Review- STAR WARS OMNIBUS: THE COMPLETE SAGA- EPISODES I-VI

STAR WARS OMNIBUS: THE COMPLETE SAGA- EPISODES I-VI (Dark Horse, 2011; Softcover) 

Collects Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Nos. 1-4, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Nos. 1-4, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Nos. 1-4, Star Wars: A New Hope- Special Edition Nos. 1-4, Classic Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Nos. 1, 2 (itself a recut and recolored version of Marvel's Star Wars Nos. 39-44, originally published in 1980), and Classic Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Nos. 1, 2 (itself a recut and recolored version of Marvel's Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Nos. 1-4, originally published in 1983). (cover dates October, 1994- May, 2005)

Writers: George Lucas, with adaptations by Archie Goodwin and others

Artists: Al Williamson and others

This was a gift for my son's 5^th birthday from a friend of mine. We worked our way through all 600 pages in a few months. I always handle my books gingerly, and have always wondered exactly how much abuse one of these books could take before falling apart. The answer is quite a bit! My son is pretty rough on his books. His copy is dog eared, creased, and loved, and not a single page is loose. He'd sleep with it and flip through the pages by nightlight. I love how Star Wars has captured his heart and his mind, much like it did for me at such a young age. Star Wars lives!

Now as for the stories themselves, well, what can I say? I am a Star Wars nut and so is my son. He was genetically pre-dispositioned to be one. The stories are great and read just swell in the sequential narrative graphic panel artform (that's comic books to you layman/laywoman out there). We had a blast reading these. I dislike the mid-90s computer recoloring of the '80s adaptations, but my son seemed to enjoy this, so so be it. A great birthday present for my son, Rick!

The OCD zone- There is no better reading value on the planet than the Dark Horse Omnibus format. Nice paper, sewn binding, the comics are all in full color, with page counts ranging between 400-600 pages...all for $24.99 MSRP.