Glad to hear it! I love knowing that other people are getting something out of these reviews I'm writing.




I like that issue a fair bit. It has its flaws, but it's a memorable issue and bits of it are really excellent. Carmine Infantino's artwork and Bob Wiacek's inking are really good and makes for some lovely, detailed artwork in that issue. And I say that as someone who isn't that big of a fan of Infantino's work on Star Wars.

BTW, just out of interest, what was your take on the scene where Princess Leia puts her arm around General Dodonna and whispers into his ear, "Now, let's go inside...this night air makes me talk too much." To me, that's such a weird scene. It's like Leia is hitting on the older general, which obviously isn't in line with how these characters should act towards each other at all. I've always found that scene a real head-scratcher.




Issue #50 is a favourite of mine too. The majority of it is actually drawn by Al Williamson though; it's only chapter three that is done by Walt Simonson. I wholly agree that Simonson's art on the series was great though.




Oh yeah, the Pariah arc is fantastic. You should definitely check that out, if nothing else. For me, as a rough generalisation, the best and most consistently high quality period of Marvel's original Star Wars comic is roughly between issues #50 and issue #90 (give or take). Of course, there are some superb issues prior to that, but as a rule of thumb, that's when the series was at it's best IMHO.




Will do! Thanks for taking the time to comment and for reading along. It's appreciated.

You're right, of course, that we have a lot of information now that the writers and artists of the comic didn't have back then. But Leia and General Dodonna?! I mean, Luke and Han are shown to be possible lovers of the princess in Episode IV, so you can see why the writers would've played that angle, but there isn't the slightest hint of anything going on between Leia and Dodonna at all.

I don't know. I wouldn't say that I was definitely reading that scene right. Maybe that wasn't the intention at all, but that's how it's always struck me, since I was old enough to read it.

Star Wars #73
Cover dated: July 1983
Issue title: Lahsbane
Script: Mary Jo Duffy
Artwork: Ronald Frenz (breakdowns)/Tom Palmer (finished art & inks)
Colours: Glynis Wein
Letters: Joe Rosen
Cover art: Ronald Frenz (pencils)/Tom Palmer (inks)
Overall rating: 8 out of 10




Plot summary: Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO, along with their Zeltron stowaway, Dani, have been diverted to the planet Lahsbane by Alliance Command to recover datatapes belonging to the crashed Rebel pilot, Yom Argo. With 3PO translating, Luke converses with the diminutive native Lahsbees and learns that Argo died in the crash. The Lahsbees placed the datatapes in the Forbidden City, which is located on the opposite side of a large canyon, in honour of a Lahsbee who was helping the Rebel pilot and who also died. However, the Rebels are unable to reach the city in the Millennium Falcon, due to the Corellian freighter's intake valves having become clogged with a fine pollen that is abundant in the Lahsbane air.

An Imperial shuttle carrying a squad of stormtroopers, who are also on Argo's trail, appears overhead and lands nearby. As tension mounts, Leia and Dani begin to squabble, until they end up challenging each other to retrieve the tapes, in order to prove their mettle. As night falls, the two women secretly acquire a Lahsbee' air balloon and use it to float cross the canyon towards the Forbidden City.

A little later, Luke and Lando realise what the pair have done and, fearing for their safety, Luke uses a primitive Lahsbee hang-glider to pursue them. As Luke glides away across the canyon, Lando is attacked by a large, aggressive beast known as a Huhk. Chewbacca joins the fight, wrestling with the powerful creature, but the Wookiee slowly gets overpowered, until Lando shoots the beast with a stun blast, rendering it unconscious. 3PO explains that the Lahsbees instantly turn into Huhks when they reach maturity and are then placed within the Forbidden City for the safety of the Lahsbee community.

