Star Wars #50Cover dated: August 1981
Issue title:
The Crimson Forever!Script: Archie Goodwin
Artwork: Al Williamson (pencils & inks)/Walter Simonson (pencils & inks)/Tom Palmer (inks)/Rick Bryant (inks – uncredited)/Dave Simons (inks - uncredited)
Colours: Don Warfield
Letters: Ed Stuart, John Morelli (uncredited), Irving Watanabe (uncredited)
Cover art: Walter Simonson (pencils)/Tom Palmer (painting)
Overall rating: 10 out of 10
Plot summary: Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca are urgently recalled from their search for Han Solo by Princess Leia. Returning to the new Rebel base on the volcanic planet of Golrath, Leia shows the pair Luke Skywalker laying unconscious in the base's medical facility, with crimson coloured eyes. Leia explains that Luke and his squadron recently boarded a derelict Imperial Star Destroyer, where they found the vessel's entire crew dead, with their skins turned a strange crimson colour. One of Luke's team found a mysterious red gem inside the ship that seemed to be the cause of the condition. Returning to base, Luke and the rest of his men were quarantined, but unfortunately they had already been exposed to the "Crimson Forever" disease. The others soon died, with Luke only remaining alive due to his affinity with the Force. Leia explains that she has recalled Lando and Chewbacca because she remembered a story that Han once told her about an adventure that he and Chewie had, involving two crimson jewels like the one found aboard the Star Destroyer.
As Chewbacca begins to tell his story, Luke lays motionless in the medical centre and starts to have a fevered dream involving his mentors Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, along with the threatening form of Darth Vader. After attempting to engage the dream-vision of the Dark Lord in a lightsaber duel, Luke flees into a swirling crimson mist, but is instructed by Obi-Wan to trust his feelings. Instinctively, the young Rebel lowers his lightsaber and allows Vader to strike at him with his own saber, which miraculously passes right through Luke's body without harming him.
Meanwhile, Chewbacca recounts a tale of how he and Han were once shanghaied and taken aboard a bulk-freighter named the
Nova Prince. The pair were transported to the Red Nebula, an area outside the known galaxy, along with a gang of similarly abducted pirates and mercenaries. The spokesman for the group who owned the ship, named Klysk, explained to the hostages that they were going to a planet that he and his crew had been exiled from, in order to steal two crimson jewels of unparalleled value.
Once on the planet, Han and Chewbacca quickly reached the temple where the gems were located, only to encounter a priest and a gigantic, shaggy-haired guardian, who mistook Chewbacca for her own cub and began to affectionately mother the embarrassed Wookiee. Using this as a diversion, Han placed the jewels in a sack, as the priest warned him not to steal the gems, since they protected the valley surrounding the temple from devastating meteor showers. Ignoring this, Han returned to Klysk with the treasure, but the treacherous alien betrayed Solo and took the gems, stranding the Corellian and his first mate on the planet. Luckily, Solo had hidden the jewels in a nearby grove and given Klysk a sack full of rocks instead. However, one of Klysk's mercenaries had seen Han hiding the gems and had attempted to make off with one of the jewels, causing him to drop dead, with his skin turned crimson. After returning the jewels to the temple, the grateful priest provided Han and Chewbacca with a ship to leave the planet in.
With Chewbacca's story told and a new clue to the origin of the Crimson Forever revealed, Lando, Leia and the Wookiee journey to the Red Nebula in the
Millennium Falcon, only to find a battle damaged House of Tagge Mining Explorer adrift in space. Boarding the craft, the Rebels are captured by Domina Tagge and the bounty hunters Bossk, Dengar, IG-88 and 4-LOM. Domina explains that she employed the bounty hunters to help her locate the priest and the deadly jewels, as a means of destroying both the Empire and the Rebellion in revenge for her brother Orman's death at the hands of Vader and Luke. However, the Tagge ship was attacked by a Star Destroyer and boarded by Imperial troops who seized one of the gems, while the dying priest opened a canister containing the other. With the interior of the Mining Explorer exposed to the Crimson Forever, Domina and her gang sealed themselves off in an uninfected part of the ship where they are now trapped.
