I agree with you about the sequel trilogy and prequel trilogy.  The sequel trilogy actually made the sequel trilogy look great!  I'm interested in The Mandalorian, but I don't feel like getting a Disney + subscription just for that.

I got a Disney+ subscription for Christmas, and haven't regretted it. Aside from The Mandalorian, which is fantastic, you get access to all the new Marvel shows (loved WandaVision, and currently enjoying The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), all the MCU movies, the Fox X-Men, FF and Deadpool movies, The Gifted, Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter, Runaways, Inhumans, and a ton of Marvel animated stuff including vintage and new material like Spider-Woman, the sixties Spider-Man, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, the nineties Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk, Silver Surfer, Spider-Man Unlimited, Ultimate Spider-Man, Avengers, Avengers Assemble, Hulk and the Agents of Smash, Guardians of the Galaxy...and that's just the Marvel section!

I meant to say that the sequel trilogy made the prequel trilogy look great. Darn typos!

Star Wars #33
Cover dated: March 1980
Issue title: Saber Clash!
Script: Archie Goodwin
Artwork: Carmine Infantino (pencils)/Gene Day (inks)
Colours: Petra Goldberg
Letters: John Costanza
Cover art: Carmine Infantino (pencils)/Bob Wiacek (inks)
Overall rating: 8 out of 10




Plot summary: Departing Tatooine in the Millennium Falcon, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker and the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO spot a House of Tagge Mining Explorer preparing to jump into hyperspace. The Rebels follow the Tagge ship to the planet Junction, where they witness the Tagge's Omega Frost technology being transferred to an Imperial Star Destroyer. Leaving the Falcon in a spacesuit, Luke investigates the transfer and discovers that the Tagge's are planing to use the Omega Frost weapon against Junction, which is a critical source of supplies for the Rebel Alliance. Luke is captured by Imperial stormtroopers, but not before he relays his discovery to Han, who races to Yavin 4 in order to alert the Rebellion.

On board the Mining Explorer, Baron Orman Tagge tells Luke that the plan to use the Omega Frost on Junction was misinformation and the device will instead be used to destroy the Rebel fleet as it races to save the planet. Angered by this news, Luke attacks Orman and the pair engage in a lightsaber duel. Using the Force and guidance from Obi-Wan Kenobi's spirit, Luke defeats the Baron by destroying his cyber-vision goggles, leaving him helpless and in a state of shock. Luke escapes from the Mining Explorer in an Imperial TIE fighter and heads for Yavin 4, to warn the Rebellion of the Omega Frost weapon's true target.


Comments: Star Wars #33 features the third part of the Omega Frost saga and sees Archie Goodwin's already excellent storyline get even more gripping. His scripting in this issue captures the voices of the main cast very well, for the most part, and in particular, there's been a big improvement in the way in which Goodwin writes Han Solo recently. I noted in some of my earlier reviews that Solo was the cast member that Goodwin seemed to have the least good grasp on, but in this arc we've seen him nail the Corellian smuggler's character with satisfying and, at times, humourous results.

There's also some nice little nods to the original Star Wars movie here. For example, we see that R2-D2 and C-3PO are still "letting the Wookiee win" at Dejarik (the holochess game seen in the film), and we also see Luke practising his lightsaber with a training "remote" on board the Millennium Falcon. However, Luke actually hits the "remote" with his saber in this scene, just as he did in issue #3, rather than simply deflecting its laser bolts, as he did in the film. Although having Luke strike the training ball itself is not in keeping with George Lucas's movie, I like that we at least have some consistency between Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin's movie adaptation and these later issues.

The coolest thing about this issue though is that we see Luke engaging Baron Orman Tagge in a lightsaber duel. This is only the second time in the Marvel series that Luke has crossed sabers with an enemy, the first being in the Chris Claremont-penned Star Wars Annual #1, where he duelled and killed Kharys, the Majestrix of Skye. Here too, Luke manages to vanquish the Baron, leaving him in a babbling, semi-catatonic state, due to the sheer precision and skill of Luke's lightsaber technique. In showing us how much Luke's skill with both his lightsaber and the Force have grown, Goodwin is setting the stage nicely for the events of The Empire Strikes Back.

