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Post by rossn on Oct 23, 2015 6:06:26 GMT -5
Great reviews of great issues Confessor. I'm trying to catch up!
I think #50 closes a chapter of sorts with the last sighting of the Tagge family. Domina wasn't my favourite villain and I understand the desire not to overuse her but at the same the Tagges were maybe the main contribution the Marvel comics have made to the Star Wars universe to this point. Anyway, a great story and a great swansong. Perhaps my only quibble is how the Rebels seem uninterested in seizing the powerful Star Destroyer for themselves.
#51 is another fine issue. The idea of conspiratorial Imperial officers would show up a lot in the later Expanded Universe but this is probably the first sign we see of it.
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Post by Confessor on Oct 23, 2015 9:23:05 GMT -5
I first saw this one in the Wild Space Volume. I really enjoy it too. It's kind of "Star Wars" Meets "Night Gallery." Had to Google "Night Gallery" to see what it was, but yeah...this story definitely has a Twilight Zone-esque bent to it. That "Darth Vader must die!" sub plot reminds me a lot of the plot from the newspaper strip "Darth Vader Strikes!" where another group of admirals tried a similar scheme against Vader:  It's certainly something that deserves delving into, so it's no surprise to see it brought up again. Good point, thwhtguardian. I'd forgotten about that storyline in the newspaper strip. Interestingly, Wookieepedia tells me that this issue of Star Wars and the next would've been on the stands at the exact same time as "Darth Vader Strikes!" was running in U.S. newspapers. As you say and as I noted in my review, the idea that a group of Imperial officers would conspire to kill Vader, as a result of his shoddy treatment of them, makes a whole lot of sense. Excellent reviews as usual, Confessor. Ah, why thank you, kind sir. It's been decades since I went back to my old SW comics but I'm really tempted to go dig them up, now! The Michelinie era was really excellent, and the subplot with Shira Brie was (as far as I'm concerned) the best non-canonical idea the franchise has seen. Yeah, I loved the Shira Brie arc as well. Really great stuff. You should definitely bust out your old issues and read along, Roquefort. To quote the old Buena Vista or Rainbow Star Wars book and record series: "You can read along with me in your book. You will know it is time to turn the page, when you hear R2-D2 beep, like this..."  Excellent reviews as usual, Confessor. It's been decades since I went back to my old SW comics but I'm really tempted to go dig them up, now! The Michelinie era was really excellent, and the subplot with Shira Brie was (as far as I'm concerned) the best non-canonical idea the franchise has seen. Far as I'm concerned, she IS canonical. No one's gonna tell me the Michelinie/Simonson/Palmer era didn't really happen. Preach it, brother!  I think #50 closes a chapter of sorts with the last sighting of the Tagge family. Domina wasn't my favourite villain and I understand the desire not to overuse her but at the same the Tagges were maybe the main contribution the Marvel comics have made to the Star Wars universe to this point. Anyway, a great story and a great swansong. Perhaps my only quibble is how the Rebels seem uninterested in seizing the powerful Star Destroyer for themselves. Yeah, I'd not thought of that, but the Rebels not seizing the Star Destroyer is something of a missed opportunity. As for Domina and the rest of the Tagge family, I guess ultimately they were Archie Goodwin's creation and once he was gone from the book, other writers had their own new characters and situations that they wanted to focus on. To be honest, the Tagge family's story was probably done by this point, insofar as Orman was dead, Silas was in a coma, and Ulric and Casio were simply serving in the Imperial navy. But it might've been cool to have had Domina appear once more, maybe post- Return of the Jedi. But alas, it wasn't to be. #51 is another fine issue. The idea of conspiratorial Imperial officers would show up a lot in the later Expanded Universe but this is probably the first sign we see of it. And as thwhtguardian pointed out, almost the exact same storyline idea is happening concurrently in the Star Wars newspaper strip. |
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Post by tingramretro on Oct 23, 2015 10:56:49 GMT -5
