Hello everyone,
This article is all about the first Star Wars comic book annual. The cover, drawn by Walt Simonson, showed Luke Skywalker with his lightsaber blade ignited as he prepared to square off against a flying female warrior and a pair of cat-like humanoids who were about to leap at him. The first part of the story was titled "The Long Hunt." The annual was published in 1979.
The tale began in a crowded marketplace on the planet Tirahn. Luke and Princess Leia Organa were enjoying the festivities while Han Solo, Chewbacca, and the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO were back on the Millennium Falcon. Han had suggested setting down on the world for supplies, which was part of Luke and Leia's goal.
Making her way through the promenade was the green-skinned winged Majestix of Skye. She was flanked on either side by male Catuman warriors. Leia was accidentally bumped by one of Skye's wings as the procession passed by. Luke found the majestrix's purse that had dropped from her hand and instantly went to return it to her, only to have the two of them falsely accused of being pickpockets.
Her guards rushed to attack the strangers, leaving Skywalker little choice but to fend them off with his lightsaber. He and Leia ran for safety across the myriad alleyways in the town's center. As they fled, Skye smiled, knowing that her warriors were after the ones who would lead her to Solo, and surmised that none of her targets would survive very long.
After a while, Luke started feeling tired. He was attacked by a Catuman warrior and slashed by its claw moments before his enemy was blasted by a shot from Han's pistol. Chewie carried Skywalker back to the Falcon with Han and Leia. Once there, Solo reported that Threepio alerted him to the fact that his friends hadn't reported within a reasonable amount of time.
Just then, Han heard something outside his ship. He went to take a look and found his old friend Katya M'Buele standing there. After introductions were made, Luke described the green woman he and Leia had run into. It soon became obvious that Han and Katya knew exactly who Skywalker was talking about, and it wasn't anyone good.
Han then decided to pay a visit to his old acquaintance Laskar that evening, to get some information about Skye. Meanwhile, the other remained in the ship, unaware that it had been boarded by an unknown presence. The wispy apparition snuck into Katya's sleeping quarters. She awoke seconds before being assimilated by the intruder.
That interaction was loud enough to have drawn Luke's attention. He went to investigate, and soon found himself face to face with an entity that was now strong enough to tackle Chewbacca. It knocked the blaster out of Leia's hand and sent her and Luke sprawling to the floor. Luke reached out and found his lightsaber. Igniting the blade, he stabbed the creature with it, who vanished almost instantly.
Solo returned to the Falcon shortly afterward. He was saddened by Katya's loss, but not surprised by what happened. He then instructed the crew to get ready for departure and blasted off from Tirahn, en route to Marat V, a world that was also known to its people as Skye.
On the way there, Solo told his companions about his first visit to their destination. He and Katya were part of a smuggling party that eventually encountered Skye. It wasn't long before they were hunted by her. Solo had no sooner told his tale when a hologram of that very same evil woman appeared, taunting the captain and his crew.
Moments later, the Falcon found itself up against a squadron of Imperial TIE fighters. They fought bravely and defeated their enemies, but not without a significant cost. The ship's artificial gravity, auxiliary system, and some of its shields stopped working properly, as C-3PO observed. As the Falcon went into a tailspin, Han sent Luke, Leia, Threepio, and R2-D2 off in an escape pod while he and Chewbacca remained onboard to land the vessel and work on its problems.
A little while later, Luke and Leia found themselves in the company of another large winged humanoid, who ordered them to follow him to the council chambers, where their fate would be decided. This began part 2 of the story, which was titled "A Duel of Eagles!" The rebels were reunited with the droids, who had been found and placed in a stasis lock earlier.
The Marat V natives knew all about Leia, but were stunned when they learned Luke's name. Some of them conferred privately, recognizing his last name as one they'd known earlier. They decided to aid their guests in their cause to find the Millennium Falcon and learn the fate of its crew.
Meanwhile, in a castle somewhere on another part of the planet, Skye was holding Han and Chewbacca prisoner, with the help of several Imperial Stormtroopers. Han was just about to be tortured when the arrival of his friends and their new colleagues was noticed by palace guards. Leia and Luke had borrowed artificial wings that allowed them to swoop down onto enemy turf and begin the search for their friends. This time, Leia was able to overpower the Catuman warriors and free Han and Chewie from their bonds.
Skye had retreated to a ledge, where she soon engaged Skywalker in lightsaber combat. Luke eventually emerged as the victor, after his blade found its mark and ended Skye's reign of evil. After the battle, the heroes were reunited. Before leaving the planet, Luke learned that Ben Kenobi had visited there during the Clone Wars with two of his students. One pupil was Darth Vader, the other wore the same lightsaber that Luke now had on his belt. It was an unexpected memory that the young Jedi found quite valuable.
Legendary X-Men writer Chris Claremont wrote this script, obviously not knowing that Vader would be revealed as Luke's father in the next Star Wars movie. Despite that fact, this was still an enjoyable, action-packed story for the series' first annual. Sadly, we never did see any more Catuman warriors or natives of Marat V, although a similar type of winged biped would be introduced in the regular title between the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi movie adaptations.
That's all for me for now. Next time, I'll tackle the thirty-third issue of this series. Luke, Han, Chewie, and the droids escape from Tatooine and return to Yavin. We'll also see Skywalker's first lightsaber battle with Baron Orman Taage. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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