Archie Goodwin

Archie Goodwin (September 8, 1937 – March 1, 1998) was a comic-book writer and editor for nearly forty years.

BiographyEdit

Goodwin begin in the comics industry in the early 1960s writing stories for Harvey Comics and Warren Publishing. He then started writing scripts on the Secret Agent X-9 syndicated strip drawn by Al Williamson, as well as projects at Marvel Comics and DC Comics. In 1975 he became the editor-in-chief at Marvel, a position he held at the time that they acquired the comic-book rights to Star Wars.

Goodwin had a long stint on Marvel's Star Wars series, taking over from original writer Roy Thomas, and wrote over 30 issues, spanning three years. In addition to writing Star Wars, he was the title's editor and wrote the The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi comic adaptations. The artists that worked with Goodwin on most of his run were Carmine Infantino, Bob Wiacek, Terry Austin, and Gene Day.

After the passing of Russ Manning, and based on his work on the Marvel Comics series, Goodwin and longtime friend Al Williamson took over Manning's Star Wars syndicated newspaper strip. It was on this strip that Goodwin and Williamson began story arcs bridging the gap between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. An "urban myth" once held that Goodwin used the pseudonym Russ Helm in his initial story, but this was actually the real name of another writer, who worked on the strip before him.

Goodwin was one of the first to contribute to the Expanded Universe and created many characters for its rich history. Among the more notable characters and concepts Goodwin created were Beilert Valance, the House of Tagge and The Wheel. He left the Marvel series when he took over the Epic line for Marvel.

Goodwin died on March 1, 1998 due to cancer.

He once said, "The Star Wars universe is a great place to visit... even if I don't live there anymore."