writer: J.W. Rinzler
artist: Mike Mayhew
via TM Stash
Annikin - Got one!
Captain Whitsun: You were lucky!
That's from the first page, but clearly evokes an exchange between Luke Skywalker and Han Solo from A New Hope. And just like that, you have one look at some of the classic material you'll find rediscovered in this particular issue of The Star Wars, adapted from the original draft of George Lucas's epic sci-fi vision...and from the fever dreams of fans everywhere.
And actually, this moment from the movie calls to mind not only the Millennium Falcon's escape from the Death Star (ah, with a tracking device) but also its breathtaking flight from pursuing Star Destroyers through an asteroid field in Empire Strikes Back.
And as you'll recall from my review for #7 (consider this review a prequel!), you'll recall that there be Wookiees, and so here is how we meet them, so that's another callback, for Return of the Jedi. So there's a lot of material that will be familiar...from a certain point of view.
Is that not enough? There's another very subtle callback to Empire Strikes Back after our heroes have crash-landed and are on their way to meet the Wookiees (which of course evokes the Ewoks but is also similar to Phantom Menace). There be bounty hunters! One looks like Boba Fett, but Mike Mayhew isn't too obvious about it. This is a pretty neat moment, as Princess Leia has been separated from the rest of the group, and instead of being met by the furry natives is taken captive in advance of where we meet up with her again, in the clutches of the Empire.
Someone else we meet in the issue is Owen Lars, no real connection his counterpart, just someone who's living among the Wookiees, doing what he can to exploit them (perhaps some allusions to what his father was doing in Attack of the Clones).
The Captain Whitsun from the quote nobly sacrifices himself during that breathless opening sequence that also sees Annikin temporarily jettisoned into space (also breathless!). Upon his retrieval and in delirium while the erstwhile Luke recovers he keeps repeating Leia's name. Again, sound familiar?
This whole issue, and the ones that follow that wrap up the story, so clearly echo what we'd later see in the movies, it's appropriate that Lucas chose to use so much of that material directly, the stuff that most resembles the serialized sci-fi adventures frequently referred to as the inspiration for Star Wars. Scrambled as it is, it's still fascinating, the most brilliant thing Dark Horse could have done to round out its relationship with the saga, even if at the time it had no idea it was losing it to Disney.
And as you'll recall from my review for #7 (consider this review a prequel!), you'll recall that there be Wookiees, and so here is how we meet them, so that's another callback, for Return of the Jedi. So there's a lot of material that will be familiar...from a certain point of view.
Is that not enough? There's another very subtle callback to Empire Strikes Back after our heroes have crash-landed and are on their way to meet the Wookiees (which of course evokes the Ewoks but is also similar to Phantom Menace). There be bounty hunters! One looks like Boba Fett, but Mike Mayhew isn't too obvious about it. This is a pretty neat moment, as Princess Leia has been separated from the rest of the group, and instead of being met by the furry natives is taken captive in advance of where we meet up with her again, in the clutches of the Empire.
Someone else we meet in the issue is Owen Lars, no real connection his counterpart, just someone who's living among the Wookiees, doing what he can to exploit them (perhaps some allusions to what his father was doing in Attack of the Clones).
The Captain Whitsun from the quote nobly sacrifices himself during that breathless opening sequence that also sees Annikin temporarily jettisoned into space (also breathless!). Upon his retrieval and in delirium while the erstwhile Luke recovers he keeps repeating Leia's name. Again, sound familiar?
This whole issue, and the ones that follow that wrap up the story, so clearly echo what we'd later see in the movies, it's appropriate that Lucas chose to use so much of that material directly, the stuff that most resembles the serialized sci-fi adventures frequently referred to as the inspiration for Star Wars. Scrambled as it is, it's still fascinating, the most brilliant thing Dark Horse could have done to round out its relationship with the saga, even if at the time it had no idea it was losing it to Disney.
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