Ten Great Princess Leia Moments from the Comics

With the passing of Carrie Fisher, I wanted to memorialize not only her but the character she portrayed - Princess Leia. To me, the Leia who appeared in the Marvel Comics at the time of the original films' release was nearly as legitimate as Fisher's. I previously listed ten great moments from Star Wars #51-52, my favourite story from the Marvel run and it included a pretty great Leia scene; here are ten other memorable moments from the comics:

#1: Leia takes Luke swimming (Star Wars #15, 1978, by Archie Goodwin & Carmine Infantino)

At about the same time as this early comic the novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye asserted Leia couldn't swim - yet Luke, improbably, could! Here, Archie Goodwin demonstrated a better sense of who the characters were as Leia was quite adept at swimming (plenty of water visible on Alderaan) while Luke was not (not many oceans on Tatooine). This moment brought back the sense of Leia's superior skill during the cell block rescue in Star Wars and was an early indicator that the comic series would be all right under Goodwin's guidance.

#2: Leia the commando (Star Wars #30, 1979, by Archie Goodwin & Carmine Infantino)

In a later issue, Goodwin sent Leia on a commando mission to an Imperial world. Considering Han and Luke were not (at this point in the series) going on such missions, it said a lot about Leia's uber-competency. She was the Snake-Eyes of Star Wars! It's a pretty great story as Leia fails to achieve her mission's stated goals but considers it a success because her actions have inspired other citizens to resist the Empire.

#3: Leia outwits Darth Vader (Star Wars #48, 1981, by Larry Hama & Carmine Infantino)

Speaking of Snake-Eyes, Larry Hama wrote some Star Wars! In this tale, Leia is playing a very clever con game against Darth Vader himself. She does succeed at everything she sets after this time - although at the last moment Vader is able to claim a minor victory. Take note also that this issue demonstrates that, prequels notwithstanding, it is possible to derive drama from economics in the Star Wars universe.

#4: Leia compromises (Star Wars #55, 1982, by David Michelinie & Walter Simonson)

Leia was helping to establish a Rebel presence on the planet Arbra, an ideal new base of operations. However, the native inhabitants, the Hoojibs, objected to the Rebels walking in and displacing them from their home. While some of the Rebels are willing to go against the Hoojibs' wishes, Leia notes they lost their own homes to the Empire and shouldn't repeat the Imperials' mistakes. That willingness to withdraw is what finally changes the Hoojibs' minds as they invite the Rebels to remain as their guests (Hoojibs remained a constant presence in the series from then on).

#5: Leia takes out an Imperial base (Star Wars #65, 1982, by David Michelinie & Walter Simonson)

On another commando mission, Leia intended to sabotage an Imperial base's reactor. An Imperial officer who had recently suffered a demotion due to a previous failure against the Rebels succeeded in trapping Leia inside the base. The exits were seealed and the officer set the base's reactor into an overload, believing it best to ensure Leia's death as a crippling blow against the Rebellion. Unfortunately for that officer, even with all the doors sealed and the base about to explode, he underestimated Leia's skill as she effortlessly knocked him aside and escaped (this issue also has a great scene where Leia takes out a hapless Stormtrooper).

#6: Leia hunts the bounty hunters (Star Wars #68, 1983, by David Michelinie & Gene Day)

Simply seeing Leia in a pilot's uniform is a treat, but this tale, told in the year leading up to Return of the Jedi had Leia and C-3PO tracking the bounty hunter Dengar, which brought them up against Fenn Shysa, a Mandalorian warrior garbed exactly like Boba Fett, yet quite well-disposed towards the Rebellion. In issues after Jedi, Fenn would become a regular member of the series supporting cast and a new rival for Han to contend with over Leia's affections.

#7: Leia's best frenemy (Star Wars #73, 1983, by Jo Duffy & Ron Frenz)

There certainly aren't many women in the Star Wars universe, but Jo Duffy put a lot of effort into building up her character Dani the Zeltron, a man-chasing smuggler. By 80s comics standards, Dani was the Yukio to Leia's Storm. It made a difference to have Leia interact with another woman and this was the first of many instances where Leia would chaffe at Dani's over-enthusiastic friendship and questionable moral code. In this story, Leia and Dani wound up joining forces in an effort to retrieve the tapes of a missing Rebel pilot (a running sub-plot which ultimately led directly into Return of the Jedi).

#8: Alderaan, remembered (Star Wars #86, 1984, by Randy Stradley & Bob McLeod)

In this tale, Leia met a Stormtrooper who originally came from Alderaan and wore a piece of his homeworld's remains around his neck. Leia is disgusted with him for betraying their people's memory and much of the issue was comprised of Leia delivering pointed takedowns of the Stormtrooper's justifications.