Having reached the Forbidden City, Leia and Dani begin to explore, noting that the doors and windows of the buildings are much too big for the tiny Lahsbees. The pair eventually locate the datatapes among a large treasure horde, but as they walk back to their balloon, they are attacked by four angry Huhks. Since the two women are without weapons they are soon cornered by the hulking beasts and only the timely arrival of Luke saves them. After making their way back to the Falcon, Dani sneaks off and steals the Imperial shuttle craft, setting a course for the planet Stenos and her partner in crime, Rik Duel, surrounded by treasure that she secretly stole from the Forbidden City's treasure store.


Comments: Star Wars #73 is a bit of a weird beast, in that, it's essentially a stand-alone story, but it also represents the beginning of the overarching Search for Tay Vanis story arc, which will cover a number of stories and take us all the way up to the events of Return of the Jedi. Actually, the story "Lahsbane" wasn't originally scheduled to appear in Star Wars #73 at all, as noted in issue #1 of the Marvel promotional comic Marvel Age, which bills the contents of this issue as being the story "Hoth Stuff!". That particular story eventually appeared in issue #78, but I've no idea why it was bumped to that later issue.

This tale opens with the Rebel heroes and Dani already on the planet Lahsbane, having been diverted there off-panel by the Rebellion. Having the Rebel Alliance position the heroes somewhere and then commencing their adventures from that point is a plot device that writer Jo Duffy often uses during her run on Star Wars. Duffy's writing continues to impress here, with the "voices" of the entire cast being really spot on character-wise. There's also plenty of humour in the script; this issue is one that really made me laugh as a kid and it still raises a few chuckles all these years later. Actually, I can recall that when I read this story back in 1983 I found myself wondering for the very first time,"who's writing this?" Prior to that, I'd never given any thought at all to who actually wrote the comics that I read.

Of the humorous dialogue that is liberally sprinkled throughout this issue, the heated, bitchy sniping between Princess Leia and Dani is the most fun to read. It's abundantly clear that the pair don't really like each other, but it's kinda hard to see what exactly Leia's problem with Dani is. I mean, Dani is extremely flirty with Luke, but that shouldn't bother Leia, since she and Han Solo are now the main romantic coupling of the series. I guess it's probably a combination of her overbearing and slightly annoying sexual interest in Luke and the fact that the Rebels have, in coming to Lahsbane, momentarily abandoned the search for Solo (although we learn that other Rebels are continuing it elsewhere). It appears that Leia and Dani are competing for Luke's attention, but not romantically – at least, not from Leia's point of view. The princess's dislike of Dani may also be down to a prejudice that Leia has for Zeltrons in general, rather than Dani in particular. Certainly, in future issues, we will see Leia getting annoyed by Zeltrons on a fairly regular basis. Unfortunately, Dani leaves the main cast at the end of this issue, but she'll be back before too long.

Duffy ran into trouble with Lucasfilm over the Lahsbees and their similarity to the as-yet-unseen small, furry heroes of Return of the Jedi. The problem was, not only where the Lahsbees a somewhat similar looking concept to the Ewoks, but they were also a primitive race, without technology, who used wood and animal skin hang-gliders. Talking to Glenn Greenberg in Back Issue #9 from 2005, Duffy recalled, "I couldn't figure out why Lucasfilm gave me such a hard time about the Lahsbees – until I saw the script for Return of the Jedi." Due to their similarity to the Ewoks, artist Ron Frenz had to make adjustments to the way that the Lahsbees looked in the finished comic. Initially they had been gremlin-like creatures, with wide eyes, but Frenz had to make them look much more feline in appearance and modify their form of dress. In 2005, Frenz recalled, "it was funny – Lucasfilm had to tell us how to fix them without giving too much away, because they didn't want information to get out about the Ewoks. And they freaked about the hang-gliders, because the Ewoks were going to use them in Jedi."






Given Frenz's above comments, I strongly suspect that the balloons which Dani and Leia use to travel to the Forbidden City were initially meant to be hang-gliders.

