I'll definitely take any of the guys I mentioned over Infantino.  So who would be your dream artist for this series?

Again, good writing, exciting story and yes, certainly no reason for Infantino to not know what an X-Wing looks like at this point. Heck, he could have borrowed my toy X-Wing for a reference!

I was an enthusiastic model builder as a kid and couldn't understand why Infantino didn't first buy every Revell model available in order to draw a Millenium Falcon or an X-Wing that had more than a passing resemblance to the original!

I was an enthusiastic model builder as a kid and couldn't understand why Infantino didn't first buy every Revell model available in order to draw a Millenium Falcon or an X-Wing that had more than a passing resemblance to the original!

I was even convinced that it's what Williamson and Simonson did, although they probably used photo referencing more than models.

For the characters, I had read early in the Battlestar Galactica comic that Marvel didn't have the right to use the likeness of the actors; so as long as we could tell who was who, I didn't mind overmuch. Except for R2-D2 and C-3PO, or even Darth Vader... Their features didn't belong to actors.

One thing I did like about Infantino's art is how he had a very uniform way to depict technology in the Empire (and among the rebels), with lots of straight lines and white panels. It felt Star Wars-ish, unlike the more Flash Gordon-ish convoluted designs that other SF artists would bring to the mag.

Star Wars #22
Cover dated: April 1979
Issue title: To the Last Gladiator!
Script: Archie Goodwin
Artwork: Carmine Infantino (pencils)/Bob Wiacek (inks)
Colours: Bob Sharen
Letters: Clem Robins
Cover art: Carmine Infantino (pencils)/Bob Wiacek (inks)
Overall rating: 6 out of 10




Plot summary: On board the galactic gambling station known as The Wheel, Han Solo and Chewbacca, along with a number of other combatants, are entered into a "to-the-death" gladiatorial contest. The pair decide to team up against the other gladiators in order to stay alive for as long as possible, but it soon becomes apparent that the rules dictate that there can be only one survivor in the arena. Meanwhile, Senator Greyshade, who has been orchestrating and manipulating events on the Wheel, presents Princess Leia, who has become the object of his unrequited affections, with a proposition: if she leaves the Wheel with him and his stolen treasure, her Rebel friends can go free. As Leia contemplates her decision, she and Luke watch in horror as Han is apparently slain by his Wookiee companion.


Comments: The penultimate episode of The Wheel saga is another fairly strong one. The opening sequence, with Han Solo and Chewbacca fighting in a zero gravity gladiatorial contest, is a very striking and, consequently, memorable one. Archie Goodwin's writing is pretty inventive here too, with the arena resembling outer space and the recoil from the gladiator's needle ray guns propelling them backwards into exploding planetoids. I can vividly remember reading this scene as a little kid, although I found it confusing that Han and Chewie weren't in spacesuits when they were clearly out in space. Obviously, with my limited reading ability at the time (I was only 6), I hadn't quite grasped the fact that the arena was just a mock up of space.

Carmine Infantino does a really good job of depicting the various hazards in the arena. The action flows very well from panel to panel in this sequence and he makes the needle rays, disintegrator beams and exploding planetoids look very dangerous. In particular, Infantino does a fantastic job on the page where Han and Chewie are forced to face off against each other. The high emotions that are on display here, as Han urges his Wookiee sidekick to shoot him, are very skilfully expressed through the art, which is suspenseful and loaded with poignancy and stoic heroism. While we're on the subject of the art, there's some very nicely drawn action sequences involving Luke Skywalker battling the Wheel's elite security guards too.

The scene in which Senator Greyshade makes Leia a proposal to leave the Wheel with him in order to save her friend's lives, is both interesting and creepy. However, it's slightly problematic for me because, although Luke's reaction is fairly predictable (given his own feelings for Leia at the time), I'm not convinced that Leia would react the way she does here. I understand that she's torn and, of course, she may just be stalling for time, but she seems to be actually considering leaving with Greyshade on some level. I'm not sure I could see the Leia of the Star Wars movies doing that.

Goodwin also gives us some more Darth Vader, as we check in on the Sith Lord as he races toward the Wheel in his Star Destroyer. His second in command, Captain Wermis (who we met last issue), is obviously either stupid or a glutton for punishment: he was Force-choked by Vader last issue for his disrespectful tone and, here again, Vader has him writhing on his back on the floor, unable to breathe. Here's a hint, Wermis – if the Dark Lord of the Sith gives you an order, just do it. Don't question him.

