Marvelous Yoda
Don’t forget to vote in our new poll: Which is your favorite non-Star Wars science fiction? We couldn’t list EVERYTHING, and we had to conflate franchises like Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Gate and Battlestar into single categories just to allow enough options.
Yoda’s first appearance in the Marvel Comics adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back is quite different from the lovable green goblin we ended up with on the cinema screen. Al Williamson’s interpretation of Yoda was based on the early concept sketches from the drawing boards of Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston, seen below. As the comic was in production at the same time as the movie and Yoda’s look was still being developed, the Marvel version ended up being very different from the Yoda that Stuart Freebron would ultimately model for the film.
…Williamson actually went back later and fixed the artwork for Marvel. Consequently, although Yoda was purple in issues #42 and #43 of the main Star Wars series, he was actually redrawn and coloured green when the adaptation was reprinted in the paperback-sized Marvel Comics Illustrated Version Of The Empire Strikes Back (see examples below).
~~~The Confessor
Interesting how they changed Luke’s line in that last panel to be more science-fictiony. It reminds me of a parody of that aspect of science fiction description that I read once, but now I can’t find it!
Heh, yeah, “food concentrate stick” for dinner, call a rabbit a “smerp,” pallet-swap “Victory at Sea” with spaceships, and viola! you’ve got science fiction!
Love the “Marvel Yoda.” I suppose they were trying to get the book out in sync with the movie, and printing and distribution lead times made this necessary.
Reminds me of when CRACKED Mazagine based their parody of Jaws II on the novel instead of the movie. Good times.
oh sweet jeebus there are so many options on the poll to choose from!! Battlestar?! Firefly?? Dune?? GAAARGH Brain is hurting! I cannot decide! They are all gods in my mind!
Battle star of course, Firefly is over rated..
Yes, I think we have someone rallying the Firefly communities to vote in this poll as it seems unrealistically skewed at the moment.
Ah, the Browncoats are flocking? Why doesn’t someone rally the SPACE:1999 communities to boost their ratings?
(checks poll . . . Ah, SPACE: 1999 has two votes; I guess they _were_ rallied.)
I’m trying to rally the Alien crowds–Meaning I voted a bunch of times.
Oh, I know! I’ll just ask Bolaji Badejo. I’m sure he’ll vote. 😛
Well, we have to understand that they fight for a cause long lost. Firefly was a series that rallied many under its banner, but now they are only the remainder of the vast fanbase, losing members every day because there is no new episodes to be shown. I understand them to some extent.
I keep deliberately not watching Firefly, partly just because everyone wants me to see it so badly. 🙂
I gave it a go, but about 3 or 4 episodes in I just wasn’t feeling it. So, you’re not necessarily missing anything. There’s no such thing as a universal drug!
Have you tried “Farscape”? It combines all the best elements of American and British sci-fi, and makes some wonderfully different story choices along the way.
You’ve also got Australian elements and Jim Henson puppetry that harks back to Frank Oz’s Yoda. If you like the special effects style of Star Wars OT, you’ll like what Farscape was going for: much less human-looking aliens than you get in anything else without using CGI. Long live Muppetry!
A much darker Yoda, funny that they added “food concentrate stick”. I like the original artwork more. I hope to see more of raisin face at Bluemilk. Keep up the great work.
Aughh – just when I thought I’d finally eradicated all memory of that scary little purple fella, there he is again!
I nearly barfed my food concentrate sticks.
And he was tiny, remember?
I remember him shrinking and growing at will…
Are you guys criticizing the art or referring to the actual comic? :-/
The MARVEL comic Rod! And anyway, what do you mean ‘the actual’ – BMS is the the ACTUAL comic 🙂
Like we would rag on Leanne and you, you daft sausage.
I recall in the marvel comic one panel where Yoda is standing on a tree root and looks tiny, like a 1 foot goblin – then later he is more ‘regular’ sized.
I got a comment earlier that WAS ragging on the art. I guess I was just in that frame of mind when I read this one. Thanks guys.
