Bits of that cover look very Infantino-esque. Especially the cityscape in the background, the TIE Bomber in the sky and the rope ladder trailing from it. But the figures of Princess Leia and the two stormtroopers-- especially the stormtroopers -- absolutely do not look anything like Infantino's work. And anyway, Infantino had left Marvel for DC a good 6 months or more before this issue was published.

...and that's the problem; this issue in no way registered as "Star Wars"; its the equivalent of a backdoor pilot on an established TV series, where characters, mood and situations are utterly dissimilar from the real series, and as a result, it is first a glaring drop-from-nowhere on the reader (when first released), then it quickly became forgettable.



The cover: Once again, Simonson illustrated an out of proportion Leia; she is far too undersized in the Stormtrooper's arms, looking like the size of a child (when Carrie Fisher standing next to performers in Stormtrooper costumes was never that small).

Or... you might even say she looks like a regular-sized Leia in the arms of giant-sized Stormtroopers, and that Simonson knew what he was doing! 

Maybe Confessor could have mentioned something about giant-sized Stormtroopers in his review to have avoided this confusion. /s

Bits of that cover look very Infantino-esque. Especially the cityscape in the background, the TIE Bomber in the sky and the rope ladder trailing from it. But the figures of Princess Leia and the two stormtroopers-- especially the stormtroopers -- absolutely do not look anything like Infantino's work. And anyway, Infantino had left Marvel for DC a good 6 months or more before this issue was published.

I do wonder though if the cover of The Empire Strikes Back Monthly #143 was perhaps the unused cover for the John Carter: Warlord Of Mars issue that Infantino's interior art was repurposed from, but with the foreground figures (and the TIE Bomber, of course) redrawn by a British artist?

Star Wars #55
Cover dated: January 1982
Issue title: Plif!
Script: David Michelinie
Artwork: Walter Simonson (pencils)/Tom Palmer (inks)
Colours: Don Warfield
Letters: Joe Rosen
Cover art: Walter Simonson
Overall rating: 10 out of 10




Plot summary: Princess Leia leads a Rebel survey team, which includes Chewbacca and the droid C-3PO, to the forest planet of Arbra, in the hope that it will provide a suitable location for a new Rebel base. The scout team soon discover that the planet is overrun with small, furry, rodent-like creatures known as Hoojibs. Unbeknown to the Rebels, the Hoojibs feed on energy and, as the team make camp for the night, the creatures surreptitiously drain all of the energy from their weapons and gear. The next morning, a spokesman for the creatures named Plif informs the princess that the Hoojibs usually feed on geothermal crystals in a nearby cave, but they have recently been forced to flee their home by a large, flying creature known as the Slivilith. Leia agrees to help the Hoojibs rid themselves of the monster, in order that they can return to their home and the Rebels can use the energy crystals to recharge their blasters and communications equipment.

Following an attack by the Slivilith on the Rebel's encampment, Plif leads Leia and the rest of her team to the mouth of the grotto where the winged creature resides. The Hoojibs gather in front of the cave and begin to make a shrill, high-pitched noise in order to draw the beast out. Once it appears, Leia and the Rebels attack the Slivilith with improvised spears and the few working blasters that they have. The creature swoops after Leia, as she leads it back inside the cave, where Chewbacca is waiting. The Wookiee grabs hold of the flying beast's tentacles and swings it down into a pit containing the energy crystals, which shatter with the impact and pierce the Slivilith's body, killing it.

With the creature destroyed and the Hoojibs' home returned to them, Leia elects to continue the search for a new Rebel base elsewhere, rather than displace the small creatures. As the scout team turns to leave, Plif invites the Rebel Alliance to set up a new permanent base on Arbra, where they can live in harmony with the Hoojibs.

Meanwhile, Lando Calrissian has been troubled about the state of affairs at Cloud City, ever since the tibanna gas mine was overrun by the Empire and he abdicated as its administrator. Taking the Millennium Falcon, Lando returns to the Bespin system and lands on Cloud City, where he explores the deserted gas mine, unaware that he is being watched.


