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Post by jorgesmith5 on Jul 5, 2023 9:50:44 GMT -5
Marvel's Star Wars comics from 1977 to 1987, particularly the issues featuring the iconic dual lightsaber, showcase the franchise's enduring appeal. The creative teams, such as Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin in Star Wars #1, and Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson in The Empire Strikes Back #39 and Return of the Jedi #1, demonstrate their talent in adapting the beloved films to the comic book medium. The dual lightsaber, a symbol of power and elegance, is masterfully depicted in these comics, adding excitement and visual flair to the action sequences. With captivating storytelling, impressive artwork, and faithful adaptations, these Star Wars comics from Marvel are a must-read for fans of the galaxy far, far away.
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Post by tarkintino on Jul 5, 2023 10:18:12 GMT -5
Then there's Luke on steroids.. For your misery--er--enjoyment:   |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
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Post by Confessor on Jul 5, 2023 10:36:56 GMT -5
Then there's Luke on steroids.. For your misery--er--enjoyment: Probably the biggest WTF?! moment in the whole series.  |
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Post by tonebone on Jul 5, 2023 13:27:02 GMT -5
Oh, and by the way... it is just me or does this cover of the epic volume try to warn you how terrible it is? I mean, it looks like someone said 'let's take the worst version of each character we can find and copy/paste them into a bad group pose! brilliant!'  Artoo knows what's up... he won't even look at the camera. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 7, 2023 7:52:14 GMT -5
Star Wars #91Cover dated: January 1985 Issue title: Wookiee WorldScript: Mary Jo Duffy Artwork: Tony Salmons (breakdowns)/Tom Palmer (finished art & inks) Colours: Glynis Wein Letters: Ken Bruzenak Cover art: Tony Salmons (pencils)/Tom Palmer (inks) Overall rating: 6½ out of 10  Plot summary: Chewbacca and Han Solo land on the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk in the Millennium Falcon, accompanied by Lando Calrissian in the Cobra. Excited to finally be reunited with his family, Chewie hurries towards his home, only to find the way blocked by a strange, pale-skinned individual who has Chewie's brother-in-law, Vargi, backing him up. Introducing himself as "Knife" – a nickname that the Wookiees have given him, due to their inability to pronounce his real name – the pale-skinned humanoid menacingly suggests that they all go to Chewbacca's home for refreshments. Upon arriving at the treetop dwelling, Chewbacca finds that his family are not at home, so the group enter and wait. As Han and Lando discuss their suspicions about Knife, Chewie's son, Lumpy, enters the house, along with three desperate looking Wookiees who hold the child at blasterpoint, while also training their weapons on Han, Lando and Chewbacca. Knife explains that he is holding Chewie's family hostage, as a means of ensuring his compliance in his scheme to re-establish the slave trade on Kashyyyk, which had recently collapsed in the wake of the Empire's defeat. Assuming that Knife is working for the remains of the Empire, Han tells the alien that the Alliance had assumed their might still be Imperial strongholds at large on some worlds, but the pale-skinned warrior reveals that he isn't in the employ of the Empire and hints at a much more powerful organisation backing him. As Chewbacca is paraded through the streets to demoralise the other Wookiees and end their resistance to the slave trade, Han and Lando escape from the cell that they have been put in. As Lando heads for the Cobra to send a distress signal to the Alliance and grab as many blasters as he can, Han sneaks up to the slaver's transport ship and frees Chewbacca from his shackles. Unfortunately, he is caught in the act by Vargi, who viciously beats Chewbacca as a punishment for Han's actions, while the Corellian is held at gunpoint. Watching his friend being mercilessly beaten is more than Han can take and he angrily lashes out at Vargi, but is brutally pummelled by the much stronger Wookiee. Han's actions inspire Chewbacca and a number of other Wookiee slaves to break their bonds and wrestle with their captors. Seeing that things are beginning to fall apart, Knife takes aim at Chewbacca with a throwing dagger, but the weapon is shot from his hand by Lando, who appears with Chewie's wife, father and child in tow. At this, Chewbacca gives full vent to his rage and knocks Vargi unconscious with one punch. As the Wookiees celebrate the overthrow of the slavers, Knife manages to slip away, stealing Lando's ship and escaping from the planet. Comments: Star Wars #91 sees us return to the Wookiee home planet of Kashyyyk (misspelt here as "Kazhyyyk"), which was first seen in the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, back in 1978. The Holiday Special was also where we first met Chewbacca's wife, Malla (misspelt here as "Mala"), his son, Lumpy, and his father, Itchy – all of whom appear in this comic. This isn't the first time that the Marvel Star Wars comics have shown us the Wookiee world though, since we glimpsed it during a flashback sequence in Star Wars Weekly #95 from late 1979. Russ Manning also used the planet in his Star Wars newspaper strip in 1979. However, this is the first time that we've seen Kashyyyk after the fall of the Empire. Although readers of the series wouldn't have known it at the time, this is quite a significant comic because it represents the start of a long build up towards the Nagai invasion (and, by extension, the Nagai–Tof War), which will begin in earnest with issue #97. I guess that you could justifiably point to issue #88 and the first appearance of Lumiya as the start of the lead up to the Nagai invasion, but since this issue gives us our first look at a Nagai warrior, in the shape of Knife, I usually regard this as the start of it all. Knife himself sort of looks like a paler, skinnier version of Frankenstein's Monster or maybe the Marvel supervillain Tombstone. Writer Jo Duffy has mentioned in various interviews that his appearance was very much influenced by Japanese manga and anime, which she was a huge fan of. Personally, I'm not sure that I can see all that much of a manga influence in Knife's design, but judge for yourself...  