Issue #22 of Marvel's Star Wars comic is another enjoyable instalment of the Wheel saga. There's some nice sequential art and good action sequences from Infantino, but I think last month's episode was a little stronger overall. Nonetheless, this is still an above average issue of the series.

Continuity issues: None

Favourite panel:



Favourite quote: "I can't believe this! I can't believe we're even discussing this!" – Luke Skywalker reacts in disbelief to Senator Greyshade's proposition to Princess Leia.

Star Wars #23
Cover dated: May 1979
Issue title: Flight into Fury!
Script: Archie Goodwin
Artwork: Carmine Infantino (pencils)/Bob Wiacek (inks)
Colours: Carl Gafford
Letters: John Costanza
Cover art: Carmine Infantino (pencils)/Bob Wiacek (inks)
Overall rating: 7 out of 10




Plot summary: As Senator Greyshade and Princess Leia prepare to leave The Wheel in the senator's space yacht, Imperial Commander Strom realises that he has been betrayed and sends his stormtroopers to kill the senator and the Rebels. Greyshade suddenly becomes inspired by Luke Skywalker's noble heroics and the realisation that the Wheel's central computer, Master-Com, is the closest thing he has to a friend, and as a result, he has a change of heart and allows Luke and Leia to leave in his ship. As the same time, R2-D2 transmits tape recordings to the Wheel's patrons that expose Greyshade and the Empire's attempts to illegally take over the galactic gambling station, causing a riot.

Meanwhile, Chewbacca is leaving the The Big Game with his friend and partner Han Solo, who he was apparently forced to kill during the gladiatorial event. However, Solo managed to conceal a hand-held ray shield inside his shirt during the contest, which deflected Chewbacca's laser blast. The Wookiee was in on this deception all along and upon reaching the Millennium Falcon, the pair manage to escape from the Wheel. Back on the space station, a wounded Greyshade is joined by Master-Com, just as Commander Strom appears brandishing a blaster. Greyshade tosses a proton grenade at the Imperial, killing him, but fatally wounding himself and critically damaging Master-Com.

Upon leaving the Wheel, both the Falcon and Greyshade's space yacht, with Luke, Leia, C-3PO and R2-D2 on board, run into Darth Vader's Star Destroyer. While Han and Chewbacca give covering fire in the Falcon, Luke manages to call upon the Force to stun Vader, allowing both craft to escape into hyperspace.


Comments: The Wheel saga wraps up with this issue and what an exciting conclusion it is. Archie Goodwin gives us blaster shoot-outs, space battles, Darth Vader, Force-related intrigue, some moving moments between Greyshade and Master-Com, and even a full-scale riot in the course of this issue. The "shield under the shirt" trick that Han Solo pulls in order to survive being shot by Chewbacca in The Big Game is pretty contrived, but it works reasonably well as a solution to last issue's cliffhanger. There's also a touching little sequence prior to the big reveal that Solo is still alive, in which we see Chewbacca uttering mournful little cries as he watches his partner's apparently lifeless body floating in the zero gravity arena. One thing that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me was why did ramming the stormtroopers with the hover-platform result in Han and Chewie losing their prize money? Couldn't they have just picked it all up and put it back on the hover-platform? I guess they were in a hurry to reach the Millennium Falcon and leave the Wheel before more Imperials appeared, so were forced to sacrifice their winnings. Goodwin's writing of Greyshade is pretty good here too, showing us that the former senator has a wry sense humor, but predictably, as the story comes to a finish, he begins to exhibit those "shades of grey" in his motives and behaviour that his name so clumsily refers to.

Unfortunately, we get some icky Luke/Leia incest problems rearing their slightly uncomfortable head in this issue, with Luke coming very close to saying that he loves Leia – and not in a brotherly way. Worse still, a page or two later, we see the pair giving each other a passionate embrace and a proper kiss on the lips. In hindsight, theses scenes are cringe inducing, but let's not forget that Goodwin would've had no idea of Luke and Leia's shared lineage at this point and besides, what we get in this issue isn't really any worse than what happened in the medical centre of the Rebel base on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back.

I find the whole Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker, Force-sensitivity aspect of this issue pretty interesting and it correlates nicely with what we saw in Star Wars and will later see in The Empire Strikes Back. In particular, Luke using all the anger and frustration that wells up inside him to clumsily attack Vader with a Force-powered mental feedback blast is an interesting idea. It shows us just how powerful Luke is with the Force, even if that power is mostly latent and almost completely undisciplined. Plus, of course, it's great to see Luke battling Vader at last, even if they never actually come face-to-face.