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Monthly #149Cover dated: September 1981 Issue title: Death-Masque!Script: Steve Moore Artwork: John Stokes (pencils)/Howard Chaykin (inks - uncredited) Letters: Jenny O'Connor Cover art: Paul Neary Overall rating: 9 out of 10  Plot summary: In the remote Lapez system, Luke Skywalker's X-Wing fighter is under attack from four squadrons of Imperial TIE fighters and two Star Destroyers, all under the command of Captain Dirk Balor. As Luke expertly out pilots the TIE fighters, Balor calls on the talents of his crew mate, Altin Wuho, who is the specialist handler of a nightmare demon from the planet Droxine, named Reist. The demon is dispatched in a small missile pod, which covertly attaches itself to the hull of Luke's ship. Reist's telepathic powers causes the young Rebel to experience severe hallucinations, eventually causing him to crash on the nearby planet of Lapez 3. Luke's hallucinations continue on the planet's surface, as he finds himself stranded in a haunted landscape of twisted, skeletal trees. He also witnesses his friends Princess Leia, Han Solo and Chewbacca die before his eyes, before being forced to duel with a skull-faced vision of Darth Vader. Running from the nightmarish apparitions, Luke decides to surrender to the Force, as the spirit form of Obi-Wan Kenobi appears before him. Kenobi instructs him to turn the Force against himself. Luke follows Kenobi's advice and the hallucinations begin to dissipate, revealing Luke to still be in the cockpit of his X-Wing fighter, with Reist perched on his chest. Skywalker activates his lightsaber, hitting the demon with the blade and sending the creature tumbling out of the ship. As Wuho lands in a shuttle craft to retrieve his pet and collect Luke's body, the injured creature telepathically tells Skywalker that there's a component that the Rebel needs to repair his X-Wing fighter about Wuhu's person. Confronting the Imperial, Luke throws his lightsaber, piercing Wuhu through the chest. Upon inspecting the dead Imperial's body, Luke discovers that Wuhu was an android, which explains how he was able to handle Reist safely. Salvaging a computer relay from the destroyed android, Luke departs from Lapez 3, having made a grave for Reist. Comments: "Death-Masque!" was the first UK exclusive Star Wars story to have been produced by Marvel UK, rather than having been written and drawn in the U.S. and then published in the UK, specifically for that market. It's written by Steve Moore, who had previously worked on popular UK comics such as 2000 AD and Doctor Who Weekly, and drawn by John Stokes, who is probably most famous for having drawn the "Fishboy: Denizen of the Deep" strip in the UK's Buster comic during the '60s and '70s. In addition, Stokes's artwork is apparently inked by an uncredited Howard Chaykin, who pencilled the earliest issues of Marvel's Star Wars comic, back in the late '70s. I'm not sure how an American like Chaykin got involved with this issue, given that the story was produced entirely in the UK, but both Wookieepedia.com and the Comic Book Resources website say that the inking here is by Chaykin. Personally, I like this issue very much, but it's definitely a weird one. There's something distinctly 2000 AD-ish about it and also something rather British too. Altin Wuho's appearance owes more than a little to Oscar Wildeian foppishness, while Imperial Captain Balor looks like he's just stepped out of some stiff upper lipped, Bomber Command-centric, World War II movie. There's also a hallucinogenic, nightmarish quality to this adventure – like an LSD trip going bad – which I really enjoy and is a definite change of pace for Marvel's Star Wars series. As we shall see, the weirdness present in "Death-Masque!" is not unique among the UK exclusive stories that were published in The Empire Strikes Back Monthly during 1981 and 1982. I really like Stokes's design for Reist, which is sort of half hell-monkey and half human skull, with piercing, hypnotic eyes. It's an unsettling character design that fits in perfectly with the creature's powers of hallucination. Likewise, the nightmare landscape of Lapez 3 is dramatically rendered and looks like something out of a horror movie. In fact, there's more than a little of the creepy, ghost story-esque atmosphere usually associated with supernatural thrillers in this adventure. In addition, the way in which Stokes draws Reist squatting on Luke's chest is very reminiscent of an incubus from old medieval legend. Or, perhaps more famously, the 18th century painting of an incubus, known as The Nightmare, by Henry Fuseli. At 15 pages, Moore's story is a bit shorter than the contents of a standard U.S. monthly comic, but it's a gripping and satisfying read nonetheless. His characterisation of Luke is pretty spot on and I like that we get an appearance of Obi-Wan Kenobi's Force ghost, although it's unclear whether Kenobi actually materialises or if it's just another hallucination, albeit one that springs from Luke's abilities with the Force. I also like the fact that Reist hates his master so much that he eventually