With Knife's first appearance, we are purposely told very little about the character and only handed a few clues as to his origin and true purpose. At one point, Han Solo notes that, although he's been from one side of the galaxy to the other, he's never before seen the particular species that Knife is. The pale-skinned warrior also lets slip that he isn't working for the Empire, as Han suspects, but another, supposedly more powerful group. These little titbits will all tie-in with future issues, where we will learn that Knife is from a warlike race called the Nagai, who come from outside of the Star Wars galaxy. At this point, however, readers are just left with a lot of questions. This is a decent and satisfyingly structured story, which puts Chewbacca firmly in the spotlight, by placing his family in peril. It features all the usual good characterisation of the main Star Wars cast that we've come to expect from Duffy, but, while the basic story is a compelling one, there's quite a lot left unexplained. For instance, just how did Knife single-handedly set up a slaving operation, among a population of some of the galaxy's strongest and most ferocious beings? Then there's the question of why Wookiees would turn on other Wookiees and sell them into slavery? Finally, what repercussions will there be for those Wookiees who worked for Knife, such as Chewie's brother-in-law, Vargi? Unfortunately, Duffy doesn't give us any answers to these questions, which sort of makes the story feel a bit incomplete or two-dimensional. In terms of the artwork, this is Tony Salmons's one and only contribution to the series. I like his story telling abilities quite a bit, and interestingly, there are noticeably more panels than usual without dialogue in this issue. As a result, in terms of moving the narrative forward, the artwork has to do more of the heavy lifting than usual. However, Tom Palmer's inking is quite uneven in places. It looks fantastic on some pages and rushed on others, giving a decidedly mediocre feel to the comic as a whole. This is unusual for Palmer and, I should add that, even when the work is not his best, his fluid and easily identifiable inks give the art here a sense of uniformity or continuity with the preceding McLeod pencilled issues. Overall, this is a good, entertaining issue, with some serviceable artwork, even if it's not quite up to Palmer's usual high standard. As previously noted, it's an important issue within the context of Marvel's Star Wars series for featuring the first appearance of the Nagai, who will go on to become major villains in the series. As a side note, on the letters page of this issue and again in #93, editor Ann Nocenti says that the old antagonist Domina Tagge (who last appeared in issue #50) will be making a return to the book in an upcoming storyline. However, Domina doesn't appear in any of the sixteen remaining issues of Star Wars, which could mean one of three things: 1) Nocenti was mistaken, 2) Domina was ultimately replaced by another antagonist in one of Duffy's scripts, or 3) Duffy hadn't gotten around to re-introducing the Tagge sister when the series ended. Continuity issues: - The planet Kashyyyk is misspelled as Kazhyyyk.
- Chewbacca's wife Malla has her name misspelled as Mala.
Favourite panel:  Favourite quote: "The Empire? Do you truly believe I represent that pathetic little outfit?" – Knife dismisses Han Solo's assumption that he is affiliated with the remains of the Imperial forces. I agree that there doesn’t seem to be much of a manga influence in Knife’s design. I don’t know anything about the Nagai, but it sounds like I’ll find out soon enough. Hey, at least now we know that the Star Wars Holiday Special must be canon. I agree with Confessor’s questions about how Knife could set up a slaving operation on Kashyyyk and why other wookiees would be complicit in it. I also found the implication that, while it’s not difficult to find a buyer for a wookiee slave, apparently it is difficult to find a buyer for a human slave (Knife says something like he’ll be back for Han & Lando if he can find someone to take human slaves, or something like that) rather odd. Why would someone who’s willing to won slaves not want a human slave? The scene where Han punched a wookie – and knocked him down – was a bit too much to swallow also. All in all, a decent story, with decent art, but nothing special. I thought this one was quite good... I've read this story in a few different continuities now, and this is a pretty good one. The main characters were actually in character, the art was good (they actually found someone who could draw a good Wookie and ran with it!) and created a new bad guy. I would have like a little more explanation on how that one dude is terrorizing a bunch of wookies, but otherwise a pretty good book. That cover though.. did someone think that was good? ugh. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 7, 2023 22:29:50 GMT -5
Star Wars #92Cover dated: February 1985 Issue title: The DreamScript: Mary Jo Duffy Artwork: Jan Duursema (pencils)/Tom Mandrake (inks) Colours: Glynis Wein Letters: Rick Parker Cover art: Cynthia Martin (pencils)/Bill Sienkiewicz (paints) Overall rating: 7 out of 10  Plot summary: Luke Skywalker is being tormented by vivid, Force-induced dreams, in which he sees his father, Darth Vader, preparing to remove his helmet. Following one of these dreams, a starfighter lands near the Alliance base on Endor, carrying a lone pilot who introduces himself as Prince Denin, last survivor of the royal family of Naldar. Denin petitions the Alliance to send ships to his homeworld, where many of the remaining Imperial forces are regrouping. He also requests that Luke train him as a Jedi, but Skywalker refuses, fearing potentially disastrous repercussions for the galaxy if his abilities as a teacher prove lacking. Admiral Ackbar decides to send a reconnaissance force to the planet, made up of Luke, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, R2-D2, C-3PO, and one of Luke's combat students named Barney. Before leaving Endor, Luke has another vivid dream, in which Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker reveal that the figure of Vader that he saw in his earlier dreams was a portent of a dark power on the rise. After making an emergency landing on Naldar, the party search through the remains of a huge battleground and soon find themselves surrounded by Imperial stormtroopers. The troopers' armour-clad leader is Barney's old friend, Flint, who has turned to the Dark Side after studying as a pupil of Vader's. As