Marvel Star Wars

Star Wars issue 20 "Deathgame"

2010-03-13T02:13:00.002-05:00

Day three of my week project and part three of our "Empire Strikes" arc! The last two covers were awesome, but I have to admit that this one is underwhelming.

Our usual suspects are back. Nothing much more I can say about this creative team without repeating myself.

Speaking of repeating myself, if you want to make the pictures bigger, simply click on them! Let's rock and roll!

When "Two True Freaks" talks about these comics, they try to remind us that this was the days before DVDs and home theaters were we could watch the old movies a million times.

However, I have to believe that Infantino had SOME REFERENCE to work off of in regards to drawing an X-Wing! Come on!

Gamblers aboard the Wheel are shocked that the Rebels are attacking them. The nearby Imperial Cruiser launches some Tie Advanced (see yesterdays rant) which destroy the X-Wing.

Confused about what's going on? Leia will give you some exposition.

Great exposition Leia. Greyshade has Master-Com bring Leia back to her room/cell, unaware that she took a dinner knife during her outburst. Smart girl. Have I mentioned how much I love Goodwin's portrayal of Leia?

Greyshade boards the docked Imperial Cruiser to discuss things with Commander Strom.

Clumsy and obvious? Could it have anything to do with the fact that the X-Wing did not look like an X-Wing??

I'd also have to disagree with this assessment of the "perfect basis for trust". Well it did get more exposition out of the way.

Strom chides Greyshade for attempting to romance Leia and berates him for keeping the other Rebels alive. Greyshade shows the readers and Strom what the status of the others are..

Star Wars Red Cross Nurse is back!

That above page reminds me of some old Doctor Doom stories in Fantastic Four where the panels would simultaneously show the Four in different rooms undergoing challenges set up by Doom.

Greyshade further explains that the droids (pawned by Han last issue) are awaiting memory wipe and then will be melted down.

What wait?

Why wipe their memories if you are just going to melt them down?

Han is beginning his first fight in the "Big Game". His test results were purposely skewed so he would be fighting way out of his class. Han fights a much larger alien (as seen on the cover) and it isn't going well. Greyshade and Strom watch Han's fight eagerly.

The droids are about to have their memory wiped when someone intervenes..

Oh for crying out loud...

How deeeeeep. Master-Com see's that the droids LOVE their master and it makes him want to study them. Robots have feelings. Some 8 year old in 1978 probably thought this was deep philosophical stuff.

The droids all go to check on Luke and Star Wars Red Cross Nurse is surprised to see that he is gone. You can see that his restraints have been broken and that his exit was quite forced. Star Wars Red Cross Nurse even admits she was drugging him (which Threepio makes no reaction too) and that he shouldn't have been able to escape.

Master-Com detects Leia using her serving knife to short circuit a locked door as she escapes. Com tells the droids he can't help any longer and must join his master.

And there we have the cover scene being played out within the issue. What I really want to know is WHAT is going on with R2 in panel 2? At least Infantino is starting to draw him more in line with the shape he is in the movies.

Han is about to get the killing blow, but as we know he's a movie character so he's safe. He isn't aware of this fact and is scared out of brain.

And so our issue ends with Han surviving...I think we could pretty much guess what the main event will be, but we'll get to that next issue. In meantime, let's check out an interesting letter..

I wonder if the "I wouldn't have dared do Dafi and Fud" line was a subtle dig?

Join us soon for..

Delay!

2010-02-25T10:54:00.002-05:00

I knew my work schedule would explode this week and it did! Figures it would happen when I attempt to do my daily "Empire Strikes" updates! Oh well.

I'll finish the storyline but it may be next week.

Star Wars issue 19 "The Ultimate Gamble"

2010-02-23T04:54:00.020-05:00

R2 gets no love on that cover. Everyone has a "floating head of guilt" but him. I love the addition of the red skull (pun by Marvel?) in the middle. Chewie is starting to look a bit more like Chewie and less like the shaggy carpet from issue 11.

To borrow a line from Wedge, "Look at the size of that thing". You can clearly see the tiny Star Destroyers orbiting the massive Wheel. Great cover. I believe this made a "best of" list for Marvel Star Wars covers somewhere.

That's our creative team this issue, the same guys we've come to know on and off since issue 11. So let's continue with the story. As usual, clicking on the image will make it appear full sized if you have trouble reading the comic text.

We pick up right where we left off with R2, Threepio and the unconscious Luke. They are cornered by Stormtroopers who are ready to open fire. Luckily, Artoo activates a door in time and the troopers are bad shots.

Two things.

1) I know Stormtroopers can't shoot to save their lives but this is ridiculous.

2) Once again, this isn't a radio drama. We don't need every detail narrated. IT'S A VISUAL MEDIUM! WE COULD SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING.

Senator Greyshade and his robot buddy Master-Com are still monitoring each of the Rebels through the Wheel's security system.

What makes Master-Com so special? Don't all Star Wars droids have personalities anyway? And he's using his as an excuse not to do work?

Once again, great Han/Leia banter, even if it is just one sided here. Han takes this opportunity to recap the events of the previous issue for the readers in case they have short memories or didn't get issue 18.

Just then, Wheel official point their guns at the Stormtroopers and tell them they are taking over under orders of Senator Greyshade. Leia isn't too happy to hear that name. She remembers him as a creeper during her senate days. That's funny, I speculated the same thing during my podcast for issue 18. The Wheel officials take Han and Leia into custody. Han is optimistic about the situation thinking it'll keep them alive longer, until the officers separate him from Leia informing him that he'll be helping them search the Falcon.

In the meantime, Chewie has hidden the body of the dead Rebel from last issue. He's evaded the Stormtroopers and made his way to the casino where he arouses some attention.

Love the narration box!

What follows is an extended brawl between Chewie and some casino men. Ever the compulsive gamblers, people start betting on the outcome of the brawl. Unfortunately Chewie is outnumbered and outgunned and he's eventually hit with a stun ray.

Never seen a Wookiee before? Really?

Han is being held at gun-point by Wheel officials who are searching the Falcon for the money the Rebels stole from the House of Tagge. Those who read last issue know that the money won't be found, because the Rebels were framed and Greyshade is being duped by Commander Strom.

If you click on the image above and enlarge it, you'll see something funky is going on with Han Solo's chin in that first panel. Notice Leia once again being evasive regarding her feelings for Han Solo. I love this version of Leia. She's snarky, holding her own against her captor (like on the Death Star) and lays out the whole plan to Greyshade!

Is Master-Com dead? I hope so. This whole "Droid with FEELINGS" thing was annoying and I was dreading where they might go with it.

Strom isn't happy to find Greyshade harboring the Rebels. He threatens the both of them when his hand gets blasted from one of the wall panels.

Drat! We'll have to deal with Master-Com a bit longer. I don't like him. I just don't like him.

Strom and Greyshade cut a deal. Greyshade will go along with this "takeover" plot if Strom lets him keep Leia.

Yeah.

What.

Ok.

Greyshade further promises Strom that the others won't be able to leave the Wheel alive.

Speaking of leaving alive, how is Luke doing?

I love how nurses in the Star Wars universe look just like nurses in our world. Right down to the Red Cross symbol! Does the Star Wars universe have the Red Cross? Remember, this is before "The Empire Strikes Back" so medical droids didn't exist yet except for in the mind of George Lucas.

As you can guess,, it was R2 who tapped into the system so Luke could be treated. Unfortunately, Wheel officers take the droids away with some odd news. Han Solo has pawned them off to the Wheel so he could gamble.

Yeah.

Han Solo you big fat jerk.

I am confused though...when we last saw Han he was searching the Falcon with Wheel officials.

Chewbacca isn't doing so will making friends in the waiting gladiator pit. The Wheel officials lay it all out for him though...

Looking at the cover, I was talking about how much Infantino has improved with his Chewie illustrations. I take it back.

Let's check in with Han.

At least this answers my question of how Han got from being a prisoner to a gambler. When he lays it all out here, the fact that he pawned the droids doesn't actually seem like such a scumbag thing to do.

Then again it was pretty sleazy.

Han is frustrated and is about to take off in anger when the banker droid informs him of another option...

Let me get this straight....a casino run by a crooked former Imperial Senator has rigged games! GASP!

At first glance I question Han risking his life in this gladiator game (we all know what is being set up here...come on). Especially given his characterization in "Star Wars" where he was reluctant to march into the Death Star Detention Center or participate in the Battle of Yavin. Then I realize he isn't doing it for himself, but it's a selfless act to save his friends. Its' actually some good character development for Han Solo that doesn't come off as hooky like the "Aduba" arc did.

That actually wraps up this issue.

I love Infantino's artwork, but I still have my same criticisms of it. Goodwin is continuing to hit it out of the park. His banter between the droids is funny and his Princess Leia is spot on. I could do without Master-Com. Oh he's a robot but he has feelings! How deep....not.

The letters pages for this month had a fan who wrote in complaining about the contradiction between Luke and Leia's ability to swim in issue 15 compared with what was represented in "Splinter of the Mind's Eye". Marvel explains that once Archie got around to reading the book, it was already too late to change the contents of his story. Marvel decided to let the readers write in and give their best explanation of this retcon.

You look at the problems with the Expanded Universe now and think it's crazy? Back when this was made we only had the Marvel Comics and one novel to deal with and they still couldn't keep it straight!