#9: Leia brings down a Sith lord (Star Wars #88, 1984, by Jo Duffy & Bob McLeod)

The post-Return of the Jedi comics had to find a number of new enemies for the protagonists to face. Looming largest among them was Lumiya, a female apprentice of Vader's who assumed her former master's role and began exerting control over the Empire's remnants. But to Leia, Lumiya was just another punk and she won this first confrontation with a blaster shot to Lumiya's chest!

#10: Leia's dress (Star Wars #95, 1985, by Jo Duffy & Cynthia Martin)

Leia's distate for Zeltrons came up constantly and she wound up having four male Zeltrons assigned to her staff. The quartet were very well-meaning but rather vapid; here, they decided to help Leia's appearance at a formal function by altering her dress - under the apparent mistaken belief Leia was a cabaret singer. In spite of it all, Leia did her best to maintain her dignity.

I hope you enjoyed this list!

"But the world needs us -- we six can't think of ourselves anymore --" Showcase Presents the Great Disaster Featuring the Atomic Knights

My father owned a single issue of DC's Strange Adventures featuring the Atomic Knights. The visual of the characters - men in medieval knight armour riding upon giant dalmatians in a post-apocalyptic world - struck my fancy. DC has collected the Atomic Knights into one of their massive black and white Showcase Presents tomes, but because there weren't actually that many Atomic Knights stories, they loaded up the book with various other stories set in the same continuity. How is the book as a whole? In short: it's too much and too little. Let's examine Showcase Presents the Great Disaster Featuring the Atomic Knights!

The series is divided into six sections in the table of contents, sections which are mostly bound together by theme. Part of the problem of this book - something which becomes evident the more you read - is that these stories were not originally conceived as sharing a continuity with each other. It's something the fanboys and the editors threw together after the fact, out of a strange desire to link DC's future timelines together. "Pre-Disaster Warnings" opens the book with a few time travel stories set in then-contemporary times. The first is a three-parter about a man from the post-apocalyptic future journeying to present times and telling people about the world to come. After that, the section contains a Superman story in which Superman is manipulated into creating a divergence in his timeline's future so that the Legion of Super-Heroes continuity and Great Disaster continuity exist in separate timelines. It's the kind of fanboy continuity obsession I understand all too well, given my own history with the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. Someone thought it was important to explain how DC could have two very different futures - ignoring the fact that truly neither of them will ever become the DC Universe's present. The inclusion of this Superman story seems very ill-judged to me as it's deeply entwined with Jack Kirby's Kamandi #29, a story which revealed what had become of Superman's indestructible costume in that future world. Continuity mavens claim Kamandi and OMAC's futures belong to the same timeline as the other stories reprinted here, but, notably, this is not a Kamandi or OMAC collection. The book would be improved if this Superman story were eliminated and it published in a Kamandi volume instead, it's strictly for the continuity dorks (no offense, fellow dorks).

The "Day After Doomsday" section features a series of short (1-2 page) stories which appeared in odd ducks like Weird War Tales through the 70s and early 80s, but are not presented in print order because... I think some continuity nerd figured out a chronological sequence for them? Anyway, these were conceived of by Len Wein and are essentially cruel tales about the post-apocalyptic world, often riffing on abused tropes from the sub-genre. For instance, the last man on Earth is named Adam; he meets the last woman who is named... Gertrude. In another, a man finds a vending machine but he has no dimes - what a tragic twist! - but then he breaks it opens and finds - nothing but dimes! - what a doubly tragic twist! Steve Ditko drew a few of these, including one where a man is killed by radioactive hippies. I'm making that one sound more entertaining than it is. Anyway, there's also some very early Frank Miller and overall, you do get a few good dark chuckles out of this series.

The "Tales of the Atomic Knights" section is the main event, the John Broome/Murphy Anderson Atomic Knights adventures which appeared in Strange Adventures from time-to-time in 1960-1964. The series is set in 1992, following an atomic war in 1986 which has decimated humanity and destroyed most crops and animals around the world. The lead character is a former soldier, Gardner Grayle; he teams up with teacher Douglas Herald, Herald's sister Marene, twin brothers Hollis and Wayne Hobard and scientist Bryndon Smith. Discovering a set of armours which have developed tremendous resistance to radiation, the six put on the armours to defend a town of survivors from the people preying upon them, then set out to explore the worldwide devastation, battling giant monsters, mole men and Atlanteans (Atlanteans are the recurring enemies, believe it or not). Along the way they find a pair of dalmations which have been mutated to a tremendous size and they become the heroes' steeds (with a litter of pups promising more giant dogs to come). The stories are fairly typical of DC's adventure hero team books and, settting aside, are much like Challengers of the Unknown. The best thing about the series is Anderson's luscious artwork; he made the post-apocalyptic world look like a storybook.