After a firefight, Lando and Leia manage to escape from the Mining Explorer, leaving Domina entombed within. However, the villainess announces that she alone knows how to save Luke's life, forcing Leia to rescue her and return her to the Rebel base. Once there, the two gems are reunited and the effects of the Crimson Forever are reversed for Luke. The jewels are then put on board the derelict Star Destroyer and launched on a trajectory out of the galaxy. Domina is allowed her freedom in exchange for helping the Rebels cure the disease, but as her ship departs, Lando knowingly remarks that with Domina now wanted for crimes against the Empire, her bounty hunting companions might decide to turn her in for a hefty profit.
Comments: Announced as a "Giant Sized 50th Collectors' Edition",
Star Wars #50 is an absolute treat of an issue. The double-length book sees the return of Al Williamson on art duties, following his excellent efforts on the
The Empire Strikes Back adaptation, along with the series' new regular artist, Walt Simonson. "The Crimson Forever!" storyline is divided up into three chapters, with Williamson drawing the first two and Simonson taking over for the third. Williamson revealed in a 1982 interview that the reason for this was because he didn't have enough time to finish the entire story, due to commitments drawing the
Flash Gordon film adaptation for King Features and the
Star Wars newspaper strip. Williamson pencilled and inked all of chapter 1, pencilled all of chapter 2, and inked the first two pages of the second chapter as well. He then sent the unfinished artwork to Marvel, where Tom Palmer finished up the inking of Williamson's work, while Simonson drew all of chapter 3, with Rick Bryant and Dave Simons inking (Simonson inked the final page of the story himself).
Interestingly, Williamson also revealed in the aforementioned interview that the first three pages of chapter 2 (a flashback sequence featuring Han Solo and Chewbacca) had actually been drawn in late 1978 as part of an adventure intended for publication in
Pizzazz magazine. When the magazine was cancelled in January 1979, those three pages were put on ice until writer Archie Goodwin managed to work them into the larger Crimson Forever storyline.
Despite the convoluted origins of this story and the array of different artistic talents that contributed to it, the contents of this issue are very cohesive and flow together beautifully. The transition between Williamson and Simonson's art is pretty smooth and, as a kid, it never even occurred to me that two different artists drew this adventure. Of course, it helps that both artists have a somewhat photo-realistic style and a natural flair for accurately depicting the
Star Wars universe. I couldn't imagine the transition from Williamson to, say, Carmine Infantino for instance, being quite so seamless.
Williamson's artwork is wonderful as usual. His depictions of the central cast all look like the movie actors and he even draws Leia with her distinctive "cinnamon bun" hairstyle in the first chapter, which is something we've not seen in the comic since before
The Empire Strikes Back. His highly detailed, lived-in settings effortlessly conjure George Lucas's "used galaxy", while his faultless panel-to-panel storytelling and dramatic use of shadow are just a pleasure to behold. In particular, the scenes on Golrath, the backstreets of the planet Terminus, the fever-dream sequence and the battle in the temple are all excellently drawn, with some great staging and "direction".
Here's the original artwork for page 9 of "The Crimson Forever!" for your viewing pleasure...
And check out page 25, for an example of Williamson's masterful composition, storytelling flow and imaginative "camera angel" choices...
As for Simonson's contribution, while not being quite up to the impossibly high standards of Williamson's, it's still very good in its own right. To my eye, it looks as if Simonson is attempting to subdue his own signature style somewhat and, instead, ape Williamson, in terms of panel layout and overall feel. If so, that's highly commendable and very effective, since, as I noted earlier, the transition from one artist to the other is very smooth indeed.
With regards to the plotting and scripting in this issue, Goodwin really knocks it out of the park. There's some great characterisation throughout, with all of the central cast's "voices" being spot on and the way in which they interact with each other being just like something out of the
Star Wars films. Leia comes across like the feisty, but caring Rebel leader, while Han is his wise-cracking, devil-may-care, roguish self, and Lando's characterisation as a clever, quick-witted conman is bang on. It's also nice to see Goodwin reference Leia's newly admitted love for Han, after Mike W. Barr completely failed to take it into account last issue. Simply put, this is some of Goodwin's best and most focused writing for the Marvel series. Unfortunately, it would also be his last as the book's regular writer (though he would return once for
Star Wars #98). The reason for his departure was due to a lot of his time now being taken up with editing Marvel's
Epic Illustrated magazine and with writing the
Star Wars newspaper strip. Luckily, the series' new writer, David Michelinie, would be more than up to the task of filling Goodwin's shoes, as we shall see.