Luke and Flint duel with lightsabers, Leia and the droids discover documentation revealing that Prince Denin actually died some years ago. When he is confronted about this, Denin admits the he is, in fact, Denin's twin sister, Vila, who took on her brother's identity after his death, in order to fulfil his wish to become a Jedi. As Luke's comrades take on the Imperial troops, he and Flint's duel comes to a finish. Barney confronts his old friend, reminding him that it was the Empire who caused his mother's death, not the Rebellion, which prompts Flint to question his path to the Dark Side. A nearby stormtrooper hears the exchange and prepares to assassinate Flint, but before this can happen, Vila picks up Luke's lightsaber and rushes forward, striking the Imperial down as he fires a laser bolt into her. Flint finally realises the trouble that he has wrought and sets off a detonation device, annihilating the Imperial troops. As Vila dies in Luke's arms, she finds comfort in the fact that, at the end, she wielded a lightsaber and acted as a Jedi would. As she passes away into the mist-shrouded, ethereal domain of the Force, Vila finds her brother and Yoda waiting for her. Comments: The story in Star Wars #92 is a sequel – or maybe "follow-up" is a better term – to "The Apprentice", which appeared in Star Wars Annual #3. Here we catch up with Flint, who joined up with Darth Vader and the Imperial forces at the end of that annual, and his friend, Barney, who threw in his lot with the Rebellion. Like Star Wars Annual #3, this is a double-sized issue and, given that it's not by the series' usual artistic team, I strongly suspect that this was originally intended to appear in a never-to-be-published fourth Star Wars annual. I have to say that this is a much better story than "The Apprentice", with Jo Duffy turning in a really fantastic script. The story opens with the gang all back together on Endor for the first time since issue #81, and it seems that Luke Skywalker has taken on a group of new recruits for combat training, including Kiro, Rik Duel, Dani, Chihdo and Barney. Duffy also gives us a fascinating glimpse into Luke's current mindset, examining his unresolved feelings towards his father, along with his fear and insecurity over taking on new Jedi apprentices. I noted in my review of issue #90 that I thought that it was perfectly understandable for Luke to be hesitant about taking on pupils, but what's interesting about this story (and "The Apprentice") is that he sees how not taking on those who have ability with the Force, such as Flint, can also have its dangers. The swirling, Force-created dreamscape that Luke visits in his sleep is also a pretty interesting concept and not without precedent in Marvel's Star Wars comic; we saw a very similar realm when Luke was laying ill with the Crimson Forever in issue #50. At one point, as Luke dreams, he is visited by the Force ghosts of Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker (standing next to Darth Vader, no less) – with the latter drawn to look like actor Sebastian Shaw, since this issue was published long before George Lucas saw fit to replace him with the spirit form of Hayden Christensen in the revamped version of Return of the Jedi. ...  This is significant because it is Anakin's only appearance in Marvel's original Star Wars series, since his face wasn't shown in the comic adaptation of Jedi. We also learn that many of the rogue Imperial forces that we've heard about in recent issues are regrouping on the planet Naldar. Flint is leading these forces and is now the second pretender to Vader's throne that we've seen in the series, what with Lumiya appearing in issue #88. I must say that the way in which Duffy is showing us the scramble for power in the vacuum left by the Emperor and Vader's demise feels very believable. Prince Denin's also a fairly interesting character, although he (she?) comes on like such an overly-entitled jackass when our heroes first meet him, that I'm surprised they wanted to help him at all. Ah well, I guess that's why they're heroes though, right? The secret about Denin actually being Vila, the dead prince's sister, is a nice touch too and the clues that Duffy plants in the lead up to the big reveal are subtle and clever. On a slightly negative note, there are two or three small, nitpicky things that bug me in this issue. Firstly, how does Denin know that Master Yoda taught Luke? That probably wouldn't have been common knowledge outside of Luke's immediate circle of friends, so how could Denin, from the far off world of Naldar, know about it? Secondly, Luke's lighsaber is incorrectly coloured blue/white in this issue, rather than green (although it is correct on the front cover); and thirdly, the interior layout of the Millennium Falcon is all wrong, with the ship's cockpit visible from the recreational area. We had the Falcon depicted like this in the adaptation of the first film, but back in those early issues of the series, the error was much more understandable, since Star Wars was still such a new thing. There really is no excuse for it at this point in the series. As for the artwork, the first thing that I want to mention is the wonderfully surreal front cover by Cynthia Martin and Bill Sienkiewicz, which is gorgeous and striking. Martin went on to become the regular artist for Star Wars (beginning with issue #94), but this cover is notable for being her very first contribution to the series. The interior artwork is handled by the husband and wife team of Jan Duursema and Tom Mandrake. Duursema' name may well be familiar to Star Wars comic fans because, in the 2000s, she became something of a fan favourite, writing Dark Horse Comic's Star Wars: Republic and Star Wars: Legacy titles, as well as illustrating the comic adaptation of Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. This is her one and only contribution to Marvel's Star Wars series though, as well as her first time working on a Star Wars story. While the art isn't exactly to my tastes – being rather "chunky", with slightly wonky anatomy in places, and not as photo-realistic as Tom Palmer's work on the series – it is still pretty nice. There's a pleasing clarity and precision of line that I quite like. I also like the heavy shadow work that Mandrake employs in his inks, and the action sequences are excellent, particularly the lightsaber duel between Luke and Flint...  