We also get the first mention in this issue of a sister to the Tagge brothers, although we won't actually learn her name or meet her until issue #35. Talking of the Tagge family, something that's interesting in this issue is that Ulric Tagge is described as a Fleet Commander by Luke and as a General by Orman. I'm not sure, but I'm beginning to think that Goodwin meant Ulric to be the same Tagge brother that we saw on board the Death Star in the original Star Wars film. That particular brother was referred to as General Tagge in the novelization of the film and as Commander Tagge in issue #1 of the Star Wars comic, but he wasn't given the first name of Cassio until relatively recently. It makes me wonder if Goodwin only meant there to be three Tagge brothers when he was writing these issues, rather than four. Having said that, the Tagge brother that appeared in the film and in the comic adaptation looks nothing like Ulric – even his hair colour is different – which suggests that Goodwin didn't, in fact, intend them to be the same person. I'd really love to get to the bottom of this and get a definitive answer. See what you think...

Cassio Tagge (upper pictures) and Ulric Tagge (lower pictures).
Did Archie Goodwin intend for these characters to be the same person?



Carmine Infantino's artwork displays all of the overly-angular leanings, improbably-posed figures and woefully inaccurate depictions of Star Wars spacecraft that I always make mention of in my reviews. But, as ever, the artwork never fails to faithfully serve Goodwin's script and the way in which the story flows from panel to panel is predictably smooth and clear. That said, some of the art in this issue is a little hit and miss, with some panels looking like they've had lots of time spent on them, while others look rushed and sloppy.

Gene Day's somewhat heavy, but detailed inking results in a return of those overly-harsh or weird facial expressions that seem to occur whenever he works with Infantino. Still, the precise line work that Day brings to this issue is rather nice to look at. Petra Goldberg's colouring is worth mentioning too, especially in the space sequences and also for her background colour choices.

Overall, this is another really good Star Wars comic from the Goodwin/Infantino era. It sees the Omega Frost saga move from a semi-nostalgic, Tatooine-based tale of intrigue into a full blown, widescreen space opera.

Continuity issues:

• On the cover, Luke Skywalker and Orman Tagge's lightsabers are incorrectly coloured: Luke's is red when it should be blue/white and Orman's is green when it should be orangey red.
• On the cover, Orman Tagge's clothing is coloured cerise and gold, instead of the correct red and blue.

Favourite panel:



Favourite quote: "Kid, you're a bad influence. Every time I'm around you, I get turned into a hero in spite of myself." – Han Solo wryly agrees to join Luke in attempting to prevent the Tagge family using the Omega Frost weapon.

I really enjoyed this issue, our common art gripes aside.  I liked seeing Luke practicing with the light sabre, though I'd prefer he deflect the bolts rather than swipe the remote. Not only is is consistent with the film, but I think it takes more skill.

Where did Luke get that space suit, which just happens to have a receiver on the same frequency as the House of Tagge workers' suits, which allows him to listen in on them?

It was nice to see the Ben Kenobi Force ghost, but he wasn't drawn well - too wide.

Star Wars #34
Cover dated: April 1980
Issue title: Thunder in the Stars!
Script: Archie Goodwin
Artwork: Carmine Infantino (pencils)/Bob Wiacek (inks)
Colours: Petra Goldberg
Letters: Joe Rosen
Cover art: Carmine Infantino (pencils)/Bob Wiacek (inks)
Overall rating: 6 out of 10




Plot summary: Following his defeat in a lightsaber duel at the hands of Luke Skywalker, Baron Orman Tagge is now in a semi-catatonic state and being kept sedated on board the Tagges' Mining Explorer, on the orders of his brother Silas. Meanwhile, on board the Millennium Falcon, Han Solo, Princess Leia and Chewbacca are leading the Rebel Fleet toward the strategically important supply planet of Junction, under the impression that the Tagge's Omega Frost weapon is to be used against the world. However, the Tagges instead plan to use the Omega Frost on the Rebel fleet as it races through an asteroid corridor on its way to the planet.

Having escaped from the Tagge's ship in a stolen Imperial TIE fighter, Luke finds that his craft has been sabotaged, forcing him to eject before he crashes into an asteroid. With no way of warning the approaching Rebel fleet that they are entering a trap, he locates and destroys one of the towers that generates the Omega Frost effect, thwarting the Tagge's plan just as the fleet is entering the weapon's range. Realising that they have been lured into a trap, the Rebels change course and attack the Mining Explorer, destroying the ship and apparently killing Silas and Orman Tagge.


Comments: The Omega Frost story arc wraps up with this issue, which plays out as a pretty straight forward slice of space opera. Archie Goodwin's writing and scripting is reasonable here, with his characterisation of most of the core cast being good, but it's far from his best work on the series. In particular, some of Han Solo's dialogue is a little too corny for it to be totally in character. This is a shame because I noted an issue or two back that Goodwin's writing of the Corellian smuggler had improved of late, but it seems to have taken a turn for the worse here. On the plus side, there's some nicely written and very in character bickering between the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO.

