One of Star Wars oldest characters who apparently been in carbonite hibernation after George Lucas took a disliking to him has recently made a comeback. Jaxxon, a space bunny-style alien, initially appeared in Star Wars #8 (1978) as part of the first story arc following Marvel devoting the initial issues of the comic book series to the official movie adaption of A New Hope. Teaming up with Han Solo and Chewbacca in a number of misadventures, Jaxxon was one of the first characters to join the Star Wars galaxy expanding upon those in the 1977 movie.
A Lepi smuggler and mercenary from the planet Coachelle Prime, Jaxxon captained the starship Rabbit's Foot. Piloting a ship prone to breakdowns, Jaxxon often finds himself stuck in spaceports looking for trouble to either barter or pay for needed repairs. In his Star Wars comic book debut, Jaxxon is recruited to help protect a nearby village from bandits known as the Cloud-Riders and as well as a gigantic roaming monster known as the Behemoth from the World Below. Jaxxon added some looniness with Bugs Bunny-style quick witted humor to stories and appeared in a number of the early issues of Marvel's original Star Wars comic book series.
After being featured in Star Wars comic book issues 8-11 & 16, Jaxxon disappeared! George Lucas thought the character created by Howard Chaykin was too goofy and a blemish on the Star Wars image. So, he put a kibosh on the character. Ironic coming from the creator and number one proponent of Jar Jar Binks! Maybe Jaxxon instead of being overly silly was just ahead of his time.
A little bit of silliness though is just what IDW Publishing was looking for when it came to producing a comic book series called Star Wars Adventures aimed at tween aged readers. Nearly forty years after he disappeared, Jaxxon made a return. In addition to exploits in Star Wars Adventures, Jaxxon also joined in on the hijinks of IDW Publishing's Halloween themed Ghosts of Vader's Castle mini-series. Marvel even hopped in on giving Jaxxon a second chance by including him in a humorous variant cover in the first issue released after Marvel regained the comic book publishing rights for the brand paying homage to the character's role in the first ever original Star Wars story published.
To celebrate Lucasfilm's 50th anniversary, Hasbro even created an action figure of the six-foot tall, green-furred Lepi known for his wise-cracks and karate kicks. The toy comes packaged in a box with artwork inspired by Jaxxon's appearances in Star Wars Adventures comic books. It is part of Hasbro's 1:12 scale Black Series collection of Star Wars action figures. I couldn't resist picking up one of these Jaxxon action figures for myself.
What do you think is next in store for Jaxxon? An appearance in The Bad Batch animated series of The Mandalorian live action television show? His re-emergence in Marvel's comic book series? I'm looking forward to seeing more of Jaxxon now he has returned to the Star Wars galaxy.
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