Good morning,
Hope everyone's doing well. The focus of this article is the eighty-third issue of the first Star Wars comic book title. The cover showed Lando Calrissian jumping from a speeder, with a pair of men with jetpacks firing at him. The tale was titled "Sweetheart Contract." The issue had a cover date of May 1984.
In this tale set before the events in the Return of the Jedi, Calrissian and his friend Danu are on the planet Drogheda, flying a speeder while trying to evade the blaster fire from a quartet of fliers behind them. One blast hits their craft, and forces them to jump for safety. Lando grabs a nearby tree root, and Danu holds on, using his pistol to take out one of their attackers.
That shot seemed to be enough to scare off the rest of their opponents. Lando climbs up the hill to find Harlech, the commander of the royal guard, and his soldiers. They inform the pair that revolutionaries had planned to ambush them before they entered another skiff that was headed toward the city fortress.
The queen Sarna was waiting for the heroes inside her quarters. She and Lando obviously had a history. Sarna explained that she'd been doing her best to govern since ascending to her current role, despite the best efforts of the revolutionaries to curtail those efforts. She asked for Calrissian's assistance in squelching the revolution, which he eventually agreed to before being shown to his quarters.
A short while later, Danu returned to discuss matters with her sister. Sarna was stressed by the constant threats that the revolutionaries posed, but Danu didn't seem quite so concerned. Sarna instructed Danu to report on their results of their attempts the next day to drive the revolutionaries from Mount Meru. She also advised her sister not to go anywhere near Lando until then.
The next day, the royal forces and Lando grouped near the front of the Mount Meru mine entrance. Calrissian thought that it was wiser to stake out the rear entrance. Seeing it was unoccupied, Lando entered on foot. He planted explosives underneath one of the water tanks before he was approached by a pair of revolutionaries. Lando dropped the detonator when one of his foes lunged at him. The tanks blew up shortly thereafter, sending waves of water cascading through the mine.
Some of the revolutionaries were mercilessly gunned down by royal soldiers afterward. This was thankfully put to a stop by Lando, after he got through to the guard who'd administered killing blows. Lando wanted answers and took one of the prisoners away with him via speeder.
They returned to the fortress, and Lando insisted on questioning the prisoner by himself. Once they were alone, Calrissian started asking questions. He even gave his opponent his pistol. His captive was just starting to talk when he was shot from behind by Harlech. The shot was lethal, and Lando was angered by the senseless murder. He rushed out of the room, wanting to be alone for a while.
As Lando pondered the events of the day at a local cantina, he happened to overhear a couple of soldiers talking to each other. They were bragging about their victory over the revolutionaries. One of them added that they'd be out of jobs if they didn't nip the democracy nonsense in the bud. Lando then realized he'd been fighting for the wrong side.
He stormed back to the royal palace, demanding answers from Sarna. She didn't refute Lando's assertion that the people wanted self-rule, but tried to lure him by offering more money. Lando's morals couldn't be bought, so she turned her militia against him. Calrissian was able to escape Harlech and his subordinates until he was grabbed and forced into a room.
It was Danu who had grabbed hold of him. She confessed that she was the spy within the revolution. They talked for a few minutes, fleeing before the munitions room that they were in exploded. A now enraged Sarna wanted Lando, fearing that he might bring the Rebellion down upon them.
Meanwhile, the revolutionaries mounted their own attack on the royal headquarters. As the freedom fighters charged, Lando found a speeder and was able to surpass a trio of soldiers on jetpacks before crashing into the throne room. He got to his feet after smashing through the glass and held Sarna at gunpoint.
Harlech wasn't fazed by this. He was more than willing to succeed the queen, but soon found himself outnumbered by revolutionaries on the floor above him. A quick blaster bolt, and the war was apparently over.
Danu celebrated the victory with Lando, but only for the moment. She gave Calrissian ten minutes to get to his ship, and offered him money to take Sarna with him. Calrissian initially protested, but soon acceded. A short while later, in Lando's ship, the two schemers began plotting their next moves.
This was an adequate fill-in issue. The script by Linda Grant and art by Bob McLeod (co-creator of the initial New Mutants) kept me entertained. I liked the plot twist, but I wasn't surprised by Harlech's motives. He was written like a villain from his very first panel. I still wonder what happened to Danu and Sarna after this story ended.
That's a wrap for this article. We have one more fill-in issue before the regular storyline resumes, which is chronicled in the eighty-fourth issue of this series. Han Solo visits a familiar haunt and winds up winning something valuable, which turns out to be more important and dangerous than he'd imagined. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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