Comments: The new regular creative team of David Michelinie and Walt Simonson return for this issue, which is a pretty important one, at least within the context of the ongoing Marvel Star Wars continuity. It sets up the Rebel Alliance's new permanent base on the planet Arbra and it also introduces Plif, who will remain a part of the central cast until the end of the run in issue #107, and his race, the Hoojibs, who will be a major Rebel ally for the remainder of the series.

Personally, I like the Hoojibs a lot, although I suspect that there are many Star Wars fans who would find them annoying and overly-cutesy. But I've always felt that, at its heart, Star Wars is a classical fairy tale dressed up in space-fantasy trappings, which makes the Hoojibs the cute, magical, talking bunny rabbit that the heroes meet at the side of the road or something. To me, they seem like a very Star Wars-y idea: a seemingly primitive race that ends up helping the Rebellion in its fight against the Empire. Sound familiar? There are definite parallels between the Hoojibs and the Ewoks from Return of the Jedi: both races play a similar role within the overall Star Wars story, both races are small, cute, furry creatures, and both races live on a forest world. However, Star Wars #55 was published a good 18 months before either the Ewoks or Endor were introduced to the movie-going public, once again demonstrating (just like in the Tarkin story arc) what a good feel Michelinie had for Star Wars and how in tune with George Lucas's intentions for the saga he could be.

While we're talking about him being on the same wavelength as Lucas, Michelinie also shows the Rebels using landspeeder-esque bikes. That is, floating motorcycles that hover a foot or two above the ground in much the same way as Luke's old landspeeder did on Tatooine. This is an almost identical concept to the one that we would later see in Return of the Jedi, with the Imperial speeder bikes, and in the expanded universe literature as swoops. Michelinie got there first though, as the gorgeously drawn and coloured splash page that I've chosen below as my favourite panel shows.

The fact that the rodent-like Hoojibs are not only sentient, but telepathic too, is a really nice idea that makes them much more memorable than a lot of the other alien races we've seen in the series. Interestingly, the Hoojibs can actually make simple, high pitched noises with their mouths – represented here by the sound effects "Sree!" and "Yi!" – but they communicate with each other and outsiders telepathically. They're also energy eaters and don't need to consume food in order to metabolise their energy, but instead ingest it directly.

Michelinie starts introducing us to recurring Rebel characters in this issue too, such as Gemmer, who we'll see again in the not-too-distant future. He also shows us that there are female members of the Rebellion, other than Leia. This fleshing out of the Rebellion beyond the members of the central cast gives the entire organisation a much more three-dimensional feel and serves to draw the reader into the daily lives of those that work alongside Leia and Luke Skywalker, and that, in turn, draws you further into this fictional setting.

Simonson's artwork here is as gorgeous as ever. He really is a good fit for the Star Wars comic, excelling at both the fast-paced, dynamic action sequences and the more character-driven moments, while making sure that everything looks suitably Star Wars-y. This issue has some tightly packed panels, with plenty of detail and a real cinematic quality to the artwork. I also love his design for the Slivilith. You get a real sense of the beast's mass and its surprisingly graceful movements, as it glides menacingly down towards the Rebels...




Tom Palmer's inking is superb in this issue as well, with his usual slick style and some nice use of Zip-a-Tone. In particular, I like how Palmer uses the Zip-a-Tone for the shadowy tree shapes in the woodland backgrounds. When this effect is combined with the Benday dots that colourist Don Warfield chooses you get a really effective evocation of the dense, enclosing woodland terrain on the surface of Arbra, as seen in these two panels...





Regarding the epilogue of this issue, in which Lando Calrissian goes back to Cloud City, I'm not sure why he's so surprised that the place is deserted. After all, it was he that instructed the population of the gas mine to leave before more Imperial troops arrived in The Empire Strikes Back. What did he expect would happen?!

