OK, that's interesting. That's exactly as I had expected it to be and how I always understood Chaykin's rough layouts worked. From things Palmer and Roy Thomas have said, Chaykin's layouts were very minimal in those issues. Still, it's nice to hear you confirm it, having seen his layouts with your own eyes.




Oh wow! Now that really is interesting. I had never, ever heard about this. I assume then that the, frankly, awful name Don-Wan Kihotay was a last minute addition on Thomas' part then?

I love learning details like this about Marvel's Star Wars comic. Thanks for sharing the info, badwolf. I really do appreciate it. Hopefully you'll be able to offer some more insights into the creative process on other issues as we get to them.

Pizzazz #10
Cover dated: July 1978
Issue title: The Kingdom of Ice! (Part 1)
Script: Archie Goodwin
Artwork: Walter Simonson (pencils)/Klaus Janson (inks)
Colours: Marie Severin
Letters: Jim Novak
Overall rating: 3 out of 10




Plot summary: Resuming their mission for the Rebel Alliance, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, R2-D2 and C-3PO have travelled to the ice world of Akuria II. As they descend into the planet's atmosphere, their star-cruiser is attacked by a squadron of Imperial TIE fighters. The Rebel's ship receives a hit on its port engine, which causes it to crash onto the planet's surface. The perusing TIE fighters are then suddenly destroyed by laser fire of unknown origin. Luke, Leia and the droids exit their damaged craft, as an unfamiliar land transport advances across the ice plain towards them.


Comments: The first thing to saw about this initial part of The Kingdom of Ice is just how much better the art looks than the Tony DeZuniga and Howard Chaykin pencilled issues that proceeded it. It still looks a little rushed and sloppy – the final panel is particularly bad – but I guess that, ultimately, Walt Simonson's second rate work is still preferable to Chaykin or DeZuniga's. Certainly, Simonson's depictions of C-3PO and R2-D2 are, for the most part, head and shoulders above what we've seen before in Pizzazz magazine, in terms of having them look like they do in the movie. Klaus Janson's inks are reliable and bold, and the end result is a nice hybrid of each artist's style, with ample evidence of both on the finished page. Still, I think it's pretty safe to assume that the artists who worked on these Pizzazz strips weren't as concerned with producing top notch artwork as they were on Marvel's mainstream comic books.

Archie Goodwin's writing is solid and a definite improvement on the last few episodes of The Keeper's World. His scripting is more in line with his concurrent work in the main Star Wars comic. Gone is the overly childish dialogue that has dominated the Pizzazz strips thus far and in it's place is some solid characterisation, especially of Princess Leia.

Without doubt, so far this is the best strip we've had in Pizzazz, in terms of scripting and artwork. Unfortunately, it's also a bit of a dull episode. I guess it is just setting up the beginning of the adventure and hopefully things will get more interesting in coming instalments.

Continuity issues: None

Favourite panel:




Favourite quote: "For an ex-farm boy from a hot desert world like Tatooine...nothing could be much more uninviting than all that snow and ice!" – Luke Skywalker explains how reluctant he is to set foot on the frozen world of Akuria II.

Thanks for checking, Dizzy D. Yes, I think the mistake was definitely an over enthusiastic word balloon sticker-in'er, rather than some piece of Archie Goodwin's dialogue being left out.

Yes, this is the cover that they used for the dutch version and I think they made the right choice.

You already mentioned all the points I noticed: C-3PO tripping Chewbacca (really, have they seen how slow C-3PO moves?) and Luke punching Han instead of just explaining what's going on.

All in all, an improvement on the last issue (even though for me it's just one), but there is better to come.

I still really hate those dragons though the spy ring thing with the babies was neat.

Star Wars #15
Cover dated: September 1978
Issue title: Star Duel!
Script: Archie Goodwin
Artwork: Carmine Infantino (breakdowns)/Terry Austin (finished art & inks)
Colours: Janice Cohen
Letters: John Costanza
Cover art: Carmine Infantino (pencils)/Terry Austin (inks)
Overall rating: 4 out of 10




Plot summary: The war between the space-wreckers and the Dragon Lords is over, Governor Quarg is dead and his sonic-jamming equipment has been destroyed, while Crimson Jack's Star Destroyer lays in wait for Han Solo above the planet Drexel. As Han, Luke, Leia and the droids leave the planet in the Millennium Falcon, Jack's first mate Jolli launches an attack on the freighter that results in her Y-Wing fighter and the Falcon becoming disabled. During the ensuing stand-off, Solo reveals that Chewbacca has erased all of Jack's navigational charts, while the Wookiee was a prisoner on board his star-cruiser. As a result, Han and Jack agree to swap the charts (which are still backed up on board the Falcon) for a gyro control module, which Han needs in order to make his ship operable again.