Speaking to Abel G. Peña on starwars.com in 2002, Duursema recalled how she came to work on the issue: " Being such a big fan, I could not have passed up the opportunity to work on Star Wars when it was offered! I was working on another project at the time, but worked overtime to be able to draw the Star Wars issue as well." In the same interview, Duursema explained how she and Duffy arrived at the design for Flint's armour: " Flint's character was sort of an analogy for Luke... sort of a, 'What if Luke had gone to the dark side?' kind of story. Flint was a cool character to design. Jo Duffy and I both liked the samurai influences on Vader's costume, and wanted to hint at that, but we both really wanted to pull in something stylistically unique to Flint. So I researched Far Eastern armor, as well as medieval armor, and tried to come up with a blend for Flint's costume. Lucasfilm was really open to interpretation of design for this character." While I can certainly see the influence of medieval plate amour in Flint's design, the samurai influences are somewhat harder to identify – at least to my eyes. Your opinion may differ though...  Overall, this is a very good issue, which delivers a compelling conclusion to the earlier, and frankly inferior, story, "The Apprentice", while also providing more fascinating glimpses into Luke's attitude towards taking on Jedi pupils. In addition, we get our strongest example so far of just what a problem the remnants of the Imperial forces can be to the newly born Alliance of Free Planets. The art is good, though not 100% to my tastes, and the dream-like realm of the Force that we visit at various points gives, what would otherwise have been a fairly pedestrian slice of space opera, a much more surrealistic edge. Continuity issues: - Luke Skywalker's lighsaber is incorrectly coloured blue/white, instead of green
- The interior layout of the Millennium Falcon is wrong, with the cockpit appearing to directly adjoining the recreational lounge area.
Favourite panel:  Favourite quote: "Do you think he never mentioned you to me... ? He told me that his greatest challenge was to come on the day that he faced you! He told me all that. And when my master died, and the Emperor with him, everyone knew who'd killed him -- his great enemy, you … Luke Skywalker!" – Flint gives Luke Skywalker his warped and decidedly inaccurate version of the events leading up to the death of Darth Vader and the Emperor. I’ll agree that this is a much better story than Star Wars Annual #3, and I’ll also agree that Denin/Vila comes across as an overentitled jackass, and very unlikeable, to boot. Personally, I wasn’t too crazy about Luke’s decision not to train and we see there, as you point out, that deciding not to train others has its dangers as well. “Denin” knowing that Yoda trained Luke was something that bothered me as well, Confessor . Another thing I had a problem with is Flint being so adept at using the Force and a light saber after what must have been hardly any training at all. Plus, he’s a Dark Lord now? They don’t make Dark Lords like they used to. It’s interesting, and makes sense, that Luke & Leia didn’t tell anybody that Vader is their father.
I did think it was really odd that throw away joke characters like Barney and Flint were revisted, but it worked. A couple things that didn't fit... last issue we had the New Alliance have their big meeting, and none of the main characters are there.. and they purposely point out how they won't be involved, yet now they are sad about it? Also, why is the alliance wasting Luke teaching people on Endor for was seems to be a while (weeks at least) if he's not re-establishing the Jedi? Luke should know that untrained force users are worse, anyway. His dream world very much reminded me of Dave Filoni's world between worlds in Rebels... coincidence? I suspect not. |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
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Post by Confessor on Jul 8, 2023 1:36:20 GMT -5
The main characters were actually in character, the art was good (they actually found someone who could draw a good Wookie and ran with it!) and created a new bad guy. Yeah, I think having Tom Palmer doing finishes and inking really helped the look of this comic. Although, as I noted in my review, the artwork is far from being Palmer at his best and seems a little uneven quality-wise across the whole comic. And on that cover! I would have like a little more explanation on how that one dude is terrorizing a bunch of wookies... Yeah, that wasn't addressed at all, was it? Which kinda made it hard to understand. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 18, 2023 0:08:14 GMT -5
Star Wars #93Cover dated: March 1985 Issue title: CatspawScript: Mary Jo Duffy Artwork: Sal Buscema (pencils)/Tom Palmer (inks) Colours: Petra Scotese Letters: Rick Parker Cover art: Cynthia Martin Overall rating: 6½ out of 10  Plot summary: While on a diplomatic mission to the planet Saijo, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia spot a battle damaged X-wing being pursued across the skies by three Y-wing fighters. Rushing to the Millennium Falcon, they take off and engage the Y-wings in combat, since Han has decided that three against one isn't fair odds, even though both types of ship are used by the Alliance. With the Y-wings destroyed, Han, Luke and Leia land the Falcon and pull the X-wing pilot from her wrecked craft. Back at the medical centre of the nearest Alliance base, the Cantrosian pilot, who is named Minka, tells Han, Luke and Leia that the Y-wings were Imperial ships and her base in the Cantros system has been under continuous assault from the Empire. The three assure Minka that this is impossible, partly because the Empire has now been defeated, but also because captured Imperial intelligence proves that there was no Imperial presence in the Cantros system. Nevertheless, they decide to investigate Minka's claim and head back to Cantros 7. Once there, Han, Luke and Leia meet with other Rebels who maintain that they are engaged in an ongoing fight with the Empire, prompting the trio, with Minka and her comrade Sami in tow, to travel to the Imperial base in the Falcon. After coming under attack and making an emergency landing, Luke, Han and Sami are apprehended by a group Cantrosians, while Leia and Minka evade capture. The three prisoners are taken back to a base, where they are surprised to learn that their captors are also part of the Rebellion. Suddenly, they see Durne – a member of the same group of Rebels that they had met earlier – instructing their captors to torture them. It quickly becomes