Star Wars #49Cover dated: July 1981
Issue title:
The Last Jedi!Script: Mike W. Barr
Artwork: Walter Simonson (breakdowns)/Tom Palmer (finished art & inks)
Colours: Don Warfield, Christie Scheele
Letters: Shelly Leferman
Cover art: Walter Simonson
Overall rating: 4 out of 10
Plot summary: Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker and the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO have travelled to a remote planet to answer a distress beacon left by the missing Prince Denid of Velmor. Denid, along with his betrothed Loren and protector Jedidiah, crash-landed on the jungle planet years ago, with Loren being killed in the impact. Upon finding the missing prince, Luke is shocked to learn that Jedidiah, who is now deranged and mentally confused due to a head injury sustained shortly after the crash, once had the potential to become a Jedi Knight, though he declined the offer in order to stay and protect the Royal Family of Velmor. Denid explains that he must return to Velmor immediately to claim his throne before his younger brother Anod, an Imperial sympathiser, gains control of the planet.
The party return to Velmor – with Luke disguised as a bounty hunter named Korl Marcus and Leia dressed as Loren – just in time to prevent the coronation of Anod. Their arrival not only irritates Denid's brother, but also angers royal regent Zelor and Imperial Captain Traal, who each have their own plans for power. Later that evening, with Luke still in disguise, Traal approaches him and reveals that she knows he is not who he says he is. In return for her silence, she requests that he assassinate Denide and Loren during the ceremonial hunt the following day. Meanwhile, the treacherous Zelor is also scheming to not only kill Denid and Loren, but Anod and Traal as well, in order to ensure that he will rule the planet when no one of royal blood is left to take the throne.
The next day, as the hunt commences, Zelor and Anod open fire on Denid and Leia, wounding the pair, while Anod is killed by Traal. Zelor pursues Luke through the woodland undergrowth, prompting the young Rebel to use the Force in order to establish the whereabouts of his enemy. Back at the Royal castle, Luke's use of the Force is picked up by the would-be Jedi, Jedidiah, who rushes to his aid. Zelor engages Luke in a duel with an energy sword, not realising that the young Rebel is a skilled swordsman himself and Luke easily manages to kill the conniving regent. However, during the duel, Traal has a clear shot at Luke, but she is interrupted by Jedidiah, who bravely sacrifices himself to prevent Luke from coming to harm.
Later, as Prince Denid ascends to the throne and becomes King of Velmor, he pledges his support to the Rebellion. Luke, Leia and the droids leave the planet, but before they jump to hyperspace, Luke jettisons Jedidiah's body from their ship, giving him a funeral in space in honour of his bravery.
Comments:
Star Wars #49 is, on the one hand, a deeply flawed comic, but that's not to say that it doesn't have some redeeming features. Let's start with the positives first: this issue marks the arrival of the hugely talented Walt Simonson as the series' new regular artist, taking over from Carmine Infantino, who was about to leave Marvel after receiving a lucrative job offer from DC Comics. Simonson had previously drawn "The Hunter!" story in
Star Wars #16, as well as doing the front cover of
Star Wars Annual #1 and several instalments of "The Kingdom of Ice!" in
Pizzazz magazine. A little bit further down the line, Simonson would also begin helping out with the plotting of
Star Wars, beginning with issue #56 and eventually leaving the book with issue #66.
Simonson's artwork in this issue is really gorgeous, with some tightly packed and inventively rendered panels. Tom Palmer returns on inks and lends his usual impeccably slick style to proceedings, providing lots of intricate detailing and some dramatic shadow work. Unfortunately the printing job in this issue is absolutely terrible and an awful lot of the detail of the Simonson/Palmer art is lost or spoilt as a result. This is definitely one instance where reading the story as a reprint in either the Dark Horse or Marvel collections is preferable to reading the original issue.
It's also great that, after years of Infantino's 'less than faithful' take on the
Star Wars galaxy, we get a regular artist on the series who can actually draw the comic so that it looks reminiscent of the
Star Wars films. Simonson's Y-wing, for instance, is stunningly well drawn in this issue (although I do have other problems with it, as you will see). Also, it's interesting to note that the tiny Mrids that are hunted in this issue have a passing similarity to the Hoojibs that Simonson will later design for issue #55.