Another fan wrote in asking Marvel to do an adaptation of "Splinter". Marvel said they didn't have the rights but that is was still in the realm of possibility. That would have been awesome to see Marvel's take on it. We would get a "Splinter" comic adaptation, but it wouldn't be until the 90's and then it would be done by Dark Horse.

Thanks for reading! If you like listening instead of reading check out the podcast review of this issue here.

Join us next time for...

Star Wars issue 18 "The Empire Strikes"

2010-02-22T21:03:00.012-05:00

This is a momentous occasion! The blog and podcast are now caught up to each other! The Empire is back! Plus, we'll get the return of a certain Sith Lord later in the arc.

Nice cover! It's signifies that YES the Imperials are back. We did see Stormtroopers armor on Crimson Jack's crew in issue 7, but that disappeared when Jack and the gang returned for the Drexel arc.

Can Threepio's arms really support Luke's weight?

The Goodwin/Infantino team is back! Everyone ready? Let's go!

The Falcon is heading back to Yavin 4 after their adventures on Drexel. Threepio informs the others that Luke experienced a disturbance during his force training and is now unconscious.

What the heck is R2 doing! Infantino is still learning how to draw him. His Threepio is starting to improve though, but isn't as smooth as it could be.

Han is being a bit picky here, but Threepio is fluent in over 6 million forms of communication. Surely something in his language banks can tell him the word "fainted".

R2 had been recording Luke's training session for prosperity and plays it back to them. Here is what they see.

There is so much to say about Luke in these above panels. So many jokes which can be made. The first panel looks really devious.

Unfortunately for the others, this is where the recording ends. They decide that they are going to have to leave hyperspace early and find medical help for Luke. Leia isn't so optimistic.

Han still doesn't look like Harrison Ford. Loving the Leia/Han banter. As I've said many times, this is one of Archie Goodwin's strengths.

The patrolling ship is a Tie-Advanced, much like the one Vader flew in the movie. I love that ship and I love being able to fly it and fly against it in video games. However, I like it better as Vader's ship and think it loses it's uniqueness when it becomes mass produced. You think it's bad now? Just wait until later in the issue.

I love that comeback from Leia!

Han destroys the Tie. He destroys it very easily for a Tie-Advanced. I suppose he did take it by surprise.

So this is the first Imperial we've seen since issue 6...and he goes out like a chump in a few panels.

The Falcon comes across a wrecked vessel with markings from the "House of Tagge". Remember that name. It will become important. "House of Tagge" is obviously Imperial related as the Rebels wonder how the Empire could have let this happen to one of their ship.

The find a wounded man in a spacesuit floating in the wreckage. They bring him aboard the Falcon.

That's alot of exposition for a dying man. The way the Empire is going about framing the Rebels seems very......um...pointless.

As Han mentions, one of the Tagge brothers is an Imperial Commander. That is a long story with some convoluted history that we'll get into later.

That Imperial ship looks nothing like any I've ever seen before. The commanding officer on the ship is Commander Strom (whose lack of hair becomes a joke later). He launches some ships to try and get the Falcon. Guess what kind they are?

More Tie-Advanced crafts! Jeez!!

Han is able to outmaneuver them as he reveals to Leia exactly what sanctuary he's been trying to get to.

I will forgive Carmine Infantino for drawing weird droids. I will forgive him for not making Han Solo look like Harrison Ford. I will forgive him because that splash page is simply wonderful.

Some good exposition on what the Wheel is. I always enjoy hearing some backstory on Bail Organa. I like to think of the Wheel as the Star Wars equivalent of an Indian Casino.

The Falcon crashes into the Wheel's docking bay. Unfortunately, the wounded Rebel they found has died. Commander Strom informs his men that he doesn't care about the Wheel's status and that he'll be perusing the Rebels anyway.

It's now time to split up Scooby Doo style...

Stormtroopers board the Wheel and search for the Rebels, despite the best efforts of Wheel officials. We now meet the leader of the Wheel...

A bald joke! I love it!

Greyshade and Strom have a back and fourth over the comm system. Greyshade reminds Strom that the Wheel funds many of the Empire's operations and the Emperor won't be pleased if he knew of Strom's interference. Strom retorts that the Rebels recently destroyed a House of Tagge ship which was delivering Wheel profits.

Send the transmission...but send it garbled.....why not just not send it period if you're going to disregard Greyshade's request?

Grayshade watches the security cameras as the droids (with Threepio holding Luke) are cornered by Stormtroopers in a scene that mirrors the cover. Another security camera image gets his attention..

That is where we end part 1. Remember, this is a six part story.

The letters pages were interesting as always. Someone wrote in to ask if "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" was going to be "Star Wars II" ("The Empire Strikes Back" hadn't been named yet). Marvel told them that they had as much idea of what was going on as anyone else did. If I was ten and read that in 1978, it would have shattered so many illusions. Another read asked for a return of Darth Vader instead of the lame villains we'd been getting (he didn't like them). Marvel replied that they couldn't use Darth until they got the go ahead for Lucasfilm.

The writing has good this issue. It was really hard for me to narrow down what panels to choose. I really loved the scene where the Stormtroopers chased the droids and Luke (well unconcious Luke). That's when it hit me, Stormtroopers chasing Rebels FEELS LIKE STAR WARS to me. The art is still a bit wonky in some places but Infantino sure knows how to draw those splashes.

Click here to listen to the podcast version of my issue review.

Otherwise, join us soon for...

New Podcast

2010-02-16T03:01:00.003-05:00

Disregard the schedule I spoke about in the last post. It's all explained in this podcast. Enjoy! Listen to it here!

Two Podcasts

2010-02-13T02:56:00.004-05:00

Two episodes of the podcast were released today! One of them was actually suppose to be released two days ago but apparently the podcast server made a mistake. I noticed it today while preparing the next episode and decided it would help "catch up" to release them both today.

For those who don't know, the "catch up" project is referring the fact that the podcast is a few issues behind the blog. I hope to close the gap this weekend with a few (hopefully) daily updates.

I hope it doesn't burn you out. Good thing they are short. I also added a link to the podcast in the sidebar to help you all find the episodes. Thanks!

I have big plans for next week! I hope I'll be able to see them through.

Star Wars issue 17 "The Crucible"

2010-02-12T03:27:00.001-05:00

Hey! What's going on! I thought we were getting the promised "Empire Strikes" story this issue!

Dave Cockrum and Bob McLeod do this cover and as you can tell, it's a flashback story to Luke's life before the Imperials burned his farm and the lying Jedi took him from Tatooine.

We got Chris Claremont helping Archie on the story. This should be interesting. Claremont is another Marvel legend. His X-Men run is still spoken fondly of by fans and elements from it are still being used today.

Don't recall anything about Trimpe, but I've seen Milgrom's inks throughout many Marvel books.

So new artists, new writer and no "Empire Strikes". Everything about this is screaming fill-in issue...let's see how it stacks up though.

Don't forget, clicking on the images will make them bigger if you can't read them.

Great picture of Luke and I love this full page of the Falcon cockpit. Before this point, the Falcon cockpit was very inconsistent with size....just look at issue 5!

Luke flashes back to Tatooine the time before he joined the Rebellion.

Holy heck! Did Luke just murder that womp rat! As Threepio said in "Blue Harvest", "You murder small animals for fun?! That's the first indication of a serial killer!".

On a different note, is this our first appearance of womp rats?

Luke revels in the fact that he was able to shot the thing from his landspeeder with one hand controlling the speeder, and the other shooting. He then goes back to the farm unaware of the watching Sand People.

Luke arrives home and gets into an argument with Uncle Owen. It's basically just like what we saw in the movie, Luke wants to hang with his friends and Owen is mad that the chores aren't finished. Biggs is leaving for the academy, and Luke wants to go to the goodbye party. Luckily Beru (or someone pretending to be her) sides with Luke..

Why is it that every single Expanded Universe story with Uncle Owen has him being a mean gruff man to Luke? Didn't he and Luke have any positive "father/son" moments?

I get it, the ten minutes we saw him in the movie he was a jerk, but are we going to base all characterizations on that fact. Maybe he just had a bad day (which got worse when the troopers scorched him).

And Beru! What is going on with you! Owen looks drawn right, but Beru....um what??!?!

She does have a point about Anakin leaving without saying goodbye. Unless another meeting is retconned, their only encounter in Episode II basically had Anakin and Padme take off in her ship to save Obi-Wan without telling Owen and Beru goodbye.

I know Beru says Owen cares, but I'd really love to see a story that shows us he does.

And Beru is right, "nothing" did happen with Owen and Anakin. Although this interpretation of Owen wanting Anakin to stay on the farm is....um yeah...what? Perhaps this is the cover up the Jedi story and lend credence to the "navigator on a spice freighter" story.

That night Luke is in the garage tuning up his Skyhooper. Luke didn't tell Owen that the celebration for Biggs is happening at Beggar's Canyon.

While sitting at the controls he daydreams about being a bigshot pilot.

That's a fun sequence. None of these seem like Star Wars ships or enemies, but it's fair to say that at this point Luke knows little of the Empire and Rebellion. At least the girl he's kissing isn't his sister.

I love how they gave him the rank of Commander Skywalker. Marvel didn't know it at the time, but when we meet up with Luke again in "Empire Strikes Back", that will be his rank.

