Having recently talked about my love of the movie tie-in novelization, I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t dive into the equally enjoyable Marvel Super Specials that often adapted those same movies, and brought them to life panel by panel – sometimes with stellar art, sometimes not, but always worth collecting.

I remember snapping up an issue-sized as opposed to super-sized version of Raiders of the Lost Ark, which I devoured repeatedly, and used as the blueprint of many an action scene as I worked to recreate the movie during my play time.

I also prided myself on have the novel-sized version of Marvel’s adaptations of Blade Runner, and The Empire Strikes Back, with a strangely designed and coloured Yoda. The art in Empire, however, was nothing short of stunning, and often worked off stills from the film.

And there was a whole summer in the early 80s when I hung out in my friends Terry, David and Greg’s family trailer, parked right outside their duplex, and right up the street from my own house. We would hang out all hours of the day, and late into the night, and I remember one of them had the Marvel Super Special version of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (something I’ve added to my own collection, finally, along with the individual issues of same).

I would pour over the panels endlessly, imagining journeying with Kirk and Spock.

And the great thing about comics, much like novelizations, is that they aren’t relying on the budget of visual effects to convey the images put up on the screen. Instead they rely on the skills of the artist who not only draws the image, but decide what that image is going to show and convey through its framing and colouring.

I had so many of these things when I was young. Now I’m working to re-collect some of them. I had Labyrinth and need to find that one again. But now I have Dune, Dragonslayer, Close Encounters, Return of the Jedi, and I think I still have Krull around my apartment someplace.

The best thing about a lot of them was the cover art, which combined a comic book style with the movie images – Dragonslayer was in a category all by itself with its gorgeous three panel cover. Each and every one of them is ready for framing.

All of them are collector’s items, at least to someone they are, I’m sure. I would like to come across one of the For Your Eyes Only Marvel Super Specials because I love the cover art. Their adaptation of Octopussy had art work more in line with the theatrical poster, but For Your Eyes Only just looked cool.

And that brings me back around to The Motion Picture adaptation, I love that cover art.

Then there is the Star Wars Marvel Super Special Treasury Edition a two volume (I have both) release of the Marvel adaptation of 1977’s Star Wars. It’s big, the art is oversized, blown up to fill this giant edition. I have, on occasion, thrown on the score for Star Wars and re-read it. Because why not?

Comic art of the 70s and 80s could be very hit and miss, but damn if they didn’t help the reader relive the excitement of the film over and over.

Yes, the comic industry has continued since then, but 70s and 80s seemed to be the heyday for movie adaptations. Sure, there are some now, but they don’t have the same magic as they used to.

Maybe that has something to do with the fact that the theatre to home screening window has become so small, there’s no real time for a film to grow and sink itself into the pop culture the way films did back then.

If you had missed the movie in the theater, you couldn’t download it or go rent it right away. You had to wait. But if you had the novelization, or the comic adaptation in your collection, you could revisit it. Throw in the soundtrack, you could really get into it.

Man, I love those Super Specials, and I’m always on the look out for one I don’t have and really want (Labyrinth again for sure, but also Battlestar Galactica, For Your Eyes Only, and Buckaroo Banzai – which may be lurking in my comic bin somewhere).

Movies, comics, and soundtracks, man I miss the 80s.