*my favorite was ‘The Day After the Death Star!’).
Star Wars fans reading the Omnibus be warned. Your favorite or the most well-known characters in the first half of Wild Space Vol. 1 are written with a “voice” different from what many of us have grown up with or come to know from those characters. Reading it, one must understand the writers in charge of these stories had only 125 minutes worth of movie in 1977 to understand and breathe more life in to each character which, in my opinion, gives this collection its charm. Reading on through the years of stories presented in the book, the character traits fleshed out by the movies, were more present in the storytelling.
While I wasn’t hanging on the edge of my seat with every story and some of the art falls short, the Wild Space Omnibus is still a successful trade for a variety of reasons. For one, the overall caliber of talent gracing the pages is almost second to none. Every comic book fan should read at least one thing from the likes of Roy Thomas and Archie Goodwin. Every comic book fan can appreciate work from John Stokes or Dave Cockrum. The rarities of the books collected in the Wild Space Vol. 1 Omnibus also add to its value. To have all these publications in one spot is enough to give any collector a thrill and be a savings to their wallets since they do not have to search out these near impossible (and most likely expensive) comics. And lastly, and most importantly, the reason I enjoyed the collection so much and why I believe any Star Wars fan will enjoy the Wild Space Vol. 1 Omnibus, because each page is a cornerstone brick in the foundation for the Expanded Star Wars Universe.
The Star Wars Omnibus: Wild Space Vol. 1, is a worth while collector’s book for Star Wars fans and, because of the depth of talent presented in the book, for comic book fans alike.