Good evening all,
Today's focus will be on the forty-fourth issue of Marvel's first Star Wars comic series. This issue is the last part of their adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back. The cover showed Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker engaged in lightsaber combat. The story was called "To Duel a Dark Lord!" The issue had a cover date of February 1981.
The tale began in the carbon freezing chamber of Bespin's Cloud City. Han Solo had just been frozen in carbonite. He was alive and in perfect hibernation. The bounty hunter Boba Fett claimed Solo, and Vader ordered the chamber to be reset for Skywalker. The pilot had just landed and was on his way soon. Vader adjusted his deal with Lando Calrissian by requiring that Princess Leia and Chewbacca (who had the disassembled C-3PO on his back) be taken to his personal ship.
Luke and R2-D2 happened along just as Solo was being led to Fett's ship, the Slave I. He engaged in a firefight with the Imperials guarding the block of carbonite, only to be warned by Leia that he was walking into a trap. Artoo was cut off from his master before Luke entered the carbon freezing chamber. There, he finally found himself face to face with the Dark Lord of the Sith all by himself for the first time.
As the long-awaited lightsaber battle began, Lando uttered a code that led several of his guards to surround the Imperials. They took the soldiers' blasters before leading the Imperials off to a detention area. Calrissian tried to explain that he was only trying to help, and that there was still a chance to save Han at the east platform, while being choked by the enraged Wookiee.
Artoo rejoined Threepio and his companions on the way to try to prevent Fett's ship from taking off. Meanwhile, the conflict in the carbon freezing area raged on. At one point, Vader engaged the carbon freezing unit controls as Luke fell in, only to see that Yoda's young pupil had jumped to safety before the mechanisms engaged. The two combatants moved on further, until Luke was sent flying backwards through a window after Vader used the Force to hurl objects at the unsuspecting lad.
While Luke was doing his best to remain calm, his friends were fighting their way through squadrons of Stormtroopers to reach the Millennium Falcon. Vader was the victor in his fight, after slicing the hand that held Luke's lightsaber from his body. As the weakened youth tried to retreat, Vader claimed that he was his father. Luke found this hard to believe, and eventually opted to take his chances by dropping into a lengthy pit rather than join the Sith Lord.
The Falcon had finally taken off, while Luke found himself hanging on an underhanging weather vane for dear life. Knowing Kenobi swore not to assist him, he called out with the force to Leia. Organa heard Luke's pleas through the Force and made Chewbacca go back to pick up their friend, just as he was about to fall. Lando brought him inside the ship just before TIE fighters rushed to attack.
Artoo was occupied with repairing Threepio when he noticed that the ship still wasn't able to go into lightspeed (which had been a constant issue throughout the film). He noted that the city's central computer told him that the system was deactivated, so he rolled over to the control and reactivated it. The Falccon burst out of view, just as Imperial Star Destroyers were preparing to use tractor beams to reel in the ailing vessel.
A while later, Luke was being fitted with a mechanical hand in one of the fleet's medical ships. He was there with Leia, Artoo, and Threepio. Chewie and Lando were about to depart on the Falcon on their quest to reclaim Solo. They promised Leia they'd find him. Luke wished them luck before promising to regroup with them on Tatooine, before the tale came to an end.
The remaining content in this issue consisted of bonus pinups created by Walt Simonson, Joe Jusko, Fred Hembeck, Bob Layton, and Marshall Rogers. I felt like this was a satisfying conclusion of the adaptation. Writer/editor Archie Goodwin summed things up nicely and didn't leave anything essential out. Al Williamson and Carlos Garzon's art was magnificent throughout the entire adaptation. I'm glad that this creative team reunited to adapt the Return of the Jedi film.
That's all the time I have for today. Tomorrow, I'll discuss the forty-fifth issue of this series. Luke and Artoo embark on their first mission since the events in ESB. We'll see the return of a popular type of character, which acts in ways that are quite unexpected. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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