Star Wars #77Cover dated: November 1983
Issue title:
Chanteuse of the Stars...Script: Mary Jo Duffy
Artwork: Ronald Frenz (breakdowns)/Tom Palmer (finished art & inks)
Colours: Glynis Wein
Letters: Joe Rosen
Cover art: Ronald Frenz (pencils)/Tom Palmer (inks)
Overall rating: 7 out of 10
Plot summary: Following their failed mission to locate the missing Rebel spy Tay Vanis on Iskalon, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2 are informed that Imperial intelligence believes another Rebel spy has also intercepted information about the Empire's new secret weapon. Surprisingly, the intelligence suggests that the Rebel in question is Han Solo! Leia insists that this is impossible, since Solo is still frozen in carbonite and a prisoner of the bounty hunter Boba Fett. However, it was the Empire themselves who arranged Solo's capture meaning that if they currently perceive Han to be a security threat, then perhaps they have new information about him that the Rebellion is not yet privy to. Lando and Chewbacca are sent to investigate Han's involvement in the matter, while Luke, Leia and a small contingent of Hoojibs, including their leader Plif, journey to Kabray Station in the
Millennium Falcon to infiltrate a diplomatic summit and find a message supposedly left there by Vanis.
After gaining access to the summit by pretending that Plif is a representative for the planet Arbra, Luke and Leia split up, with the princess scouring the backstage area and kitchen, while Luke searches the guest rooms. Although hindered by the amorous attention of a group of persistent Zeltron females, Luke eventually finds Vanis's message, but he also overhears two guests plotting to poison the Imperial Governor to prevent the politician from announcing a new deal he has struck with a race known as the Pursians. Luke decides that he cannot allow the assassination to transpire, in case it causes a diplomatic incident and localised conflict.
Meanwhile, Leia is caught skulking about the dressing rooms and mistaken for a cabaret singer known as the "Chanteuse of the Stars". As a result, she is forced to go out on stage and sing for the assembled delegates, while a bowl of poisoned soup is brought out of the kitchen to be placed before the governor. As the princess nervously performs, one of the tiny Lahsbees in the audience becomes "over-stimulated" and suddenly reaches maturity, turning into a large, ferocious Huhk. As the creature rampages through the dining hall, Luke uses the commotion as an opportunity to knock into the waiter serving the governor, spilling the poisoned soup on the floor. Unfortunately, this attracts the attention of the rampaging Huhk, who turns to pursue Luke. At Plif's urging, Leia resumes her song, which serves to pacify the angry creature, who then sits smitten at the princess's feet, leaving Luke to wonder what will happen when she finally finishes the song.
Comments: Well, after the depressingly downbeat ending of last issue, this one is a complete change of pace. "Chanteuse of the Stars..." is definitely played much more for laughs than the Iskalon saga was. It can also be enjoyed as a stand-alone adventure, although it's still a part of the overarching Search for Tay Vanis storyline.
The artwork in this issue is really gorgeous. It's highly detailed, authentically
Star Wars-y and wonderfully composed, putting the action, intrigue and humour of writer Jo Duffy's script across effortlessly. However, for me, this issue also represents the point in the series where inker Tom Palmer starts to dominate penciller Ron Frenz a little too much. While the staging, the story beats and the overall flow of the visual narrative are all Frenz's work, Palmer' influence has been getting stronger and stronger with each passing issue lately and here it finally starts to bury the penciller a little bit. That's not necessarily a bad thing though, since Palmer's inking is exquisite and his renderings of the various
Star Wars space craft and pieces of technology always look perfectly in keeping with the films. Still, it's worth noting that I can see plenty of Palmer in the art here, but very little Frenz.
Duffy continues to be on top form, injecting plenty of humour into this issue, which is deftly knocked home by Frenz and Palmer's art. The pair use some nifty body language and facial expressions in order to get the laughs. During an interview with the jedinews.co.uk website in 2011, Frenz noted that in these more light hearted
Star Wars stories that he worked on, "Duffy was a genius at mixing comedy and adventure and those issues were great fun."
Star Wars #77 is a perfect example of how the writer and artistic team on this series worked so well together. Take this four panel sequence, for example, in which a young Lahsbee suddenly turns into a raging Huhk...
Obviously the shocked expression and contorted spasms of the central figure are pretty humourous in and of themselves, but I also love the reactions of the other Lahsbees stood nearby. Likewise, the humour in the panel featuring a fainting stormtrooper, who has just narrowly avoided being ripped apart by the rampaging Huhk, provides another example of script and art working together brilliantly to deliver a laugh...
