Star Wars #65Cover dated: November 1982
Issue title:
Golrath Never Forgets!Script: David Michelinie (plot, script)/Walter Simonson (plot)
Artwork: Walter Simonson (layouts)/Tom Palmer (pencils & inks)
Colours: Glynis Wein
Letters: Joe Rosen
Cover art: Tom Palmer
Overall rating: 10 out of 10
Plot summary: With Luke Skywalker having been reinstated as a commander and cleared of all charges regarding his role in the death of Shira Brie, a new threat relating to the Rebel Alliance's old base on the planet of Golrath arises. It has been discovered that the naturally occurring volcanic rock that the base was constructed out of has the ability to absorb light images from its surroundings and replay those images as the rock cools. Realising that their old base could provide the Empire with a record of everything the Rebels did there, including the coordinates to their present location on Arbra, a squad, led by Princess Leia, is dispatched to destroy the base. However, the Empire have already reached the abandoned facility and have also recently discovered the secret of the rocks, although they have not had time to learn much.
Arriving at the base, Leia enters the abandoned facility, as her comrades do battle against Imperial TIE fighters above. Heading for the station's reactor in order to initiate an overload of the core, which will cause the base to explode, Leia is spotted and shot at by Imperial Lieutenant Giel. As the princess takes cover, Giel seals off the exits to the reactor room and primes the core to overload himself, rationalising that, although the base is a great prize for the Empire, the opportunity to kill Leia is of even greater value. Realising that Giel would gladly sacrifice his own life in order to kill her, the princess manages to distract the Imperial and escape from the reactor room. As she is picked up outside by Lando Calrissian in a Y-wing fighter, a furious Lieutenant Giel futilely fires his hand blaster at Luke's passing X-wing, before evacuating from the base moments before it explodes.
As the Rebel ships leave Golrath and jump to lightspeed, Luke's hyperdrive fails to engage and the young Rebel's ship is left behind. Unfortunately, Giel's seemingly ineffective blaster shot had, in fact, caused enough damage to short out Luke's hyperdrive, leaving him alone and pursued by a rapidly closing group of Imperial TIE fighters.
Comments: The Walt Simonson and Tom Palmer art team are back for
Star Wars #65, after last month's substandard fill-in issue. Just like in issue #63, Simonson only does rough layouts here, allowing Palmer to pencil and embellish the art with his usual, highly detailed and wonderfully accurate depictions of the
Star Wars characters, technology and space craft. Palmer's work really does shine in this issue, with some lovely use of Zip-a-Tone shading complimenting is slick and fluid art. Simonson's panel-to-panel storytelling flow and staging is excellent too, with his usual fluidity and "zippy" action sequences lending things a real sense of movement, especially in the scenes where the Rebel pilots scramble to their ships and engage a squadron of Imperial fighter craft. As an aside, in that sequence we get to see Princess Leia in Rebel pilot garb, which is not something that we'd seen much – if ever – in the Marvel comic before.
I also want to make mention of a very nice artistic "swipe" that Simonson and Palmer borrow from the double-sized
Star Wars #50. In the scene in which the Rebels see images of Luke in the sickbay on Golrath, back when he was suffering from the Crimson Forever, Simonson and Palmer cleverly replicate the original Al Williamson drawn panel very accurately. Take a look... (that's Williamson's original panel on the left)
David Michelinie's scripting is as tight, snappy and humorous as usual, and I love the whole "covert mission" vibe of this story. However, there's a slight continuity problem with "Golrath Never Forgets". Back in
Star Wars #51, it appears that the Rebel Alliance have vacated Golrath base and are now stationed in a moving fleet of space cruisers. This is supported by the fact that Leia states in that particular issue that the Rebels are in the process of searching for a new permanent base. It's also corroborated by things said in issue #56, when the Rebel Alliance discovers a suitable location for their new base on Arbra. However, in this story, Leia is concerned that the Empire might find clues to the coordinates for Arbra in the disused base on Golrath, but since the Alliance had left there weeks or even months before they found Arbra, how could that be the case? I guess one way round this minor continuity glitch might be to assume that the Rebels were still using Golrath base to a limited degree, right up until the new base on Arbra was fully established. In issue #50, Golrath is described by Leia as one of "several scattered, temporary bases", so it might have been that the main bulk of the Alliance was stationed with the Rebel fleet following the evacuation of Hoth, rather than on Golrath.