Meanwhile, Jolli is adrift in her damaged space-craft and requesting assistance, but Jack elects to ignore her pleas. Angered by Jack's response, Jolli fires on her former allies and crashes her Y-wing fighter into the munitions deck of the space-pirate's Star Destroyer, killing the crew and herself. Jack survives the blast only to be shot dead by Solo.


Comments: This issue features the conclusion of the Doomworld story arc and it also wraps up the saga of Han Solo and Crimson Jack, which began in Star Wars #7. Archie Goodwin writes a pretty satisfying conclusion to the Drexel adventure, but the contents of this issue feels a little tacked on and designed to tidy up loose ends. I can't help thinking that it would've been better if Goodwin had tied Crimson Jack's demise in with Quarg's, thus giving us a bigger and better finale to the story.

Still, the scripting here is reasonably good. In particular, I liked C-3PO's response of "getting down, sir" when Han Solo instructed him to take cover from an approaching enemy space-craft. I could really hear Anthony Daniels delivering that line. Also, having Han mention the Fire Rings of Fornax is a nice touch, since the Corellian smuggler also mentions them in the Star Wars novelization.

We find out in this issue that Luke Skywalker can't swim, which makes perfect sense, considering that he grew up on the desert world of Tatooine. Unfortunately, while it might make sense, it's actually a continuity glitch because in Alan Dean Foster's Splinter of the Mind's Eye novel – which was published some 7 months prior to this issue – it is established that Luke can, in fact, swim, but Leia cannot. A number of fans wrote in to Marvel about this continuity error and their missives can be seen on the letters page in future issues. Interestingly, Goodwin would later reveal in issue #36 of the series that at some point between the events of this issue and that later one Luke had, in fact, learned how to swim.

Goodwin finally reveals something of Jolli's origins in this issue and why it is that she hates men so much. It turns out that she and her mother were abandoned by her farther when Jolli was just a child, after being told that they weren't "good enough" to remain with him. So, basically, she's got Daddy issues. It's interesting to speculate that perhaps Jolli found a substitute father-figure in the form of Crimson Jack, but that's never made explicit by Goodwin in the story. It's also kinda cool to see Jolli flying a Y-wing fighter, while other member's of Jack's crew pilot Imperial craft, because it ties in nicely with what we saw of Jack's ramshackle collection of fighter craft back in Star Wars#7. As an aside, Jolli's mother looks an awful lot like Domina Tagge, a villainess that we will encounter later on in Marvel's Star Wars series.

It's disappointing that we never find out if Han got his Rebel reward back from Jack's ship. Jack stole the money from Han in Star Wars #7 and the Corellian even makes reference to it in this issue. Ultimately, I guess Solo probably didn't reclaim his reward, since by the time he and Leia got aboard Jack's ship, the air supply was rapidly dwindling and Han probably didn't have time to hunt for his money.

The Carmine Infantino pencilled and Terry Austin inked artwork in this issue seems less detailed and slightly sloppier than in recent months. Also, I notice that the perspective is really messed up on the opening splash page. Crimson Jack's spaceship seems to be simultaneously coming towards the reader and heading away from us, like some kind of optical illusion. Take a look...




That isn't the only time that we see this problem in this issue either: the perspective of Jack's Star Destroyer is messed up again in the last panel of the 11th page of the story.

Something of note in this issue is that Infantino draws what must be the first ever appearance of a TIE bomber (it's shown attacking the Millennium Falcon on pages 7 and 8 of the story). This Imperial ship wouldn't be seen in a Star Wars movie until the May 1980 release of The Empire Strikes Back, which means that Infantino was definitely getting concept art and other reference material from Lucasfilm, while he worked on this series. So there really is no excuse for how poor his sense of Star Wars ship design is.

Overall, I find this issue to be much the same as the last two instalments of the Doomworld saga, in terms of the quality of writing. The artwork seems to be of a slightly lower quality and, to be frank, this whole story arc has been fairly mediocre and isn't terrible memorable within the context of Marvel's Star Wars run as a whole.


Continuity issues:

• Luke tells Leia that he can't swim in this issue, but in the Splinter of the Mind's Eye novel he can, while it's Leia who can't.

Favourite panel:



Favourite quote: "Kid, I can't recall making anything but fast exits whenever you're aboard my ship!" – Han Solo jokingly reminds Luke that the Millennium Falcon has gotten him out of trouble a number of times in the past.

Thank the maker! It's time for issue #16.