Good morning, everyone,
It's time for me to talk about the fifty-sixth issue of Marvel's first Star Wars title. The cover is another excellent drawing by Walt Simonson, which shows Lando Calrissian battling his former aide, Lobot. The tale was titled "Coffin in the Clouds." The issue had a cover date of February 1981.
The story started on Cloud City, where Lando had just landed the Millennium Falcon. He was surprised to see the city mostly deserted. As the city's former administrator, he knew that the tibanna gas mining on the planet below had to be active to keep the city above it functioning properly. It was an operation that required hundreds of people.
He knew that the Empire's occupation (witnessed in The Empire Strikes Back adaptation) would have affected it, but decided to check things out for himself. Lando walked to the nearest information terminal and learned that most of the city's populace had evacuated to the planet because of some sort of emergency. He was wondering just what type of emergency had happened when his former assistant, Lobot, attacked him.
The cyborg viewed his previous employer as an intruder, and it didn't appear that he was functioning quite properly. Lando was able to evade his punches, but it was a struggle that led them across the city. It was another puzzling scenario that left Calrissian with more questions than answers.
Little did either of them know that an Imperial craft was just about to land at the city. The strange-looking ship was unquestioningly Imperial, and its crew soon disembarked, which we learned was a bomb squad. They reported to Captain Treece and set out to find the bombs that had been placed in the city by Ugnaughts.
It didn't take long for Lando to spot the newly arrived Imperials. He assumed they were the threat to the city that Lobot had been referring to. He decided to draw their attention by firing on them from above, which resulted in a firefight.
Meanwhile, on Arbra, Princess Leia Organa was making a leisurely patrol route aboard a speeder that had been outfitted for the terrain. She was satisfied with her mission, but asked a technician afterwards to have the vehicle recharged, so that she could check something out later. She then headed inside their new base, looking for a little companionship.
She came across Luke Skywalker and Shira Brie. Leia asked Luke if he would accompany her on another patrol run of the perimeter. Skywalker politely declined, noting his concern that Lando hadn't reported in yet. He and Shira were going to investigate. Leia understood and wished them well.
Back on Cloud City, Lando was being chased by the Imperials he'd spotted earlier. The conflict eventually brought him back to the same carbon freezing chamber where his friend Han Solo had been frozen (again, in the ESB adaptation) and given to the bounty hunter Boba Fett. Part of the Imperial forces were still searching for bombs and came across one that actually talked.
Treece let the bomb squad handle that matter, as he went to see how the other soldiers were doing. Lando did his best Tarzan impression by swinging from a severed cable and knocking one Stormtrooper into the carbon freezing pit. He then ran to the controls and activated them, taking that opponent out of play as a bit of retribution for Han.
The bomb squad was doing its best, but still had difficulty countering the smart bomb, which soon set off an explosion in the city. Lando felt the blast and headed toward the central computer, only to find Lobot in his path. He skipped by before the cyborg could notice him, and soon found the source of the devastation.
Calrissian was surveying the wreckage when he heard the familiar sound of a blaster's safety being discharged behind him. He spun around to see Captain Treece. The two pointed their pistols at each other for a while before calling a truce. The captain told Lando that he was the governor of Cloud City and that he'd been looking for eleven bombs that were placed there by Ugnaughts before they retreated to the planet.
The Ugnaughts were previously peaceful, but something obviously changed since Lando had left. They'd given enough advance notice for the citizens to depart, but the bombs were still in the city. Treece claimed they planted the explosives because they were jealous and said they could resume mining operations in the surface world on their own.
Lando listened carefully before telling the Imperial commander that their next task would be to find Lobot. He soon got his former aide's attention and led him to an area where Treece was waiting with a landing claw to ensnare the cyborg. Lobot remained captive just long enough for Lando to remove his motivational programming capsule.
A little while later, Lando repaired the damaged circuitry. His old friend was back to his old self. Lobot was then able to use his cybernetic senses to disarm the explosives without physically touching them.
Lando thanked Lobot for his timely assistance. Now his attention was focused on the Ugnaughts. He wanted them to be treated humanely, while Treece viewed them as nothing more than menial servants who should do his bidding. He then declared their truce over by kicking Calrissian from the railing he was standing by and sending him careening down toward the planet below.
I've always liked the Lobot character, ever since one of my cousins gave me his action figure many years ago. I'm glad that he was fleshed out more in this storyline, because we saw very little of him in the movie. Shira Brie proved to be another intriguing supporting character, one that would play a larger role in this series as a whole, especially in another story arc soon after this one that remains one of my favorites from this title to this day.
This was a fun storyline because it answered the question of what happened to Bespin after the Falcon left. It delved further into Lobot, the Ugnaughts, and the Imperial occupation. There's a fair bit of humor from time to time, and I thought that it was something that the trio of Michelinie, Simonson, and Palmer did rather well. They took the subject matter seriously and understood the curiosities of the franchise's growing fan base.
That's it for this article. Next up is the conclusion in Star Wars #57. We'll find out what happened to Lando, as well as the Ugnaughts who used to work in Cloud City. We'll also find out if Luke and Shira made it there in time to save their friend. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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