prompts Luke to destroy the android. That gives the little creature much more depth than he might of otherwise had. All in all, this is a very original story, with some satisfying and fairly unique artwork. For many years "Death-Masque!" was unavailable to American readers in any form, since it was not re-printed in Dark Horse's Classic Star Wars: Devilworlds mini-series in 1996, as the other UK produced stories all were. However, in 2013, Dark Horse Comics saw fit to include it in their Wild Space, Volume 1 trade paperback collection and most recently, as of this writing, Marvel have included it in their Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Volume 3 hardback collection. It's definitely cool that this unique story is now readily available in the U.S. because, as far as I'm concerned, it is the best of all the UK exclusive strips that were published during Marvel's original Star Wars run. Continuity issues: None Favourite panel:  Favourite quote: "Feel how much they hate you, Reist... Your very presence here revolts them... In fact, the rest of the crew hate you almost as much, Reist, as you hate me!" – Altin Wuho taunts Reist, the telepathic nightmare demon. This is very definitely my favourite of the Star Wars comic stories, it's beautifully surreal and Reist is a wonderfully creepy creation with, as you say, more depth than one might have expected of him. I still remember the first time I read it, being totally thrown by the revelation that his handler was an android! John Stokes will to me always be first and foremost identified as the artist of Marvel UK's classic Black Knight strip, but he does his usual great job on this. |
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Post by tex1272 on Oct 23, 2015 13:50:09 GMT -5
Sorry about the NIGHT GALLERY reference. I should've said TWILIGHT ZONE. But if you like TZ, you should check out NG if you get the chance!
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Post by rebeljedi on Oct 23, 2015 14:46:04 GMT -5
Concerning the original post Empire Strikes Back UK stories that Dark Horse colorized back in the 1990s which I have read recently in the new Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol.3, the text in some of those issues is so small its hard to read, at least for me. I don't know if this is the result of just the very small lettering or the colorization itself. Here are some examples from the Star Wars Wild Space Omnibus Vol.1 which like the Original Marvel Years Vol.3 Omnibus contain the same UK issues- www.darkhorse.com/Books/Previews/18-449?page=1www.darkhorse.com/Books/Previews/18-449?page=5 |
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Post by fanboystranger on Oct 23, 2015 21:01:36 GMT -5
This is the new Marvel Omnibuses we're talking about, yes? I only have 3 or 4 Marvel omnibuses and they all have the letters pages reproduced in them. Mind you, they are all quite old Omnibuses...maybe it's something they've stopped doing in the more recent volumes. I tell you what I really do not like though, is the new computer generated colouring that Marvel have done the movie adaptations in. It totally overwhelms the original art and the colours chosen make it all look rather bland IMO. I can't help but see a parallel between this newly remastered, computer coloured versions of Marvel's adaptations and the 1997 original trilogy Special Editions. There was simply no need to update these comic adaptations in this way and the finished results only detract from what was good about them in the first place. Personally, I'll stick with the original colouring -- or at least, pretty faithful colouring, as found in the original issues, the Dark Horse reprints and the new Marvel omnibuses. I got both A New Hope & the Empire Strikes Back remastered OGNs and its funny cause when it comes to the original trilogy of films I adamantly prefer the original unaltered non-special edition versions of the movies I grew up with however I found myself liking the remastered coloring of the comic adaptations maybe cause the colors now match the films more. Some things I noticed about them when comparing them to the originals in the Original Marvel Years Omnibus in the New Hope remaster they added some things like in the panel that shows Tarkin being told to consider evacuating the Death Star there is now a hologram of the battle station and the view through Luke's microbinoculars while looking at the sand people has the same looking read out that was in the film, however I was surprised at the panel where Luke goes to Toshe Station and sees Biggs there now the sky is colored to look like its very early in the morning and you can still see some stars but after that the panel that shows 3PO & R2 walking away from the escape pod is clearly set during the day time