Something else that's really cool is seeing Luke in his disguise as the bounty hunter Korl Marcus. Luke dons a beret, eye-patch and droopy moustache here, and I remember getting a real kick out of seeing him like that as a kid. In fact, it still gives me a big kick today. Interestingly, the disguise Luke wears here is not dissimilar to the one that artist Ron Frenz will later have Lando adopt under his alias of Captain Drebble in issue #75. Of course, both issue #75 and this one have Palmer doing the finished art and inks, so it's possible that Korl Marcus and Captain Drebble dressing so similarly is down to his embellishments, rather than anything connected with Frenz. Anyway, here are Luke and Lando's respective disguises to show you what I mean...
We also see evidence in this comic of something that I definitely regard as a stylistic signature of Simonson's work on the
Star Wars series. We get a sequence featuring the Rebel Y-wing jumping into hyperspace that shows the same scene mere seconds – or even split-seconds – later with each passing panel. I've not explained that particularly well, so here's the sequence that I'm talking about to show you what I mean...
On the downside, I have to make mention of the fact that Simonson's Y-wing, while being exquisitely drawn, is way too big on the inside. Y-wings are one or two man ships, but the version here has a huge interior, relatively speaking, and is able to seat six people comfortably. It even has enough room inside for Jedidiah and C-3PO to engage in lightsaber practice! The Y-wing also has wheels on its landing gear and appears to need to take-off and land like a passenger aeroplane, but the Y-wings from the films have skids and can take-off vertically. Yes, I know that it's supposed to be a modified Y-wing, but the differences in size and crew capacity go way beyond simple modification. It's a bit like having a six-man X-wing fighter that is the size of the
Millennium Falcon and saying it's a "modified version".
Mike W. Barr comes on board as guest writer for this issue and, without wanting to sound mean, I'm glad that it represents his only contribution to the series. Overall, the story is a fairly interesting tale of palace intrigue and treachery, with a healthy dose of romantic manipulation and plenty of twists and turns thrown in. Unfortunately though, there are multiple problems with this story. For one thing, there's a pretty big continuity goof in that Jedidiah apparently stayed with the Royal Family of Velmor in order to protect them from the Empire's treachery, instead of leaving to train as a Jedi Knight. That doesn't make sense though because even back in 1981 it was well known that the Jedi were outlawed and, for the most part, exterminated with the rise of the Empire. So how could the Royal Family have been dealing with the Imperial forces at the same time as a Jedi order that was able to train Jedidiah was still in existence?
Also, while we're on the subject, this character who was to become a Jedi is called Jedidiah and his nickname is "Jedi". I mean, really? This wannabe Jedi is called Jedi?! Yeah, that's not one of the better character names from the old Marvel series and, if I was feeling grumpy, I might go so far as to say that this is some really uninspired writing on Barr's part. I also take issue with the fact that ol' "Jedi" is referred to in the issue's title as 'the last Jedi', as well as by Luke himself at the story's close. While it's true that Jedidiah is Force-sensitive, he never actually trained as a Jedi Knight, which makes this issue's title more than a little misleading.
Another continuity problem arises when Luke immediately recognises Jedidiah as a Jedi Knight because, to quote Barr's narration, he's wearing "tatters that resemble the proud garb of the Jedis." However, the character isn't clothed in anything resembling what we saw the Jedi wearing in the prequel films or even in the few issues of the Marvel comic that have dealt with events during the Old Republic.
Something else that bugs me is that Luke Skywalker is written as a bit of an asshole here. The way in which he treats Jedidiah, who is clearly suffering from some form of brain damage, is pretty insensitive and quite brattish. Luke seems to get way too annoyed by the afflicted alien, with his rational being that he sees Jedidiah as an embarrassment to, or travesty of, what he thinks a true Jedi should be. Yeah...that's nice, Luke! Like Jedidiah can help the fact that he's brain damaged?! This all feels really out of character for the book's central hero and has the unintended consequence of making Luke seem like a real dick.
Having Luke come across as not particularly likeable in this issue is odd, since Barr has gone on record as saying that Luke was the
Star Wars character that he most identified with. I suppose that what Barr was really intending was to show Luke beginning to realise that his prejudices had clouded his opinion of Jedidiah and that the qualities that represent Jedi nobility can be found in the unlikeliest of people. That's certainly a worthy concept to explore, but the execution of it here is poor.