The "Gods Return" section has a few problems. It opens with Jack Kirby's Atlas story from First Issue Special #1. I don't know who decided this was a post-apocalyptic tale, because it strikes me as a story set in the distant past as it is basically Kirby doing a Conan adventure. It never connects to the continuity of the other tales in this book and ends on a cliffhanger to boot; I love Kirby, but it doesn't really belong here. The remainder of the section is devoted to the 12-issue run of Hercules Unbound from 1975-1977. It opens with World War III causing Hercules to be set free from an island where he'd been chained up for several thousand years. Hercules ventures into a world of mutants and battles Ares, who lords over the mayhem. The first six issues are by Gerry Conway and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and it's a decent enough series (though the World War III timeline in Hercules doesn't actually fit the Atomic Knights', despite what continuity nerds have established).

Conway & Garcia-Lopez left after #6 and in came David Michelinie as writer for #7-9, then Cary Bates for #10-12 with Walter Simsonson on art for the remainder. Initially, Simonson was inked by Wally Wood who seriously overpowered Simonson's pencils. It's notable particularly in Wood's ever cleavage-happy females, who don't look remotely like Simonson's women. Layton inked one issue but finally Simonson took over full art for the last two issues and they look pretty much as you'd expect; it's big, glorious Simonson art with gods at war. These latter issues are also where the continuity tie-ins come in - issue #10 guest stars the Atomic Knights (providing the cover for this Showcase collection) and picks up a dangling contintuity matter from OMAC.

The "More Tales of the Post-Apocalyptic World" section has a bunch of man-animals back-up strips from Kamandi - no idea why they're here when Kamandi is otherwise absent. There's also a stray "Day After Doomsday" tale.

Finally, the "Alternate Endings" section. This opens with a Superman/Atomic Knights team-up story from a 1983 issue of DC Comics Presents. Like the earlier Superman story, it's a bit problematic. In this, Superman meets the Gardner Grayle of his own reality, who turns out to be a soldier in a virtual reality machine. The story claims that all of the Atomic Knights stories (and Hercules Unbound) were merely delusions of Gardner's atomic war-obsessed brain. Superman enters this virtual reality and makes various cutting remarks at how unbelieveable the Atomic Knights' world is (as if believability ever stood for anything in the DC Universe; your rogue's gallery includes a giant ape with Kryptonite eyebeams, Supes!). Heck, part of Superman's case against the Atomic Knights is that their Hercules has the wrong hair colour (horrors! I hope someone was arrested over it!). The story is, ultimately, an attempted deconstruction of the Atomic Knights. In the climax, Gardner sums up what appears to be the authors' view of the Atomic Knights:

"This whole project was misguided from the start -- trying to figure out how to live in a post-holocaust world... how to keep making war in it! To believe that civilization can continue in the face of that cataclysm is a fantasy... a fantasy as monumentally false as the one you helped me to give up here today! The task before mankind isn't to survive an atomic war! It's to work in this world we're living in to make certain such a war can never begin!"

Yeah! In your face, speculative fiction authors! Hang your heads, Broome and Anderson! You have been scorched by the creators of Blue Devil! Of course, the weird thing is that Kamandi still existed in the DC Universe after this story. And OMAC. More amusingly, the true holocaust of 1986 at DC Comics would be the event Crisis on Infinite Earths, another attempt by DC continuity geeks to force the entirety of DC Comics to "make sense," but instead created problems which persist to this day. Forget about learning how to stop atomic war - DC needed to learn how to survive publishing ennui.

The book concludes with a text piece written by continuity chairman Paul Levitz for the Amazing World of DC Comics at a time when Hercules Unbound was still being published. In it, Levitz tries to make sense of the "Great Disaster" continuity, using various notes from Kirby and Conway about where their series fit in, but it includes details which never made it to the comics (Levitz claims World War III in Hercules Unbound was started by Darkseid; Cary Bates would later make it the "anti-gods").

As a whole, this is a decent enough collection; the Atomic Knights were fun and Hercules Unbound is interesting, especially when Simonson enters. "The Day After Doomsday" stories were good - but the other continuity detritus surrounding this book would've been better excised. There is ultimately something very sad about reading pre-Crisis stories which were so, so obsessed with continuity matters which Crisis would ultimately render moot. To this day, DC seems determined to seek out stories which have their own continuity or personality and stamp it out until those stories conform to the line-wide narrative.

My 10 Favourite Moments from Star Wars #51-52

With that new Star Wars thing happening, I've consciously blogged a little about the franchise - about how I first saw the prequels and a six-part series about Roy Thomas & Jaxxon in the Marvel Star Wars comics (part 1; part 2; part 3; part 4; part 5; part 6).