Luke's daydream is interrupted by Uncle Owen with his typical yelling at Luke about chores. Sigh.

The next day Luke and the other Tatooine teens fly their skyhoopers in Beggar's Canyon.

Unless someone can give me an earlier example, I believe this is the first time we actually see Beggar's Canyon. Wookiepedia currently says the "Shadows of the Empire" novel is the first time we do, but this is clearly earlier.

It's like a Star Wars version of drag racing. Luke and Biggs keep stealing the lead from eachother while less experienced pilots are forced to pull out or die.

Eventually Luke and Biggs are the only two left. Kind of reminiscent of the Death Star trench run. They also refer to eachother as shooting stars which Luke remembers in issue 6 when Biggs died.

Biggs winds up doing some tricks and wins, driving Luke's skyhooper to pull out or crash.

The gang lands and celebrates. We even see some people from the deleted Anchorhead scene of the movie like Camie, Windy and Deak.

Not everyone is celebrating though...

That's kinda funny.

The party is stopped when a landspeeder crashes. The gang rushes over and the wounded survivor warns them on the incoming Sand People. Apparently some idiots accidentally polluted some Sand People relic so now they are pissed and ready to attack anywhere from Anchorhead to the farms.

Just then the Sand People open fire on the teens who duck under a trench and fire back. Luke and Biggs make their way to a skyhooper to warn the farmers. Along the way Biggs is wounded by one of the Tusken Raiders, who has poisoned him with a sphere. Luke now has to fly the wounded Biggs to get medical help.

Biggs does have a point, but he's being such a back seat driver here.

The boys do make it to the other side thanks to Luke's piloting. Could the Force have helped? The narrative doesn't say for sure but I wouldn't doubt it.

The Sand People waiting on the other end of Diablo Cut do get some damage on the Skyhooper, forcing it to crash right outside the farm. You can bet Owen is angry, but Luke explains the situation and makes sure Biggs gets the medical help and the authorities are called about the Sand People.

Luke realizes that it's now his destiny to be a pilot. Earlier in the issue he was conflicted and thought about staying on the farm, but there is no escaping things now.

We then get a splash page about what's in store for Luke. Yes, another "HEY REMEMBER THE MOVIE" splash page.

I am digging this page. I find the Kirby crackles around Leia's hologram funny, and Luke has a goofy face when he gets the lightsaber. The exploding Death Star looks more like the training remote Luke used on the Falcon. Nitpicks aside, I am loving this obligatory movie splash page.

Luke snaps out of his flashback and is back in the Falcon's cockpit in the present day. Han comes to relieve him and apologizes for taking so long. Remembering the days where he longed to be a pilot, he tells Han he's exactly where he wants to be.

That wraps up this issue. There was alot of depth here. You really got into Luke's character and the teenager angst and recklessness. I'm not sure if I can credit our guest Chris Claremont with it, but if it was then well done. As I said before, the space fantasy was a definite highlight and memorable moment. Herb Trimpe and Al Milgrom really brought it with the art. Luke looked like an actual teenager and not the action hero he usually does. For this story that was important. If only someone told them what Beru looked like.

I do think things were wrapped up too quickly. The Sand People attacking the farms was a very important story point that Luke kept bringing up, yet we don't see the conclusion.

The letter pages this month were interesting. One reader asked when Vader was coming back and Marvel replied that they are waiting on the okay from Lucasfilm because they don't want to invalidate anything from the upcoming Star Wars sequel. Another reader asked why there was only white people in Star Wars to which Marvel said we are only seeing a small part of the galaxy right now. Then someone complains about Han's eye color being wrong.

That was a fun fill-in! Now back to the story we were promised though. The Empire will be returning to the series for the first time since the movie adaptation. So join us next time for...

Star Wars issue 16 "The Hunter"

2010-01-28T04:59:00.014-05:00

This issue opens up in the middle of an action sequence. The narration boxes introduce us to a man called Valance. Valance is a bounty hunter who is leading a raid on a medical station. He is not doing this for a particular bounty, this is a personal mission for himself that he is financing. He orders there to be no survivors.

That's a funny reason for regret. I wonder if Han had a similar sense of regret when he fried Greedo.

In case the above picture didn't clue you in, Valance hates droids. The narration box reminds us that while this is very common among the galaxy, Valance's hatred rivals the average person.

Valance and his men destroy the computer record system while two of the bounty hunters run into somebody us readers have seen before...

Don-Wan is back......and dead again! This is the second death he's had this series! Those chin whiskers and Scroogeish chin really creep me out! By the way, is that bounty hunter in the last panel a droid? If so, why would Valance let him on the team?

Valance takes an interest when they tell him what Don-Wan said before passing on. He and bounty hunters set some charges, take off and the medical station blows up. Apparently this was done to hide something in Valance's past. Hmmm..

They are now going to hunt the people Don-Wan spoke about and Valance orders Jaxxon to be be their first target. He assumes that a giant green rabbit will be the easiest to find. Can't argue with that logic.

According to Wookiepedia, this unnamed planet was later retconned to be the first appearance of Nar Shaddaa.

Jaxxon did some flirting with Amaiza during that "Aduba" arc. Towards the end she had seemed to go from annoyance to tolerance. Now they are traveling together. Is there more going on here? Are they together now? Is the thought too sick to even think about?

Jaxxon is ambushed by the bounty hunters. Two of them are named "Dafi" and "Fud". Get it? Get it? Get it?

They hang him upside down and begin to torture him. They are demanding that he reveals the planet where he and the rest of the Star-Hoppers had their adventure.

Planets are very big. Why is it that in STAR WARS people usually only need the name of a planet to find someone located on it? What if they search the wrong hemisphere?

Amaiza shows up. She apparently changed her mind and decided to spend the night out on the town with Jaxxon after all. She threatens the bounty hunters to drop their weapons.

What kind of a gun is it that she has? It's firing rays in all different directions at once! The second to last panel above definitely hints at some intimacy between Jaxxon and Amaiza. Oh boy the stares they must get!

We know Jaxxon is a giant green rabbit. Do they need to remind us with every panel he is on? His ship is called the Rabbit's Foot? COME ON! Speaking of Jaxxon, he seems incredibly off scale in the panel where he reunites with Jimm.

You'll note that since this is still the late 70's, Hutt is splled H - U -T.

Jimm and Merri are already married and expecting a baby? That was quick! Perhaps a little too quick. Maybe it was a shotgun wedding. Old farmer??? Are you even old enough to drink on Earth yet? For someone who wanted action and adventure and leaving the planet, he sure seems content with life as a farmer. Go figure.

We then get the origin story of Valance.

That medical station he destroyed was apparently the one that healed him after the Rebel attack. Obviously there are still some pieces of the story missing but they aren't that hard to guess at this point. It will all make sense come the final page.

He pops in the bootleg tape he is in possession off which gives us another excuse for a splash page tribute to the movie.

It seems like we are getting a "REMEMBER THE MOVIE WASN'T THAT COOL" splash page almost every issue. I'm enjoying them but it's gimmicky. I love Vader's green lightsaber. Is this the first time we've seen a green one?

For those who haven't been keeping score, Valance is on this mission because he thinks that the heroes of Aduba are actually the Death Star heroes. He thought Don-Wan was Obi-Wan, Jimm was Luke...etc.

The reason he's hunting Luke? Because he's friends with robots. Yes. He doesn't just resent Luke for it. He's HUNTING HIM. That's his motivation. "THIS KID IS FRIENDS WITH HIS ROBOTS! KILL HIM".

It is interesting that Valance knows about the identity of Luke Skywalker before Imperial Intelligence officially does.

Valance's ship enters Aduba's orbit. They are tracking the heat signature of a recently landed ship, assuming that it's Jaxxon warning his friends.

That answers my previous grip about finding someone on a huge planet but raises another question. Why assume it was Jaxxon's ship that landed? We established in issue 7 that Aduba has a Mos Eisley-like spaceport! Wouldn't there be ships going in and out constantly?

Before they could go any further, the Rabbit's Foot (GET IT GET IT GET IT) attacks Valance's ship. Valance eventually shoots down the Rabbit's Foot. It crashes into the surface on Aduba.

Valance sends his hunters to check the wreckage. Turns out it's an ambush. Amaiza and Jaxxon survived and start the shoot at the hunters. Meanwhile, Jimm has been waiting in the grass to follow through is end of the plan.

Stampeding Banthas has to be one of the oddest visuals in the Star Wars Universe I've ever seen. Those who argue that the Marvel Comics were just silly could use that panel to make a very strong case.

The Banthas crush the bounty hunters and Amaiza shots off the survivors. This leaves Valance who confronts them.

Goodness, I'd forgotten all about Jimm's bare legs.

So you mistook him for Skywalker eh Valance? You really can't blame him. They could be cousins or brothers. The writers didn't even shy away from the differences when they introduced Jimm back in issue 8.

Valence quickly blasts them with something coming from his hand and gets away, vowing to find Solo and his "droid loving young companion".

Take a good look at Jaxxon, Amaiza and Jimm. This is the last time you will ever see them in a Marvel Star Wars comic. For all the fussing people did about Jaxxon, I thought he was a regular supporting character but it's really only these four issues he appears in. Yet he seems to be one of the first things people bring up when talking about these comics.

