Pretty much agree with everything here especially in regards to Ms Martin's art which seemed very out of place with Star Wars. I don't ever recall seeing her artwork anywhere else afterwards so she couldn't have gone down well. Despite that I did like what the Marvel UK art team did with the cover.

She went on to pencil Ann Nocenti's Spider-man three-parter Life in the Mad Dog Ward and worked with Steve Gerber on Web Of Spider-Man Annual #4 and the Marvel Comics Presents storyline Vandals of the Heart, both featuring Poison.

I agree that Cynthia Martin's art is definitely not for everyone.  I did like the tech/ships she drew of the warring factions in some of the post-ROTJ issues, i.e. the punk rock white-skinned aliens & the green aliens.  I will also say that I do appreciate these post-ROTJ issues now much more than I did at the time these came out in the '80's.

That all being said, I definitely think the SW title lost a lot of steam in the post-ROTJ issues - for the most part.  The writers seemed to be floundering for ideas - and, with the Empire gone as a viable enemy for Luke & co. to fight, there wasn't that much tension in these stories.

This went along with what I've called "the dark times" for SW fans, i.e. the time period from roughly 1985/1986 - 1991.  There was very little new SW material during this time; the Marvel SW comic was winding down & while we did some great cartoon series (Droids & to a lesser extent Ewoks) and two decent made-for TV movies (the two live-action Ewok films), that was the extent of it - for the most part....other than the West End Games Sourcebooks/adventures, which were not for everyone - I myself got some of the sourcebooks, but never played the game(s).

I have at least two WEG sourcebooks:  The Imperial Sourcebook (with the Emperor's Royal Guards standing on the DS II on the cover), and the Han Solo & the Corporate sector sourcebook - which fleshed out two of the great Brian Daley Han Solo novels. These HS novels were superb, and some of my favorite EU out there. I liked how this particular sourcebook fleshed out the Corporate Sector Authority, Gallandro, and other characters from these novels.

I always hoped WEG would also come out with a Sourcebook based on the Lando C. novels from the '80's (by L. Neil Smith), but nothing like this ever came out.

Star Wars #95
Cover dated: May 1985
Issue title: No Zeltrons
Script: Mary Jo Duffy
Artwork: Cynthia Martin (pencils)/Steve Leialoha (inks)
Colours: Glynis Oliver
Letters: Rick Parker
Cover art: Kent Williams
Overall rating: 7 out of 10




Plot summary: On the planet Kinooine, the Dark Lady of the Sith, Lumiya, learns from a captured former Rebel that he and his party were sent to the planet by her nemesis, Luke Skywalker. Realising that she now has the means to lure her enemy to her, the Sith Lord prepares a trap for the young Jedi.

Back at the Alliance base on Endor, Princess Leia reluctantly accepts a group of four male Zeltrons – a race that Leia is not at all fond of – as her escorts and personal attendants, in order to facilitate closer diplomatic ties with their homeworld. As Luke, Kiro and Dani depart to investigate the disappearance of the scouting party on Kinooine, Leia, Han Solo and the Zeltrons leave for a summit on the planet Kabray. Once there, it soon becomes apparent that they have walked into an ambush, and the group is quickly captured by the slaver, Knife, and other members of his species. The Alliance delegation are thrown into a prison cell, but with much help from Leia's Zeltron attachés, they soon manage to escape and overpower their captors.

Meanwhile, on the barren world of Kinooine, Luke begins to set up camp, while Kiro and Dani scout the nearby terrain. Some time later, a wounded Kiro stumbles back to the camp, pleading with Luke to save his lover Dani from a mysterious assailant. Grimly, Skywalker heads off in the direction of his friend's encounter and soon comes face to face with Lumiya. Igniting his lightsaber, as Lumiya simultaneously activates her lightwhip, the pair silently engage in a vicious duel. Although Luke puts up a valiant fight, Lumiya eventually manages to gain the upper hand, disarming the young Jedi and knocking him to the ground unconscious.


Comments: Star Wars #95 features the first instalment of the Dark Lady story arc, which will continue through to issue #97. The story is certainly a gripping one, with the return of Lumiya, the Dark Lady of the Sith, who looks fairly different to how she did during her first appearance in issue #88. We get a striking splash page showcasing Lumiya's new look, which I'd have to say is a big improvement over her earlier design...




Interestingly, Kent Williams's front cover painting, which is a rather nice piece of artwork, by the way, has Lumiya clothed in the armour that she wore during her earlier appearance. Regardless, the Lady of the Sith comes across as a much more sinister and much more threatening adversary here than she did in issue #88. I also really like her lightwhip weapon, which is part-real whip and part lightsaber, with the weapon's metal and leather tails encased in a crackling sheath of energy.

Along with the reappearance of Lumiya, writer Jo Duffy also introduces us to the Nagai warrior, Den Siva, although he is not named in this issue. Several other Nagais appear here too, along with Knife, who we met back in Star Wars#91, but their species are referred to as "Knives" by the Alliance members, after the first one of their type that Han Solo encountered.

The Nagai race were actually named after the legendary Japanese manga artist, Go Nagai, creator of the popular Cutey Honey series, whom Duffy was a big fan of. Talking to starwars.com in 2002, artist Cynthia Martin recalled that she came up with their visual design by looking at Japanese comics: "Jo Duffy suggested that I look at anime for inspiration for the Nagai. This was back when anime was scarcely known in the mainstream; Jo was really ahead of her time. She showed me a Japanese comic about a tragic vampire that had a strong influence on my concept drawings." To my eyes, however, the Nagai look more like Elves – particularly Dark Elves – from fantasy literature, with their slender, slightly androgynous appearance and pointed ears, rather than exuding a manga influence. But maybe that's just me.