One more blog post idea came to me: why not list my 10 favourite moments from the Marvel Star Wars comic? The problem was, so many of those moments came from the two-part "Tarkin" story in issues #51-52, as written by David Michelinie and drawn by Walter Simonson. The obvious solution? My Top 10 Favourite Moments from Star Wars #51-52!

#1: A Walk to the Airlock

David Michelinie took over Marvel's Star Wars from Archie Goodwin shortly after The Empire Strikes Back. He seemed eager to incorporate ideas from that film into the Marvel series and among these was the constant abuse Darth Vader inflicted on his Imperial officers. In this sequence, a disappointed Vader orders his subordinate to take a walk - out the nearest airlock. It's darkly humourous, as the sequences in Empire had been.

#2: Lando the Loathed

One of Michelinie's challenges would be adding Lando Calrissian to the series. Michelinie didn't get to write Han Solo and was instead stuck with the guy who betrayed him - a betrayal felt by many of the children who watched the film to judge from anecdotes shared by Lando's actor (Billy Dee Williams). Michelinie put that into play in the series: Lando would have to earn the trust of the other characters and that was one of the subplots in #51-52.

#3: Leia Doesn't Know Her Own Strength

In a very amusing scene, Luke and Leia need to obtain a set of uniforms to impersonate contractors toiling on the new Imperial weapon. Leia attempts the old trope of trying to seduce a man, only to find it backfire somewhat when the man is way too willing. Amusing moments and fun dialogue are peppered throughout these two issues and help make it feel like a story set in the same universe as the films - which, in case you've forgotten, have a lot of pretty funny moments, many of them derived from toying with familiar tropes.

#4: The Tarkin Superweapon

Walter Simonson went all-out with his design for the Tarkin weapon, a duplicate of the Death Star's superlaser weapon. It's not very Star Wars-ish in design, looking more like something which might bedevil some anime heroes, but it's an instantly impressive visual. And, as has been circulated many times, originally Michelinie meant for it to be a 2nd Death Star but was prevented by LucasFilm.

#5: The Conspiracy to Kill Darth Vader

Given the above noted sequences of Vader killing his subordinates, the idea of a conspiracy within the officers' ranks to have him killed makes perfect sense. It's not only a great cliffhanger reveal for issue #51, it provides great complications in #52 as the attempts to kill Vader inadvertently aid the Rebels.

#6: Stormtrooper Tossing

In another fun scene, Chewbacca has to shut down a shield generator on the Tarkin, much as Obi-Wan Kenobi did in the first film. Of course, this is Chewie we're talking about - he's not big on subtlety. Hence, he lobs a Stormtrooper at the generator to smash it up!

#7: Vader Walks on Air

The officers' best effort at killing Vader occurs when they blow open an airlock hatch, blasting Vader into space. And then... Vader calmly walks back inside. And he knows exactly what just happened. You come at the king, you best not miss.

#8: Lando the Loquacious

Micheline happened upon a great idea for how to make Lando work in the series ensemble without simply being a clone of Han Solo. Lando's best-identified skill under Michelinie is his love for subterfuge. Unlike Han (who audibly noted his displeasure for "sneaking around" once), Lando enjoys matching wits, bluffing and lying to his enemies. As the series would progress, Michelinie's eventual replacement Jo Duffy would make Lando's sneaky tactics even more fun and useful to the Rebels' plans.

#9: Bluffing the Stormtroopers

In the original Star Wars, the escaping Rebels had to reach their ship despite it being surrounded by guards; thankfully, a Jedi duel broke out to distract the Stormtroopers. This time, they have to create their own diversion and Luke manufactures one by hurling a makeshift grenade. Except, it's not a grenade - it's two comlinks tied together, as one of the Stormtroopers subsequently discovers. Easily the funniest moment in the two-parter.

#10: Instant Asteroid Field - Just Add Water!

Finally, as in Star Wars we have Darth Vader in his TIE Fighter and a clash with the Millennium Falcon. This time, it's the Falcon being pursued, but Luke comes up with an extremely clever trick: dump the ship's water supply! The water freezes into giant clusters of ice and appear too quickly for Vader to dodge. He has time to remark, "Well done, young Skywalker!" before the ice smashes his craft out of the pursuit.

You can buy issue #51 from Comixology right here and issue #52 here.

Not So Long Ago 6: Aftermath

In Star Wars #8 a fan letter was printed in which a Star Wars fan - someone in love with a film which had only come out exactly two months prior - raked writer Roy Thomas over the coals for everything he felt Thomas had done wrong in his adaptation of the film. "Roy's adaptation is, to say the least, horrendous," he remarks. "Why he can't spell 'Wookie' right is beyond me." Not content with this display of his superior knowledge the fan continued with personal insults: "I think fame has gone to the Thomas head so that he thinks he can do whatever he wants." He also took aim at Chaykin because his art "seemed as if it were just hacked out and not given the time he could have given it." Editorial responded to the letter by pointing to the close collaboration between Thomas, Chaykin & LucasFilm and that, in fact, "Wookiee" was the correct spelling.