Interestingly, it seems as if the basic concept for the Lahsbees wasn't Duffy's idea at all, but something that the series' previous writer David Michelinie and his artist/co-plotter Walt Simonson had come up with during their tenure on the book. Speaking to Abel G. Peña on starwars.com in 2002, Simonson revealed, "we had an idea for some sort of storyline involving small creatures and hang-gliders. However, we were told [by Lucasfilm] we couldn't do it." Given that the Lahsbees appeared just four months after Michelinie had left the comic, this surely can't be a coincidence; clearly Duffy was using an idea that her predecessor had outlined before handing over the reins to her. I'm not sure why Duffy thought she and Frenz could get away with the idea when it had already been rejected once by Lucasfilm.

Personally, I like the Lahsbees a lot. Yes, they are rather cutesy, but I'm a Star Wars fan who isn't bothered at all by the likes of the Ewoks, Hoojibs or six-foot tall, green, carnivorous space-rabbits. Your mileage may vary though. One thing's for sure, the Lahsbees certainly aren't cutesy when they reach maturity and turn into raging Huhks. The fact that one such creature is seen holding its own against – and, in fact, beating – an angry Wookiee in this issue nicely illustrates just how strong these beasts are. Having the small, seemingly innocuous Lahsbees turn into ferocious and powerful Huhks is a clever idea of Duffy's and one that certainly sticks in the memory.

Something that bugs me about this issue is that Luke and Lando come across as a little bit sexist in their attitude towards Dani and Leia. The alarm they exhibit when they learn that the two women have ventured to the Forbidden City is somewhat condescending and hardly warranted; Dani is a street-smart career criminal and Leia is a resourceful and courageous Rebel leader, who can clearly handle herself. So, wouldn't Luke and Lando just assume that the women would do a perfectly good job of recovering the datatapes? Of course, ultimately they did both need Luke to save their skins, but the fact that he and Lando automatically assumed that the two women would be out of their depth is a little insulting.

The sequential artwork in this issue flows really nicely and puts Duffy's story across with effortless, cinematic aplomb. Like his last two issues, Frenz also brings a lot of visual comedy to proceedings, which, of course, serves to make Duffy's script even funnier. Also, the level of attention to detail that Frenz and inker Tom Palmer lavish on the various pieces of Star Wars technology and the look of the cast means that these Frenz/Palmer issues really are some of the best looking comics of the entire run.

Ultimately, Star Wars #73 is a somewhat lightweight comic, but it's still a really fun romp, with some nicely humorous dialogue and a fair bit of action. However, as the start of the Search for Tay Vanis story arc, "Lahsbane" is actually a much more important story than it might at first seem.

Continuity issues: None

Favourite panel:



Favourite quote: "You know, I did a tour of duty on Zeltros once... in my younger days... It was quite an experience... Quite an experience!" – An unnamed Imperial officer wistfully recalls his time on Zeltros as he and his men watch Dani dance suggestively.

Yeah, "a lot of fun" is a perfect way to describe this issue. Nothing really major happens, but it's a very enjoyable read nonetheless.




Absolutely! Duffy's additions to the cast main cast, such as Dani, Drebble and, in a couple of issues time, Kiro, felt every bit as "real" to me as the characters that had been introduced in the Star Wars films themselves. They were really well rounded creations that, I think it's fair to say, readers started to care about very quickly.




Aww, shucks! Thanks, man. It's nice to have you following this thread.

Wow I've been away to long. Great to see this series still going Confessor, I'll have to read up on the reviews I missed (I'm sorry I missed Dani's introduction.)

Regarding Dani and Leia I actually think it could be because Dani reminds Leia too strongly of Han. I don't mean that in any kind of sexual way, just that if you created a female Han Solo from scratch you'd end up with someone more than a little like Dani. She's a fun loving, quick tongued smuggler and flirt who clearly hasn't the slightest interest in the Rebellion but is loyal to her friends. Arguing with Dani or watching her flirt with Luke, Leia isn't really thinking of Dani and Luke, she's thinking of Han and Leia and her own pain.

