It's quite possible I've blogged about this before, but it's a story that still haunts me. Sometime in the summer of 1978, I bought a science fiction magazine at the drugstore in Leaf Rapids.How many science fiction magazines could possibly have been distributed that far north in the 1970s? We had a spinner rack of comic books, Cracked, Mad, and maybe, maybe, Starlog.
And yet I don't think it was Starlog, because Starlog was never in the habit of publishing fiction.
This magazine - I seem to recall that the interior was black and white pulp, like Creepy or Vampirella back in the days of Warren publishing, with a glossy full-colour colour of mostly aqua and yellow - featured at least one very creepy Star Wars short story.
It took place just after the end of the first movie. Luke, Han Leia and the rest were all still gathered at the Rebel base on the forest moon of Yavin. Darth Vader was still spinning out of control in his TIE fighter. Luke and Leia's romance blossoms, while Ben Kenobi's ghost plays...some kind of role. I don't remember.
Han Solo winds up leaving the base, meets Darth Vader and gets turned to the dark side; he even becomes some kind of scary cyborg. Chewbacca is devastated, as are Luke and Leia.
It all goes bad. I don't remember how the story ended, but I do remember I thought it was an awful but compelling way to continue the Star Wars saga.
I wish I still had that magazine.If it ever really existed, I'm sure Lucasfilm's lawyers must have shredded every copy by now.
And yet I don't think it was Starlog, because Starlog was never in the habit of publishing fiction.
This magazine - I seem to recall that the interior was black and white pulp, like Creepy or Vampirella back in the days of Warren publishing, with a glossy full-colour colour of mostly aqua and yellow - featured at least one very creepy Star Wars short story.
It took place just after the end of the first movie. Luke, Han Leia and the rest were all still gathered at the Rebel base on the forest moon of Yavin. Darth Vader was still spinning out of control in his TIE fighter. Luke and Leia's romance blossoms, while Ben Kenobi's ghost plays...some kind of role. I don't remember.
Han Solo winds up leaving the base, meets Darth Vader and gets turned to the dark side; he even becomes some kind of scary cyborg. Chewbacca is devastated, as are Luke and Leia.
It all goes bad. I don't remember how the story ended, but I do remember I thought it was an awful but compelling way to continue the Star Wars saga.
I wish I still had that magazine.If it ever really existed, I'm sure Lucasfilm's lawyers must have shredded every copy by now.
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