In a way, this letter explains some of the reactions to the character of Jaxxon - that is, it explains fandom's reaction. Speaking as someone who spent eight years toiling on projects such as The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, obsessed fans like to identify what the boundaries of a fictional universe are; not only are they bothered by what they thought were continuity errors in Thomas' adaptation of Star Wars, they expect additions to the fictional realm to fit in and not unduly upset what came before. To pluck a figure from the later Star Wars "Expanded Universe" (more on that below), Dash Rendar* "fits in" with the Star Wars cast, so far as the fans are concerned; Jaxxon** does not.

Although Star Wars' letters page disappeared for a few months after Thomas left, robbing us of most contemporary reactions to the story, there are few traces to be found in letters from later in the series run, as in this excerpt from a letter in issue #19:

"Separate our gang of Star Warriors and show their separate adventures. After those horrible issues with Han Solo and Chewbacca, I can understand why you might not want to do that..."

In his Alter Ego interview, Thomas delved into why he quit Star Wars so abruptly; in fact, Jaxxon played a major part:

And then one day I got this phone call from Charlie Lippincott [Lucas' right-hand man]. He informed me that George was unhappy with the way the storyline was going. I reminded Charlie that I'd cleared it in advance, but Charlie said that George thought that it was too close to The Magnificent Seven (who knows, maybe it was). What's more, George particularly disliked one of the Seven being a six-foot alien who resembled a green Bugs Bunny in space gear. In the latter instance, I had been "inspired" in part by seeing a Porky Pig-looking alien in the Cantina sequence, either in the rough cut or on some production sketches at some early point. (I don't remember if that alien appears in the finished movie, since that part of the film contained several 11th-hour inserts of other, more colorful aliens sitting in dark corners, and something may have been cut to make room for them.) I had figured my "green rabbit" Jaxxon wasn't really much weirder than a Wookiee, but obviously Geroge, as the creator of the Star Wars mythos, felt differently. I respected George and Charlie, but this line of conversation was beginning to annoy me.

No doubt a large part of Thomas' annoyance is that despite he & Chaykin being the creative team Lucas had personally headhunted to adapt his film, they received only the faintest of praise for their tireless efforts. Thomas was eager to be rewarded but received only complaints.

With Thomas gone his consulting editor Archie Goodwin stepped up as the new writer, with artist Howard Victor Chaykin replaced by Carmine Infantino. Unlike Thomas, Goodwin had serious chops in the realm of "space fantasy," having penned a few Flash Gordon tales in his day. Infantino was also a sci-fi veteran and while his unique style didn't quite gel with some fans (his Chewbacca was particularly off-model), he brought a consistency which the perpetually-frantic Chaykin had been unable to deliver. The Goodwin-Infantino team created most of the Marvel Star Wars comics 'til a few months after Empire Strikes Back, with Goodwin teaming up with his frequent collaborator (and fellow Flash Gordon fanatic) Al Williamson to adapt The Empire Strikes Back itself.

And yet, Goodwin did not sweep away that which came before. His first story arc picked up Thomas' Luke/Leia plot, sending the cast to a water world straight out of Alex Raymond. At the same time, he brought back Han's enemy Crimson Jack and sealed off that loose thread. Most surprisingly, however, is that in issue #16 he brought back Jaxxon, Amaiza, Don-Wan Kihotay and the Starkiller Kid! Goodwin did give the band a quick appearance in his first issue, #11 as they parted ways with Solo, but these characters took center stage in #16; there's almost nothing to be had of the series' regular cast, with Jaxxon and Amaiza serving as the main protagonists.

And you know what? #16 is mighty good! While #7-10 had its weaknesses, I have no reservations in recommending #16. Paired with guest artist Walter Simonson, Goodwin introduced a great new villain named Valance (who would go on to make two other appearances under Goodwin's pen, ultimately perishing in a fight to the death with Vader himself) who is after the bounty on Luke Skywalker's head. Unfortunately, the Starkiller Kid is so much like Luke that Valance's lead brings him after Han's former allies, which is a clever meta-commentary on the "wrong man" plot. Not only did Goodwin & Simonson give Jaxxon his own ship - "Rabbit's Foot" - which vaguely resembled the Millennium Falcon (continuing Jaxxon's status as something of a Han Solo parody) but they delved deeper into the Bugs Bunny references with Jaxxon menaced by men named "Fud" and "Dafi."