Jaxxon and the others will appear again in expanded Star Wars material though. A quick look at Wookiepedia says some articles and sourcebooks later reused the characters and expanded on their backgrounds.

The revelation of Valance? I suppose some people might find it deep. Not me. Oh the guy who hates robots is half robot. Doesn't really do it for me.

Why did he rip his skin off anyway? I know us readers needed a visual but what as the in the story reason?

Writing: This was an easy and fun read by Goodwin. I enjoyed finally having a "done in one" story. I enjoyed seeing the old characters again but could have done without the new additions of "Dafi" and "Fud" (GET IT GET IT). No movie characters appeared in this issue expect for the splash page when Valance was looking at the bootleg. It's never easy to do a story without the main characters and keep me interested. Other comics and novels in the Expanded Universe rarely hold my interest unless the core movie characters appear. Goodwin pulled it off.

Interestingly enough, there are whispers that Jaxxon was so hated by George Lucas that it's the reason Roy Thomas left the series. Until I hear it from an official source I'm remaining skeptical.

Art: Jaxxon seemed freakishly tall and Don-Wan seemed very...yucky. Otherwise I enjoyed the art. Walt Simonson's reputation precedes him and he brought it this issue. The movie splash page was pretty good too.

Yay! I did my three issues in one week goal! I'll go back to doing one a week, I just wanted to catch up since I had a few skip weeks. In the future I may try this again. The fact that I enjoyed these issues made it easy.

Join us next week for...

No, this isn't the "Empire Strikes Back" movie adaptation. We still have some ways to go. Actually that isn't even the next story either, this next issue blurb is a lie. We will be getting another "done in one" issue though.

Star Wars issue 15 "Star Duel"

2010-01-27T04:47:00.000-05:00

Nice cover! It feels like this storyline has been going on forever! Remember, this was the late seventies when comic storylines didn't run this long usually. I've enjoyed it but I'm glad to see it concluded.

I don't always talk alot about the creative minds behind these issues so here is the credits page.

The usual gang is here so we know what to expect. Let's get it on shall we?

As usual, clicking on the pictures will give you a larger version of them.

Crimson Jack's Star Destroyer is now longer being crippled by Quarg's jammer. His pirates want to escape the system, but he demands that they comb the planet for Han Solo.

Good logic Jack and you are right, but why not assume they lured you to Drexel so it could jam your ship and they could escape?

Jack checks in with Jolli to see the status of the sabotaged fighter ships. Three of thee them will be ready soon which pleases Jack. He tells Jolli she'll have her chance to blast Han like she wanted since she first appeared. Narration boxes reveal that Jolli's having confused feelings about Solo recently though...

Which brings us to Drexel...

Wow. I love that we got to see the aftermath of the Drexel Dragon Wars.

Han is unsettled because he realizes the destruction of the jammer means Crimson Jack will be waiting and bloodthirsty. The Dragon Lord Leader offers Han and his friends sanctuary on the planet, but realizes they need to get back to their Rebellion.

A Y-Wing flown by one of Jack's pirates comes down and attacks them. Han and the others dive off of Quarg's ship for safety but not before Luke makes a startling revelation.

Well this makes sense. Luke did grow up on a desert world. Only problem is that the already released "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" novel (which I love) established that Luke could swim but Leia can't. Letter pages in an upcoming issue by some fans give some theories that reconcile this continuity error. We'll post those when we get to it.

Chewie fires the Falcon guns to give the Rebels time to swim to the Falcon.

Hasn't it been established that Threepio can understand Chewie just fine? And what is with the the way Artoo is drawn?

They take off and attempt to the escape the attacking Y-Wing, only to run into a Tie Bomber and more attacking ships. It turns out Jolli is the Y-Wing pilot and she's aggressively chasing the Falcon.

We then get Jolli's origin story,

I find it funny they Jolli's sexual attraction Han Solo is dealt with. I feel like I'm reading a young adult coming of age novel.

Jolli's Y-Wing plays chicken with the Falcon and scraps some of their weapon systems. She's trying to lure them into Jack's tractor beam. The Falcon is taking heavy damage though. While on the comm channel with Jack, Han tells him to take a look at his navigation computer. It turns out Han had erased all the destinations while he was tinkering with it before. Jack's Destroyer is now stuck in the Drexel system or they risk jumping into a supernova or worse.

Han may not be able to leave either though as the Droids see when they look at the Falcon's damage.

This is very similar to what R2 did in "The Phantom Menace". Still, it looks odd seeing the droids on the surface of the Falcon.

As you can see above, Han and Jack are attempting to work out a deal, but with scoundrels like Jack and Solo, there will most likely be a double cross.

What an interesting page. The mention of the love triangle in the first panel is odd because I can't see the trio being so open about it at this point. Although it is a tense situation so...

And smooth move on pissing off Jolli or being loyal to her Jack. I can already tell this won't end well.

Meeting in zero g in a cruiser's magnetic field (with exposition all the same) is a very weird Star Wars visual gag and one that would be reused a few times in the Marvel Star Wars run. I don't see it used much elsewhere though.

Double cross Han does. After he retrieves the parts he needs from Jack, he kicks him and tries to make his way back to the Falcon. Not very smart of Han because Jack tightens the magnetic field which means Han can't use it to get back to the Falcon.

This wasn't very thought out was it?

Han is being blasted by Jack's men who also enter the magnetic field.

People have forgotten all about the angry Jolli.

Well I must say this character has grown on me. I do like the way she went out as well. Quite tragic. Although it's not said in the issue itself, I wonder if she partially did this to save Han, who has grown sexually attracted to. Jack talking to himself is very expositiony here.

And that page which ends in mid-statement by Han? It's followed by him killing blasting and killing Crimson Jack. The droids then retrieve the parts to repair the Falcon and retrieve Han within the magnetic field (all off panel and explained in the narration box).

How is the mangetic field still holding? Did Jolli just destroy a different part of the ship?

I know it's suppose to be a sweet thing, but how old is Jolli suppose to be? I always got the sense that she was a teenager. This makes the kiss real creepy.

I suppose I spoke too soon asking about the magnetic field, because that panel does say "gradually fading atmosphere". That is the end of the issue.

Another question I have is, what about Han's treasure? Was it destroyed? We are meant to assume from future issues (I cheated and peaked here and there) that he didn't get it back. Was that why they checked Jack's ship? So many questions.

Archie Goodwin's writing was good. I am glad the epilouge dealt strictly with Jack because I have been getting sick of Drexel. Goodwin really made me care about Jolli in the end and I think I was just annoyed with her during the Roy Thomas run. Goodwin did have a few overly expositiony lines though.

Austin and Infantino are enjoyable but Han and the droids are still choopy. The space sequences were cool though and the amount of emotion expressed in Jolli's face helped win me over to the character. That is a sign of good art.

Both Star Wars and Archie Goodwin lend themselves to good multi-part epics, but so far the series hasn't done any "done in one" stories and I'd really like one after these long multi-parters. Heck, the Drexel story started in issue 8 and is just concluding now! Looks like I'll be getting my wish next issue when we get...

Star Wars issue 14 "The Sound of Armageddon"

2010-01-26T04:51:00.004-05:00

Nice pinup like cover of the gang there. It was later used as the cover to the first trade paperback Dark Horse put out collecting the full run of this series. My only complaints that Chewie still hasn't been drawn to my satisfaction. This will continue throughout the issue itself.

Work has been busy so my online life has been slacking. In order to play catchup for the blog (let's not get started on the podcast), I've decided to do three issues this week. This entry was mostly completed last week, and next issue is already 90 percent done. Even if I only get those two out, I'll still have double my usual goal.

Remember, if you can't read the text on the page or want to see a bigger version of the pictures, click on the image for a full sized link.

When we last left Luke, he was locked in a cell with an angry Chewbacca, who was convinced that Luke had gunned down and murdered Han Solo. Not a good situation to be in, let's see how Luke fares.

I know Luke is desperate, but how does he expect Threepio to help him? I do love the cantina joke thrown in there.

The battle between Quarg's men and the Dragon Riders are continuing. Despite being in the midst of battle, Quarg is still concerned about using his jammer to bring down Crimson Jack's orbiting Star Destroyer. Quarg's men inform him that the destroyer can't be brought down but he demands them to try harder. Things aren't going well for Jack either. One of Jack's men has apparently heard of Quarg and gives a one speech balloon recount of a story that took pages to tell last issue. We also get more space pirate soap opera...

Really unsure still how to feel about how Jolli's "coming of age" story is being handled. They are writing it like a novel for elementary school girls.

It turns out that Han is alive. Marvel would not have been dumb enough to kill him. He was rescued by the Dragon Riders and is being taken to their lair.

Which brings us to Leia..

I've seen "thank the Force" used here and there in the Expanded Universe. Is this the first time it's used? Glad they are finally refering to Leia as a "former senator". Throughout the run they keep on referring to her as a "senator" present tense. The Imperial Senate disbanded, that ship sailed a long time ago.

The Falcon is being towed to Quarg with Leia inside (unbeknowsnt to them). They present the Falcon to Quarg hoping it will dissuade him from attempting to ground Crimson Jack's ship. The jammer is using too much power and it will eventually sink their own ship. The thought of all the scraps Quarg could get from an Imperial Star Destroyer is too tempting for him to pass up. He has a plan and it involves his captive former mechanic Luke. How is Luke doing by the way?