The issue opens with Han leading the Rebel fleet in the Millennium Falcon on a mission to save the planet Junction and it's a scene that is unintentionally reminiscent of Lando Calrissian's later leading of the Rebel armada in Return of the Jedi. Interestingly, Goodwin has Princess Leia give Han a good luck kiss on the lips during this sequence, which means that, as far as the original Marvel comics continuity is concerned, their kiss on board the Falcon in The Empire Strikes Back was definitely not their first.

With Baron Orman Tagge out of the picture, Goodwin takes the opportunity to give us more of an insight into Silas Tagge's character. His cold, scientifically-driven nature has been hinted at in earlier issues, but here we clearly see that, with his steadfastly logical mind, he has no time for trivialities like his brother's passion for family honour or supplanting Darth Vader as the Emperor's right-hand man. As such, Silas actually comes across as a more threatening character. However, he isn't totally without ambition because we learn that he does harbour a faint desire to become the next Baron Tagge. Goodwin does a nice job at the story's climax of showing that Silas's inflexibly scientific mind is incapable of thinking around a problem and giving decisive commands when things go against him in the heat of battle. It is as a direct result of this indecision that Orman and Silas apparently perish at the end of this issue, although, as we know in comic books, the death of a villain is almost never as final as it seems...

One problem I have with the Omega Frost superweapon is that spaceships are obviously already shielded against the extreme cold of space, so I'm not sure how effective the device would actually be against the Rebel fleet. Also, the way in which artist Carmine Infantino depicts the weapon being used shows icicles hanging down from the frozen starships and asteroids, despite the lack of any gravity...





I think the problem with the Omega Frost from a storytelling point of view is that, when he came up with the idea, Goodwin was probably thinking how cool it would be to have a device that could suddenly freeze swathes of boiling desert on the arid planet of Tatooine...and rightly so! It's a very dramatic device within the environs of Tatooine. However, once you transport it to the vacuum of space, it becomes much less striking and possibly problematic from a scientific point of view.

We know from information gleaned from the comics themselves that the Omega Frost will work on anything containing moisture – even if it's only tiny microscopic amounts of moisture (presumably the metal hull of a Rebel star-cruiser contains enough minute traces of water for it to be vulnerable to the weapon). But how would the weapon work against a starship that is already designed to withstand extreme cold? Luckily, the Classic Comics Forum's resident molecular biologist and all round crazy scientist Roquefort Raider has attempted to provide an explanation...

That sounds reasonably plausible to me and a big thank you to Roquefort Raider for the explanation. Your Marvel "No-Prize" is in the post, my friend.

Aside from the aforementioned icicle problem, Infantino's artwork in this issue is quite reasonable, in spite of the ever-present artistic idiosyncrasies that I always make mention of in my reviews. Bob Wiacek's inking serves to take some of the hard, angular edges off of Infantino's penciling and Petra Goldberg's colouring is, just like last issue, very good indeed. In addition, the Infantino/Wiacek cover is probably one of the most memorable of the entire series and must have really leapt out at kids from the spinner rack back in 1980.

Overall, issue #34 of Star Wars is probably the least impressive part of the Omega Frost storyline, but it still manages to function as a reasonably satisfying conclusion to the arc. Unfortunately there are a few sub-standard or goofy elements, like Infantino's space icicles, Han's corny dialogue, Luke managing to slow himself down in the vacuum of space using the momentum generated from igniting and repeatedly re-igniting his lightsaber, and the possible ineffectiveness of a device that flash freezes things in an already sub-zero environment. Nonetheless, the action and excitement quota here is pretty high, with some explosive space battle sequences and a gripping race against time, as Luke tries to disable the Omega Frost weapon before the Rebel fleet is destroyed. Structurally, I also love that the issue ends before we actually see Luke getting rescued from the surface of the asteroid on which he's stranded. That's a nice little touch which re-enforces the notion of this story being just one of an ongoing series of adventures for the central cast.

Continuity issues:

• Luke ignites his lightsaber as a means of slowing his decent towards an asteroid in the zero gravity environment of space, but lightsaber blades do not provide any thrust and therefore would not slow his velocity.

Favourite panel:



Favourite quote: "Old smuggling hands say if you make it this far, odds are you'll go the distance. Providing nothing happens to change the odds. Old smuggling hands are fond of hedging." – Han Solo wryly notes that the odds of the Rebel fleet successfully navigating the Junction asteroid corridor are not entirely favourable.

I'll say this: contrary to a noisy corner of SW fandom, The Phantom Menace is the most structurally sound Prequel film, and the only one with the absolutely necessary patience in laying out the critical first episode of the series. AOTC and ROTS....a wealth of problems, and with each, there was the greater need / rush to tie up loose ends leading the the OT.