Good afternoon,
Today's focus is on the thirty-first issue of the first ongoing Star Wars comic book series. The cover showed Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, and C-3PO hiding under a cliff where a patrol Dewback and a pair of Imperial Stormtroopers stood. The tale was titled "Return to Tatooine!" The issue had a cover date of January 1980.
The story started somewhere in deep space, as a House of Taage mining craft had rendezvoused with a Star Destroyer. Baron Orman Taage and his brother Ulric were meeting to discuss plans. Orman had recently met defeat at Skywalker's hand, but already had another new scheme in the works.
Meanwhile, Luke and his droids had returned to the planet that the farmboy grew up on. Threepio and Artoo were busy unloading the landspeeder from their ship and placing the camouflage covering over their vessel, while Luke was scanning for Imperial patrols. He did spot a pair of Stormtroopers and their dewback with his macrobinoculars, but luckily, they were not detected.
After the patrol passed, Luke and the droids entered the landspeeder and headed toward Mos Eisley to fulfill Skyalker's mission of recruiting blockade runner pilots to their cause. On the way, Luke stopped at the old Lars homestead. He noticed an active vaporator and decided to investigate. However, someone soon came up behind him and held him at gunpoint.
Luke dropped his pistol and swiftly swung around and struck at the stranger with his lightsaber. He then learned that he was standing in front of his old buddy, Fixer. He and his former girlfriend (now wife) Camie were working for the Taages and had been set up in the old Darklighter domicile. Luke was wary of the Taages' dealings after having encountered them in the recent past. Their conversation was interrupted by Threepio, who informed the humans of the imminent arrival of an Imperial troop transporter.
The landspeeder departed once more. Luke, Artoo, and Threepio were driving down a canyon when they found a Bantha blocking their path. Luke got out and noticed that the creature was frozen stiff and cold to the touch. Moments later, a pair of Stormtroopers dismounted the transport vehicle and blasted the immobile beast, obliterating it completely.
This action riled Luke's suspicion, but not enough to deter him from his goal. Little did he know that Orman and his brother Silas were developing something sinister for the Imperial cause. The Mos Eisley spaceport hadn't changed much since Luke and his robots' last sojourn there. After a few steps into the cantina, Luke was hit from behind by the falling form of his old friend, Han Solo.
He and Chewbacca had returned after dropping off Jabba the Hut (whom they interacted with in issue #29) and decided to stay for a while. A few minutes later, Fixer arrived to inform his longtime friend that he'd reported Luke to the authorities to protect his job. Han, Chewie, and Luke engaged in a shootout with the troopers that reported in and took off in Luke's speeder. They were out of harm's way for a while, but a stray shot had hit their coolant unit, causing it to leak fluid. If that didn't stop them, the desert patrols or the sweltering heat of Tatooine's twin suns might just do the job.
Even though this issue isn't canon, it was fun to see Camie and Fixer for the first time since the second issue of this title. These minor supporting characters' scenes were cut from the final version of the first Star Wars film, but have since been included in subsequent video releases. They were also portrayed in the novelization of the film. It made sense that Luke would run into the Falcon's crew before too long, and I'm sure that diehard fans were clamoring for their reunification. It was also interesting to see an Imperial Troop Transporter, which was a toy from the Kenner action figure line that was never featured in the original movie.
Well, that's all the time I have for today. Tomorrow, I'll discuss the thirty-second issue of this series. We'll find out how long Luke's damaged landspeeder lasted and just what the Taages were up to. We'll also see the heroes find assistance from an unlikely source. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
No comments:
Post a Comment