I read ROTJ Weekly right up to the final issue 155. 'Tai'(103) started in 130 up to 133 followed by 'Nagais And Dolls'(104) 134-137 by which time it had caught up with the Stateside issues so 138-143 reprinted the popular #Crimson Forever'(50) storyline. 'Nagais and Dolls are back!' as 'The Party's Over'(105) was billed appeared 144-147. The remaining issues 148-155 reprinted the adaptation of 'Return Of The Jedi'. The final issue (155 7th June 1986) had the reprinted Star Wars stories going full circle by having 'Fool's Bounty'(72) which originally appeared brand new in ROTJ Weekly 1. Issues 106 and 107 were not published although as I mentioned in an earlier post 'The Apprentice' (annual 3) appeared in the 'Spiderman and Zoids Weekly' for 8 issues starting 14th June 1986. It bizarrely had a cover from the Infantino years instead of the actually one from Annual 3. An article on the merger is found here starlogged.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/1986-spider-man-and-zoids-absorbs-star.html 



As for Power Pack, I quite liked it but it did get rather confusing when the characters referred to events they had witnessed in other Marvel mags. More confusing was the Secret Wars II crossover which appeared way before same time events occured in the Marvel Weekly Secret Wars II.


  

Star Wars #104
Cover dated: March 1986
Issue title: Nagais and Dolls
Script: Mary Jo Duffy
Artwork: Cynthia Martin (possibly with uncredited inkers)
Colours: Glynis Oliver
Letters: Tom Orzechowski
Cover art: Cynthia Martin (pencils)/Steve Leialoha (inks)
Overall rating: 3½ out of 10




Plot summary: Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian have arrived on the planet Zeltros to meet with the Zeltron leaders, King Arnoe and Queen Leonie. Leia and her four Zeltron attachés have also made their way to the planet, after their recent stop off on Trenwyth, while Han Solo, Chewbacca, Dani, R2-D2, C-3PO and a group of Hoojibs have arrived in the Millennium Falcon. However, rather that enjoying being back on her homeworld, Dani is still haunted by the memory of her torture at the hands of the Nagai warrior Den Siva, and the subsequent death of her lover, Kiro.

Unknown to the Alliance members, their arrival on Zeltros has been witnessed by Siva, from the safety of the Nagai fleet, which is using cloaking technology to remain hidden. At the same time, the Hiromi arrive in the system, with the intention of conquering the planet. The Nagai dismiss the presence of the Hiromi starships, however, since they don't belong to their sworn enemies, the Tofs.

Meawhile, Luke and the others inform the Zeltron royals about the Nagai invasion, but the king and queen seem more interested in throwing a party for their guests. Leia believes – after having seen the Nagai's enemy, the Tofs, first hand – that it may be possible to broker peace with the invaders, but an embittered Dani is against the idea and insists that the Nagai should be wiped out. As Leia attempts to console the grieving and vengeful Zeltron, they are both ambushed by Siva and a group of Nagai warriors and taken prisoner.

Outside the royal house, Luke and the Hoojib, Plif, stumble across the Alliance traitor Hirog and a squad of other Hiromi, who are planning to abduct the king and queen. Luke allows himself to be captured by the aliens, while elsewhere, a contingent of Nagai and Maccabree warriors storm the palace taking everyone prisoner, including Han, Chewie, Lando and the droids. Outside the palace, Leia's four Zelton escorts are captured by a group of Tofs, while another squad of the brutish creatures pound on the door of the palace kitchen, behind which the Hiromi are holding Luke and Plif.


Comments: The Nagai–Tof War storyline continues in Star Wars #104, which is mostly on a par with the rather underwhelming story that we got last issue. There's no doubt that more happens in this comic than last issue, in terms of plot development, but none of it is terribly gripping and it lacks the character-driven dialogue of the last instalment. Unfortunately, the central cast of the comic continues to be sidelined and pushed out of the picture by the assorted Nagai, Zeltrons, Hiromi and Tof characters that pour into the comic, as each of these races converge on Zeltros, intent on conquering the planet, as part of their individual plans to take over the galaxy.

Of these invading races, the most unwelcome for me are the Hiromi, who return for the first time since Star Wars #94. I noted in my review of that issue that I consider this insectoid race to be the worst designed aliens I've ever seen in a mainstream comic book. Worse still, is the return of the Hiromi traitor from issue #94, Hirog – a character so annoyingly jokey, that he's easily my least favourite original creation of the entire series.

