vintagegeekculture: Created by Mary Jo Duffy in the twilight years of the Star Wars Marvel Comic whe
vintagegeekculture: Created by Mary Jo Duffy in the twilight years of the Star Wars Marvel Comic when nobody was paying that much attention to what they were doing, the Nagai were a blade and knife loving warrior race who are born looking like goths and dress in vampiric black leather. They are invaders from outside the Star Wars galaxy, and in the fashion of barbarians through history, attacked and invaded the weak, just founded New Republic at a low point. What’s interesting is that Mary Jo Duffy states the Nagai were inspired by Japanese comic books, which is something of a surprise at the early date of 1985, when Japanime was extremely niche. They were named after manly man Japanese comic creator Go Nagai. Their kamikaze attacks, honor code, and obsession with swords and throwing knives were inspired by Japanese culture. The Nagai are also interesting in that they were created by two female creators, Mary Jo Duffy and Cynthia Martin, at a time when women artists were rare in mainstream comics. Perhaps the fact the comic was about to be canceled and Star Wars was essentially over by 1985 had something to do with it. Shame, I always thought it was cool that in these last few issues before the end, Luke Skywalker used a lightsaber knife (shoto) along with the lightsaber, in the style of Samurai warriors. This was a sign of how absolutely weebed out the last years of the Marvel Star Wars comic were….absolutely tedious today, but interesting and ahead of its time in 1985. I’m somewhat astonished that this evil goth warrior race hasn’t made a return as villains. Surely the Nagai must still be out there. Cosplayers would love it. If they introduced a sad pale sexy vampire guy who looks like Souxie Sioux, I all but guarantee he’d be superpopular. -- source link