biage along with the red callout boxes on the cover
with Greek but left the red shadow of the original
Star Wars title. Instead of re-designing the shadow
they re-purposed Greek letters into the red background. The traditional Marvel banner was altered
a bit to call out Kabanas along with Marvel. It also
appears the classic Howard Chaykin artwork sent
to the publisher in Greece was the reprinted version. We know this because
the word “Reprint” which Hellas kept
in English in the upper left corner along
with Luke’s image. The bar code was
removed and replaced with the Star
Wars logo in English! How interesting
yet odd the cover included both English and Greek lettering.
Now let’s move on to the interior, shall
we? We know from sources in Greece
that, in order to save money on printing, Hellas didn’t print in full color.
Every other spread is black and white
which is a bit awkward. One thing that is obvious
with the colors is, it seems the blue plate was much
heavier in the shading along with blue being used
in places not in the American version. Color also
seems to have been re-done in a much simpler
fashion which gives the artwork more of a contrast
in general. Were the color stats not sent to the publisher? We don’t think so, in fact we think Hellas got
their Marvel artwork from other foreign publishers
in Europe licensing the material, so it makes sense
Chaykins artwork was re-colored.
The Star Wars run in Greece was published bimontly and ran for 9 issues. Issue 1 contained both
American issue 1 and 2. Along with these a supplemental Western story either Rawhide Kid or Two
Gun Kid rounded out the issue.
Translation-wise we are not sure how well Roy
Thomas’s story held up. We do know the translations were supposed to be horrible according to our expert source from FCC
issue #4. Fun Greek ads for Kabanas
Hellas books are sprinkled throughout
the issue along with a color ad for the
Star Wars movie on the back cover
which, by that time, was taking over
the world. One thing for certain is that
no Star Wars comic collector worth his
salt should dismiss this issue. We think
print runs could have been as low as
a couple thousand to maybe 12 thousand on the high side. FCC issue #4
and the wonderful Q and A with Vasillis teaches us that the political environment these
books entered was not good. That, along with a
general distaste for the American style made it a
tough sell, which means many Hellas books were
left lonely on newsstands unsold. It doesn’t take a
genius to realize these books are special and drip
with novel and intrinsnic value. Another thing to
factor is the fact that so many of these books were
returned to the publisher to be “tomed” (bound for
resale) or outright destroyed and lost to the sands
of time.
Interiors brimming with personality
USA
Greek
Notice the heavier blue plate used in the
Greek version. This little quirk along with a
more simple color scheme seem to add more
contrast to the Greek color spreads.
A fun Greek ad for Howard the Duck
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