Yes, I agree that would've made more sense. Plus, it would've been less "been there, seen that" than having the Emperor come back to life, as he did in the Dark Empire comic series.




Interesting that all three of us pronounce it differently. I'm wondering whether General Tagge is mentioned by name in the Star Wars radio drama. That would at least give us a canonical pronunciation.

Star Wars #19
Cover dated: January 1979
Issue title: The Ultimate Gamble!
Script: Archie Goodwin
Artwork: Carmine Infantino (pencils)/Bob Wiacek (inks)
Colours: Carl Gafford
Letters: Irving Watanabe
Cover art: Carmine Infantino (pencils)/Bob Wiacek (inks)
Overall rating: 5½ out of 10




Plot summary: On board the gambling station known as The Wheel, C-3PO and R2-D2 take an unconscious Luke Skywalker to the medical centre, while the Wheel's administrator, Senator Greyshade, has Princess Leia brought to his quarters. While talking with Greyshade, Leia tips the former senator off about the Empire's plan to take over the Wheel to help fund its war against the Rebel Alliance. This prompts Greyshade to broker a deal with Imperial Commander Strom to have Luke, Han Solo, Chewbacca and the two droids meet an untimely end, on condition that Leia be allowed to remain with him on the Wheel.

Meanwhile, Chewbacca has been captured by the Wheel's security and forced to enter into a lethal gladiatorial contest known as The Big Game. Han Solo has also entered the Big Game, not realising that his Wookiee sidekick is a contestant as well. This seeming coincidence has actually been orchestrated behind the scenes by Greyshade and the Wheel's central computer, Master-Com.


Comments: Issue #19 of Marvel's Star Wars is more or less on a par with issue #18, in terms of its storyline and action quota. However, one big improvement over last issue is that we have Bob Wiacek back on inks, instead of Gene Day. Straight off the bat, from the opening splash page, this issue just looks a lot nicer than the last one. While it's true that Wiacek tends to emphasise the angular tendencies of penciller Carmine Infantino (and to be honest, he's no better or worse at that than Day), his style just seems to gel much better with the artist's. Certainly, it's nice not to see the slightly over heavy line work and hatching that marred last issue. Plus, Wiacek is a bit more liberal with the Zip-a-Tone shading, which I like.

As for Infantino himself, I love the front cover of this issue. Floating, disembodied heads of the type used here are never my favourite thing on a comic cover, but somehow they work in this context - especially in conjunction with the surrealistic red skull that forms the hub of the Wheel. The overall result is very striking.

In terms of the interior artwork, in addition to the usual problems that I have with Infantino's art on this series, I'm finding it frustrating that he has yet to give us a decent depiction of Chewbacca anywhere in his run. It's kind of hard to pinpoint exactly what's wrong with his take on the Wookiee, but the face is definitely too hairless and the fur on Chewie's body just doesn't hang right. As I've said before, Infantino must have had access to reference photographs of the Wookiee, so there really is no excuse for this. But like I've also said, the inaccurate depiction of Chewbacca is a recurring problem with Marvel's Star Wars comic throughout its early years. Only Tom Palmer has really drawn the Wookiee right so far, in issues #8, #9 and #10. That said, the page where Infantino depicts Chewbacca sneaking around the Wheel, making his way to the Crimson Casino on the station's upper levels, is probably my favourite page of the whole issue. Just not necessarily because of the way that Infantino draws Chewbacca.

The colouring of Carl Gafford is worthy of mention in this issue. I really liked his multi-coloured rendering of the interior of the Death Star back in the movie adaptation issues and here again we get a stylised interior to the Wheel, with vivid splashes of purple, blue, cerise and yellow. These kinds of Technicolor hues really shouldn't work in a futuristic space station, but just like in the film adaptation, they do. What's weird is that this colouring never once makes the reader think that this is actually how the station is decorated. It's rather strange that this colouring works as well as it does.

Archie Goodwin's plot line continues to entertain, with his usual good scripting and excellent characterisation of the central cast. We learn more about Senator Greyshade's slightly creepy, obsessive interest in winning Princess Leia's heart and we also get our first glimpse of Master-Com's fascination with the Rebel droids' protective and devotional attitude towards Luke. Master-Com's interest in this aspect of R2 and 3PO's character will come to a head in the not-too-distant future.