but once R2 goes down into the canyon right before he encounters the Jawas its early morning again and when we catch up again with Biggs telling Luke about joining the Rebellion its still very early in the morning. The Jabba panels are the same just with different coloring. The explosion of the Death Star is totally different looking then the original, now with the Praxis ring affect and no trail from behind Luke's X-wing. In the Empire remaster has anyone noticed the panel that shows Luke just before getting into his snowspeeder telling Han that he hopes Han makes peace with Jabba, the background of that panel looks like a real picture & not drawn. I'm glad that both versions (Original & Remastered) of the comic adaptations are still available for people to purchase and enjoy I just wish it was the same with the actual original film trilogy I actually was digging through this thread because I picked up the new Marvel HC for Empire Strikes Back, and it massacres Al Williamson's art with some of the murkiest coloring I've ever seen. It is awful. I'm much more of a Williamson fan than a SW fan, so this is a tremendous disappointment for me, especially after seeing Confessor's scans of the original art. Marvel's new coloring of classic work has been a mixed bag at best-- it did look nice in the Simonson Thor and Tales of Asgard omnibii-- but this is a new low. I can't believe it even got published in this state. |
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Post by Confessor on Oct 24, 2015 3:19:57 GMT -5
Concerning the original post Empire Strikes Back UK stories that Dark Horse colorized back in the 1990s which I have read recently in the new Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol.3, the text in some of those issues is so small its hard to read, at least for me. I don't know if this is the result of just the very small lettering or the colorization itself. Here are some examples from the Star Wars Wild Space Omnibus Vol.1 which like the Original Marvel Years Vol.3 Omnibus contain the same UK issues- www.darkhorse.com/Books/Previews/18-449?page=1www.darkhorse.com/Books/Previews/18-449?page=5I can confirm that that is exactly how the lettering aappeared in the original 1980s Marvel UK comics. However, UK comics were (and still are) larger that U.S. comics, kind of like magazine-sized, so shrinking the down for the Wild Space, Volume 1 omnibus, would certainly have made it harder to read. However, I would've thought it would look OK in the Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Vol.3 Omnibus, beacuse those books are closer to the size that it would've originally been published in. |
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Post by Confessor on Oct 24, 2015 3:43:20 GMT -5
I got both A New Hope & the Empire Strikes Back remastered OGNs and its funny cause when it comes to the original trilogy of films I adamantly prefer the original unaltered non-special edition versions of the movies I grew up with however I found myself liking the remastered coloring of the comic adaptations maybe cause the colors now match the films more. Some things I noticed about them when comparing them to the originals in the Original Marvel Years Omnibus in the New Hope remaster they added some things like in the panel that shows Tarkin being told to consider evacuating the Death Star there is now a hologram of the battle station and the view through Luke's microbinoculars while looking at the sand people has the same looking read out that was in the film, however I was surprised at the panel where Luke goes to Toshe Station and sees Biggs there now the sky is colored to look like its very early in the morning and you can still see some stars but after that the panel that shows 3PO & R2 walking away from the escape pod is clearly set during the day time but once R2 goes down into the canyon right before he encounters the Jawas its early morning again and when we catch up again with Biggs telling Luke about joining the Rebellion its still very early in the morning. The Jabba panels are the same just with different coloring. The explosion of the Death Star is totally different looking then the original, now with the Praxis ring affect and no trail from behind Luke's X-wing. In the Empire remaster has anyone noticed the panel that shows Luke just before getting into his snowspeeder telling Han that he hopes Han makes peace with Jabba, the background of that panel looks like a real picture & not drawn. I'm glad that both versions (Original & Remastered) of the comic adaptations are still available for people to purchase and enjoy I just wish it was the same with the actual original film trilogy I actually was digging through this thread because I picked up the new Marvel HC for Empire Strikes Back, and it massacres Al Williamson's art with some of the murkiest coloring I've ever seen. It is awful. I'm much more of a Williamson fan than a SW fan, so this is a tremendous disappointment for me, especially after seeing Confessor's scans of the original art. Marvel's new coloring of classic work has been a mixed bag at best-- it did look nice in the Simonson Thor and Tales of Asgard omnibii-- but this is a new low. I can't believe it even got published in this state. We're talking about the new, 21st century computer generated re-coluring job, right? This edition...  