“Food concentrate stick”? It probably looked too much like purple Yoda was smoking something, so they felt the need to explain. His early designs look rather “Lord-of-the-Rings”y.
Hah, I totally did think he was smoking a pipe when I first looked at it.
Oh, me too! Get his fix of nicotine, Yoda must. 🙂
When Yoda goes into the Dark Side tree cave, he faces the purple-Marvel Yoda and Chuck-Norris Yoda!
Man that’s flippin’ hilarious! I about rolled out of my chair when I saw this. I actually remember this issue…wish I had it now! Great work! LOVE this site! I am telling all my friends about it!
Rod, I love that you referred to Yoda as a lovable “GREEN GOBLIN”. Nice little Spider-man reference you made there. Did anyone else see that?
YAAAAAAAAA!
When became this a horror comic?
Hid under my desk did I, scared of purple Yoda am I.
No milk carton can I forsee for this Purple Yoda!
Get the green one back soon I hope, or else sad will I be. 😉
Hooray! Really happy to see someone using Yoda’s OT syntax! It feels like the prequels have erased any memory of lines like “strong am I with the Force” (vs. “strong with the Force, I am”)!
Love the strip, btw! Despite Yoda’s syntax… 😉
Wait a minute… Which syntax are you saying I’m using? Hopefully I’m using the OT version.
Every time Yoda comes out with a line in the PT, my wife and I roll our eyes and groaaannn…
“Headed for us, that enemy starship is. All of your weapons, concentrate on it you mus…” BOOM! Too late. End of film.
Yeah, that does sound more forced. I hope I’m getting it right. I’ve never really analyzed it and I have’t seen the PT enough to really know how it differed.
I haven’t a clue either. I’m surprised to see from my old drawings that I actually LIKED Yoda when I was a kid.
I am loving the poll, and even more so, the comments.
Now I have Blake 7, and Cowboy Bebop, to add to my must see someday list, just based on the comments alone.
You must watch Cowboy Bebop, most excellent it is. Also Ghost in the shell.. erm watch you must..
I second Ghost in the Shell, if we’re talking about Ghost in the Shell: SAG (Stand Alone Complex). It’s a brilliant series. My brother back in NZ is a big Cowboy Bebop fan, but I never got around to watching it.
Hey, Yoda’s a prune face! That’s my corny joke for the strip. Kudos to anyone to who recognizes my reference to Orimaarko.
got to say, i prefer the marvel yoda… it’s actually more “alien” than the green one, who kinda looks like Mr. Miyagi xD
Is that the guy from Karate kid?
He sure is.
Haha, I remember that dude from the Making of ESB book I have. Minch Yoda. I laughed so hard when I saw the concept sketches. He went from being a smurf, to a purple goblin, to a green gnome. Ahh, good times.
Okay, somebody help me out, here….who does Raisin Yoda look like?? I’m reminded of someone, but I can’t place who it is! Argh!
Good one! You said ages ago that you’d use this in a strip. True to your word.
See how that weird rendering of Luke was copied and made even weirder looking?
I always had the idea that the very professional and polished artwork in esb was by and Italian or spaniard. It certainly has that look.
Pulled out my Marvel Comic “Empire Strikes Back” did I.
Saw no Evil purple Yoda, with my eyes, only the lovable green one did I see.
Good omen this is, even though a reprint it must be.
Scared of Purple Yoda am I.
Bring green one back soon begs I.
Never mind purple Yoda, why does Luke look like Wilfred Hyde White?
It occurs to me that except for the purple color the Marvel Comics version of Yoda looks exactly like the parody of Yoda (“Yogurt”) that Mel Brooks played in Spaceballs. Moreso than either of them look like official Yoda.
Wasn’t it Wendy Froud who ultimately wound up designing the finalized Yoda?
Notice how the swartz is strong with the pre yoda.
The lower, green Marvel Yoda looks like Ben Franklin.