Star Wars Annual #3Cover dated: 1983 (actually issued on August 30th, 1983)
Issue title:
The ApprenticeScript: Mary Jo Duffy
Artwork: Klaus Janson
Colours: Klaus Janson
Letters: Joe Rosen
Cover art: Klaus Janson
Overall rating: 3½ out of 10
Plot summary: On board a Star Destroyer orbiting the planet Belderone, Darth Vader informs a group of Imperial officers that a hidden Rebel base has been discovered on the nearby world of Kulthis. The Dark Lord explains that once work at a top secret factory installation on Belderone has reached the proper stage, the Empire will launch an attack on Kulthis and wipe out the Rebel presence there.
Meanwhile, on the surface of Belderone, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca and the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO have landed in the
Millennium Falcon to investigate rumours concerning the Imperial operation there. The Rebels chat with some of the locals, but as soon as they mention that they have come from Kulthis, the crowd quickly disperses, since the subjugated townsfolk are afraid to associate with anyone from a world with Rebel sympathies.
However, two young local men named Barney and Flint approach the Rebels, excited by the arrival of such exotic off-worlders. Flint notices that Luke carries a lightsaber and tells him that his father was once a Jedi Knight. Flint then invites the Rebels back to his mother's cantina, but once there, the group is spotted by a local informant and attacked by Imperial assassins. A firefight erupts, with the Rebels killing two of the assassins, while a third takes his own life to avoid capture. Skywalker's quick reflexes during the shoot-out convince Flint that Luke is a Jedi himself, while the ambush confirms to the Rebels that there is something of considerable military importance happening on Belderone.
Luke and Chewbacca journey to Kulthis in the
Falcon to warn the Rebel base there, while Flint and Barney decide to show Leia and Lando the secret factory installation that they work in. As the group arrive at the facility, they encounter huge AT-AT walkers advancing towards the nearby town, as Flint and Barney suddenly realise what the components they've been manufacturing are being used to build. Nearby, Vader hides in the shadows and watches both the Rebels and the walkers, having decided to begin the attack on Kulthis by driving the AT-ATs through the town to rendezvous with a fleet of Imperial bulk cruisers on the other side, irrespective of the damage or loss of life that it might inflict on the town.
Luke returns from Kulthis leading a squadron of Rebel X-wing fighters which attack the walkers, as Flint and Barney race back to the town in a landspeeder to warn the populace of the impending danger. Driving the speeder at a reckless pace, Flint looses control of the craft, badly wounding his friend in the resulting crash. With help from Leia and Lando, the Rebel pilots manage to destroy all of the AT-ATs and the factory facility, but not before one walker has trampled the town, killing many of the townsfolk, including Flint's mother. As Flint cradles the dead woman's body in his arms, he is approached from behind by Vader, who senses the boy's latent Force ability and convinces him to join the Empire, promising to give him special training in the ways of the Force. Elsewhere, Barney regains consciousness and vows to join the Rebellion after realising that his family has perished amid the destruction.
Comments: So, here we go again: another year and another lacklustre
Star Wars annual.
Actually, that's probably a bit unfair because the series' first annual was fantastic, but 1982's "Shadeshine" was a real let down and, unfortunately, so is this annual.
Artist Klaus Janson is perhaps best know as the inker on an acclaimed early '80s run of
Daredevil, with Frank Miller, but he had also previously inked some of the Walt Simonson drawn
Star Wars strips that appeared in
Pizzazz magazine. In this issue Janson handles the pencilling, inking and colouring and, although I loved his moody inking over Miller's dynamic and gritty pencils on
Daredevil, the blocky, shadow-laden artwork he turns in here really isn't a very good fit for
Star Wars. There's some pleasing use of Zip-a-Tone shading and, on occasion, some of the backgrounds are quite nice, but overall Janson's art lacks "movement", for want of a better term, and as a result his figures often look strangely stilted. It also isn't always very easy to follow what's happening in the artwork either.
The wildly inconsistent quality of the art makes me wonder if Janson was having to rush to get it completed, since some parts of this book look fairly polished, while others look scribbly and hurried. In fact, parts of this issue remind me of Howard Chaykin's slapdash and unkempt artwork in
Star Wars #1, which definitely isn't a compliment! In addition, Janson's colouring is a little too muted for my tastes and that only serves to add to the dreary, lifelessness of the art. So yeah, I think it's safe to say that I'm definitely not a fan of the artwork in this comic.
There's a nice pastiche of an "I Want You" recruitment poster on the front cover though, with Darth Vader standing in for Uncle Sam and seemingly Force choking the viewer.
As for the story, Jo Duffy has been knocking it out of the park recently as the writer on
Star Wars, but "The Apprentice" is not even close to being an example of her best work. For one thing, there are several nonsensical plot holes in this story, like when Vader is hiding in the shadows, watching Princess Leia and Lando Calrissian investigate the Imperial factory facility, but does nothing to apprehend them. In his defence, it appears as if Vader is unaware of exactly who the Rebels standing just a few meters from him are, but even though he can sense that Luke Skywalker isn't among them, you would still think that capturing or killing these Rebels might be something that the Dark Lord of the Sith would be eager to do. Besides, surely he would be able to sense that Leia Organa was standing only meters away from him through the Force? For that matter, why didn't Vader join the fight against the Rebels when their assault upon the AT-AT walkers began? Vader does nothing more than watch and that really took me out of the story, since I couldn't imagine him doing that.
