Doctor Jones, I Presume? Writers, Here’s How To Introduce Your Hero (#3 Of A Bunch)…

(thanks, jackpmoore!) 

Thanks to George Lucas, Philp Kaufman and Lawrence Kasdan with a grand assist from director Steven Spielberg (and of course, the great Harrison Ford’s performance), this one’s easy to fall into and get hooked on right from the moment the Paramount logo fades into that mountain and a big grin spreads on your face. I also find this intro hilarious because those old serials the film was derived from were divided into chapters only a few minutes long, so this would have never been allowed. Anyway, this is one of the most perfect film openings that sets the tone for what’s to come a few minutes later in that trap-packed cave and later, the wilder globe-hopping adventure to come that’s still one of the most re-watchable films ever. I saw Raiders on day one of its release here in NYC and many times since because while it’s far from flawless, it just never fails to entertain in every respect. That’s one part of what makes a true classic movie hero, I’d say…

Dark Horse’s Upcoming The Star Wars Comic Goes Back to the Future to Bring Up The Past…

the star warsOK, it’s not just any Star Wars, folks… it’s The Star Wars, an eight-issue maxi series based on George Lucas’ original rough draft screenplay and translated into visual form by writer J. W. Rinzler and artist Mike Mayhew with colorists Rain Beredo and Brad Anderson. Behind that Nick Runge cover (that’s nicely reminiscent of the late Ralph McQuarrie’s work) lies what Dark Horse is promising to be “one of the biggest, craziest, alt-universe stories the franchise has ever seen.” I’m old enough to have had at one point a bunch of Star Wars books on the making of the film including the stellar The Art of Star Wars which showed a load of pre-production art that was based on that rough draft, and so far, the first few pages I’ve seen have captured that look just about perfectly.

So, if you’re a fan of SW, but prefer it classic style (as in Han shooting first) or as originally intended by its creator, here you go. I have the feeling that this one will do well… it must be the Force or something mule-kicking me in the noggin… Ouch.