Good afternoon all,
Today's focus is on the twenty-fifth issue of the first Star Wars comic book. The cover showed Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in space suits, being attacked by a trio of TIE fighters. The story was called "Siege at Yavin!" The issue had a cover date of July 1979.
The tale began with a sextet of TIEs converging upon a Rebel sentry post on the fourth moon of Yavin. A squadron of X-Wings was dispatched from the planet to counter these ships. Some were more successful than others in defending the base.
Afterward, General Dodonna and other Rebel Alliance leaders were struggling to ascertain where the Imperial ships came from. Scanners indicated no Star Destroyers or other vessels that could have carried the short-range fighters. They had to find a solution soon, or it might be the end of the Rebellion.
On the planet Centares, Luke and Leia were haggling with merchant Jorman Thoad. They acquired a ship in exchange for the craft they'd received from Senator Greyshade (in issue #23) in the hopes that it would be inconspicuous enough to avoid Imperial detection. They left Centares in their new vessel moments after noticing a House of Taage mining explorer was bound for the Gordian Reach, which was the same system that their home base of Yavin was in.
The Taage ship was commanded by Baron Taage, who was engaged in lightsaber practice during the trip through hyperspace. He wore special glasses after being wounded by a lightsaber blade belonging to Darth Vader. He practiced for the day when he would meet the Sith Lord again. After his exercise, a crewman informed his superior that their ship had been followed. Taage smiled, doubtful that the smaller craft could successfully pass through the Imperial blockade.
Shortly after their return to that system, Luke noticed several heavy-duty mines in the area. He deftly avoided most of them before realizing that the planet's gases made a sort of natural jamming field. Luke and Leia soon donned space suits and jetted down to one of the nearby moons to observe the mining craft.
Taage deployed several TIEs from his ship, which were observed by the Rebels on the moon below. Luke and Leia watched as the fighters flew into a storm and disappeared. The Rebel heroes returned to their new ship, where R2-D2 and C-3PO were waiting. They didn't know what happened to the TIEs, but as they were trying to investigate, they found themselves under attack by more TIE fighters, one of which made a lucky shot that incapacitated one of their ship's engines.
Penciller Carmine Infantino finally got the correct shape of regular TIE fighters, but I still have concerns about his artwork in general. It was good to see some of the Rebel leaders again, although in the newspaper strip by this time, the Rebels had already left Yavin. The comic book and newspaper strip were not in the same continuity, however. The Taage family was an interesting bunch. It's too bad they were mostly forgotten before the Empire Strikes Back adaptation began.
Well, that's all for now. Tomorrow, I'll recap the conclusion of this mini-epic. Luke and Artoo take a closer look at this new threat, and we'll see just what Taage and company had in store for the Rebels. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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