The story itself sees Jo Duffy abandoning the status quo she's been setting up in recent issues, whereby the Nagai invasion is the big new threat to the Alliance of Free Planets. Now, with the arrival of the Tofs, Leia seems to believe that there's the possibility of peace with the Nagai and that perhaps the Alliance could unite with them against this newer enemy. Trouble is, the Nagai have already been shown to be a brutally cold-blooded race, intent on total subjugation of the galaxy, so it seems utterly implausible that there could be any common ground between them and the Alliance. I mean, are we really supposed to be feeling sorry for the Nagai now? They're invaded numerous worlds and brought such terrible suffering to the people in the galaxy, that I would imagine that most readers would be inclined to agree with Dani that they should be shown no mercy.

In addition, Duffy has Princess Leia claim that she didn't really know what evil was until she saw the Tofs in action on Trenwyth last issue. Right...so, Leia thinks that a bunch of fat, green-skinned space-buccaneers are more evil than the Empire was?! The Empire who subjugated and enslaved thousands of worlds, who wiped out the Jedi Order, who dismantled the Old Republic and Galactic Senate, and who destroyed Leia's entire home planet of Alderaan and killed everyone that she knew or loved? Ummm...no. Just no.

Of course, I realise that Duffy is trying to set the Tofs up as a more scary adversary than the Nagai and is simply over-egging the pudding here, but the trouble is that we haven't seen anything in the comic yet to suggest that they are any kind of threat. Just like with the earlier Dani and Kiro romance, this is another unfortunate case of Duffy telling us what is happening, rather than showing us.

There are other problems with this issue too, like when Luke mentions to Plif that Dani has always liked Leia. Huh?! As I recall, the two women couldn't stand the sight of each other for quite a long time. Duffy also fails to make the bumbling, cowardly Hiromi at all funny, despite the fact that this is clearly her intent. To me, this is yet more evidence that Duffy's writing on the series is steadily declining. I remember when she used to be much funnier!

On the plus side, it's good to see Den Siva capturing Dani again, as he sinisterly promises the object of his creepy obsession that he will never allow her to escape again. It's also cool to finally visit the planet Zeltros, having seen so many Zeltrons in the series over the years, and it's definitely good to have the likes of Luke, Han and Leia all together again. Really though, I'm kind of struggling to find positive things to say about this issue.

Cynthia Martin's artwork is on a par with last issue, which is to say that it's not terribly good and is much too cartoony and manga-influenced for my tastes. Glynis Oliver's colouring is well below her usual standards too, with its blocky primary colours and lack of nuance and detail. Interestingly, the inking credits for this issue read, "Not the real Cindy, but an incredible simulation." I take this to mean that Martin inked most of this issue herself, but possibly had help from another uncredited inker or inkers. Unfortunately, Martin's front cover mostly serves to highlight what a rubbish design the Hiromi have.

Overall, this issue – with it's terrible, punning title, which nods to the musical Guys and Dolls – moves the Nagai–Tof War forward, but does so by inundating the comic with Duffy's own original characters, at the expense of the stars of the book. I can understand that Duffy would want to bring her own characters to the forefront, especially since Lucasfilm's ever more restrictive and draconian edicts about what she could or couldn't do with the likes of Han, Luke or Leia meant that story ideas for them were limited. But, at the end of the day, no matter how much we might've enjoyed original characters like Dani, Den Siva or Leia's four Zeltron escorts, fans ultimately followed this comic to read about the heroes of the Star Wars movies, and this series is now failing to give us enough of that.


Continuity issues: None

Favourite panel:


Favourite quote: "Leia … I … miss Kiro so … I have such nightmares … I dream of love, and pain, and terror, all intermingled, and gone wrong … " – An emotional Dani confides her inner turmoil to Princess Leia.

Marvel was never subtle with the handwriting on the wall when a licensed property was on its way out. The cover you posted also sparks memories of Marvel UK's Planet of the Apes title, when after a time, the title became Planet of the Apes and Dracula Lives, then bumped to The Mighty World of Marvel, where it was second billed to The Hulk. How the once phenomenal sci-fi movie franchises fell hard in comic form!

Star Wars #105
Cover dated: May 1986
Issue title: The Party's Over
Script: Mary Jo Duffy
Artwork: Cynthia Martin (layouts)/Steve Leialoha (layouts)/Ken Steacy (inks)
Colours: Glynis Oliver
Letters: Tom Orzechowski
Cover art: Cynthia Martin (pencils)/Ken Steacy (inks)
Overall rating: 3 out of 10




Plot summary: Luke Skywalker and Plif are captives of the Hiromi in the kitchen of the royal palace of Zeltros, as a group of green-skinned Tofs suddenly break down the door. Elsewhere, Han Solo, Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca are being held at gunpoint, along with the Zeltron king and queen, by a group of Nagai warriors. Princess Leia and Dani have also been taken captive by the Nagai and are being monitored by Den Siva, who has, in turn, been captured himself by a squad of Tofs. As the Tofs force Den to betray his Nagai comrades, Leia's four Zeltron attachés are dragged into the room as captives. Moments later, a group of Hoojibs arrive, creating a diversion and allowing Leia and Dani to attempt an escape.