On a related subject, why the hell did Vader decide to drive the AT-AT walkers through the town? Destroying the settlement where so many loyal Imperial workers live makes no sense. I understand that the Dark Lord was in a hurry to begin the assault on Kulthis, but surely he could've waited the extra five or ten minutes it would've taken to drive the walkers around the town, rather than going straight through it? Or better yet, have the Imperial bulk cruisers that were waiting to rendezvous with the AT-ATs pick them up near the factory, rather than on the opposite side of town.
While we're on the subject of Vader, it appears as if the Dark Lord has his own shoeshining and drink-pouring lacky. Errr...really? An Imperial shoeshine boy?!!
On the plus side, it's good to see Vader appearing in the
Star Wars comic again, since the restrictions that Lucasfilm put on Marvel, regarding what they could and couldn't have happen in the comic, mean that we don't actually get to see the Dark Lord all that often. There's also some mildly amusing humour in the scene inside Flint's family cantina, concerning the quality of the local grog, but overall this issue is nowhere near as funny as is usual for Duffy.
I do like how Duffy writes the Belderons as a fairly sheltered or naïve people though, making it clear that Belderone is a pretty remote planet. The character of Flint is also kind of interesting and we shall see him again in issue #92 (along with his friend Barney). Flint has lived his entire life on this backwater world and has grown up believing that his farther was a Jedi Knight, although it's not actually confirmed by Duffy whether that is the truth or not. The boy yearns for adventure and clearly has some kind of latent Force ability, providing obvious parallels with Luke when he was younger. It's therefore pretty easy to conclude that Flint was conceived as a mirror image of Luke, sort of like a glimpse at how Skywalker's life could've turned out if he had turned to the dark side.
Something else I must mention is that, when Vader discovers Flint cradling his dead mother in his arms, it's very reminiscent of the scene in
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones in which Anakin Skywalker reaches his own mother too late to save her from the Sand People. Vader even says to the younger man, "I know how you feel. I had almost forgotten what it was like to feel that way...", as Flint weeps over his mother's body. What's more, Vader explains that he can't give Flint any special training in the Force yet, which again ties in nicely with
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, in which we learned about the Sith "rule of two". This Sith philosophy stipulates that there can only be a master and an apprentice at any one time (at this point in
Star Wars continuity that would be the Emperor and Vader). Although Duffy couldn't possibly have known it back in 1983, this scene between Vader and Flint ties in perfectly with events seen in the prequels and as such, it arguably has a lot more resonance now than it would've done back when it was first published.
It's also likely that, in this scene, Duffy was attempting to misdirect the reader into thinking that it was Luke who was talking to Flint. Note how, on page 36 of the story, we only see the black boots of whoever it is talking to the youngster. In this story, both Vader and Luke are wearing black coloured boots and if Duffy wanted us to know that it was Vader talking, then why not simply have Janson show him straight away? Then there's the dialogue, which appears carefully chosen so that it could be Luke speaking, as he recalls the death of his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru: "I know how you feel. I had almost forgotten what it was like to feel that way..." The dialogue continues, saying, "I did not take you seriously before, and I should have ... Forgive me", which could be Luke regretting the way that he ignored Flint's curiosity and attention earlier in the comic. Even on the following page, in which Leia says to someone off-panel, "You have to believe us ... we're so sorry about what happened to you ... to your home ... your village... and we're very sorry about your friend...", it seems as if Duffy is wanting us to assume that the princess is talking to Flint, except that it turns out to be Barney, who we were led to believe had died in the landspeeder crash earlier. Two pages later, we see Flint donning his stormtrooper armour, as the reader finally realises what has happened.
I'd like to say a big "thank you" to
huladollar, who is a regular contributor to this thread, for pointing out this misdirection to me. I had always read this part of the comic as it being Vader who was talking to Flint (which, of course, it was), but the more I look at it, the more I'm convinced that
huladollar is correct and Duffy was trying to fool the reader into thinking that it was Luke, prior to the big reveal, in which we shockingly learn that Flint has joined the Empire.
On a somewhat related subject, Duffy gives us a nice moment earlier in the comic in which Luke recalls the lie that he grew up believing from his Uncle Owen, when Flint asks if Luke's father was a Jedi and Skywalker tells Flint that his father was just a navigator on a spice freighter. There's something in Luke's wistful look in this panel that makes me wonder if the young Jedi is pondering how much easier his life might have been had that indeed been the truth. Especially since learning that Vader and his father are likely one and the same at the end of
The Empire Strikes Back.
Overall,
Star Wars Annual #3 is a big disappointment and is pretty much on a par with the underwhelming annual #2 from the previous year. The whole thing feels kinda rushed, with some of Janson's depictions of the
Star Wars ships and technology looking decidedly shaky from time to time. There's also little terminology error's that editor Louise Jones really should've caught, like Lando and Luke referring to X-wing fighters as "planes" or "single-pilot fighters" on a number of occasions. On the writing front, Duffy seems to be really dialling it in here; in addition to the plot holes previously mentioned, the ending tries its hardest to make a thought-provoking comment on the relative truths of warfare, as seen from two opposing sides, as the two friends – Flint and Barney – join the Empire and the Rebellion respectively. However, the ending just feels muddled and the emotional pay-off that Duffy is obviously striving for falls flat...at least for this reader.
Continuity issues: None
Favourite panel:
Favourite quote: "Important elements will come into play here, very soon … we must be ready!" – Darth Vader urges preparedness in his officers, as they ready themselves for the assault on the Rebel base on Kulthis.
Actually, that's probably a bit unfair because the series' first annual was fantastic, but 1982's "Shadeshine" was a real let down and, unfortunately, so is this annual.
There's a nice pastiche of an "I Want You" recruitment poster on the front cover though, with Darth Vader standing in for Uncle Sam and seemingly Force choking the viewer.