Thomas wrote a fan letter to Goodwin in issue #20, praising issue #16 and especially for using Jaxxon in a way which vindicated his beliefs:

When a writer (or artist, or wrieter/editor, or whatever) quits a particular magazine for whatever reason, he usually looks back in not inconsiderable horror at what "others" do to it later. ... Not so with STAR WARS, however. ... Not only has the Infantino/Austin art (and the Simonson/Wiacek art in #16) been fabulous, and probably just what the mag needed; but instead of simply ignoring or overturning the developments Howie and I had added in our necessarily interim issues #7-10, you added them to your own intriguing plotlines (such as the Water World) to come up with a series of issues after my own heart - and doubtless those of many others, as well."

... Naturally, since Jaxx the "Rocket Rabbit" was an even more beloved creation of mine, and since Amaiza was and is a great foil for him, I'm even happier with #16's story. ... Jaxx was developed almost exactly the way I wanted to see him turn out - complete to baddies with names (Fud and Dafi) that even I, the most cornball of space-opera scripters, would not have dared attempt. But you did - and you pulled it off! For some reason, I've always had an affinity for green things (as long as they were in comicbooks, not in a garden): the Incredible Hulk, the Impossible Man, and now Jaxx. My only request is that, if there's ever to be a series of Jaxx stories you don't write yourself, I get a crack at it. I was really quite fond of the fellow... and I'm even fonder of what you've done with him.

Thomas closed his letter by remarking on Goodwin's use of the correct spelling of "Wookiee" - evidently a criticism which continually vexed Thomas, as even 30 years after leaving the series he would still bring up the matter in Star Wars interviews. At the same time, another person wrote in about #16 to say (their letter in full): "Let's have no more of this."

This would be Jaxxon's last appearance in the series but he did at least go out in style. The Marvel series which continued under the pens of Goodwin & Infantino (and later, David Michelinie & Jo Duffy with artists Walter Simonson, Al Williamson, Ron Frenz & Cynthia Martin) laboured under different restrictions than the Thomas-Chaykin team; notably, Goodwin secured permission to use Darth Vader in his stories and was simply prevented from having Vader and Luke duel. Goodwin turned this into a clever plot where Vader sought the identity of the pilot he'd briefly faced at the Death Star, learning Luke's identity mere months before The Empire Strikes Back - which, whether Goodwin planned it or not, actually fit the continuity of the film perfectly.

Creators post-Empire Strikes Back had yet different restrictions placed on them with several stories being altered by LucasFilm's whims. I once mentioned to Walter Simonson how I thought his story with the Tarkin super weapon (#51-52) predicted Return of the Jedi; Simonson replied that he & Michelinie had originally meant for the Tarkin to be 2nd Death Star, but LucasFilm refused; when he asked why, they refused to say. Later, in #55, the rabbit-like Hoojibs let the Rebels make their planet their new base. Simonson told me the Hoojibs were originally supposed to be bear-like, but LucasFilm shot that down; when Michelinie & Simonson asked why, they refused to say. Simonson remarked that they began to have a pretty good idea of what would happen in Return of the Jedi simply based on what they weren't allowed to do.

Of course, the (ahem) dark side of LucasFilm came out in issue #46 when J.M. DeMatteis' pro-pacifism story was altered by LucasFilm, who demanded the story end on a coda which rejected pacifism, lest Star Wars fans think too much about the effects of violence; DeMatteis took his name off the story in protest and never wrote another Star Wars comic.

The comic book ended in 1986 and for a few years, very little was seen or heard of Star Wars. Gradually, it began to pick up steam in the early 1990s as new novels were published and as Dark Horse picked up the comic book license. This led to the Expanded Universe, a new construct worked on by everyone involved in licensed Star Wars stories which attempted to keep a consistent continuity between all Star Wars products. Some concepts from these new novels, comics and video games would even become part of the film canon as the late 90s brought about the Star Wars Special Edition films and prequels.

During the years of anticipation leading to the first prequel, a major cross-media event appeared called Shadows of the Empire, considered so important that there was even a book called Secrets of the Shadows of the Empire which delved into the project's development. In discussing the Expanded Universe and Star Wars' history with licensed projects, references were made to the Marvel Comics - and yet, of that 107 issue run, the only mention made of the series were disparaging comments about the first 10 issues: the Thomas/Chaykin run.

A notable source for early continuity glitches was the Marvel Comics series, which enjoyed a 107-issue run from 1977 through 1986. In those fledgling licensing days there was less creative control or direction for what often resembled an "alternative universe" to Lucas's saga. Campy creations emerged from the pages of those comics, such as Jaxxon, a pistol-packing six-foot green rabbit who teamed with Han Solo. The comics adventures generally had the Rebels on the run from Imperial forces, with stories revolving around the strange worlds and alien creatures encountered by the Alliance in its never-ending search for a safe haven. Sometimes even the main heroes seemed out of character. On the cover of issue 2, a rather vigorous Ben Kenobi and a husky Luke Skywalker are alternately slicing and blowing away some mean-looking aliens in some dead-end cantina. "Swing that lightsabre [sic], Ben," Luke shouts, "or we're finished!"

