The amazing thing about this hobby is that there are always new things to discover or rediscover, in some cases. Hasbro’s The Power of Force 2 line has been around now for 30 years, and it is still giving the collecting community fun insights about this legendary line of action figures and toys. This latest discovery comes from the detective work of fellow collector Drew Bex. When Bex learned of the existence of a promotional Italian Hasbro comic, he found his way to a fun StarWars.com article from 2013. The article, by author Abel G. Pena, chronicles all of the mini-comics that have been produced since the beginning the of the Star Wars 3 3/4″ line while focusing on the most elusive of the bunch; Star Wars: Il Potere della Forza. This Power of the Force comic was created as a promotional item for Hasbro’s newest version of its figure line in 1999. Written by Fiorenzo Delle Rupi and illustrated by Filippo Rossi, Rossi in the Starwars.com article gives some background on its origin:
“The project was a promotional comic book that was attached to the sale of the ‘FlashBack’ action figures line tied to the release of Episode I The Phantom Menace,” Rossi explains. That particular wave of Hasbro’s The Power of the Force action figures (hence the comic’s title) utilized a “FlashBack Photo” gimmick intended to emphasize the parallels between the original Star Wars trilogy and the new prequel The Phantom Menace. “We had to come up with a brief story that would connect the ‘old’ representative Star Wars characters, like Obi-Wan ‘Ben’ Kenobi and Luke Skywalker, with the ‘new’ of Episode I, like Mace Windu and little Anakin.”
While this comic was released exclusively in Italian, article author Pena translated it into English and had the comic re-lettered by Rich Handley. While most of the links featured in the 2013 article are outdated, Bex reached out directly to Handley to inquire if he still had the comic available for download. Handley obliged and now we are able to present to you the English version courtesy of Rich Handley:
This mini-comic is such an amusing time capsule into the era that directly proceeded the prequel trilogy. This comic works as a bridge, much like the FlashBack Photo line, between the original trilogy and the new set of films that would begin in May of 1999.
At the time of publishing, there is only one copy available on eBay, therefore proving this to be indeed an elusive piece of Hasbro and Star Wars comic history. A huge thanks goes out to Drew Bex for bringing this to our attention and providing the key links and communication with Handley!
Until next time,
May the Figures be with you!
