Good afternoon all,
Today's focus is the ninth-ever Star Wars comic book. The cover showed Han Solo, Chewbacca, Amaiza, and Jaxxon defending their turf from a quartet of flying cloud-riders. The tale was titled "Showdown on a Wasteland World!" The issue had a cover date of March 1978.
Chewie, Han, Jaxxon, Amaiza, Hedji, and Don Wan Kihotay were riding Banthas, as their companions Jim and Effie were all moving toward a farming village. The occupants of that land had approached the Correllian and his first mate (at the end of issue number seven) about protecting them from the pirates who plundered their territory mercilessly. The Aduba-3 natives didn't have much to offer, but the pilot still believed in their cause and recruited his new companions (as shown in the last issue) to join them.
The group had no sooner arrived when they found themselves under attack from above by strange-looking flying creatures. Each of the protectors used their own individual skills to fend off the intruders. At one point, Solo wound up saving one of the natives who'd found herself alone in a field.
After driving off the scavengers, the Millennium Falcon's pilots returned the girl Merri to the village. There, they were welcomed by her father, Oncho, and several of his fellow villagers. They were agreeable to assisting their saviors.
Back in the Rebel base on Yavin 4, Princess Leia Organa was trying to raise radio contact with Luke Skywalker. The Death Star destroyer had recently left with his droid counterparts, C-3PO and R2-D2, on a scouting mission to find a new planet that could serve as the Alliance's new base of operations. After establishing contact, Luke reported that he'd located a world in the Drexel system that might suffice when the signal was lost. Leia took this as a sign to go after her new ally and find out what trouble he was now in.
On Aduba-3, Han, Chewbacca, and their companions were gathering their resources in anticipation of another raid from Serji-X and his pirate crew. Merri's grandfather scoffed that their new protectors were not necessary. Another resident told Han not to mind the old man's words, adding that the elder saw himself as a shaman and would regularly talk about summoning a mythical beast to save their land.
It wasn't long after that conversation that the Arrogant One and his assistants soared onto the scene. A high-pitched battle began moments later. The first casualty was Jimm the Starkiller Kid's faithful tractor robot, Effie. The droid gladly sacrificed itself to save its master.
No one seemed to notice the old man during the skirmish. He gestured wildly in front of a stone wall, asking someone from behind to emerge. By the time Han spotted him, he saw a large monster break through the rock wall. Solo now had to deal with this new menace as well as the ones that he'd originally been hired to take on.
This was definitely an action-packed issue. The supporting characters that Han and Chewie had recruited were still kind of hokey, but each of them played their part in the battle. The sub-plot involving Luke and the others was just getting going, and would be fleshed out in more detail in upcoming issues. I believe that Lucasfilm had some restrictions on what Marvel could do with the movie characters, so Roy Thomas, Howard Chaykin, and company came up with adventures like these to whet the appetites of Star Wars fans who were hungry for more tales following the beloved movie.
Well, that's it for this article. Next time, I'll tackle the tenth issue of this monthly series. We'll learn more about this large, scaly green behemoth and how he plays a role between Han and Chewbacca's legion and the space pirates. We'll also see what Leia did after Luke's ship suddenly stopped transmitting. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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