Threepio's position is funny to look at. This isn't a radio drama though Threepio, you don't have to narrate every action you perform. Heck, it's a comic, the entire medium is visual!

Artoo is able to knock out Chewie with some extinguisher gas as Quarg's men retrieve Luke.

Quarg wants Luke and the droids to route the power from the Falcon to the jammer, hoping that the extra boost will give it enough strength to bring down Jack's ship. As you can imagine, Luke does not want to have any part of this or helping Quarg in any way. He is furious still believing that Quarg murdered his friends. Turns out Quarg's men found Leia on the Falcon and use her as leverage to get Luke to cooperate.

During the conversation a little dragon interacts with Quarg's foot.

At first read, that sequence seemed out of place and pointless, but it turns out there will be a point to it later.

The unnamed Dragon Lord Leader (hereby known as DLL) tells the now conscious Han Solo that the dragons are actually intelligent creatures who communicate with sound. Remember those men Quarg spoke about who were sent out to sea after mutiny? It turns out it was the dragons who saved them. DLL further explains that the jammer Quarg uses hurts the dragons and that is why they are attacking. Keeping jammer on as long as Quarg has in an attempt to bring down Jack's ship has done a number on their dragons. The baby dragon which spied on Quarg informs DLL of Quarg's plan for the Falcon. No he doesn't talk, it's done with sonic communication. DLL and the Dragon Riders spring into action and invite Han...

Han's reasoning and attitude for helping here is more in line with what I think Han would do as oppose to his behavior during the Aduba story.

The dragon lords continue to battle while Luke is inside the Falcon hooking it up to Quarg's jammer. One of the Dragon Riders boards the Falcon but Luke is pleased to see that it is Han. They have a brief happy reunion as they haven't seen eachother since the first pages of issue 7. The reunion turns tense when Han informs Luke he has to stop what Luke is doing. Luke get's angry and...well..just look at the page below to see...

I know the situation i s tense...and Han can be a smug guy...but Luke didn't have to punch him out! He could have just explained what was going on.

Leia reveals she was only playing prisoner so Luke wouldn't be hurt. Now that she see's Quarg won't hurt Luke (or his plan would be ruined), she punches him and flees. I guess Leia isn't worried about Chewie.

Quarg's logic is odd here. He wants Leia alive.....so they could kill her. Um...what?

Chewie is now awake and breaks out of his cell to attack Quarg's men. Luke finally explains to Han that he messed with the jammer so it won't effect the Falcon anymore. The ship is operational and can be used to save their friends, destroy the jammer and end the war. Great Luke, why didn't you just explain that in the first place? Was your urge to punch Han that strong?

Leia is corned on the upper levels of the ship by Jack....luckily for her Luke intervenes....

The Quarg storyline was a bit long, but I think it should have been wrapped up in more than one page. It seemed very rushed at the end of the issue. Not that I wanted it to go on another issue, but perhaps they should have stretched some of the events out within the issue. The swinging Luke is probably meant to evoke yet another movie memory. The Han Solo on the last page doesn't look anything like Harrison Ford.

The Writing: Enjoyable. I love Archie Goodwin. The dragon stuff was a bit silly but this does have the adventure feel of Star Wars. My only other complaint is, as I've said, it feels very rushed in the wrap-up.

The Art: Terry Austin and Carmine Infantino are finding their way. The faces don' always work and it's still a struggle to get the droids and Chewie right. Still, the battle sequences and splash pages have been great to look at.

Here are some other things found in the issue..

I love love love the Beatles (I run a Beatles website) so that ad made me smile. Yes, I do have that comic.

Vintage Star Wars toy ads are always fun to look at.

So much going on there! Leia was not that naked in the movie, although I suspect that design was from the poster. Look at Vader's collar! And Han is called "Hans". Love it!

Well the Drexel storyline is not quite over yet. As Han realizes on the final page, we still have to deal with Crimson Jack. Join us tomorrow for..

Two True Freaks

2010-01-18T16:52:00.002-05:00

Last night podcasting giant Michael Bailey did a call-in show for the 100th episode of his first podcast "Views From The Longbox". Many of his friends in the podcasting world called in, and while we waited we were put in a "green room" chat room. At least twenty or more podcasts were represented in there and it informally became Pod-Con 2010. Lots of connections were made and one of them was between myself and "Two True Freaks" hosts Scott Gardner and Chris Honeywell.

I've been listening to their "Star Wars Monthly Monday" segment for months now and it was nice to finally talk with them. Each SWMM segment usually consists of reviews of a Clone Wars episode, an Expanded Universe novel and a few issues of the Marvel Comic series with dashes of tangents and side ruminations thrown in. It''s very enjoyable. I became aware of them during the recording of the first episode of the podcast by none other than Michael Bailey. I listened to them but told myself I wouldn't listen ahead of the point of the series I'm reviewing as not to inadvertently copy their thoughts or comments. No such luck. The stuff was so enjoyable that I wound up listening to all SWMM episodes from November to last week.

Even though our projects are very similar we connected and have peacefully co-existed and even offered to trade files of stuff the other person was missing. We shared thoughts and comments on things each of us missed. It was great fun. I've added their link on the sidebar, check it out!

2010-01-17T19:20:00.002-05:00

Anyone remember this bad boy? Some people I knew just got a NINTENDO 64 and wanted me to bring some of my old games this weekend. I grabbed this one, which I hadn't played in years.

I had loads of fun replaying this thing and I think it's going to get more mileage in the coming week. One thing I'm looking forward to in my "Marvel project" is the issues between "Empire" and "Jedi" and seeing how well they mesh with the timeline given in "Shadows".

Podcast covering Issue 7

2010-01-15T23:37:00.001-05:00

The latest podcast (covering issue 7) is now up! Click here to listen!

EU Podcast

2010-01-13T12:38:00.006-05:00

I just added the above podcast our links section. It focuses on the EXPANDED UNIVERSE, doing reviews (or "escape pods" as they call them) on the novels, comics and even fan films. This is really refreshing because it's became "cool" recently for other podcasts to bash and dismiss the EU. It's hosted by two superfans named Jay and Tom. I recently e-mailed them telling them how much I enjoy their show and we traded links for our pages. Check out the podcast, you won't be disappointed.

Star Wars issue 13 "Day of the Dragon Lords"

2010-01-12T04:59:00.004-05:00

Hey guys! As always thing have been busy, but here is the next installment of our Marvel Star Wars project.

I love the cover. Threepio's line is funny but the overabundance of callbacks to the movie that this series has per issue is getting tiresome, so quoting one of the movies lines isn't earning them many points with me.

Clicking on the images will make them larger!

Luke is on the Drexel system trying to keep it's evil Governor Quarg from executing him and scrapping the droids (which is his policy for all outsiders). He is able to buy time by having R2 repair one of the skimmers (albiet rushed) thus proving his worth. Luke is to test the skimmer which would prove if he could be a pilot and if the droid actually did a good job.

Quarg goes into some detail about the war his men have with the dragon riders. If Luke proves himself as a pilot, he'll be valuable in that war. Luke isn't sure how well his test run will do because R2 was rushed and the men haven't been taking good care of their machines.

Wow, that is a very detailed Threepio butt that Carmine Infantino did! Classic droid banter by Goodwin though I am curious what R2 said.

The test run is going well until Luke's stowaway makes his presence known.

This reminds me of the "you'll be dead" line shouted to Luke in the Cantina scene of the first movie. I always found it hilarious there and it's hilarious here as well.

Quarg is impressed with Luke's skills and tells him he has the job as their mechanic now. Luke informs him that he's not out to take anyone's job (especially since the predecessor just tried to murder him when he thought just that). Luke just wants to fix his ship and get back off-planet.

Strangely enough, Archie Goodwin would later do a story for the Star Wars newspaper strip where the Rebels visit a water planet and R2 and Threepio take an oil bath.

Quarg doesn't agree with Luke's eagerness to leave so he decides to show him something...

Daaaaaaaaaaaaang!

And the comparisions to Darth Vader? I swear, these early issues always have people making random callbacks to the movie, like last issue the "just like my landspeeder" comment. Luke hasn't heard Vader's voice at this point and knows very little about Vader's heart other than he killed Obi-Wan and (supposedly) his father. I'm not even sure Luke is aware it was Darth Vader's Tie Fighter chasing him and murdering his friends in the Death Star Trench.

Quarg then tells the story of his pirate father and how he came to Drexel.

According to the great Wookiepedia, this is the first published art of the Old Republic and pre-Order 66 Jedi's. Cool.

Quarg further explains how when his father settled on Drexel there was an attempted mutiny by his mechanic who he sent out to die. The mechanic and his supporters returned having discovered they could manipulate sonic sounds to control the dragons. Quarg tells Luke he won't be leaving because he's needed for war, just then one of his men informs him of a large approaching craft.

Quarg and Luke go to the control room where Luke realizes they are still disrupting ships to bring them down and scrap their metal. He realizes that's how he crash landed there a few issues ago. The approaching ship is Crimson Jack's Star Destroyer (which still has four shield towers). Quarg is delighted at this process because it's enough metal to last a lifetime!

Aboard the Star Destroyer, Crimson Jack is still not convinced that Han is telling the truth about their being a treasure on a water planet.