Plif plays a fairly major role in this adventure, which is nice because I kinda feel that he and the other Hoojibs have been somewhat underused in the series thus far. Sure, they've been in the background ever since the Rebel Alliance set up base on Arbra, and they've certainly had their moments in the spotlight – such as in "The Darker" from
Star Wars #67 – but here Plif is up front and centre as part of the main cast. I really like that Plif poses as the diplomat in the party, while Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia take on the roles of his attendants. Plif's also kinda cool when he bawls out the head of security at the summit. I suspect that the Hoojibs aren't every
Star Wars fan's cup of tea, but for me, this issue is all the more enjoyable for featuring them more prominently.
Duffy shows off some of the alien races that she's introduced to the series at the summit on Kabray Station, with Stenaxes, Lahsbees and lots of Zeltons all rubbing shoulders. There's even a mention of the Iskalonians not attending, which is, of course, a reference to the events of last issue.
She also injects a fair bit of humour into proceedings, with the insatiable Zeltron females chasing Luke around the station. I've noted before (in my review of
Star Wars #71) that Duffy always writes Luke as a total gentleman – he never once takes advantage of the sexual temptations offered to him on a plate by Dani and the other Zeltron females. However, in this issue there's something almost phobic about his desire to escape their attention. I mean, Luke is a red-blooded male, so what is he so afraid of? I guess he might feasibly be anxious that the Zeltrons pursuing him will blow his cover and mess up the mission, but Luke's concern seems much more akin to a pre-adolescent, "girls are icky" mindset. Ultimately, these scenes with Luke and the Zeltrons remind me that these comics were mostly written for young boys, with Luke playing out a childhood fantasy of how a grown man might act in that situation. Unfortunately, it taints the story with a "NO GIRLZ ALLOWED IN THE CLUB HOUSE" vibe that doesn't seem very in character or very
Star Wars-y.
Just like in other recent issues, Duffy drops in some nice foreshadowing of
Return of the Jedi, with mentions of the Empire's new secret weapon (which is the second Death Star, of course) and the search for Han Solo resuming. Actually, the revelation that the Empire currently considers Solo a security threat could've potentially been fairly shocking, since it raises the prospect that he's actually been freed from the carbonite that he was incased in at the end of
The Empire Strikes Back. However, the revelation doesn't quite have the impact that Duffy intended, since, by this point, readers would've surely known that Han hadn't been freed, what with
Jedi having already been in cinemas for about three months.
Personally, I've always liked the ridiculousness of Leia having to go out on stage and sing to the assembled diplomats as the eponymous "Chanteuse of the Stars". Although the attendant pun of naming the location of the summit Kabray Station (Cabaret Station, geddit?) is atrocious.
If you've been unfortunate enough to have watched the god-awful
Star Wars Holiday Special, you'll no doubt remember that, while Leia hasn't exactly got the best sounding set of pipes, she's not too shabby a singer either...
Anyway, the princess's sultry singing and skimpy stage outfit certainly seems to be a hit with the young Lahsbee who gets "over-stimulated" and turns into a Huhk.
Overall, this is a fun, if largely inconsequential, issue. It definitely has its flaws and certainly your personal tolerance for silliness within
Star Wars fiction will have a bearing on how you respond to this story. Myself, I think it serves as a welcome change of pace from the heavy, serious tone of the Iskalon saga. It's a well structured and nicely paced adventure that substitutes humour, political drama and lots of sneaking about for the more traditional style of
Star Wars action. Also, like the Pariah story arc before it, this issue taught me a new word as a kid: "chanteuse", which is a French-derived term for a female nightclub singer.
Incidentally, on the last page of this issue there's some blurb promising us a tale called "The Big Con" next month, featuring Lando and Chewbacca. Unfortunately, issue #78 would feature the fill-in story "Hoth Stuff!", with "The Big Con" appearing the following month in
Star Wars #79.
Continuity issues:
- On the front cover, Luke Skywalker is brandishing a green lightsaber, but he didn't construct this until Return of the Jedi, which is set after the events of this issue. By rights Luke shouldn't have a lightsaber at all, since he lost his original one during the duel with Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back.
Favourite panel:
Favourite quote: "Cowards and ambassadors first!" – An unnamed alien delegate attempts to save his own skin as he flees from the ferocious Huhk that is rampaging through the dining hall on Kabray Station.
It looks a little too complicated for me, but I love that you've done it. I'll have to cross reference it a little later it with my own continuity timeline for the series. If I find any discrepancies between our respective tables that could be a lot of fun to discuss. 
If you've been unfortunate enough to have watched the god-awful Star Wars Holiday Special, you'll no doubt remember that, while Leia hasn't exactly got the best sounding set of pipes, she's not too shabby a singer either...