Martin's artwork in this issue is still not really to my tastes, but Steve Leialoha's tight inking works wonders at tempering the worst excesses of her cartoony style. Nonetheless, the quality of the art in this issue is a little uneven, with some of it working better than other parts. Martin's quite good at conveying the high tension of Luke Skywalker and Lumiya's duel though, with this page in particular being heavy on operatic drama...




Plus, I also really like the inventive way that Martin uses jagged, rough-looking panel borders in the scenes set on Kinooine. This serves to highlight the planet's rugged, inhospitable terrain, while also lending these scenes a nightmare-like quality.

Leialoha, who had previously done such a fantastic job inking some of the Star Wars movie adaptation and Star Wars Annual #1, provides some sharp detailing, particularly in the backgrounds. However, while he minimises the cartoon-ish elements present in Martin's work, he also brings a hard-edged quality to her art, which seems to accentuate its ugliness and leaves it looking rather harsh. Ultimately though, the end result is probably some of Martin's best looking artwork on the series, although that's hardly saying very much.

It's probably just a coincidence, but the title, "No Zeltrons", is actually something that Princess Leia exclaimed in Star Wars #88, which was also the issue that featured Lumiya's debut. It's actually kind of a throwaway title for, what is, quite a dark story.

The group of Zeltron males that are assigned to Leia look rather like a red-skinned boyband, dressed up in camp '80s fashions...




Fortunately, the Zeltrons provide some real laughs, which serves to lighten the otherwise heavy script somewhat. It's also nice to see that, after initially establishing them as little more than comic relief, Duffy has the Zeltrons play an important part in Leia and Han's escape from their Nagai captors. That's a nice way to show up Leia's irrational dislike of their race for the narrow-minded attitude that it is. In fact, this is really the point at which Leia's dislike of Zeltrons, which could have previously been dismissed as a simple dislike for Dani, tips over into blatant racism. I mean, just what is it that Leia has against this race?! Duffy's characterisation of the princess as being bigoted towards a particular race seems really at odds with what we've previously seen in the series and in the Star Wars films.

Something else that niggles me slightly is how Kiro and Dani seem to be a couple now. Where the hell did that come from? I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a nice piece of character development for Dani, but it just seems to have come out of nowhere. Where was the set up for this development? The only evidence of any vague romantic connection between the two that we've seen was in issue #87, when a frightened Dani cuddled up to Kiro for comfort and called him "darling". However, Dani's still all over Luke later on in that same issue, so it's not apparent that she's developed any special feelings for the Iskalonian. Like I say, I don't mind the Kiro/Dani relationship at all, but I would've liked to have seen a little bit more set up for it.

On the political side of things, Duffy gives us some interesting hints at the developing, post-Empire situation, with some worlds feeling that the former Rebellion is too "rough and ready" and too much of a military organisation to administer peace throughout the galaxy. That sounds like a very plausible thing for certain systems to think, as far as I'm concerned, but fortunately Han and Leia demonstrate to the delegates on Kabray that that it is precisely its military experience that makes the Alliance the ideal organisation to secure peace. It's also nice to revisit the Kabray system, which is home to Kabray Station, where issue #77 was set.

All in all, this is a much more gripping tale than we got last issue. Duffy and Martin both do a good job of building the tension in the story, as Luke heads to Kinooine and unknowingly into Lumiya's trap. The writer ratchets up the drama further with a second plot to capture Han and Leia on Kabray. The duel between Luke and Lumiya is really well handled and the final page, with Luke seemingly defeated by the Dark Lady, gives us the best cliffhanger we've seen in the series for a while. Martin's cartoon-like art is still bothersome and Leia's inexplicable racism towards the Zeltrons doesn't sit at all well with me, but nonetheless, this is definitely one of the better issues from the latter part of the series. Had this comic been drawn by the old art team of Ron Frenz and Tom Palmer, it would have no doubt scored higher than 7 out of 10.


Continuity issues: None

Favourite panel:


Favourite quote: "Y'know, when I first met you, I thought you were unique. An' I gotta say, the thought of a whole race of your kind is really depressing." – Han Solo sarcastically taunts the Nagai warrior Knife, who has the Corellian at blasterpoint.

Yeah, I've never seen much of a manga or anime influence in the Nagai at all.




I think it makes sense that Dani would tire of Luke's indifference to her, and like you, that indifference puzzles me. However, Dani puts it on such a plate for Luke that if he were to ever take advantage of her, it might not seem like a very hero-y thing to do. The Kiro and Dani romance is absolutely fine with me and, as I said in my review, I do like the development it represents for the Zeltron, but it just seems really sudden.




I don't understand what Leia's problem is at all. I mean, I can accept that she isn't very fond of Dani, but why be so down on the whole race? Personally, I suspect that Duffy accentuated Leia's dislike of Zeltrons for comedic effect, not realising that, actually, it had the unintended consequence of painting the princess as something of a bigot.




Heh! I don't know why that panel sticks in my mind so much (or maybe it's obvious!) but, for me, it's definitely the panel I think of first when I recall this issue.

This point in the series is where Dani really starts to show some maturity which I liked.   And she sure seemed happy to know Kiro would live at the end of #87.