Thanks, I hope you don't mind if I start commenting on some of the reviews I missed.

Another aspect of the Dani/Leia interaction is that Dani is basically a Rebel for the excitement (and to be close to her beloved Luke.) For Leia who lives and breathes the Rebel cause I can see that being very offputting.

Incidentally going back a bit I think we can retcon Leia's prickliness around Shira to something other than just romantic jealousy. We know with the benefit of hindsight that Leia is Force Sensitive, so maybe Leia's intution was nudging her that Shira was really the enemy in the same way Luke was given a much more overt feeling thanks to the Force when he had Shira's TIE in his sights.

Star Wars #74
Cover dated: August 1983
Issue title: The Iskalon Effect
Script: Mary Jo Duffy
Artwork: Ronald Frenz (layouts)/Tom Palmer (finished art & inks)
Colours: Glynis Wein
Letters: Joe Rosen
Cover art: Tom Palmer
Overall rating: 9 out of 10




Plot summary: Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2 have arrived on the water world of Iskalon in search of information concerning the whereabouts of the missing Rebel agent Tay Vanis. Descending underwater to the colony of Pavillion in an elevator tube, The Rebels meet with Primor, the de facto ruler of the aquatic Iskalonians at this settlement. While they learn about the Empire's cruelty in the system from him, the Rebels are introduced to Primor's son, Mone, and Mone's wife, Kendle, who mentions that Vanis's droid, K-3PX, had all of the information that the agent had gathered about a new secret weapon of the Empire's in its memory banks. However, the last time that any of the Iskalonians saw Vanis's droid, he was accompanying Tay and another Rebel agent named Yom Argo to the Imperial fortress on the nearby planet of Gamandar.

Lando, Chewbacca, and the droids travel with Mone to Gamandar in the Millennium Falcon in search of the droid, while Luke and Leia remain on Iskalon, since the pair would be too easily recognised within the vicinity of an Imperial fortress. Primor attempts to entertain Luke and the princess by equipping them both with aquatic breathing apparatus and showing them the beauty and splendour of his underwater world. As they explore the subaquatic setting, Luke spots a commotion going on inside one of Pavillion's buildings. Swimming closer, the group see Kendle unconscious on the floor, with her water tank – which enables her to breath out of water – smashed. Luke and Leia scramble to the surface and enter Pavillion, rushing to the fallen Iskalonian's side in an attempt to save her from suffocating.

Meanwhile, on the planet Gamandar, Imperial Admiral Tower receives word from a spy on Iskalon that a group of prominent Rebels is on the water planet, attempting to bring about the end of Imperial occupation there. Tower launches a missile towards Pavillion to initiate a phenomena known as the Iskalon Effect. The missile explodes close to Pavillion, creating a huge tidal wave, which smashes into the underwater settlement, destroying buildings, shattering the glass that protects the off-worlders from the ocean and flooding the city.


Comments: Star Wars #74 features part one of the Iskalon saga, which is also a part of the larger ongoing Search for Tay Vanis plot line. It's a pretty dense issue, with plenty happening and a lot of information being imparted in order to set up the tale. That said, it isn't an unnecessarily verbose issue and writer Jo Duffy slips us all the relevant information about Vanis and the Empire's activity in the system very slickly. Parts of this issue are kinda dark though, with the Empire carrying out mass executions on the neighbouring planet of Telfrey, while the surface of that planet is so ravaged by Imperial bombardment that it will no longer support life. Likewise, the Empire's initiating of the so-called Iskalon Effect and the destruction of Pavillion, at the cost of many lives (including those of their own soldiers), shows the Empire at its most ruthless and cold-hearted. Incidentally, the great Imperial plan or secret weapon that Primor refers to on page 9 of this story is, of course, the second Death Star that fans would later see in Return of the Jedi.