I wonder if Leia is speaking from experience here. Perhaps she is more aware of her feelings for Han Solo at this early stage than we previously thought.

Quarg's jamming device begins to pull the Star Destroyer into orbit. Han and Chewie use the confusion to attempt a getaway.

You have to love Leia taking charge of the "rescue and escape" operation. This is one of my favorite depictions of her character thus far and not the screaming damsel that other early Expanded Universe stories used. Infantino is still getting a feel for drawing Chewie. Look at the first panel!

Quarg is furious that the Star Destroyer hasn't been brought down yet. Kind of reminds me of that level in "The Force Unleashed" video game. He accuses the operator of treason (and we know what Quarg does about treason). Thankfully for him, they are interrupted when Quarg is informed that the Dragon Riders are attacking.

Great picture Infantino! Especially with the sun in the background. It still weirds me out that Quarg's men are dressed like Earth pirates.

Luke is sent out on a skimmer to fight with the rest of Quarg's men. The Millenium Falcon (having escaped from Jack's ship) arrives and confuses the situation more. The jamming device forces the Falcon to land. Han decides to appeal to the skimmers, reasoning that they'll be easier to win over than the Dragon Riders.

Nope. Not so much.

The skimmers (following Quarg's policy) open fire on the Falcon. Luke is furious and blasts the other skimmer. He then searches for survivors.

Note the comment about Wookies not being sophisticated. That sure changes later. Still, this does match most of the depictions of Chewie in the first movie. Pulling arms out of bodies because they are sore losers? Remember that? The latter movies softened Chewie up.

As a result of Luke shooting the other skimmer, he's locked up for treason...with a very angry cellmate.

So we get the scene from the cover, but it turns out all they do is spoil the cliffhanger. I think the cover would have been better suited for next issue. Look at Chewie's size compared to Threepio! Ummmm.......no.

I'm loving Archie Goodwin's writing. He get's the banter between the droids and between Han and Leia down good. Carmine Infantino also had some great stuff this issue. The revelation of the hung mechanic was done right. The splash of the approaching Dragon Riders was also particularly memorable. His Luke is inconsistent though and like most early Star Wars artists, he can't quite get the droids right.

Still a fun issue thought, but I'm ready for this arc to be over.

Join us next time for...

New Podcast Episode

2009-12-29T07:50:00.003-05:00

Podcast for issue six is now up! Blog for issue twelve should be up later today (it's drafted now just needs some revision). Hope you all like it!

Star Wars issue 12 "Doomworld"

2009-12-29T06:45:00.007-05:00

We're back and so is the team of Archie Goodwin (story) and Carmine Infantino (art). How did they fare this time around? Let's find out!

If you want bigger pictures please click on them to enlarge..

Luke, Artoo and Threepio pick up where we left them off in the sinking escape pod. The sea serpants and their riders seem to be attacking or salvaging the sinking ship, but thankfully don't notice the escape pod while Luke watches with his space binoculars.

I'm going to have to agree with Threepio here, that is a really bad analogy. I get it Marvel, you're trying REALLY REALLY hard to make us remember the movie.

The new arrivals on the....water landspeeders....attack the dragon riders. They are able to scare the dragon riders off, but not before losing some of their skimmers. The lose disappoints them until they notice Luke and the droids...

Infantino, like Chaykin, sometimes make Luke look like He-Man as above. By the way, the guy in the first panel and Luke in the third panel look like twins. Maybe he was "the other" Yoda spoke of.

Once again, Luke is given a red saber. I've lost track, but is this the first time they've used the correct spelling for lightsaber?

Are these guys REALLY that stupid that they don't recognize robots? It's the friggin Star Wars universe! COME ONE!

Thanks for the exposition. At this point it's almost obligatory that we get a movie flashback once an issue. It just seems like it's Marvel saying, "Hey! Remember the movie? Wasn't that cool!"

Luke holds off the men for as long as he could with the saber, but he is in danger of being overpowered. Artoo has his own interjection...

There is so much to say about the above panel...so much....but yet words just fail me.

So Luke successfully commandeers the vehicle and demands to be taken to their governor. We get a nice full page of their base.

Remember, this is the 70's and full splash pages aren't as common as they are now. This is just cool and a triumph of Carmine Infantino. It looks straight out of a movie.

The governor, who looks strangely like a Napoleon cartoon, is ready to execute the men for the lost skimmers. They try to save face by showing them the robots and Jedi they brought back with them.

Interesting in-universe perception the galaxy had of the Jedi at the time. Remember, at this point Marvel (and our general public) knew very little of the Jedi and their backstory.

Luke convinces the governor only he could make sure he gets the true worth of the droids. He starts to think fast on his feet which reminds him of Han. As a result we cut back to Han's storyline.

Maybe Marvel has been doing this all along and I just noticed, but it looks like the Star Destroyer has four shield generators on top instead of the standard two! Weird!

Han and Jack are getting closer to the Drexel system and Han is trying to figure out what to do when Jack realizes he lied about the Rebel treasure being there. Leia didn't really think this lie through did she?

Jack proceeds to tell Han about how he came into possession of a Star Destroyer.

Look closely, are these the first appearance of Tie-Bombers?

Wookiepedia says the battle in question was actually the Battle of Toprawa. That's pretty cool and gives it some more history and ties.

I wonder if Goodwin knew who the backer was when he wrote this. It's interesting because that line WILL pay off much later down the line. Curious.

SPOILER: It's Jabba

The crew members interrupt the bonding moment between Solo and Crimson Jack to inform them Jolli has gone nuts and is attacking the crew.

Apparently Leia's mind games with her last issue had an effect. She started asking about kissing and some of the pirates got a bit fresh with her...which didn't sit well with Jolli.

Han getting slapped again is hilarious, although I'm really unsure how to feel about the Jolli kissing mind games storyline.

Chewbacca (who they say is 100 years old here...Wookiepedia says 200 is the correct age) pulls the ship out of hyperspace at Drexel.

Thanks Leia! What a position you've put us in!

Note the little....um....note on the side of the top panel that they forgot to edit out in post. It took me a few reads to notice it.

My overall thoughts? This has some of the better elements I loved from Archie Goodwin's newspaper strips (which haven't been published yet). Infantino is awesome and the full page pirate ship was a comic masterpiece. His faces are still a bit rough though. Just look at Han's face in that panel. I'm liking the story though and wish they would've done more to get Leia involved this issue.

So join us next time for...

Did R2D2 get put together?

2009-12-21T03:27:00.002-05:00

I found this video during one of my many wasted hours browsing Youtube. It's supposedley real and not staged. The wife supposedley doesn't mind the attention and finds it funny.

The premise...this guys wife gets emotional and cries after a viewing of "Return of the Jedi".

Star Wars issue 11 "Star Search"

2009-12-15T22:24:00.007-05:00

By gosh! It's been almost a month since posts! Part of that has to do with Thanksgiving break, part of that has to do with a million other things! I try to be weekly, but I won't always succeed. In the meantime, I've been putting out some podcasts to catch up to where I am now.

The historic Thomas/Chaykin run (albiet brief) is now over. We had some good and bad I'm a bit disappointed to see them go...even if it was years before I was born. I was very excited about getting to the team of Archie Goodwin and Carmine Infantino though! Archie Goodwin did the Star Wars newspaper strip for years and I enjoyed the reprints of those as well as reprints of his other Star Wars work. Carmine Infantino is a comics legend in his own right having helped create the Barry Allen version of Flash. I couldn't wait to get to these issues...so let's start.

Han and Chewie are leaving Aduba after the events of the last arc. We get the obligatory comic recap...

Click on the pictures if you can't read the captions.

I love Don Wan's magic wand. I guess Hedji did die afterall. That explains why all other reviews said he did. I swear it's hard to read that from the issue itself though.

Unfortunately they are captured by Crimson Jack and his crew (again) before they can make it back to Yavin. Han realizes that resistance is useless, so he let's the Falcon get captured. He hopes to lure Jack into a Rebel trap and get another reward. There is one kink in his plan though.

Good job Han! That solves some problems but creates others...or maybe it just creates problems.

A few things here...

1) Leia, the Empire already knows where your base is.

2) I thought Jack liked keeping people alive so he could rob them again? Guess ot.

3) Even Jack thinks it was dumb for Leia to go on her own. So why didn't the Alliance think so?

Chewie and Han are able to fight off some of the space-pirates.

Chewie has never looked more like a big walking carpet. Got to love how the space pirates are dressed as sea pirates. I guess pirate wear is universal in any era or setting.

Eventually he get's a gun pointed at Jack and they agreed to talk it out. Han says they'll never find the Rebel treasure if he kills him. Han retells the story of a "A New Hope" but alters the events by saying Leia fell in love with him. He goes in for a kiss with Leia and whispers to her to play along.

I think this could be considered Han and Leia's first kiss. I love how Archie Goodwin is hitting it out of the park with Han and Leia's banter! Spot on!

Leia screws up Han's plan but telling Jack and the others that the "Rebel treasure" is in the Drexel system (which is where Leia was going to look for Luke before getting captured). Jack buys it and starts heading towards the planet. Jolli leads Leia back to her cell while Princess Organa plays some mind games with the young pirate.

Joli's face on the top is hilarious. At this point in the series, it's become cliche for a character to think of another character, then we'll get a recap of the movie (for the millionth time) as we cut to that character. Note the irony that within a few issues Leia is a prisoner...again.