As you saw from rebeljedi's above comment, here have been a few people moaning about that edition in this thread and I have to say that the page scans I've seen do look awful. The computer colouring just totally overwhelms Williamson's exquisite line work. And if rebeljedi's right, and Marvel have seen fit to replace some of Williamson and Garzon's backgrounds with stills from the film itself, then that's as close to comic book heresy as you can get! However, the ESB adaptation is preserved in "truer to the originals" colouring in the pages of the Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years, Volume 1 omnibus, but that also features all of the preceding run, including a lot of Carmine Infantino artwork. So that might be a bit overkill, if you're just after the Williamson stuff. Dark Horse have published the ESB adaptation a few times over the years and those are fairly easy to find online. However, for my money, the best way to enjoy this adaptation is in the treasury-sized Marvel Special Edition Featuring Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back #2 from 1980. This one...  The original issues of the SW comic that serialise the adaptation (#39 – 44) look quite murky, so they should probably be avoided. The larger size and better quality paper of the treasury really allows Williamson and Garzon's artwork to shine at its glorious best. The treasury is the source for most of my scans, fanboystranger. If you can manage to track down a copy of that, you won't be disappointed. |
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Post by rebeljedi on Oct 24, 2015 10:39:45 GMT -5
Concerning the original post Empire Strikes Back UK stories that Dark Horse colorized back in the 1990s which I have read recently in the new Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol.3, the text in some of those issues is so small its hard to read, at least for me. I don't know if this is the result of just the very small lettering or the colorization itself. Here are some examples from the Star Wars Wild Space Omnibus Vol.1 which like the Original Marvel Years Vol.3 Omnibus contain the same UK issues- www.darkhorse.com/Books/Previews/18-449?page=1www.darkhorse.com/Books/Previews/18-449?page=5I can confirm that that is exactly how the lettering aappeared in the original 1980s Marvel UK comics. However, UK comics were (and still are) larger that U.S. comics, kind of like magazine-sized, so shrinking the down for the Wild Space, Volume 1 omnibus, would certainly have made it harder to read. However, I would've thought it would look OK in the Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Vol.3 Omnibus, beacuse those books are closer to the size that it would've originally been published in. Thanks for the reply, I also would have thought due to the larger size of Marvel's Omnibus the text would appear slightly larger but apparently for some of those issues Marvel must of used the same format from the Wild Space Omnibus in their new Omnibus. All the UK colorized issues with the exception of 'Dark Lord's Devilry' and 'The Pandora Affect' all have easy to read text but the rest of them particularly 'Tilotny throws a shape' is difficult to read. I got a magnifying glass and finished reading them. After looking at them more closely its definitely hard to read due to the small text and not the result of the colorization or a printing error. |
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Post by Confessor on Oct 24, 2015 18:03:40 GMT -5
All the UK colorized issues with the exception of 'Dark Lord's Devilry' and 'The Pandora Affect' all have easy to read text but the rest of them particularly 'Tilotny throws a shape' is difficult to read. I got a magnifying glass and finished reading them. After looking at them more closely its definitely hard to read due to the small text and not the result of the colorization or a printing error. Hmmm...yeah, that's weird. And a shame, of course, because those stories are pretty good. |
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Post by rebeljedi on Oct 24, 2015 20:26:56 GMT -5
I was wondering where does the original UK stories fit within the US Marvel issues & Pizzazz stories? Whats the chronological order if there is one?