Something else that's a bit troublesome about the plot of this issue is that, as stated, Leia is worried that the Empire could learn Arbra's coordinates from the rock walls of the abandoned station, but you would think that Shira Brie having been conclusively identified as an Imperial spy would be a bigger security concern. Imperial Lieutenant Giel states in this issue that Shira did inform the Empire that the Rebels were on Golrath, but I suppose we just have to assume that she never had the opportunity to contact her Imperial masters while she was stationed on Arbra. Still, I would have thought that discovering a spy in their midst would constitute a big enough security breach for the Rebel leaders to initiate an immediate evacuation of Arbra base, if only as a precaution.
Those two slight, niggling plot problems aside, there's lots to love about this issue. Aside from the amazing artwork, I love all the little character moments and fragments of backstory that Michelinie liberally sprinkles throughout his script. For example, one of my favourite bits of this issue is the scene in which we see two Imperial stormtroopers goofing off from their patrol assignment and kicking back, smoking cigarettes (or maybe they're death sticks
)...
Just like his depictions of various supporting members of the Rebel Alliance in previous issues, Michelinie's portraits of the Imperial foot soldiers in this issue helps to flesh out the lives of these "grunts" and serves to make them much more three-dimensional. The upshot of which is to draw the reader deeper into the daily lives of these men, making them seem less like faceless cannon fodder, and that, in turn, draws you further into the story.
Michelinie also gives us an epilogue to the Pariah storyline, with Luke standing trial for charges of murdering Lieutenant Brie, stealing a Rebel starship, desertion and treason. I like that pretty much the entire Rebel base is watching the broadcast of the trial; that really lends weight to proceedings. It's also interesting that in his opening narration, Michelinie hints that Luke may face the death penalty for his crimes. Of course, the evidence against Shira is extremely convincing and, unsurprisingly, Luke is found not guilty and reinstated as a commander. But as another example of just how three-dimensional Michelinie's characters are – even the bit part players – we see Milo, the Rebel that Luke had a punch up with back in issue #62, grumbling about the whole hearing being rigged. What's really great about this scene is that that's exactly the sort of thing that some people within an organisation as large as the Rebellion would no doubt say.
There's another notable scene just following Luke's acquittal, in which he and Leia share a tender moment together after the stress of recent events. The pair hold hands and rest their heads on each other, as Luke gently tells Leia that the support of close friends like her has helped him through his ordeal. It's an intimate moment, but this isn't one of the usual, slightly uncomfortable, incestuous romantic exchanges that we've often seen between this pair. No, this feels very different and definitely a little more platonic. As such, it's much more in line with how the pair will act towards each other in
Return of the Jedi. This scene, along with the moment in issue #61, in which Leia states very definitely that she is in love with Han Solo, makes me suspect that Michelinie had caught wind from Lucasfilm that Luke and Leia's relationship in the forthcoming
Star Wars sequel was not going to be a romantic one at all.
In closing, I'd have to say that
Star Wars #65 is probably one of my favourite single issues of the entire series. The two slightly troublesome plot points that I made mention of earlier are not enough to detract from the brilliance of this issue at all. Michelinie simply knocks it out of the park with his writing and the Simonson/Palmer art team do an equally fantastic job.
Continuity issues: None
Favourite panel:
Favourite quote: "You'd blush like a nova if I called you what I wanted to, mister!" – Princess Leia angrily responds to Imperial Lieutenant Giel's invitation for her to call him by his first name.