While we're on the subject of Luke, the scene in which the amply endowed female Imperial, Captain Traal, basically offers herself to him sexually, as an incentive for the young Rebel's co-operation in assassinating Prince Denid and Leia, is a bit of an eyebrow raiser. The kind of overtly suggestive dialogue we get seems a bit risqué for a Marvel comic in 1981.
I also take issue with the way in which Barr writes Princess Leia; as soon as some dashing Prince shows up she seems to forget all about her love for Han Solo. Later, while Luke spies on them from behind a curtain, Leia and Denid get busy "sucking face", with the prince talking about marriage between the pair, despite the fact that they've only recently met! This characterisation of the princess is not only at odds with what we see in the original trilogy, but also strikingly out of whack with the way in which we will see her missing Han later on in the Marvel series. We also get some good old incestuous elements creeping in too, with Luke seeming more than a little jealous of Denid, as he woos the princess. Of course, this is all a bit icky in hindsight, but it's not really Barr's fault, since he wouldn't have known that Luke and Leia would be revealed as brother and sister in
Return of the Jedi.
There are a multitude of smaller, niggling problems with this issue too, like C-3PO's dialogue feeling a little bit off; Denid having been stranded on the planet for years, but the Rebels and Zelor's henchmen finding him on the exact same day; and Leia dressing up like Prince Denid's dead fiancée, which is more than a little creepy. We also get Luke having his old blue lightsaber with him again, despite him having lost it during his duel with Darth Vader in
The Empire Strikes Back. Going forward, this "lightsaber problem" will be a recurring continuity issue in the Marvel series until we get to the
Return of the Jedi adaptation, but I won't be mentioning it again in my reviews, since I've already done so here and in my review of issue #45.
Barr is quoted in issue #9 of
Back Issue magazine as saying that "The Last Jedi!" is "probably one of my ten favorite comic stories that I've done." Unfortunately, there are simply too many problems with the plotting, scripting and characterisation in this issue for me to regard this as anything more than a below average instalment of the series story-wise.
There are a few other nit-picky things I feel compelled to mention too, like the fact that Luke's lightsaber is incorrectly coloured red in some panels, though it's the correct shade of blue in others. Also, there's some sloppy lettering from Shelly Leferman, when she manages to misspell the name Anod as Arnod on one occasion, as well as misspelling the planet Velmor as Velmore at one point and Alderaan as Alderann on page 12. On the upside, I quite like the idea of energy swords being like a less refined and more readily available version of the Jedi's lightsaber. It makes sense to me that there would be a cruder version of the weapon for non-Jedi use in the
Star Wars galaxy.
All in all, this is a dense issue, with each page packed full of gorgeous art and tightly crowded panels. An awful lot happens in
Star Wars #49, although little, if any, of it has any real lasting effect in the comic book continuity. Still, it's a good, meaty read and definitely worth 50¢ of anybody's money back in 1981. However, the poor characterisation, glaring continuity errors and sub-standard scripting that litter this story really hinder my enjoyment of the book and as a result, I'm forced to awarded it a fairly low score, bolstered only by the lovely artwork. That said, despite all of its flaws, the look and feel of this issue does set the tone for the rest of the post-
Empire Strikes Back Marvel stories. It's just that the majority of those stories would feature much better writing.
Continuity issues:
- Luke inexplicably has a blue-bladed lightsaber in his possession, despite having lost his during his duel with Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back.
- It is stated that Jedidiah turned down Jedi training in order to remain with the Royal Family of Velmor and protect them against the treachery of the Imperials. But the Jedi Order was wiped out with the rise of the Empire and therefore Jedidiah could not have been trained as a Jedi at a time when the Empire was already at large in the galaxy.
- The Y-wing fighter that Luke, Leia and the droids travel in seats six people and has an interior cabin, whereas Y-wings should be one or two man craft.
- On the front cover, Jedidiah is incorrectly coloured green, whereas he is a dark shade of purple inside the issue.
- On the front cover, Luke's clothes are incorrectly coloured brown or orange, when they should be blue.
Favourite panel:
Favourite quote: "I rarely fight to the death either, Zelor...but in your case, I'd make an exception." – Luke Skywalker vents his rage at Zelor, as he delivers a death blow with his lightsaber.
I liked The Third Law more than you did, even if I found it flawed in a lot of places but I have a soft spot for that kind of espionage story, especially served with a dash of humour. The Marvel stories has gone in some weird directions and I'd probably label the Comic Horror style #38 (Riders in the Void!) a far stranger fit.