apparent that Durne has been manipulating both groups of Rebels and playing each side off against the other. Leia and Minka appear to rescue their friends and, in the ensuing firefight, Luke saves the life of the Cantrosian leader who captured him, convincing the other Rebels at this location that he and his friends are not with the Imperials. The Cantrosians turn on Durne and take him prisoner, as Luke ponders who the scheming Rebel was working for and what has really been happening in the galaxy recently. Comments: Star Wars #93 is drawn by Sal Buscema, who is probably most famous for his work on Marvel's toy tie-in comic ROM and for a 10-year run on The Incredible Hulk. This is one of only two contributions that Buscema made to the Star Wars series (the other being issue #102), which is a real shame because his ability to tell a story with sequential art is marvellous, with some really interesting panel composition and clever "camera angels" on display here. Take this panel, for example...  I love how we have our heroes' confiscated weapons in the foreground and we, the readers, are sort of peering around that rock at the scene unfolding beyond. It's only a little thing, but as a compositional choice it accentuates the tension of the scene and this could almost be Princess Leia and Minka's view of their friends, as they plan their rescue attempt. Regular inker Tom Palmer brings his usual high quality draftsmanship to the issue, although, like his work on issue #91, some of the pages here look much more polished than others. Cynthia Martin again handles the cover art – which is pretty unspectacular – and she will take over as the series' new regular artist from next month. Jo Duffy's plot and script is solid, as we've come to expect from her, and, actually, this issue works as something of a mystery story, with the reader trying to figure out what's going on and who the "Imperials" that the Cantrosians are fighting really are. In that respect, this is a real page turner. Speaking of the Cantrosians, they are the second feline-inspired race we've seen in the Star Wars comic recently, what with the Imperial adjutant Ssssk!, who appeared back in issue #84, and, just like Ssssk!, I'm afraid that they look a little too much like bipedal housecats for my tastes. Something that I find interesting about this issue is that we begin to see that Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Leia are being lionised as legendary heroes of the Rebellion by the peoples of the newly liberated galaxy. At one point, Leia says that the further away from the galactic centre planets are, the more distorted the stories will become, with the result that the three of them will become living legends. This is perfectly in keeping with what we saw many years later in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, when Rey asks Han about the stories that she's heard concerning what happened during the Galactic Civil War, what with the Dark Side and the Jedi, and Han tells her it's true – all of it. On a related note, I like that Luke shows concern that he and his friend's "legend" doesn't become too big and diminish the sacrifices made by other Rebels. As he says, "everyone who's willing to risk his life for freedom is a hero, no matter who gets talked about." Knowing that it's impossible for the Rebels on Cantros 7 to the have been fighting the Empire, Luke clearly doesn't want them to feel as if they've been fighting for nothing – although, of course, they essentially have. This humility suits Luke well and is a testament to how clearly Duffy understands the essence of Skywalker's character. On the down side, the fact that the traitor Durne is so surprised to see Han and Luke at the so-called "Imperial base" makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Durne was there only a handful of pages earlier when our heroes clearly stated that they were leaving to travel to the base, so why would he not be expecting them to have been there? I mean, OK, maybe he didn't know that the other Cantrosians had captured Han and Luke, but he definitely shouldn't have been as surprised as he was to see them there. Still, I like the fact that it's revealed that Durne was working for someone else, which ties in nicely with the hints about a shadowy power working behind the scenes that Knife was making, back in issue #91. It also ties this otherwise stand-alone story into the larger Nagai invasion a little later on in the series. The Wookieepedia website tells me that it was actually later retconned to have been Knife that Durne was working for in Rich Handley and Joseph Bongiorno's article "The University of Sanbra Guide to Intelligent Life: The Marvel Series" from Star Wars Gamer magazine. Something that doesn't sit well with me is Han's decision to attack and destroy the three Rebel Y-wing fighters that we see chasing Minka's X-wing at the start of the story. Han says, "when I see three against one, I draw my own conclusions about who the good guys and bad guys are", but that makes no sense at all, especially when all four ships sport Rebel markings. Simply destroying the three Y-wings because they outnumber the X-wing doesn't seem like a very good idea at all. On top of that, Luke and Leia go along with the Corellian's flawed logic, resulting in them killing other Rebels, as is pointed out later. Anyway, overall this is an enjoyable issue, with a pretty gripping plot. It was something of a favourite of mine as a kid, but these days I can see that, despite its engaging script, it's actually quite flawed in some respects. Nonetheless, this is a decent enough issue, with some rather nice Buscema art. Continuity issues: None Favourite panel:  Favourite quote: "Sami, everyone who's willing to risk his life for freedom is a hero, no matter who gets talked about." – Luke Skywalker states his belief that all those who serve in the Rebel Alliance are heroes. I agree with Confessor that it’s interesting that our heroes have been lionized. I think the art is decent, but I do think that the inks look unpolished, which is unusual for Tom Palmer. Oddly, the pencils don’t look like Sal Buscema to me, for some reason. I thought the story setup was very interesting (ad yes, a bit of mystery, as Confessor noted) but I felt that the conclusion was lame and cliched. The plot also seemed a bit similar to last issue, where our heroes go off to another planet to investigate Imperial shenanigans, though in this case, only alleged shenanigans. I liked how Han said to Leia "I was almost