Happy Friday, everyone!
Welcome to my three hundredth retro comic book blog post!
Today's topic is the eighty-first issue of the first Star Wars comic book series. The cover, beautifully illustrated by inker Tom Palmer, showed Han Solo as the focus, but also depicted the Millennium Falcon, Boba Fett, Princess Leia Organa, R2-D2 and C-3PO, Chewbacca, and several Jawas and a Sandcrawler. The story was called "Jawas of Doom." The issue had a cover date of March 1984.
The tale began on Endor, shortly after the destruction of the second Death Star. Solo was trying to persuade a Rebel pilot to lend him money. However, Solo still hadn't repaid the pilot the money he'd lent him back on Hoth. Han's explanation didn't hold water for the pilot, who regretted lending him money in the first place and went off grumbling that the Sarlaac should have swallowed the Correllian.
Moments later, Leia approached Han from behind. He accepted her embrace and explained his money problems. Leia offered to lend him credits, adding that the Alliance could advance him money. Han refused, asserting that he'd always made it on his own and that now was no different. He stormed off, leaving Leia confused and saddened.
Wedge Antilles, Lando Calrissian, and Luke Skywalker happened by just then, singing the Ewoks' praises after their celebration the night before. Luke immediately sensed that something was wrong with his sister. He went up to her, and she explained what Han had just said. Leia noted that Han had just recently come out of hibernation and needed some time to adjust.
Meanwhile, Han was admiring the Falcon. He stepped inside, making his way to the cockpit. He smiled when he reached up and found the dice that he'd won the ship with. By then, Chewbacca was there to comfort his longtime friend.
A short while later, Han took off in the Falcon with Leia and Artoo. Chewbacca had stayed behind to learn more about the Ewoks' hunting techniques. He set in a course for Tatooine, where he was sure he still had some credits. At the same time on that very planet, a bird circling the Sarlaac was grabbed by one of the monster's tentacles. Not far away was a familiar figure who had been on Jabba's sail barge and inadvertently knocked into the Sarlaac's mouth before using his jet pack to fly away.
Boba Fett's sand-encrusted body was later found by Jawas. Their protocol droid assumed that the bounty hunter was some type of artificial being. He said nothing as he was taken to the nearby Sandcrawler before it moved on.
The Falcon gained landing clearance at Mos Eisley, and Han and Leia disembarked shortly afterward. Artoo stayed behind to keep an eye on the ship and recharge. Leia learned about the rise in activity by Jawas and Sand People from a local resident while she waited for Han outside a bank.
Solo's experience didn't go so well. He was informed that he couldn't have his credits because the bank had been informed that he'd been frozen. Han stormed out after being told that he'd have to explain his situation to a computer. Leia caught up with him, and the pair went to a casino to decompress.
Leia suddenly realized that Artoo could talk to the computers in question. However, by the time they returned to the docking bay, the astrodroid was nowhere to be found. Han's luck didn't get any better when he asked the mechanic, Garrick, who'd been occupied with speeder repair work all day, if he had seen anything.
Han and Leia then decided to borrow a pair of landspeeders and search for the droid. By now, Artoo was in the same Sandcrawler that contained Fett. Artoo quickly came around and recognized the infamous mercenary, who was still oblivious to anything. He had no idea about his past or why he had been lying before the Sarlaac earlier.
Before long, Han and Leia were on opposite sides of the crawler and shot at its sides to rouse attention. While several Jawas returned fire, Artoo seized the opportunity to try to plug into a terminal. Unfortunately, he learned too late that access was forbidden.
Han moved closer to the Sandcrawler after asking Leia to lay down some cover fire. What neither of them knew was that Sand People were also firing on the crawler. By the time Leia noticed that some of the fire was coming from behind them, one blast took out her speeder and sent her sprawling down into the sand below.
Solo eventually got close enough to the crawler that he could jump onto the side, just before his speeder crashed. He crawled up and was nicked by a laser blast that sent him falling down the top hatch. When Han came to, he found himself facing his old nemesis, Fett.
Leia yelled from outside that the Sandcrawler was heading toward the Sarlaac pit. Fett still had amnesia and didn't know Han at first. Solo convinced the bounty hunter to help him carry Artoo. He tossed the droid safely offboard and was about to reach for Fett until Leia's repeated stating of Han's name revived his memory. Han was waiting to pull up Fett when he found the same blaster point at him, this time with purpose.
Han had no choice but to jump to safety right before the Sandcrawler, and everything in it continued on its path straight into the Sarlaac's maw. The three Rebels stood close by afterward. Han knew he could have saved his old enemy if Fett had just given him the chance to do so.
Even though this is the only issue in this series that features Boba Fett as a major character, it's less expensive than issues #42 and #68, which show him very minimally at most. I loved Palmer's inks and Ron Frenz's pencil work, but for me, the difference between Palmer and Tom Mandrake's inks in this issue was night and day. Despite that, this was still an entertaining yarn that happened almost immediately after the events chronicled in the Return of the Jedi movie.
That's it for this article. Next time, I'll cover the eighty-second issue of this title. After the Empire's defeat, the Alliance is now concerned with reaching out to worlds that were affected by Imperial occupation. Luke makes a return trip to a planet that we just saw a few issues earlier, where he runs into some old friends and encounters some unanticipated resistance. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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