Well, history makes fools of us all. At the time those words were written, the architects of the Expanded Universe believed themselves to be participating in the canon of Star Wars, just as Thomas, Goodwin, Michelinie, Duffy, Chaykin, Infantino, Williamson, Simonson, Frenz and Martin had before them. However, in 2012 Walt Disney bought out LucasFim and the entire Star Wars franchise; overnight, the Expanded Universe (which, despite seeing some of its material reflected in the prequels also found the prequels in conflict with other matters) became kaput, its veritable head chopped off on the block as Disney planned to fashion its own Star Wars films with no heed for whatever the novels & comics might have said.

And thus, Disney brought the Star Wars license back to Marvel where the series relaunched in 2015 with a new #1. And sure enough, one of the variants (drawn by John Tyler Christopher) featured Jaxxon, depicting him eavesdropping on the Star Wars cast as they try desperately to hide from him. Star Wars' "old shame" had finally come home to Marvel!

Yet another variant cover appearance by Jaxxon followed, this time with Chip Zdarsky pitting everyone's favourite Lepus Carnivorous against Darth Vader himself! It seems now to be merely a question of when Jaxxon will return to the interior pages, not if.

In his Alter Ego interview, Thomas had these final words on Jaxxon, shaped in part by what he had seen the Star Wars franchise become in the 30+ years since George Lucas first chatted to him about his film idea:

I must admit that I felt somewhat vindicated years later about the specific reasons for my leaving when I heard about Jar Jar Binks in the fourth Star Wars film, The Phantom Menace. The negative reaction to that character by just about everybody in the audience over age eight dwarfed anything that George could've felt about Jaxxon the alien green rabbit. In fact, I'll bet Jaxxon would've been received far more favorably!

Thomas doesn't have any kind words for the Ewoks either. Heh-heh.

Thank you Thomas; thank you Chaykin; and thank you, forgiving reader, for journeying with me to the end of this series! May you find a Rocket-Rabbit in your happy hutch!

*= He's Han Solo with a constipated scowl.

**= He's Han Solo with green fur and rabbit ears.

"And so it came to pass" Sharaz-De: Tales of the Arabian Nights review

We live in a time where an embarrassment of comic book riches are available to us, not only the wealth of decades mined from the western world, but also the profit of the international comic book market; although for some time the Europeans distributed only so many translated materials for we English-speakers (ie, Tintin, Asterix, Smurfs), of late the likes of Blacksad have winged their way. Thus it is I find myself looking at Archaia's handsome hardcover book, Sharaz-De: Tales From the Arabian Nights by Sergio Toppi, a collection of Italian comics originally published in the 1970s (Toppi died last year just as this was published).

Drawn from the 1001 Arabian Nights, Sharaz-De adapts the framing sequence from the Arabian Nights featuring Sharaz-De (better known as Scheherazade). Ten stories follow as Sharaz-De herself narrates them to her husband in order to stave off her execution; the stories themselves are frequently tragic and violent, full of sex, the supernatural and divine retribution.

Although most of the stories are black & white, there are two forays into full-colour; one of them is a rare happy story, the tale of the man who outsmarts a djinn (better known as "the Fisherman and the Jinni"). Not only is the beautiful colour a welcome change, but with so many tales of men making foolish errors which lead to punishment, it's nice to find Toppi adapting at least one tale where a common man outsmarts the supernatural.

Archaia's collection features a foreward by Walter Simonson; a great creator, to be sure, but it wasn't until I experienced Sharaz-De that I understood his connection to the material - there's a lot of Toppi in Simonson's style. The first of the tales concerns a hunter and his falcon - one look at the falcon diving for its prey instantly brough to mind how Simonson visualized Odin's ravens during his work on Thor. Toppi's depictions of mystical winds and ornate clothing also bring to mind Simonson's work; every Simonson fan owes to themselves to seek out this tome to better understand his influences. It wouldn't surprise me to learn many other creators in western comics have been influenced by Toppi - I wonder if Toppi's cross-hatching influenced Barry Windsor-Smith?

Thor: 40 years of favourite moments

With the Thor movie already playing in some parts of the world and soon to find release in North America, I felt this would be a good time to talk about Thor's history in the comics, similar to posts I made about Iron Man and Hulk on Section 241.

Thor's publication history at Marvel consists of what I'd deem three great eras: the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby era (Journey into Mystery#83-Thor#177), the Walter Simonson era (Thor#337-382) and the Tom DeFalco/Ron Frenz era (Thor#383-459). I realize I won't get a lot of traction from fandom on the last example.