So what happened to Luke on Drexel anyway?

R2D2, what the heck are you doing?????

Luke and the droids decide to take their chances inside the sinking ship.

Massive exposition from C3Po. By the way, Carmine Infantino needs to practice drawing the droids.

To be honest I thought they were already in an escape pod before R2 took them to this one. They are able to get out right before the monster finishes off their ship.

And that gives us our cliffhanger!

Thoughts so far?

Archie hits it out of the park with Han and Leia's banter. Big plus. I'm not sure about Infantino's artwork. I don't hate it, but I'm still getting used to the style. It seems different from his Silver Age work. I'm sure he'll evolve just like Chaykin did though.

We'll return next week for...

Star Wars issue 10 "Behemoth from the World Below"

2009-11-17T22:06:00.009-05:00

Cool cover. Now that the movie adaptation is over the covers seem to be more indicative of the actual story content. I even caught some Kirby crackles on the cover by Chewie's gun, which is never a bad thing.

As always, if the images are not clear or too small, click on them and you will see a larger version.

So let's get into the issue.

What has gone before,

Han is helping a down on it's luck village get rid of a gang of pillagers led by Serji-X for little cash because Han is JUST THAT CHARITABLE. Boy you help one Rebellion and the floodgates just open.

He gets a band of odd heroes together. I won't go into detail on who they all are, just check old posts. They start to defend the village when an old shaman (who told Han he got it covered) summons this monster (known as the Behemoth from this point out) and we get our cliffhanger.

The Behemoth starts attacking Serji-X's gang, while ignoring Han and his crew. His weapon of choice?

Your eyes don't deceive you. The Behemoth has a built in blaster. Because this is Star Wars.

Don survived last issue I suppose. I don't know whether to be happy or disappointed by this development. And DANG Serji-X really should learn when to quit. The fact that raping Merri (who seems quite young) is the only thing keeping him motivated is nothing short of disturbing.

Serji realizes that the shaman is controlling the Behemoth so he changes his strategy....with comical results.

Don't tell me that this isn't hilarious. I suppose we're meant to infer that the shaman sacrificed himself to destroy the rapist. Or we could infer that it was just unfortunate circumstances. Serji, the villain of the arc, is sure of the way fast this issue. Now what?

The rest of the evil gang flees (which they had been begging Serji to do the whole issue) but our problems aren't over...now without the shaman to control him Behemoth is going nuts. This thing has the potential to do more damage than Serji did...perhaps summoning it wasn't the best idea. Kind of like calling a raptor to save you from a wolf.

Maybe I need to be paying better attention, but has Jimm been dressed like that (no pants) the whole time?? Amaiza is very concerned about compensation here, but I seem to recall early in this arc that there would be no compensation. Han is being VERY virtuous here which is still odd to me for this point in his life.You got to love Jaxxon's intense face in the second panel.

Jaxxon rushes off and is nearly crushed trying to stop the Behemoth.

Eighty kids? I suppose rabbits in Star Wars....um...do that thing....at the same frequency as rabbits in our universe do. More flirtation between Jaxxon and Amaiza, who shot him down last issue.

Han tries to form a strategy but one member of his clan isn't so patient..

It's so strange to see the Jedi's referred to as a "Holy order". Han freaks out when he see's that Don has run off to play hero. We cut to the "Leia searches for Luke" even if it's only a page.

Nothing new there. Just a glorified recap of what is going on with that plot. Leia being called a member of the Imperial Senate is amusing. Not only has the senate dissolved, but I think her role in the Death Star affair has caused that ship to sail.

By the way, why would the Rebel leaders let Leia go off by herself? She's a very important person and this mission is kind of important too. Wouldn't they see fit to give her backup? Has the Battle of Yavin lowered their numbers that much?

It also bothers me how everyone is always looking down on Han for going off to spend his reward money. UM....HE NEEDS TO PAY OFF A DEATH MARK!

Don is distracting the Behemoth with his lightsaber (still spelled sabre at this point in the series). Hedji, the cat hedgehog alien, tries to save him. Various other sources and reviews say Hedji dies protecting Don but the art doesn't make it clear to me.

Han realizes that the saber is the Behemoth's weakness. Yes, a lightsaber will hurt the monster....who would have suspected? Seeing how slow Don, Han takes matters into his own hands.

Here it is! The first time Han uses a lightsaber! I'm not sure how, but the next page makes it look like Han put it in his chest, not the leg as the above page suggests. Lots of disconnect between art and story this issue.

One panel pages weren't as common then as they were now. It makes the big pages cooler though when they wind up doing it. Classic Marvel Comics right there.

The smoke clears and Han's crew demands their money (I thought there wasn't going to be any). Merri, the object of everyone's affections, comes. She doesn't seem too upset about her grandfather getting mushed earlier this issue.

Looks like they had money afterall. The "come back now ya hear" is a bit odd for me. Han is NOW realizing that Merri is kind of young? Well he is a scoundrel.

And so ends the first post-movie story arc! It wasn't bad. It felt like they were going for a Tatooine vibe with this planet. As I've stated before, I think they overestimated how virtious Han was at this point. Some of the characters were a bit silly (Don or Jaxxon) and some were annoying (the same first two). It wasn't horrible though.

Apparently this is also the end of the Thomas/Chaykin run. I thought it went on longer, but I guess not. Roy even had Donald Glut help with the writing chores this issue. Glut later wrote the novelization for "Empire Strikes Back". Here is what Roy said in the letter pages.

Well this clears up the Tatooine mix up earlier in the arc. At first glance it looks like Roy is leaving to write Thor, but his wording ("personal") makes it sound odd. Hmmm.

Archie Goodwin and Carmine Infantino are giving me plenty to be excited about though! I loved Archie's other works on Star Wars including the classic newspaper strip. Carmine's comic reputation precedes him very well. Should be fun when we do.....

Podcast

2009-11-14T17:58:00.001-05:00

I decided to start a podcast for this project. It will be short and sweet, with no episodes being longer than 15 minutes (most under 10). Check out the first episode here.

Star Wars issue 9 "Showdown on a Wasteland World"

2009-11-10T22:53:00.008-05:00

You got to love how dramatic Han is when he says "CLOUD RIDERS" or how intense Jaxxon is.

It's been a little while since the last posting. I decided that in order to bring some structure and consistency to this blog, I would give it a regular schedule. Issue reviews will be published every Tuesday. That doesn't mean you won't see other random posts from here, but I will be sticking to the once a week format for issue reviews.

I'm also going to try doing the recaps differently this time. I'll put the pictures in the middle of the recap instead of doing it afterward. As usual, if the images are too small just click on them and they'll enlarge in a new window. So with that...

When we last left things, Han had agreed, for no money (which is SOOO like him) to help a poor farming village against the evil Serji-X and his gang. Han gets a team of some oddballs together to protect the village which is where they are heading now....

By who Jaxxon? I don't know...maybe Bucky O'Hare?

Han proceeds to give the readers some exposition on how he got to where he was and how he put the team together.

Well that pretty much covers who is who. Han doesn't seem too confident though. Why did you bring them Solo?

They see some creatures, known as High-hounds attacking the crops of the poor farmer. Han and the gang spring into action to help.

The only thing that I get out of this is....the Star Wars universe has scarecrows! AWESOME!

Haha! I love it! Jaxxon takes a break to try and get some action but gets shot down!

They eventually send the flying creatures away (the ones who survive). During the battle, Han had saved a female native who took his breath away. He's embarrassed when her father, the village spokesman, appears. Han gets teased by Amaiza (the chick in Han's group) for his sudden interest in charity for the village. She says it might have to do with Merri (the girl Han saved).

While they prepare for the confrontation with Serji-X, we cut to the other plotline of the issue...

Can't they just say "meanwhile" without making it complicated? I GET IT! We're in space! But "meanwhile" still works the same way!

And General Dodonna thinks Leia likes Luke just because she's concerned? Whether she likes him or not, she'd be concerned anyway because this is an IMPORTANT ALLIANCE MISSION!

Luke is looking for another system for the Rebels to have their base on since the Empire knows about Yavin. He gives the droids some exposition on it, before he decides he's found the right one and contacts Leia...

How the heck is Leia's body doing that in the bottom panel? If that is how she is rushing off, the very next thing she would do is fall on her face. We don't get to see that though because we cut back to Han and the gang.

An old shaman (who turns out to be Merri's grandfather) tells Han he isn't needed. There is another power which will save them. Han and the rest of the villagers denounce him as a madman. Serji-X arrives and the battle begins! Serji-X's dialogue makes it seem like he intends to rape Merri.

I love how the early Marvel stories made Chewie brutal! I suppose it's how he came off in the first movie, and Episode V and VI softened him up a bit.

Effie the droid see's that his master, the Starkiller kid, is in trouble so he sacrifices his "life" for him.

We have a casualty, even if it as a droid. Now another character (who I can't decide is awesome or annoying) seems to kick the bucket.

Looks like Han's side is losing. You can't blame them....look at his team. Just look at them.

While this is going on, the old shaman is chanting some weird stuff. Turns out he is summoning something, and we see just what that is on the last page.

Oh snap.

Oh! I almost forgot! Howard Chaykin, the regular artist on the series at this point, gives us a splash page pinup!