loose, you know" on p.19 as she was freeing him. Some nits here. Why would backwater planets be hardest hit by the Empire's tyranny?? That doesn't make sense, and sort of contradicts the implication in ANH that the Empire practically doesn't exist on Tatooine, which is a backwater world. Also, how could Han see the ships' designations from that distance?? I also agree with Confessor that Han’s decision to help the one X-Wing against the three Y-Wings simply because it’s outnumbered doesn’t make any sense. That’s not the same thing at all as helping somebody out who’s being beaten up in a fistfight with three to one odds. And yes, I wasn’t crazy about seeing yet another race of cat people here. Durn’s followers seemed awfully gullible to take his lies at face value, also. I agree this was a pretty good (if flawed) story. The art starts off sort of sketchy, but gets better as it goes, with some cool panels, as Confessor noted. I did like the concept of the main characters becoming larger than life and having stories spun about them, but I thought it was kinda odd when Leia (I think) said that the small outlying places get oppressed more, the opposite is generally true,which is quickly proven here, as there is literally no Imperial presence at all. I was pretty ok with the beginning scene.. they did know the one X-Wing pilot was a rebel, and the Y-Wing group refused to answer a hail. Maybe disabling them would have been better than blasting them out of the sky, but otherwise it was OK. I wonder, we know Jo Duffy likes manga...is she also an Anne McCaffrey fan? The cat aliens did not feel Star Wars-y to me, but they did remind me of Decision at Doona.... one of her pre-dragon books that is about a planet full of intelligent cats. Two other things bothered me... why is the rebellion sending all their heroes to the same place? I would think their value would be much better apart. But, if you're going to send them as a group, where the heck is Chewie?? Also, a sign of things to come... that cover.. why do all the cats have triangle heads, and why are Luke and Han twins? |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 18, 2023 7:42:51 GMT -5
Star Wars #94Cover dated: April 1985 Issue title: Small WarsScript: Mary Jo Duffy Artwork: Cynthia Martin (pencils)/Tom Palmer (inks) Colours: Glynis Wein Letters: Rick Parker Cover art: Cynthia Martin Overall rating: 4 out of 10  Plot summary: At the Alliance base on the forest moon of Endor, the native Ewoks have declared war on a visiting delegation of Lahsbees. The trouble between the two diminutive races is being caused by an alleged affair that one of the visitors is having with the Ewoks' Princess Kamida. This has prompted the Ewok warrior Tippet, who is Kamida's swain, to declare war on the Lahsbees in a fit of jealous rage. However, both sides are, in fact, being manipulated by Hirog, an aide to Admiral Ackbar, who has contrived the incident in an attempt to unbalance the Alliance and make it easier for his race, the Hiromi, to conquer the galaxy. As Hirog communicates with the Hiromi mothership from the undergrowth, the disgruntled Ewoks launch an attack on Luke Skywalker and the Lahsbees, hurling rocks and stones at them. As a particularly large boulder is launched from an Ewok catapult, Luke uses the Force to send it crashing into the bushes – where it knocks Hirog unconscious. As the fight dies down, Luke, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO all try to figure out a solution to the impending war, while Hirog regains consciousness and primes a bomb that will destroy the Ewok village and kill the Alliance leaders. Meanwhile, Lando Calrissian convinces both of the warring sides that this is an affair of the heart and, as such, should be settled by Tippet and the accused Lahsbee alone. As the pair square off against each other, Han gives the woefully unprepared Lahsbee his blaster, but due to his unfamiliarity with the weapon, the tiny creature begins firing it randomly in all directions, as Ewoks and Alliance members run for cover. A stray shot hits Hirog's bomb, but has the effect of starting an uncontrolled countdown to detonation, rather than destroying it. As the Lahsbee continues to fire Solo's blaster, he becomes overexcited and transforms into a huge, monstrous Huhk. The hulking creature advances towards the spear-wielding Ewoks, just as a panicked Hirog runs screaming from the undergrowth. Coming face to face with the ferocious creature, the Hiromi spy flees back into the foliage, as the beast hurls a large boulder after him, hitting the bomb and destroying it. Back on board the Hiromi mothership, Hirog's superiors hear his panicked screams and decide to suspend their plans for invasion and leave the galaxy, abandoning their spy on Endor. With the Ewoks and Lahsbees having made their peace, Luke, Han, Leia, and the others watch amused, as Hirog is pursued through the trees by the ferocious Huhk. Comments: Although I think that Star Wars #94 is a pretty fun read, it also marks the beginning of the end of the original Marvel series, as far as I'm concerned. What I mean by that is, for me, this is the point where the quality of the comic's artwork and writing begins to seriously tail off. Having said that, I do really like the basic idea of an Ewok/Lahsbee war (even if it does turn out that both sides have been manipulated). The clash represents an entertaining and interesting meeting of the Marvel characters and George Lucas's creations. It also serves to ground the action on Endor, which is a nice change of pace from the inter-planetary adventures that we normally see in Star Wars. As an aside, I do kind of wonder if this issue was timed to shine a light on the Ewoks, just as their own comic – which was based on the Ewoks cartoon series and published through Marvel's STAR Comics imprint – was about to debut. The fact that we have an Ewok on the front cover, with not a Lahsbee in sight – making this issue look for all the world like an Ewoks comic – tends to lend credence to that theory, in my eyes. Regardless of Marvel's marketing strategy though, writer Jo Duffy is clearly having a lot of fun here with the notion of these two diminutive, furry races going head-to-head. The set up at the beginning of the issue, in which our heroes gravely talk about an upcoming war between two of the Alliance's greatest allies – as if there is about to be some major galactic conflict – is a good way to hook the reader, before revealing that, actually, the central cast are not really taking the impending war seriously at all. It's also nice to see the Ewoks playing a larger role in the comic, since they've mostly been relegated to the background since the events of Return of the Jedi. We even get a brief appearance from Wicket, who was the first Ewok that Princess Leia met. This issue is somewhat important (or maybe "infamous" is a better word) within the context of the series for two reasons. Firstly, it gives us our first look at Hirog and his race, the Hiromi (who Duffy named after the Japanese singer Hiromi Go, incidentally). Trouble is, I think Hirog, who is initially introduced as an aide to Admiral Ackbar, is probably my least favourite character of the entire Marvel run. The way that he's drawn makes him look like an utter joke! Without exaggeration, he and his insectoid race are probably the worst designed and most poorly conceived alien concept that I've ever seen published in a mainstream comic book...  