A few months ago we told you about a Korean webcomic that retells the original Star Wars trilogy from the perspective of Luke Skywalker. The comic by writer and artist Hong Jacga was approved by Lucasfilm. The dreamy, beautiful art shows Tatooine in a new light and puts readers inside Luke’s head. It adds depth to the story we know, and it’s pretty neat that we can get those extra layers over 30 years after the original trilogy released. The comic was being posted on Daum’s webtoon portal in Korean, but now the Star Wars digital comic has been translated from Korean to English and is available on LINE Webtoon.
The Star Wars digital comic series launches today, but Hong Jacga has been working on the webtoon since April 2014. He says, “Disney Korea was looking for ways to promote Star Wars, which had a relatively weaker following in South Korea, and they felt that retelling of Star Wars (especially the original trilogy that came out in the ’70s and ’80s and not experienced by the younger generation) in the most popular digital content medium in Korea, otherwise known as webtoon, was way to go. At the time, I was both a webtoon creator and a huge Star Wars fan, and therefore, my editor from my publisher (DAUM) recommended me to Disney Korea. Disney and Lucasfilm thankfully well rated my art, and the Star Wars webtoon project was born.”
As mentioned, the digital comic is Lucasfilm approved. Is it canon? Well, sort of. According to Lucasfilm, “The LINE Webtoon Star Wars comics are told from Luke Skywalker’s point-of-view–certain events are added while others get omitted. So the content remains true to the films but is filtered through the author’s vision of how Luke experiences each situation.” Obi-Wan Kenobi would approve of that answer.
Hong Jacga collaborates directly with Lucasfilm and said it’s been a great experience: “When I first started working on this project, I segmented the original trilogy into 40 chapters, and then, I was able to freely discuss with Disney Korea and an editor from Lucasfilm on the scenes that I wanted to heighten and scenes that I needed to skip around. I was initially worried about adding the part on Luke’s youth in his own perspective and his narration while keeping the integrity of the Star Wars movie, but Lucasfilm had been very helpful and kind in sharing necessary reference books and source images. Disney Korea also had been very helpful acting as a bridge between Lucasfilm and me, and I was able to execute the project step-by-step from penciling to penning to coloring thanks to them. There certainly was a pressure in turning such huge franchise into the webtoon format, but it was more of an opportunity to up my geek level thanks to the meticulous review and comments from Lucasfilm’s story group and editor.”
New installments of the Star Wars digital comic will be released on Webtoon every Thursday and Sunday. They can be read on the website or via the LINE Webtoon app available via the Apple App store and Google Play. The story of the digital comic will extend from A New Hope to Return of the Jedi.
Will you be reading this new comic? Head to the comments and tell me your thoughts about this take on the original trilogy.
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Images: LINE Webtoon
