Star Wars (Marvel Comics, Vol. 1) #11-15 (1978, Comic Book)

Format: Comic Book
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Total Reading Time: 1 hour, 49 minutes

Introduction

In this next story arc Crimson Jack makes a return. Han and Chewie are kidnapped by Jack while leaving Aduba-3 from the previous arc. Meanwhile, Leia is also kidnapped by Jack on her way to investigate Luke's disappearance in the previous story. From there we have two stories going on simultaneously. On the one hand we have Han trying to negotiate with Jack both to survive and save Leia. On the other hand we have Luke on a water planet in the Drexel system. He is attacked by Dragon Riders who are at war with a nearby ship (the size of a land mass). Luke and the droids end up on this other ship but quickly realize that the ruler, Governor Quarg, is a ruthless killer. The rest of the story is Luke trying to survive Quarg and escape, and then Han trying to rescue Leia and escape. Eventually the two meet up and get tied up in the war between the Dragon Riders and Quarg's men.

Star Wars #11: Star Search!

Writer: Archie Goodwin
Penciller: Carmine Infantino
Publication Date: February 7, 1978 (cover dated May 1978)
Reading Time: 20 minutes

This issue picks up nicely from the previous arc and ties together the Han/Chewie story with the Leia/Luke story pretty well. We see a return of the pirate Crimson Jack a lot sooner than I expected and we get to see the usual antics from Han as he is put in a bind. The art is good here too with a lot of detail. My only complaint being that C-3PO looks weird.


Star Wars #12: Doomworld!

Writer: Archie Goodwin
Penciller: Carmine Infantino
Publication Date: March 14, 1978 (cover dated June 1978)
Reading Time: 19 minutes

Issue twelve is one of the best in the series so far. The first two-thirds focus on Luke dealing with attackers while out in the water while the last third focuses on Han and the pirates. Here we finally see Luke use his lightsaber a little bit (although he doesn't actually kill anyone with it), however, the lightsaber is pink again instead of blue. The conversations that Han has with Crimson Jack here make Jack a little more three dimensional and explain where he got his imperial ship from. Very solid issue. And the artwork here is improved from last issue with C-3PO looking much better here.

Star Wars #13: Day of the Dragon Lords

Writer: Archie Goodwin
Penciller: Carmine Infantino
Publication Date: April 11, 1978 (cover dated July 1978)
Reading Time: 24 minutes

Continuing where the last issue left off, this one again focuses mainly on Luke. By the end however, the two storylines converge as the two groups meet up. This is a little bit of a slower issue than the last but it ends on a pretty big cliffhanger. It does seem a little out of place in this issue when Chewbacca attacks Luke (even within the context of the issue). Even though it was a hydra craft that attacked Chewie I would think that Chewie would remember Luke enough to not attack him for also being in a hydra craft. But maybe that's just me. Also, this is the first time that a Star Wars comic has shown a flashback to the Old Republic or any Jedi outside of Obi-Wan Kenobi which is cool...even if it is brief.

Star Wars #14: The Sound of Armageddon

Writer: Archie Goodwin
Penciller: Carmine Infantino
Publication Date: May 9, 1978 (cover dated August 1978)
Reading Time: 23 minutes

This issue wraps up the war between the Dragon Lords and Quarg's forces but leaves the Crimson Jack story open for the next issue. This issue is very exciting because Luke is having to work with Quarg so that he survives while also trying to keep Leia alive. On the other hand, Han begins working with the Dragon Lords so it is cool seeing the two working against each other (without them actually knowing) as for one reason or another it made me want both of them to succeed even though they have contradicting goals. This issue was pretty great but the only thing that seemed off to me is that when Han and Luke first meet up instead of explaining the situation to Han, Luke instead punches him pretty hard to stop Han from going through with his plans. Why not explain it to Han instead of punching him? This seems like unnecessary drama and made me like Luke a little bit less in this issue.

Star Wars #15: Star Duel

Writer: Archie Goodwin
Penciller: Carmine Infantino
Publication Date: June 27, 1978 (cover dated September 1978)
Reading Time: 23 minutes

Here is the final issue of the arc and it it boils down to a showdown between Han and Crimson Jack. The action here is exciting, a backstory is provided for Jack's side henchman named Jolli (which explains all of her actions the last few issues), and overall it is just a great issue. It ties together the last few issues very well and even a little bit of references to issues before this arc. Solid finish.


Overview

This is an excellent story. The more that I am reading this series of Marvel Comics the better it gets. Hopefully it will maintain this level of quality throughout. I wasn't expecting the series to be as serialized as it is here with each issue flowing into the next. The duel villains of Crimson Jack and Governor Quarg here works really well and Luke and Han having to work against one another creates a lot of tension. There are a few weird moments that seem out of place for certain characters (see my notes on the individual issues) but for the most part everyone is written right and I can hear the voices of the actors in my head. This story also seems to have some of the first significant hints that Leia might be attracted to Han and it doesn't make much reference to Leia and Luke being attracted to one another (thank goodness). This story is movie worthy in my opinion and so far is the highlight of this series. Definitely give it a look.

Spoilers

The plot twist near the end about the Dragon Riders being basically the good guys really caught me off guard. It makes a lot of sense when it is explained and I really like seeing the different perspectives on things. I was surprised that Crimson Jack was killed off as it seemed to me that he was starting to become an ongoing villain who would come back from time to time in the series. Hopefully with his absence it'll mean more room for other characters. Now that we finally have the group back together at the end I'm excited to see what comes next.