There's also a slightly humourous typo in this issue, when the Wheel security guards are telling Chewbacca that he must fight in the Big Game or be sent to the Spine Mines of Kessel, rather than the Spice Mines. There's another small typo when 3PO calls R2 a "thermo-capsuary dehousing assister", when it should be "thermo-capsulary", but it seems overly nit-picky to mention that...so I won't.

This is another fairly fast-paced and entertaining episode of the Wheel saga, although it's still quite far from being of the highest quality that the series can and will eventually offer. I'm gonna rate this a ½ point higher than last issue for the improved inking, but really, there's little to choose between the two books in terms of entertainment.

Continuity issues: None

Favourite panel:



Favourite quote: "You guys are destroying a work of engineering art...undoing years of special modifications!" – Han Solo complains to the Wheel security guards about their tampering with the Millennium Falcon.

Lol...you're a dirty, filthy-minded man!

I must say that I had never noticed anything odd or sexual about that panel in my life, but rest assured that I will never be able to look at it in the same way again. Here's the panel badwolf is talking about, for those without access to the issue...

Pizzazz #16
Cover dated: January 1979
Issue title: Showdown (The Kingdom of Ice!, Part 7)
Script: Archie Goodwin
Artwork: Dave Cockrum (pencils)/John Tartaglione (inks)
Colours: Nel Yomtov
Letters: Rick Parker
Overall rating: 2½ out of 10




Plot summary: As Luke Skywalker, Colonel Odan, Fafnir, R2-D2 and C-3PO travel along a deserted Ice Worm tunnel, R2's sensors determine that they are directly below the Imperials who are holding Princess Leia captive. The astromech droid's sensors also detect a very large creature coming towards them from behind. Suddenly a huge Ice Worm appears and attacks the group. The Rebels shoot at the creature and blast it with the exhausts of their Power Skis, causing it to burrow upwards into the Imperial troops. As the Ice Worm battles with the Imperials, their commander escapes in an emergency Snow Flyer with Leia.


Comments: The artwork in part seven of The Kingdom of Ice! is slightly better than it was last issue. That is to say that it looks less rushed than last month's episode, but it's still not anything to write home about. Archie Goodwin's story is mildly entertaining, but also quite predictable, insofar as it was obvious at the end of last issue that the Rebels were going to be attacked by an Ice Worm. Also, Goodwin seems to have reduced Leia to the role of damsel in distress in the last few episodes of this adventure, with the focus of the story being firmly on Luke and the gang's attempts to rescue her, which is kind of disappointing.

Unfortunately, we're gonna have to wait longer than usual to find out what happens next because this was to be the final issue of Pizzazz. The magazine was cancelled due to poor sales, leaving the The Kingdom of Ice! storyline incomplete. It would be another four months until the story was finished in issue #60 of Marvel UK's Star Wars Weekly comic. However, fans in the U.S. had to wait for almost three years to read the final part of the story, with it finally appearing in November 1981 in the paperback-sized Marvel Illustrated Books: Star Wars #1.


Continuity issues: None

Favourite panel:



Favourite quote: "You just had a showdown with an Ice Worm, boy. Don't you even want a breather?" – Colonel Odan marvels at Luke's tenacity and determination in rescuing Leia.

I think the issue with Infantino's Chewie lies in the head and neck, it's just too round and bulky giving Chewie a look that is more similar to Wendigo than a Wookie.

I agree that the head and neck are a big problem here and yes, Wendigo is a good comparison. Chewbacca's hair actually lies very flat on the top of his head...it's almost slicked back. Likewise, his body hair is quite lank and hangs very close to him. Infantino keeps making him too wooly or fluffy. Like I said in my review, Tom Palmer is the only artist on the series to have got the Wookiee right so far.

As for the colourist, I think you're right badwolf, but I also think that Infantino is actually drawing the face as hairless, except for a mustache. It's sloppy really and is much like his drawing of the various Star Wars spaceships: yes, you can tell it's Chewbacca, but the more you look, the more things you spot that aren't quite right.

I'm not convinced that we've got a definitive pronunciation yet, Roquefort. So far, between yourself, me, thwhtguardian, and Rob we've had Tag-ee, Taje (like rage but with a "t"), Tah-jii and Tag. I just Googled "pronounce tagge" and found this page, which is in agreement with Rob, but that still doesn't mean that Archie Goodwin meant it to be pronounced that way.

Thinking about it now, I'm not sure why I ever thought it was pronounced like rage with a "t". I think that's just how I thought it should be pronounced as a 7-year-old and it stuck.