Meanwhile, back in the palace kitchen, Luke – with help from a mass of Hoojibs – uses the Force and his skill with a lightsaber to kill the Tofs who are holding him. Escaping with the Hiromi in tow, he and the Hoojibs quickly find and best another gang of Tofs who are pursuing Dani and the princess. As these Tofs are tied up, Dani and Leia depart to rescue Han, Lando, Chewbacca and the other guests in the royal court, while Luke, the Hoojibs and the Hiromi set off to attack the Tof command ship and rescue Leia's four Zeltron escorts.


Comments: Frankly, the title of this story, "The Party's Over", could well be seen as a comment on the declining quality of the Star Wars comic at this point in the run. This third episode of the Nagai–Tof War story arc is more or less on a par with the last. The Hiromi continue to be bumbling and incompetent to the point of annoyance; the Tofs fail to come across as anywhere near as threatening as writer Jo Duffy clearly wants them to be; Cynthia Martin's artwork – with Ken Steacy doing the inks – is sloppy, overly cartoonish, and really not a great fit for Star Wars; and it still feels like the central cast are being sidelined by all the various invading alien races and original characters that now frequent the pages of the comic. On top of all that, even some of the more interesting original characters, like Den Siva, fail to shine in the way that they have done in other recent issues.

Regarding the Tofs, who are green-skinned space-buccaneers, I suspect that, given Duffy's love of all things manga and Japanese, they were influenced by the work of Leiji Matsumoto on series such as Captain Harlock or Space Battleship Yamato (a.k.a. Star Blazers). Both of those manga series utilised a futuristic take on antiquated naval imagery in their spaceship design and costuming, just like Duffy and Martin do with the Tofs. Personally, I don't have any problem with the Tof's wearing traditional pirate garb, since space-pirates who dress like Earth pirates are something we've seen in the Star Wars comic going back all the way to the very first post Episode IV – A New Hope story in issue #7. Of course, later on we'll see them flying in star-cruisers that look like pirate galleons, which is something I definitely do not like, but I'll get to that in my next review.

There's much to complain about or criticise in this issue, but focusing on the positive, something I do like is that it's nice to see Plif and the Hoojibs playing a larger than usual role in the story. It's also interesting to learn that the Hoojibs can dodge most attacks, due to their telepathic powers enabling them to know in advance from which direction an attack is coming, which makes a lot of sense. It's also great to see the feisty creatures, or "little hoppies", as the Tofs call them, getting stuck into a fight and helping the Alliance. That's something that we've not seen enough of in the series, since their debut in issue #55. I have to say, although they are often there in the background, the Hoojibs have generally been underused in the Star Wars comic.

While we're on the subject of the Hoojibs, who are seen leaping into action on this issue's cover, I'd like to dedicate this review to Icctrombone. He posted this front cover over in the "Impossible and Goofy Covers and situations" thread some weeks back and I know that he really loves space-rodents in general and a certain green-skinned space-rabbit in particular.

To sum up, this is another lacklustre issue of Star Wars, with some not terribly good artwork, a rather pedestrian plotline and too much focus on characters other than the core cast. It's fast getting to the point where this series needs to either shape up or be put out of its misery. For better or worse, in a couple of issues time, the latter is exactly what happens.


Continuity issues: On the front cover, the Tof's skin is incorrectly coloured with a Caucasian flesh-tone, when it should be green.

Favourite panel:


Favourite quote: "Their thoughts are … revolting." – Plif the Hoojib relays the Tof's unsavoury intentions to Luke Skywalker.

I don't think I've ever seen any of Steacy's work outside of the SW comic. His inking of Cynthia Martin is quite sympathetic, which is a shame, given that I'm not really a fan of hers. I would've liked to have seen him put his own stamp on her art, as Steve Leialoha did in issue #95.

Confessor - every time I stare into the Abyss, a rabbit stares into me...

According to Wookieepedia, the entry for SW #104 in Marvel Age magazine credited the inking to Art Nichols, so it might be worth comparing this issue with the issues known to be Martin/Nichols.