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Post by Confessor on Oct 25, 2015 0:22:30 GMT -5
I was wondering where does the original UK stories fit within the US Marvel issues & Pizzazz stories? Whats the chronological order if there is one? I've been anticipating someone asking me about a chronological reading order ever since I began this thread. You're the first to do so, rebeljedi. I do have a preferred chronological reading order that I worked out years ago for the Marvel series, including all of the UK issues and the Pizzazz stories (I don't think it includes the Star Comics' Droids and Ewoks mini-series though, if memory serves). Of course, there are timelines available on the internet, but I've found them to all to have some errors in, which is why I drew up my own. I've toyed with the idea of posting my chronological reading order in the very first post of this thread, but wasn't sure how much interest there would be in such a thing. Maybe I will. As for the UK and Pizzazz stories specifically, it depends...most of the UK stories are either set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back or between Empire and ROTJ. However, there are some ("Flight of the Falcon" and "Way of the Wookiee!", for example) which are clearly set way before A New Hope. There are no post-ROTJ UK stories though. |
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Post by fanboystranger on Oct 25, 2015 19:53:46 GMT -5
I actually was digging through this thread because I picked up the new Marvel HC for Empire Strikes Back, and it massacres Al Williamson's art with some of the murkiest coloring I've ever seen. It is awful. I'm much more of a Williamson fan than a SW fan, so this is a tremendous disappointment for me, especially after seeing Confessor's scans of the original art. Marvel's new coloring of classic work has been a mixed bag at best-- it did look nice in the Simonson Thor and Tales of Asgard omnibii-- but this is a new low. I can't believe it even got published in this state. We're talking about the new, 21st century computer generated re-coluring job, right? This edition... As you saw from rebeljedi's above comment, here have been a few people moaning about that edition in this thread and I have to say that the page scans I've seen do look awful. The computer colouring just totally overwhelms Williamson's exquisite line work. And if rebeljedi's right, and Marvel have seen fit to replace some of Williamson and Garzon's backgrounds with stills from the film itself, then that's as close to comic book heresy as you can get! However, the ESB adaptation is preserved in "truer to the originals" colouring in the pages of the Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years, Volume 1 omnibus, but that also features all of the preceding run, including a lot of Carmine Infantino artwork. So that might be a bit overkill, if you're just after the Williamson stuff. Dark Horse have published the ESB adaptation a few times over the years and those are fairly easy to find online. However, for my money, the best way to enjoy this adaptation is in the treasury-sized Marvel Special Edition Featuring Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back #2 from 1980. This one... The original issues of the SW comic that serialise the adaptation (#39 – 44) look quite murky, so they should probably be avoided. The larger size and better quality paper of the treasury really allows Williamson and Garzon's artwork to shine at its glorious best. The treasury is the source for most of my scans, fanboystranger. If you can manage to track down a copy of that, you won't be disappointed. Yeah, the new Mavel edition is the source of my complaints. As I said earlier in the thread, I'm more of a Williamson fan than a Star Wars fan, so I'm more into the art than the story I've seen several times through the movie. The new edition makes it seem like Williamson doesn't even matter, but whatever we can sell this anyway. |
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Post by greenboom on Oct 26, 2015 1:28:53 GMT -5
I know about Star Wars no more, in fact, I have only seen a few movies about it, now that I read your post, I had a little more understanding, and this sparked my interest in Star Wars, I'm going back to search for related comic books.
