The Forgotten Star Wars Comics of Alan Moore

Alan Moore’s
Rare, Obscure, and Forgotten

Star Wars Comics

Alan Moore is most famous for “Watchmen”, “V for Vendetta” and “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”. In the early eighties Alan Moore began writing some four or five page comics for “Doctor Who Weekly”. Moore says this experience taught him how to construct a story. Moore went directly from Doctor Who to Star Wars.

At the time Marvel’s Star Wars comics were being imported into Britain. But Marvel UK commissioned a few original tales that were not included in the American versions. In total Alan Moore created five very short comics for Marvel UK. 

These comics are not really Star Wars as we know it. These are weird, strange tales more likely to be found in “Tales of the Crypt” or Stephen King’s “Creepshow”. Nevertheless, these are artfully done. Alan Moore’s strong voice and point-of-view makes these fun to read. It is only four years later that he would begin work on “Watchmen”, the series that forever changed comics.

The canonicity of these Star Wars tales were ambiguous even before the Disney merger, but a few elements of Alan Moore’s version of Star Wars have found their way into post-Disney-merger material. The strongest story here is probably “Dark Lord’s Conscience”, which is the least mystical and captures the silent-strength of Vader perfectly. Each one of these tales is a fun-read and if you find a way to get your hands on some of these rarities, it will be worth it.

“The Pandora Effect” by Alan Moore

Marvel UK- November, 1981

Han, Leia, and Chewbacca are on a smuggling mission and are chased into a Hellhoop (some kind of black-hole like structure that Han refers to as a ‘Mathematician’s Nightmare’) Inside they are captured by a religious cult called “The Five” who wander the galaxy imprisoning and torturing anything they come across. In an effort to escape Chewbacca smashes a crystal structure, which has been holding a demon as prisoner. The demon (called a Wutzek) is set loose and the titular Pandora Effect is set in motion.

“Tilotny Throws a Shape” by Alan Moore
Marvel UK –February, 1982

Princess Leia finds herself on a desolate planet being pursued by stormtroopers. Alan Moore informs the audience that she will die before next sunfall. Leia soon runs into some nonmaterial beings who play around with matter and time. This is certainly the most science-fictiony / supernatural that Star Wars has ever been.

“Dark Lord's Conscience” by Alan Moore
Marvel UK – April, 1982

Darth Vader plays a giant game of Firepath (space chess) with a squid queen who floats in a spherical fish tank. It seems to go against Vader’s nature to use his intellect to defeat his enemies, although it is reminiscent of the trap that he set for Luke in “The Empire Strikes Back”. The story takes place on a planet called “Cheetlit”, which would be featured again in 2015 in “Rey’s Survival Guide”.

“Rust Never Sleeps” by Alan Moore
Marvel UK- May, 1982

C3-P0 and R2-D2 find themselves on a junk planet called Ronyards where countless bodies of dead or broken droids have been dumped. The rusting husks of droids that still survive on this planet worship the planet as the “god of the droids”. When the Empire shows up to harvest the old metal droids for their own purposes, the planet seems to fight back. Of course droids don’t have a god… or do they?

“Blind Fury” by Alan Moore
Marvel UK – July, 1982

Luke Skywalker has intercepted a distress call from the planet Garn. Luke lands on the planet and enters a tall black tower. Inside Luke finds many dangers including a host of terrifying macabre beasts. He also finds the skeletons of Jedi Knights in their battle armor. Apparently Alan Moore’s version of Jedi Battle Armor includes giant horned helmets reminiscent of the Vikings or the Japanese Shogun era. Eventually at the heart of the tower Luke finds the High Shaman from a group called The Order Of The Terrible Glare (which is kind of like the Sith Order, but the Sith mythology hadn’t yet been explored in the 1980s.)

*These stories have since been collected in the 1996 “Classic Star Wars Devilworlds 1 & 2” by Dark Horse and most recently in the 2013 collection “Star Wars Omnibus: Wild Space Volume 1”

Dark Horse Comics (Link)

Dawn of the Jedi  Dawn of the Jedi

Tales of the Jedi Tales of the Jedi

Knights of the Old Republic Knights of the Old Republic

Star Wars: Republic Star Wars: Republic
Dark Times Dark Times
Empire & Rebellion Star Wars: Empire & Star Wars: Rebellion
Brian Wood's Star Wars Brian Wood's Star Wars
Dark Empire Dark Empire
Crimson Empire Crimson Empire
Invasion Invasion
Legacy Vol. 1 Star Wars: Legacy
Vector Star Wars: Vector
Legacy Vol. 2 Legacy Volume 2
Infinities Infinities
The Star Wars The Star Wars

Star Wars Tales Star Wars Tales

Marvel Comics

Original Marvel Comics Original Marvel Comics
Star Wars #108 Star Wars #108
Alan Moore's Star Wars Comics Alan Moore's Star Wars Comics

Han Solos Vs. Space Crocodile Han Solo vs. Crocodile in Space

Marvel's New Star Wars Line Catching Up With Comics

Age of Republic Age of Republic
Age of Rebellion Age of Rebellion
Age of Resistance Age of Resistance

Star Wars #1... Again Star Wars #1... Again
Ewoks in Comics Ewoks in Comis
Who is Doctor Aphra Who Is Doctor Aphra

The Last Jedi Expanded Universe The Last Jedi Expanded Universe
Who is Jaxxon Who Is Jaxxon

IDW Comics
Tales from Vader's Castle Tales from Vader's Castle

Return to Vader's Caslte Return to Vader's Castle