On top of Hirog's appallingly bad design, he's an annoyingly jokey, bumbling character, who's clearly supposed to provide some big laughs, but unfortunately comes across as annoying, rather than funny. Truth be told, Hirog's entire race are equally annoying, with their plan of using the Ewok/Lahsbee war as a way to divide the galaxy being utterly ridiculous – even for a plot devised by a comic book villain! Based on the reaction of the Alliance leaders, it seems far more likely to me that the other races in the galaxy would simply ignore the feud (although the idea of killing the Alliance leaders with a bomb, to further destabilise things politically, isn't without merit). Hirog is just so bad at being a spy and so prone to being on the receiving end of slapstick accidents, that it stretches credibility to believe that he could ever have successfully infiltrated the Alliance, let alone carried out his mission. In addition, the fact that the Hiromi abandon their plans for galactic conquest because of a misunderstanding, seems so hackneyed and unbelievable that it sort of reminds me of one of those old 1950s Marvel sci-fi tales. For better or worse though, the incompetent, bumbling Hiromi will go on to play a much larger role in the series. The second reason why this issue is significant (or infamous), is because it sees the debut of Cynthia Martin as the comic's new regular artist. I have to say right up front that I'm really not a fan of Martin's art. While I do see something sort of "classical" and almost art nouveau about her artwork at times, it's much more akin to '80s, Saturday morning kid's cartoons. Her grasp of anatomy, or posture and articulation, seems to be a little wonky too, and you'd have never gotten panels as slapdash or cartoony as these below during Ron Frenz's run...  Come back Carmine Infantino...all is forgiven!  This cartoony style of art is – and was, back when I was a 12-year-old fan of the series – a really jarring change of pace from the exquisite, movie-authentic work that the likes of Walt Simonson, Ron Frenz and Tom Palmer brought to the book in its heyday. Palmer is still on board for this issue, but he would be gone by next month to work on The Avengers with John Buscema. Palmer does his best to rein in the worst excesses of Martin's style, but he seems to be rather "dialling it in" in places, leaving many pages looking rather sloppy. All in all, I'd have to say that, although this issue is basically a fun read, it's a little too "played for laughs" for my tastes. I've always liked Duffy's use of humour in the series, but here it starts to tip over into making the Star Wars comic seem like a comedy. The introduction of the intensely annoying Hirog doesn't help things and neither does Martin's cartoony artwork. Still, this issue is important for introducing the Hiromi race to the series, regardless of whether you think that's a good thing or not. Ultimately, Star Wars #94 is a tongue-in-cheek, jokey story, which, while being pretty flawed in some respects, is nonetheless quite readable. Continuity issues: None Favourite panel:  Favourite quote: "Lahsbees, dangerous? Come off it, pal! You're never gonna convince me you were ever scared of one of 'em. This whole thing is a joke, right?" – Han Solo incredulously asks Chewbacca about the Lahsbees' fighting ability. Well, this was a cute story, in a way, though overall it was just a bit too silly. Han and Lando did have some good, humorous dialogue, though. I didn’t like the art that much, and since it looks like Cynthia Martin is going to become the regular penciller, that doesn’t bode well. I am seeing that Confessor’s comment about the quality of the writing and art starting to drop off at this point will almost certainly be a statement I agree with. Ugh.... this is clearly the beginning of the end. So much here makes it clear that Jo Duffy has no idea what do to with the long term story, she's just tossing things into see what sticks, and it doesn't work at all. I couple issues ago we have a big meeting that sets up the Alliance of Free Planets, and that's in jeopardy because a couple cutesy and barely sentient races have a medeval fight over a Princess? That's just silly. The Lashbees are basically bunnies with Voltron powers.. they don't even have a planet.. how can they have a 'delegation'. And who cares? What possible benefit do they bring to the alliance? Cuteness? And never might the nonsense about the alliance operating out of Endor.. that makes no sense at all. I wonder if Lucasfilm was still approving things at this point, of they just were kinda rubber stamping? I know Dark Empire was in the works not too long after this..how to get you there from here? Hirog belongs as a sidekick to Dick Dastardly, not in Star Wars.. and why do his entire race where red berets? Why would a race with antenae even have hats? So bad. If the timing wasn't off I could chalk it up to a test of the Ewoks comic,but no. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 26, 2023 7:33:06 GMT -5
The Force doesn't want me to post this... I've tried 3 times and it keeps not working for various reasons... maybe because of the content.
So, I think the plotting here is just super lazy. The Nagai are bad because... reasons. They've aligned with some remnant of the Empire, but the good guys can't negotiate with them at all. We have no idea what they are capable of, but we're going to fight because we need a bad guy!
Lumiya I don't like as much as others... cool concept and design, but an empty shell. She's mad she's a cyborg? So's Valence, at least he had some depth to him.