Carmine Infantino's art, while never 100% to my tastes, is as good as ever in terms of the story pacing, staging, "camera angels" and clearly depicting the various action sequences or communicating the emotions of the main characters. Even Infantino's somewhat shaky grasp of Star Wars spaceship design, which I've moaned about in previous issues, seems to have improved a little here.

Overall, Star Wars #23 provides a very satisfying conclusion to the Wheel saga and is a real page turner. I wouldn't say that the Wheel arc is one of the best, when viewing Marvel's Star Wars series as a whole, but after a slow start, it has built to a very enjoyable finish.

Continuity issues: None

Favourite panel:



Favourite quote: "As one who feels friendship for the man who gave him humanoid form, I will at least open your docking bay's magnetic field before --" – Master-Com confesses his feelings of friendship for Senator Greyshade and completes one final task, just before being blown away by Imperial stormtroopers.

Star Wars #24
Cover dated: June 1979
Issue title: Silent Drifting
Script: Mary Jo Duffy
Artwork: Carmine Infantino (pencils)/Bob Wiacek (inks)
Colours: Petra Goldberg
Letters: Rick Parker
Cover art: Carmine Infantino (pencils)/Bob Wiacek (inks)
Overall rating: 4 out of 10




Plot summary: Following events on the water world of Drexel, the Millennium Falcon drops out of hyperspace for minor repairs. The Corellian freighter is suddenly attacked by two Imperial TIE fighters and, after Han Solo uses some skillful shooting to destroy the enemy craft, Princess Leia begins to recount a tale involving Obi-Wan Kenobi in the days of the Old Republic, in which he used a similar manoeuvre to Han's.

Obi-Wan was travelling on a galactic pleasure cruiser when he was summoned to the bridge by the ship's captain and informed that Merson space-pirates had been spotted nearby. Before Kenobi could act, however, the ships turned to attack the cruiser, leading the Jedi to speculate that there must be a hidden beacon on board the cruiser that the space-pirates had locked on to. With some quick thinking, Obi-Wan managed to destroy the attacking ships in a similar manner to how Han would destroy the TIE fighters many years later. However, unrest was growing down on the recreational deck, where the frightened and inebriated passengers were accusing a fellow passenger and known criminal named Augustus Tryll of conspiring with the Mersons. Kenobi cautioned the mob against judging Tryll too quickly and, as more Merson ships appeared outside, the Jedi realised that the signal was originating from a fermentation device in the recreational area. With the machine destroyed, the cruiser was able to continue on its journey unhindered.


Comments: Like Star Wars #16 and #17, this is another fill-in issue. Archie Goodwin cedes the writing chores in this comic to his assistant Mary Jo Duffy, who would later go on to be the last regular writer on the series, beginning with issue #70. A self-confessed Star Wars fan, Duffy had only joined Marvel's editorial team in late 1978 and, at this point, her only writing credits for Marvel had been Power Man #56 and #57. Although her tenure as writer on Marvel's Star Wars series between 1983 and 1986 would produce some of the best issues of the entire run, this issue is a fairly lacklustre debut.

The story itself takes place out of sequence, just after the events of Star Wars #15, in which our heroes left the planet Drexel and defeated the space-pirate Crimson Jack. The framing device for the flashback tale involving Ben Kenobi is troublesome insofar as the "manoeuvre" that Han employs to destroy the TIE fighters isn't really all that impressive. He essentially just plays possum in the Millennium Falcon until the TIE fighters come in close and then he and Luke blast them. Admittedly, having explosive charges rigged in the Falcon's cargo hold, in case Solo ever needs to fake severe damage during a space battle, is a pretty clever trick – and exactly the sort of thing a resourceful and cunning smuggler like Solo might do – but I'm not convinced that Han's actions are really worthy of a lengthy story from Leia.

Star Wars #24

That grumble aside, the flashback story, which is set in the days of the Old Republic when Obi-Wan Kenobi was a Jedi Knight, is fairly interesting. Duffy shows us a younger Kenobi who seems to be a bit more ruthless than the character portrayed by Alec Guinness: in one scene Obi-Wan lets a charging assailant skewer himself on his lightsaber, rather than simply sidestepping his attacker or even just chopping off an arm, as he did in the Mos Eisley cantina.