I must say, I like the vague horror elements present in this issue, with the Crimson Forever plague. That's an unusual and welcome change of pace for the
Star Wars comics. There's also a biological warfare slant to this story that we've not really seen in the series before. That said, I don't think Domina's plan to wipe out the Empire and Rebellion was especially well thought out, since it ultimately required every Rebel and Imperial in the galaxy to be exposed to one of the separated jewels, which would take some time, to say the least. Still, she sent a Star Destroyer with one of the gems on board to Golrath, resulting in Luke Skywalker contracting the disease straight away – which was certainly the desired effect, as far as she was concerned – so, maybe it wasn't such a nutty idea after all.
Of course, it turns out though that, contrary to appearances, the Crimson Forever doesn't actually kill its victims. They just go into a very deep, death-like state of suspended animation that is actually survivable, as long as the victim's bodies don't fight it (presumably it's the trauma of fighting the disease that actually kills you). Luke having Force-induced dreams of duelling Darth Vader, while Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi stand watching is a neat way to get those key characters into this anniversary issue, without actually having Luke encounter them (Luke meeting these characters was off limits for Marvel because that was being saved for
Return of the Jedi). I also like the fact that by being led by the Force and refusing to fight the dream-image of Vader, which actually represents the Crimson Forever in his system, Luke is able to survive the disease and when the jewels are brought together at the end of the story, he is revived. Well, at least, that's how I've always interpreted this dream sequence.
There's some gorgeous artwork of Luke's dreamscape in these pages too. This one in particular is very nice...
Just to dwell on the exact nature of the Crimson Forever itself for a moment, I've always assumed that it must work like some kind of radioactivity. Certainly the spacesuits that Lando and Leia wear for protection and the sealed bulkheads inside the House of Tagge Mining Explorer that prevent contamination would seem to support that theory. We know that it isn't actually a virus or bacterial infection because Domina explains that the gems are living beings that radiate a sense of well being when they are together, but radiate a negative aura that causes the effects of the Crimson Forever when they are separated.
Speaking of Domina, this issue represents her last appearance in Marvel's
Star Wars series and serves as the culmination of the ongoing Tagge storyline that Goodwin has been working on throughout his tenure on the comic. Domina is as bitter and evil as ever here, and its a real nice touch that she's employed some of the bounty hunters that we saw in
The Empire Strikes Back. As a kid, I got a real charge from seeing Leia and Lando face off against IG-88, Bossk, Dengar and 4-LOM (who, like the Kenner action figure, is mistakenly named as Zuckuss here – and, just to add insult to injury, his name is misspelt as "Zuckass"). I also love the little plot twist, in which Lando mischievously suggests to the bounty hunters that Domina may be worth something to the Empire as a prisoner. It's certainly intriguing to ponder what became of her. Was she betrayed by the bounty hunters and incarcerated – or even executed – by the Empire? Or is she still out there, roaming the galaxy somewhere?
Overall, I've always felt that the combination of Williamson and Simonson's realistic and movie-accurate artwork, the extended length of this issue, and Goodwin's excellent scripting and characterisation make
Star Wars #50 seem like a missing instalment of the movie franchise. Reading this comic is a bit like watching
Star Wars: Episode V½ or something. All of the principal cast are present and accounted for, even Han – and seeing the Corellian smuggler back in action, albeit in a flashback sequence, is arguably the biggest draw of this issue. We even have Vader, Obi-Wan and Yoda making an appearance, as part of Luke's fever-induced dream. And as if that wasn't enough, Goodwin has Leia call Luke "flyboy" at one point, while Luke also utters the franchise's famous catchphrase of, "I've got a bad feeling about this" – which a first for the Marvel series! Yep, all in all
Star Wars #50 is an absolutely fantastic comic and one of my all-time favourites from the series.
Continuity issues: None
Favourite panel:
Favourite quote: "We're sorry we woke up grouchy. Thinking you've been killed does that to you sometimes!" – Han Solo sarcastically apologises to a droid aboard the
Nova Prince for his and Chewbacca's aggressive behaviour.
The vast majority of posters here are. I'm from the UK myself, south east England...just outside of London.