And of course, the art... the Nagai seem to have turned from pale humanoids to the love children of David Bowie and the Drow Queen. But hey, they got that one famous guy! (Not Knife, Morpheus! Or was a dreaming when I saw him...)
The Vandelheim mission I have in the Classic Dark Horse series.. here it's a bit tweaked to fit the era it seems... it definitely works, and my eye appreciated the lack of Cynthia Martin.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 26, 2023 9:31:49 GMT -5
So, I think the plotting here is just super lazy. The Nagai are bad because... reasons. They've aligned with some remnant of the Empire, but the good guys can't negotiate with them at all. We have no idea what they are capable of, but we're going to fight because we need a bad guy! I also have a huge problem with a concept of the invasion of a whole galactic empire, especially since the Nagai turned out to be refugees (akin to the German tribes that caused trouble at the start of the Gallic Wars; they were invading Gaul because they had been kicked out of their own homes). We're talking about galactic scales, here... Just how many Nagai can there be? Unless they breed like rabbits, the whole bunch of them should be content with a couple of planets. In the case of the empire, numbers don't matter as much; they are not invading, they just try to re-establish a system that was functional until just a few months ago. The main problem I had with Lumiya is that they waited way too long to reintroduce her. The momentum had been lost. The cyborg thing was also unnecessary, and felt like someone needed to replace her old boss with someone not too different. A waste of a good character, in my opinion. Didn't much care for the punk look either, although it was better than the way the Tofs dressed! |
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Post by Duragizer on Jul 31, 2023 21:48:15 GMT -5
Oh, and by the way... it is just me or does this cover of the epic volume try to warn you how terrible it is? I mean, it looks like someone said 'let's take the worst version of each character we can find and copy/paste them into a bad group pose! brilliant!' While grocery shopping last week, I saw a guy wearing a t-shirt with this exact image on it. There's worse Star Wars imagery out there one can wear on their chest, but I still wouldn't be caught dead wearing this in public. |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,220
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Post by Confessor on Aug 1, 2023 5:55:18 GMT -5
Oh, and by the way... it is just me or does this cover of the epic volume try to warn you how terrible it is? I mean, it looks like someone said 'let's take the worst version of each character we can find and copy/paste them into a bad group pose! brilliant!' While grocery shopping last week, I saw a guy wearing a t-shirt with this exact image on it. There's worse Star Wars imagery out there one can wear on their chest, but I still wouldn't be caught dead wearing this in public. I have a t-shirt with Tom Palmer's gorgeous painted cover for Star Wars #81 on it ...  |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 6, 2023 18:34:07 GMT -5
So I'm up to 102.. planning on pushing through to the end tonight maybe.
Some comments:
The Dani-Kiro relationship is so random, I thought I missed an issue. His dying then not was really silly, and just was a whole lot of useless false drama.
They're making the galaxy seem very small indeed by having the Nagai pop up everywhere. Just how many of them are there?
The Han-Leia-Fenn triangle is super forced and feels wrong. If they wanted to do a big storyline with the Mandalorians great, but as is, seems like just random tension... They might as well have a 'very special Wedding issue' and have Darth Vader's ghost interrupt it.
Speaking of Han.. Duffy has no idea who he is. There is NO chance he'd sit on the planet while Lando took the Falcon into a big battle.. that's silly. Yes, it happened in the movie for very specific reasons, but a test that Lando made up? That's just silly. While it was kinda interesting they were trying to have structure and it turned out doing Han things was what won, but still.
Then there's Bey.. the hero of Han's childhood he's never mentioned before, and the Legend that no one has talked about before. So he's half Nagai.. so they've been around for at least 35-40 years... and they picked NOW to turn up? Not after the 1st Death Star blew up? Why not help the rebels, then have good will and swoop in? Much more logical and effective than what they did. Of course, we know why, but this is the problem when you try to retcon things instead of moving forward and doing your own thing.. Duffy seems to be trying to do both, and it didn't work, at all.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 6, 2023 21:01:20 GMT -5
Ok, done! Thank goodness!!
Like the interview with Jo Duffy Confessor mentioned, I thought 103 was Duffy's best. The Zeltrons were fun, Leia was actually in character, and it told a great story with a stunning, yet telling ending. Of course, that was all for not as the last 4 issues completely reversed course.
I don't think Luke was being mean or protecting anyone about Kiro.. I think they simply forgot they brought him back. Luke's thoughts/convo with Plif make it clear that he thinks he's dead.. so unless he's hiding it from the telepathic guy, I think they just forgot he was alive, or, alternatively issue 102 didn't actually happen.
That's not the only major editing issue... the Tofs are yellow is #103, then green after. And where the heck would Luke know the term 'Galleon' from, or what one looked like?
Then there's when he kills a Tof by activating his light saber, but warns the Hiromi, that they should yell at their prisoner too loud when trying to interrogate him.
Also, I think the 'My Hiromi' title is a riff on the song 'My Sherona'.. I don't know why, just what popped into my head.
I liked Luke getting the Hiromi on their side.. it was a fun use of a useless alien race.
The whole thing made the Galaxy, again, feel very, very small. How the heck did everyone end up on Zeltros at the same time? Aren't there any other planets?
Also, why are the Tofs a big threat? They have a giant ship, sure, but they like clubs as their primary weapon and they were beaten by Luke, Plif and a bunch of Hiromi... why are they so scary? The Nagai seem a MUCH bigger threat. Perhaps since the end was near they just mashed everything in, but even with time to develop I'm not sure this story could have been anything.
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