Star Wars #45Cover dated: March 1981
Issue title:
Death ProbeScript: Archie Goodwin
Artwork: Carmine Infantino (pencils)/Gene Day (inks)/Chic Stone (inks)
Colours: Glynis Wein
Letters: John Costanza
Cover art: Larry Hama (pencils)/Al Milgrom (inks)
Overall rating: 8½ out of 10
Plot summary: A battle-damaged Rebel blockade runner is racing towards its rendezvous with the Rebel fleet, when a prototype Imperial probe droid collides with it. Smashing through the ship's hull, the probe droid slaughters the entire crew and takes command of the vessel's automated functions. Elsewhere, Imperial Admiral Krell monitors the probot's progress from aboard his Star Destroyer, since it was he that dispatched the robot on its mission.
Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 are paroling near the hijacked blockade runner in an X-wing fighter, when the Rebel cruiser opens fire and destroys Luke's craft. Hurled clear of the explosion, Luke and R2 manage to board the blockade runner, as the probot launches a series of automated attacks on the pair. Making their way to the main computer chamber, Luke and R2 find the probe droid, but realise that it cannot be tampered with, in case it initialises a self-destruct sequence. In addition, Luke realises that the probot intends to fly the blockade runner into the heart of the Rebel fleet and detonate the ship, causing untold devastation.
The probe droid realises that it is Luke Skywalker who is aboard and initiates a prior programming order, in which it is directed to capture the young Rebel for the Emperor. As a result, the Probe Droid changes course, flying away from the Rebel fleet and heading back towards the Star Destroyer it was launched from. Luke and R2 leave the ship in an escape pod, just as the blockade runner goes into hyperspace. With its reactor core still primed to overload, the blockade runner comes out of hyperspace and collides with Krell's Star Destroyer, obliterating both ships.
Comments:
Star Wars #45 sees the return of the regular creative team of Archie Goodwin and Carmine Infantino to the series, after an absence of seven months. Right off the bat, things seem to be grittier than in the pre-
Empire Strikes Back stories, as if Goodwin has taken note of the darker mood and tone set by the recent
Star Wars sequel. For example, in just the first four pages of this issue we see men getting sucked to their deaths in the vacuum of space, the entire crew of a Rebel blockade runner being slaughtered, and an unfortunate Rebel soldier having his head violently smashed against a computer console by an Imperial probe droid. This comic definitely seems slightly more "mature" than the earlier issues that the pair worked on.
It's long been my belief that Goodwin and Al Williamson's work on the comic adaptation of
The Empire Strikes Back had been of such a high calibre that it upped the ante for what was expected of creative teams on Marvel's
Star Wars comic in the months and years that followed. As a result, I believe that it spurred Goodwin and Infantino on to greater heights in their own original stories and, indeed, this comic is probably my favourite Goodwin/Infanino issue of them all.
I really like that this adventure is set just days after the events of
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back and there's certainly some good mining of recent continuity from Goodwin here, with the Rebel blockade runner on the opening page struggling to find its way back to the Rebel fleet, following the evacuation of the Rebel base on Hoth. Also, it's cool to see Luke Skywalker recovering from his duel with Darth Vader and agonising over whether what Vader told him about being his father is really true or not. Likewise, using a souped-up, "super Imperial probe droid" is a neat idea, since it takes one of the threats from
Empire and makes it even more dangerous to the Rebels.
On the downside, there's a fairly big continuity problem in this issue, with Luke inexplicably having a blue-bladed lightsaber in his possession. This is a problem because he lost his saber at the end of
The Empire Strikes Back, during his duel with Vader, and it's not explained how or why he now has a replacement one. Luke will eventually construct a new lightsaber with a green blade, just prior to the events of
Return of the Jedi, but that's a fair way off in the future.
Of course, the real reason that Luke still has a lightsaber is because Marvel didn't want to have to tell stories in which Luke is without his signature weapon. Nevertheless, the lack of any kind of explanation does make this a bit of a continuity problem. I dunno, maybe the Rebel Alliance had an old lightsaber from the days before the Empire just laying around somewhere? I certainly didn't give a hoot where this new lightsaber had come from as a kid. However, something that did bother me as a kid is how the hell Luke and R2-D2 could have survived being in the middle of an exploding X-wing fighter! That seemed like a bit of a stretch to me, even as a child.
If you've been following my reviews over the months you'll know that I'm not always Infantino's biggest booster, but his artwork has never looked better in the
Star Wars comic than it does here. There is some really nice framing and staging in his panels, with Infantino really pulling out all the stops to translate Goodwin's exciting and energetic script. Gene Day returns as inker, although Chic Stone helps out by inking pages 22-27 of this comic. Day brings his usual "fine line" (for want of a better term) and precise touch to proceedings and he also brings a whole lot of dense, brooding shadow work. Again, it's tempting to see the influence of Williamson in this, but that's pure speculation on my part.
In addition, for once it actually appears as if Infantino is trying to draw the various
Star Wars space craft correctly. As I said earlier, I am definitely of the opinion that the high quality of
The Empire Strikes Back adaptation pushed other talent working on the book to new heights. It's certainly tempting to conclude that Williamson's photo-realistic artwork had thrown Infantino's more stylised interpretations of the various
Star Wars vessels into a poor light and, as a result, Infantino got his act together a bit more in these post-
Empire issues.
On a related subject, there's a gorgeous recap page in this comic, in which Infantino depicts several key scenes from
The Empire Strikes Back. However, he does so very much in the style of Williamson's comic adaptation. It's fascinating to see Infantino aping Williamson in this manner and I remember, even as a kid, appreciating how much this recap page echoes the panels that we saw in the
Empire adaptation. It provides a nice sense of consistency and cohesion between Williamson's work and the continuing original stories in the Marvel series...
All in all, this is a great, done-in-one story, with some of the best Infantino artwork that we've seen in the series so far. I also like that this story tries to fit in so closely with the events of
The Empire Strikes Back. It's just a shame that the "mystery lightsaber" problem sabotages that to a greater or lesser degree, depending on your own tolerance of such things. This is a simple, but exciting, action-packed story, with the threats coming fast and furious for Luke and R2. It's also a story that eschews the rest of the
Star Wars cast, but nevertheless, it's a very enjoyable comic, with thrills and spills aplenty, along with some clever ideas on Goodwin's part in order to get Luke and R2 out of some difficult situations.
Continuity issues:
- Luke has a blue-bladed lightsaber in his possession in this story, but he lost his during the duel with Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back.
Favourite panel:
Favourite quote: "Get under fast, Artoo, I'm tumbling right behind you!" – Luke Skywalker instructs R2-D2 to escape a blazing inferno by going under a partially opened door.