Iskalon is actually the second water world that we've seen in the Marvel Star Wars comic, after Drexel, which provided the setting for the Doomworld arc back in issues #11–15. Just like last issue, which opened with our heroes already on the planet Lahsbane, Duffy opens this story with the Rebels already on Iskalon. On the splash page, Luke Skywalker surveys the planet's rolling oceans and concludes, "it's beautiful!", which makes me chuckle because you just know that that tranquil beauty isn't gonna last!

Actually, there are a couple of continuity goofs concerning Luke's reaction and interaction with the water world. For one thing, he says on page 2 that he's never seen oceans like the ones on Iskalon anywhere, but clearly he has – on Drexel, just a few years earlier. Also, Primor teaches Luke how to swim, or at least helps Luke to become a more competent swimmer. However, within the Marvel Comics continuity, Luke was been shown to be a very strong swimmer during the "Day After the Death Star" story arc in Star Wars Weekly #99 and it's again stated that he can swim in Star Wars #36. In addition, Luke is able to swim perfectly well in Alan Dean Foster's 1978 novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye, so Primor really shouldn't need to coach Luke like he does here.

I must say that Iskalon is a much more three-dimensional setting than Drexel – with its cartoonish Dragon Lords and space-wreckers – ever was. Duffy, along with artist Ron Frenz, does an excellent job of creating a living, breathing aquatic world that the readers can really immerse themselves in (if you'll excuse the water-related language here). I also like the Duffy/Frenz-originated "aquatic stormtroopers", which make their first appearance in this comic. Wookieepedia.com informs me that the correct designation for this particular type of stormtrooper variant is Aquatic Assault Stormtrooper (a.k.a. Seatrooper). Anyway, whatever they're called, they look kinda cool...




Back on the subject of the Iskalonians, Duffy, perhaps predictably, imbues the aquatic, water-breathing race with fish-like properties, while having the population refer to themselves as "The School". It's interesting that, having always lived within this particularly public societal structure, the Iskalonian's have little or no concept of privacy or secrecy, which makes them especially bad at being sneaky or lying, as we shall see later on.

As usual, the art team of Frenz and Tom Palmer excel, with some very pretty looking artwork, as we've come to expect from them. It's also worth noting that the Rebels have changed clothes again, since we last saw them; I really like that Frenz doesn't feel the need to continually have the main cast dressed in the same clothes they wore in the Star Wars films month after month, as earlier artists in this series did.

While I'm on the subject of the artwork, user chaykinstevens has pointed out to me that Palmer seemingly based his cover for Star Wars #74 on the cover of the October 1959 issue of Stag magazine, which was painted by famed American historical artist Mort Künstler. Take a look yourself; plagiarism or coincidence?




Although the Search for Tay Vanis storyline technically began last issue, this is where it really kicks into high gear. Duffy's script is engaging and, as is now usual with her, the "voices" of the central cast are absolutely spot on. In fact, with its good characterisation and oblique references to the second Death Star, the Iskalon arc is another example of the comic being so authentically Star Wars-y that it almost feels as if you're reading a missing chapter of the cinematic trilogy – a prologue to Return of the Jedi, if you will. And of course, that's exactly what the Search for Tay Vanis is intended to be.

Star Wars #74 is another strong entry in the series, which effortlessly captures the feel of the movies. There are slightly annoying continuity goofs regarding Luke's ability to swim and his reaction to the water planet of Iskalon, plus this issue is something of a set up instalment, for which the pay off will come in the following two issues, but all in all, this is another top notch issue.

Continuity issues:

• Luke Skywalker states that he's never seen oceans like the ones on Iskalon before, but he has – when he was stranded on the similar looking water world of Drexel.
• Primor teaches Luke how to swim in this issue, but it had been established in the Marvel continuity and in the Splinter of the Mind's Eye novel that he was already a strong swimmer.

Favourite panel:



Favourite quote: "You looked so hot and miserable … I was sure it must be all that fur of yours … so I decided to help you cool off! Feel better?" – Mone playfully taunts Chewbacca after squirting him with water.