WHAT! Nevermind the fact that these don't look anything like the characters, they don't look anything like Chaykin's other work!!

To sum it up,

Roy Thomas isn't a bad writer. Things are a bit silly here but the series is finding it's legs. Han still feels out of character to me (and that one girl in the issue agrees). Chaykin's art isn't so bad, but I don't think he has the edginess of Princess Leia down yet.

Join us next Tuesday for issue 10! I haven't read it yet, so I have no clue what to expect. I may or may not do other random Star Wars postings in this space between now and then.

Star Wars issue 8 "Eight for Aduba-3"

2009-10-07T10:28:00.006-04:00

Nothing new to say about the creative team here. The same gang. Although I will say Chaykin is getting better. The cover will definitely get your attention the warrior bunny. "Deadly mission of Luke Skywalker" eh? My guess is this was there in case fans thought Luke was absent this issue (as he was last time).

Remember when I said Han pissed someone off in the bar at the conclusion of last issue? Turns out that person just words thing oddly. He wanted to offer Han a job....a job which pays absolutely no money at all. If there is anything we know about Han's character at this point in his life, he wouldn't do it in a million years. Well Roy Thomas disagrees. Han agrees to help a farming village which is being bled dry but thugs known as the Cloud-Riders.

The rest of the issue has Han gathering a team to help him in this quest. It's a colorful group of characters. They apparently don't mind the no money thing either. One is a delusional old man who thinks he's a Jedi named Don-Wan Kihotay (say it aloud a few times and you'll get the joke), and the infamous bunny warrior Jaxxon. Jaxxon didn't appear in many Marvel Star Wars comics, but his very presence is one of the things that gave this series the reputation it's tried to shake ever since.

In the end Han picks out an unusual team (feels like the setup to some "Dodgeball" like movie) and they met with the Cloud-Rider leader on peaceful terms to tell eachother "it's on".

As the cover promises we do get to see Luke, but it's only about 3 or 4 pages. He basically leaves Yavin to scout for a new Rebel base.

Onto some highlights...

We did get a brief bar brawl so Marvel could have their action quota for the issue. The first panel is very "Scooby Doo".

Why is Han removing his shirt for these interviews? People love to go on about the bunny warrior but nobody mentions the cat/porcupine hybrid.

Yes Han, let's endanger the mission by humoring this old man. Seems out of character for the person Han eventually became.

Ok I was trying to be subtle by the man is suppose to be Don Quixote. I see we're also still spelling it "sabre".

Oh dear lord where to begin...

"Space-carrots". Seriously? Are we just going to be putting "space" in front of random words now?

Oh Jaxxon you will never be forgotten....

We take a break to go to the letters page where we get some "behind the scenes" on why the adaptation was different than the movie. Apparently some angry fans had written in complaining at Marvel "making stuff up" and "adding scenes".

They are not even trying to hide the fact that this is a Luke Skywalker ripoff. His nickname is also the "Starkiller kid". If you're reading this I'm sure you know that Starkiller was Luke's name in early drafts of the movie, but it's worth mentioning anyway.

Speaking of Luke..

Luke would have already known that had he been watching Cartoon Network. And why is Luke flying a Corellian Corvette? Isn't that a bit excessive? It's funny how placement of ships the artists use in these early issues.

This page is for

a) People who have short memories and forgot what happened in the movie or first six issues.
b) People who haven't seen the movie but for some reason are picking up this issue anyway.

Either way it's a cool page. The art is improving. One of the best depictions of Kenobi I've seen in a comic.

A true mustache twirling villain if I ever saw one. It still is jarring to see Han so virtuous. Oh well.

Join us next time for...

Star Wars issue 7 "New Planets, New Perils"

2009-09-28T02:02:00.007-04:00

Nice cover. I can't accuse it of having a melodramatic interpretation of a movie scene like the first six did. Although "laser-gun" is funny. As oppose to what? Are their still normal guns in the Star Wars universe?

After a long hiatus we're back. Over the summer I had some computer problems. By "some" I mean my computer got hit by lightning and I had to wait months to get a new one. Many projects, podcasts and blogs were put on hold and this one really suffered. Hopefully now we can get it back on track.

So now we pick back up and what a place to do it! We're finally in the post-movie issues and the birth of the Expanded Universe. "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" is a favorite of mine, but the book always gets credited with the birth of the Expanded Universe when this gem actually came first.

I skipped recaps during the movie adaptation because you all know the story. Now we're at stories many of you might not know so I shall start recapping those nutty tales.

This issue begins with Han and Chewie taking off from Yavin IV with their reward. They are on their way back to Tatooine (or Dantooine...they're not sure) to pay back Jabba (still Hut and not Hutt). I guess it makes sense that this is the first thing they would do. I don't know why everyone else assumes they got "sidetracked" for three years.

On the way they get ambushed by SPACE-PIRATES. Because we're in space I suppose every noun must be preceded by the word space. Why not just call them pirates? Because it doesn't sound as awesome as SPACE-PIRATES! This guy named Crimson Jack is their leader and he seems to have a history with Han. His new recruit Jolli is a very bloodthirsty girl who keeps asking if she could kill Han yet. They take the reward money and let them live. Jack's reason for doing so? If they live he can steal something else from them later.......um yeah because that's what SPACE-PIRATES are all about.

So Han and Chewie decided to hid from Jabba (who controls the Outer Rim) on an Outer Rim planet (so they could be out of his reach...yes that is their logic). They arrive at the spaceport of Aduba-3, which looks an awful lot like Mos Eisley.

They notice a scuffle between a Space-Priest (my phrase, not used in the issue) and defend him. Turns out he's burying a half-man/half-droid pilot on sacred ground which some people don't take kindly too because he isn't all-man. Apparently it's up to Han to help this Space-Priest. Why should Han care? Because according to weird customs, whoever buries the pilot is entitled the money the money he had on him. Seriously. So the job is done and Han decides to spend his money at the cantina picking up ladies. Seriously. It's actually quite funny. He pisses someone off though for unknown reasons and that is where the issue ends...

Let's look at some highlights!

NOTE: Click on the images to see them full-sized.

Same creative team as the adaptation. Their art and writing is getting better. This looks like it could take place literally right after the award ceremony (albeit after everyone changed).

Again, it's funny how Han just takes off while most other people assume he stuck around and got sidetracked for three years.

Dantooine or Tatooine? Where are you going? Make up your mind!

Awesome...except those don't appear to be X-Wings or Tie-Fighters.

I love how the Space-Pirates actually look like old school pirates.

I love how Jabba's reach won't get them in the Outer-Rim....which is where his empire is! And I kinda think Jolli is cool in a corny 70's comic way.

They have Sunday School in the Star Wars universe??? And boy that does look an awful lot like Mos Eisley. The first non-movie planet Marvel depicted is basically a copy of a planet seen in the movies.

It seems here that Marvel is trying to soften up the character of Han Solo. He seems to regret killing and only does it when necessary. This goes against usual depictions of him. I do love how they portray Chewbacca as blood-thirsty.

Nothing is better than Han and Chewie picking up girls at a bar. Look at those girls Chewie has. Look at them!

Before we go let's look at an announcement the Marvel team ran in the letter pages..

So let me get this straight....Mark Hamill spoke with them about the direction of this comic? How come I've never heard about this before? I wonder if it's true or just typical Marvel hype. Either way, it's amusing.

It's good to be back and hopefully it will be days, not months until I post the recap for issue 8! Jedi Rabbits coming soon!

Star Wars issue 6 "Is This the Final Chapter?"

2009-06-20T18:44:00.001-04:00

Well Luke doesn't technically battle Vader. He just kinda dodges some lasers from his Tie Fighter. Love the dramatic cover which includes a scene that doesn't happen in the movie and Luke's Sith lightsaber.

I love the "angry mosquitoes" line. It appears the Death Star is upside down.

As with the novelization, Red Squadron is Blue Squadron here. Except they look like the color kids from Rainbow Brite. Not sure of the choice to introduce them with different shades like this but it looks good.

I love the fact that Vader is aware in this version that there could be a fatal flaw.

"So long Piggy! You will be avenged" is one of the best and most hilarious lines so far. Apparently there were some inconsistencies over Porkins name over the years and Tono was retconned in and out and back in.

Blue Leader's death is altered as well. In the movie he knows his missiles didn't make it, here the meaning and poignancy is altered which is fine with me.

The "and elsewhere" comes off very weird in the full context. Saber being spelled sabre has happened so much that it doesn't phase me anymore.

Ouch. Biggs dying hits you alot harder when you have the full context that was lost in the original theatrical cut.

"Immortal gods of the Sith" is a line I'm pretty curious about. Notice the Tie Fighter helmets are much better than last issue.

Yay!

Well the sequencing of events is different again but it still works. I suppose Marvel didn't realize the exhaust port had to be shot at a different angle. Oh well.

Nice description of the explosion. I never understood why the Special Edition's needed a ring around the exploding Death Star, but at 11 I did think it was cool.

Space-winds? WHAT?

Well at least we have some explanation of why Chewie didn't get a medal.

Star Warriors was the name given the heroes by Marvel. I guess they didn't think to call them "the Rebels".

Next time we get to "new adventures"! The birth of the Expanded Universe! Adventures beyond the movies! Jedi rabbits! I can't wait!