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Post by Confessor on Oct 26, 2015 10:03:52 GMT -5
Star Wars #52Cover dated: October 1981 Issue title: To Take The TarkinScript: David Michelinie Artwork: Walter Simonson (pencils)/Tom Palmer (inks) Colours: Don Warfield Letters: John Morelli Cover art: Walter Simonson Overall rating: 9 out of 10  Plot summary: Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Chewbacca and the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO have infiltrated the Empire's new battle station, The Tarkin, on a mission to destroy it. However, Darth Vader is also on board the Tarkin and is arranging a confrontation with Luke, little knowing that a group of his own officers are conspiring to assassinate him. As the Rebels split up and undertake their respective mission assignments, the assassination attempt on Vader's life fails, but succeeds in robbing the Dark Lord of an opportunity to confront Luke. An angry Vader elects to focus on apprehending the Rebels, but vows to deal with those responsible for the attempted assassination later. Once they've destroyed the Tarkin's tractor beam generator and sabotaged the firing mechanism of its ionic cannon, the Rebels escape from the battle station in a stolen Imperial transport, as TIE fighters – including one piloted by Vader himself – give chase. Fortunately, Lando Calrissian has stowed away aboard the Millennium Falcon and he comes to the rescue of his friends in the Corellian freighter. With Vader's TIE fighter disabled and drifting in space, the Tarkin's superlaser is pointed towards the fleeing Rebels, but as the sabotaged ionic cannon fires, it explodes, destroying the battle station. Comments: Star Wars #52 concludes the Tarkin story arc in a very satisfying fashion. Walt Simonson's artwork is on a par with last issue, serving David Michelinie's script with all the movement, pace and fluid, cinematic feel that we saw in the previous instalment. There's also more of the impeccably drawn Star Wars space craft and tech on display here, with the tractor beam generator seen in this issue looking very similar to the one from A New Hope, which makes sense, since the Tarkin has been designed using the same technology as the Death Star. I also love the helmet that Simonson has Princess Leia wear, as part of her construction worker's disguise, with, what appears to be, two telescopic protrusions coming out of the top. One slight criticism of the artwork would be that, in places, Tom Palmer's inking looks a little less focused than usual and a little rushed or sloppy in certain panels. Still, it's certainly on point for most of this issue. As for Michelinie's writing, something that I really like – and something that we will see more and more of, as his run progresses – is that he gives the Imperial stormtroopers individual voices and even names on occasion. Up until now, the stormtroopers we've seen in the comics have mostly been anonymous foot soldiers (which, to be fair, is exactly how they are portrayed in the Star Wars films too). In giving them some kind of personality, Michelinie hints at a larger, more three-dimensional life for these soldiers, beyond the confines of the comic page. It's a nice touch and something I really enjoyed as a kid and still enjoy as an adult. As noted in my review of last issue, I think the sub-plot about a group of Imperial officers planning to assassinate Darth Vader is a really good one and it comes to a head here in the only way it ever really could: in abject failure. Still, the scenes in which Vader and Luke are almost sucked out into the vacuum of space through an open airlock, provide a great example of Simonson and Michelinie working in complete synergy. The art perfectly captures the fury of the howling wind that almost drags Luke and Vader to their doom, as it escapes from the Imperial battle station, while juxtaposing these tense scenes with the anxiety on the face of the Imperial officer whose finger is on the airlock release button. There are also some nice comedic touches in this scene which I enjoy, like Luke's proton grenade bouncing off the top of Vader's helmet, as it's sucked out of his hand. Something else that's neat in this arc is how Michelinie deals with Luke, Leia and Chewbacca's distrust of Lando Calrissian, following the events of The Empire Strikes Back. We saw the Rebels elect to leave him out of the mission to destroy the Tarkin last issue, with Leia, in particular, being rather snappy with him. But in having Lando stow away on the Millennium Falcon and save the day, we see the former administrator of Cloud City earning his comrade's trust and taking his place among the central cast. It's great to see Michelinie address these trust issues because it would've been all too easy to have just had Lando immediately assimilated into the cast, as if nothing had happened on Cloud City. There's also a nice character moment in the scene where Lando bribes a patrol of stormtroopers with some fake Gannarian narco-spice. While I'm not entirely convinced that the Empire's finest would fall for such a transparent ruse, it's a great example of how Michelinie writes Lando as his own character and not simply a Han Solo clone. The way in which the Tarkin was destroyed, with Leia reversing the polarity of the ionic cannon, so that the superweapon effectively "shot itself", seems a bit simplistic and contrived, but it's not enough to spoil the story or detract from an otherwise great issue. I must say that the Tarkin saga is a really accomplished debut for Michelinie and, as we shall see, even better was to come. Continuity issues: None Favourite panel:  Favourite quote: "Luke, sometimes you almost make me miss Han Solo's boneheaded optimism!" – Princess Leia Organa teases Luke Skywalker about his sometimes pessimistic outlook.
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