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