Incidentally, it seems likely that 68-RKO, the droid who attaches itself to Kenobi in this story, was named in honour of radio station WRKO in Boston, Massachusetts (it's 68 on the AM dial). Wikipedia tells me that Duffy was born in New York City, but later attended a women's arts college in the west of Boston. Given how popular WRKO is in that area, she almost certainly would have been aware of the station.

A plot element that I had a problem with in this comic is that the process of shutting down all non-essential systems on board the cruiser and just drifting through the asteroid belt to avoid the Merson slavers sounds kind of dangerous. As a result, I couldn't really buy into the idea that this would be something that a pleasure cruiser would do as standard practice. Also, how come Kenobi says at one point that it's only visual contact with the Merson pirates that the pleasure cruiser has to fear? That doesn't tie up with his previously stated suspicion that there's some kind of signal beacon on board the ship.

Another criticism of Duffy's script would be that she seems to be making some ill-defined point at the story's conclusion about the evils of alcohol – both in the sense of the literal evil that the signal from the fermentation machine may cause, but also in the wider sense of the behaviour of the inebriated passengers and their eagerness to point the finger at Augustus Tryll. It's a vague, overly preachy point and, ultimately, it adds nothing to our enjoyment of the story. Add to this some truly groan inducing character names, like the patently silly Captain Quasar and the none-to-subtle name of Augustus Tryll (as in "trial", presumably), and you can't help but notice that the writing here is noticeably less polished and assured than Goodwin's.

Something that is probably worth noting about this issue is that, other than a brief flashback panel in Star Wars #13, this comic represents the first time that Star Wars fans had been shown events from the Galactic Republic era. From a continuity standpoint, the flashback scenes don't jibe perfectly with what we saw in the prequel trilogy, but there are no glaring problems and the story just about fits with established canon if you squint a little bit. That's fairly impressive when you consider how old this comic is and how much the Old Republic/Clone Wars era has been fleshed out since then. Of course, the younger Kenobi seen here doesn't look anything like Ewan McGregor's later portrayal in the prequel trilogy, but it does look a bit like a younger version of Alec Guinness, I suppose.

Interestingly, artist Carmine Infantino doesn't clothe Obi-Wan in his usual Jedi robes in the flashback because, at the time that this comic was written, the hooded coat and threadbare garments that Kenobi wore in the Star Wars movie were simply the rags of a desert hermit. The movie novelization by Alan Dean Foster defines them as such and I'm willing to bet that even George Lucas hadn't decided that Kenobi's clothes were his Jedi robes at this point. It wasn't until the ghost of Anakin Skywalker appeared at the end of Return of the Jedi wearing similar clothing to Obi-Wan that it became apparent that this outfit Kenobi wore was Jedi attire.

This issue is the second and final flashback story that Marvel did in their original Star Wars series. It's a shame that these kinds of story stopped because they were fascinating and worked well as stand-alone issues. I have to wonder whether George Lucas put his foot down and told Marvel to stop exploring stuff from before the Star Wars movie, because he had his own plans for that period. Goodwin explained on the letters page in issue #17 that the creative team on the comic worked very closely with Carol Titleman, the Star Wars Corporation's Director of Publications, to ensure that nothing was done in the comic that would contradict or invalidate things planned for the Star Wars sequels. So, it's certainly possible that these flashback-style stories disappeared from the comic at Lucas's request.

As for the artwork in this issue, Infantino's pencils and Bob Wiacek's inks work well together (my own slight dislike of Infantino's style notwithstanding). That said, I think that their work together on the preceding Wheel story arc was probably of a slightly higher calibre and some of the panels in this issue look a little rushed and lacking in detail. Regarding the story, the initial framing sequence is utterly inconsequential, but the flashback story is an interesting diversion from the ongoing adventures of Han, Luke, Leia et al. Unfortunately, Duffy's plot is quite dull and the scripting workman-like, rather than inspired. It also suffers from a lack of focus in terms of character motivation and internal logic. The fact that this story comes after a strong run from Goodwin, in which he'd really begun to find his groove on the series, only heightens the impression of this issue being below par.

Continuity issues:

• On the front cover, Obi-Wan Kenobi's Jedi robes are purple and green, instead of brown and beige (and they are entirely different from the garb that he wears inside the comic itself too).
• Also on the front cover, Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber is coloured red, instead of blue/white.

Favourite panel:



Favourite quote: "If you're that particular about the company you keep, I recommend that in the future you make 
your trips alone." – Obi-Wan Kenobi chastises a passenger who has objected to the presence of the droid 68-RKO, who is travelling with the Jedi.