Good afternoon all,
This post is dedicated to the eightieth issue of Marvel's first Star Wars series. The cover showed a droid holding a wounded rebel, while staring at the spectre of Darth Vader. The tale was titled "Ellie." The issue had a cover date of February 1984.
The tale began on an unnamed planet. An Imperial Stormtrooper squadron was making its rounds, not knowing that Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia Organa, and C-3PO were observing them from a nearby corridor. The soldiers walked past, and the Rebels breathed a sigh of relief after thinking that Threepio's voice might draw them to their hiding place. The sector was off limits to civilians, so they had to move fast.
This was the next destination on the search for fellow Rebel Tay Vanis. He and his droid were carrying the Bothan tapes that described the Imperials' latest super weapon. They inspected the hangar bay, but didn't expect to find Vanis' specially modified X-Wing fighter there. They then reached the manifest area, and were greeted by a female protocol droid designed LE-914, or Ellie for short.
After receiving their ship's clearance code for departure, Luke asked if the computers had any information on Vanis. Unfortunately, requesting that information triggered an alarm, which sent Stormtroopers running. A battle ensued shortly thereafter. At one point, Ellie shielded Threepio from a laser blast with her body, and was unharmed.
The quartet then ran in the rain to the Millennium. Falcon. Ellie provided the coordinates that allowed them to find Vanis' downed fighter. Luke retrieved a message from the ship and brought it back to the Falcon to play back. A prerecorded message began, showing an image of Vanis. The pilot explained the reason why he and Yom Argo separated. At the end, he said that if he was not heard from within two planetary days, Ellie would destroy the Bothan tapes.
Threepio had noticed Ellie had disappeared before the message ended. Luke decided to return to the castle that they had just left, because he wanted answers about Vanis, Ellie, and the Bothan tapes. The trio found an unguarded entrance and were disgusted after overhearing a pair of Imperial officers describing the wanton slaughter of the planet's populace.
The group then made their presence known to those Imperials. One of them informed them that what they were looking for was just behind the door in front of them. A hologram of Vader appeared. It took the Rebels by surprise and allowed one of the commanders to grab Leia's blaster. She then borrowed Luke's pistol and took out the thief. The hologram explained that he'd expected Skywalker's arrival. He presented him with what was left in the cell.
The door opened. Luke, Leia, and Threepio entered the room and were saddened by its contents. The broken man that was Tay Vanis sat in a corner, oblivious to anything. The sound of Ellie rose from behind them. She knew the danger that her master had represented to the Empire.
Ellie then opened a chest compartment and gave the Bothan tapes to Threepio. She had kept them even after Vanis had ordered her to destroy them, and was now sure that they would be in good hands. Ellie explained her reasons for overriding that command and went to comfort her master one last time. Her allies watched from the hall entrance as the two perished together. They then returned to the Falcon. Luke reported to Admiral Ackbar via comlink that they'd accomplished their mission and that there were no survivors. The last panel showed Threepio in the rain, and it appeared that even the droid was crying.
I initially wondered why Marvel's creative staff seemed to drag out storylines before their Return of the Jedi adaptation. Stories like this answered that question. It now made sense that the pirated files were the Bothan tapes, a development that Marvel probably didn't know about until Lucasfilm shared that information with them. Ellie was one of the most compassionate droids I'd ever read about in this title. It's a pity that we didn't get to see a bit more of her or Vanis' backstory. Maybe someday Marvel will provide more.
Well, that's it for me for today. Tomorrow, I'll begin my coverage of the Return of the Jedi film adaptation. I'll cover the four-issue ROTJ limited series. The adaptation was also chronicled in Marvel Super Special #27. After that, I'll resume my recaps of the regular series with issue #81. Until tomorrow, have a great day and don't forget to be kind to one another.
No comments:
Post a Comment