Overall, this is another fantastic Michelinie/Simonson issue of Star Wars and I really like the message that we get at the story's conclusion. Leia and the Rebels saved the Hoojibs from the Slivilith, in part because they needed the geothermal power crystals in the cave to re-energise their communications equipment, but they also realise that taking the Hoojibs' home from them would make them almost as bad as the Empire. The Hoojibs are impressed enough by the princess's integrity that they invite the Rebels to share their home, with the two races living and working together for mutual benefit. That's a nice message of respect and tolerance to put forth, and it's well delivered too. It doesn't feel hokey or overly sentimental. It's a generous and pragmatic solution, and one that warms the cockles of your heart.

One tiny criticism of Star Wars #55 is that I find the front cover to be a bit jumbled and not terribly clear. But all in all, this is such a well rounded, done-in-one, stand-alone story – which simultaneously manages to be tremendously important to the rest of the series – that I'm gonna give it full marks anyway.

As an aside, just like the earlier "Droid World!" story from issue #47, "Plif!" was adapted by Buena Vista Records (Rainbow Communications Ltd. in the UK) into a book-and-record set in 1983, where it was retitled Star Wars: The Further Adventures – Planet of the Hoojibs...




I had this set as a kid and really enjoyed it. There are a few minor differences to the story when compared to the original comic, such as the Hoojibs actually speaking instead of communicating via telepathy and the scenes featuring Luke and Lando having been removed to streamline the plot. You can listen to Star Wars: The Further Adventures – Planet of the Hoojibs on YouTube below...




Continuity issues: None

Favourite panel:



Favourite quote: "Very well, fellows, let's show that grotto-grabbing villain what it means to incur a Hoojib's wrath!" – Plif rallies the Hoojibs against the Slivilith.

Oh boy, this was bad.

I, too, noted the similarities between this and Return of the Jedi. I think I like the Hoojibs more than the Ewoks, though.

It does seem, though, like our heroes have ditched their search for Han.

By the way, on p.5 is sort of looks like Luke can understand Artoo, though I think it’s been shown he needs a translator to do that. I suspect that he just is assuming the gist of what Artoo is saying from his tone.

First the good: The art is excellent. I like Palmer’s inks over Simonson’s pencils more than Simonson’s inking in the previous issue. I also like that Lando gets a solo story, and I think his dialogue is pretty good here. I think that the overall plot is decent. There’s also a good cliffhanger, though I strongly suspect that Luke and Shira will show up in the nick of time.

But…lots of problems here, and Confessor already mentioned a lot of them. For instance, Bespin being a gas planet (thus having no surface for the people to get evacuated to) and Tibanna not being an anti-gravity gas.

I also have problems with the depiction of Lobot. He’s described as a cyborg, given superhuman strength, and also referred to as “the Lobot” as if Lobot is another term for robot or cyborg, rather than his name. I didn’t get the impression that any of these things is correct from my many viewings of the movie, and a look at wookieepedia seems to confirm my suspicions that these are incorrect characterizations. Lobot is indeed a proper name. He has cybernetic implants in his head, but I don’t think that they should give him super strength. This is another instance of the people at Marvel making this too much like a superhero comic instead of a Star Wars comic. (This is neither here nor there, but I think those godawful Disney sequels also make the Jedi and Sith more like comic book superheroes and supervillains, ignoring the more mystical aspects of the Force that Lucas had focused on.) Also, Lobot never talked in the movie. I have no idea if he was supposed to be mute or not, but he talked a lot in this comic, and it was a bit jarring.

I find it interesting here that Luke seems to be ditching Leia for Shira. There’s no way Michelinie could have known that Luke & Leia were twins at this point, so it’s interesting to see him give Luke another potential love interest (and Leia jealous). Perhaps he saw the writing on the wall with Leia & Han’s “I love you – I know” exchange in The Empire Strikes Back? Or perhaps he just wanted to add some spice.