As such, my recommendation to the curious would be they track down copies of the Marvel Masterworks reprinting Lee & Kirby (albeit the early Thor stories - especially the non-Kirbys - are rather weak), the Walter Simonson Omnibus volume and what little DeFalco/Frenz material there is (so far the Thor vs. Seth arc and one volume of Thunderstrike).

So, rather than point you to specific trade paperbacks, I'm going to chat about my favourite moments in Thor history; many of these will originate in the aforementioned creative eras.

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Journey Into Mystery#116: Trial of the Gods

So far as I'm concerned, this was the story where Lee and Kirby really figured out how to make Thor work as a series and, generally, they didn't make many missteps from here on out. After numerous tales in which Loki bedeviled Thor by recruiting lackeys (who generally failed within 15 pages), this is where Loki began using his wits to make Odin destroy Thor for him; previously, Odin's problems with Thor were his own issues, but here, faced with Thor (god of thunder) and Loki (god of evil) accusing each other, the god of wisdom sentences them to face the Trial of the Gods, which will pit them against the most arduous environments of Asgard. Odin's such a tool it's little wonder he gave his son a hammer.

Naturally, Loki cheats on the test, but Thor's testimony still isn't good enough for the omniscient Odin, so Thor spends several issues trying to obtain evidence, then having to save Asgard from his wicked brother. At this point, the series flows seamlessly from one crisis to another, establishing a firm continuity which ran unbroken until 2004. Not too shabby.

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Thor#136: Jane Foster, Goddess

In the early years of Thor, his secret identity of lame doctor Donald Blake was torn by his love for nurse Jane Foster, assured by his father that no god could marry a mortal. Thor eventually gave up his secret identity to Jane and Odin conceded to let them wed; in this issue, Odin completes the affair by transforming Jane into a goddess, making her a fit mate for his son.

However, Jane doesn't like any of this. She's fearful of all the violence in Asgard, afraid of her own power of flight and altogether happier being a mortal. At her own request, Odin strips her of her powers and returns her to Earth, effectively removing her from Thor's cast; don't feel too badly for Thor though, since he meets a certain raven-tressed beauty from his past only a few pages later.

Jane was the only supporting character tied to Earth and her removal effectively dispensed with the need for Thor's secret identity (and yet Blake clung on for another 200 issues!). It would be years before Jane returned (briefly) to the series and not as a true romantic interest until the nostalgia-laden 1998 Thor relaunch. She's still part of the series now, but I think it was a gutsy move for Lee/Kirby to exile her from the series at its peak.

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Thor#278: Red Norvell

The entire Roy Thomas/John Buscema run from Thor#272-278 is an interesting one. Thomas, being the original fan-turned-pro, used the story to reconcile some of the differences between the Marvel version of Thor and the one from Norse mythology. Several characters who had been important to the myths but unseen in the comics appeared here for the first time. The plot concerns the events of Ragnarok, Twilight of the Gods, which begins to play out in a fashion similar to how it was described in the myths. Central to all of this is a crew of mortal filmmakers trying to make a documentary in Asgard. One these men - Red Norvell - is quite taken with Sif and Loki leads him into becoming an ersatz Thor.

Red Norvell is the first of many "replacement Thors," but unlike those who follow he's designed as an antagonist. The really clever part is that his red beard makes him a closer match to the mythological Thor than the Marvel hero, to say nothing of his wearing Thor's belt of strength and iron gauntlets. As Ragnarok plays out in #278, it's Red who faces the Midgard Serpent, the creature Thor was meant to perish battling. Red gives up his life in Thor's stead, granting him an honourable finish.

Overall, the Red Norvell story arc was effective at introducing more characters and themes from Norse mythologies, something subsequent writers would continue.

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Thor#300: the Celestials

In the days of Kirby Thor would face the likes of Ego, the Living Planet or Galactus, but managed to come off rather well. In this issue, the climax to a story arc Roy Thomas began in Thor#282, Thor tries to prevent the enigmatic Celestials from passing judgment over the Earth, fearing if they judge against the planet it will be destroyed. What follows are scenes of Thor at his most powerful, most dangerous and most heroic.

And it doesn't mean a thing. The silent Celestials take everything Thor, Odin, the Eternals and all the gods of Asgard can dish out and more or less ignore them. The ultimate solution to saving Earth winds up being an act of diplomacy, but Thor's hopeless efforts at withstanding the Celestials rank amongst his most impressive moments.

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Thor Annual#9: Just a Pawn

Boy, here's a story you don't often hear about.

In this special, Odin plays a cosmic game of chess against Dormammu, a demonic Dr. Strange villain who lords over the Dark Dimension. The result of Odin and Dormammu's game will determine the fate of the universe itself, so Thor refuses to remain uninvolved. Unable to strike at Dormammu himself, Thor breaks into the Dark Dimension to try and bring down Dormammu's sister, Umar.

Just in time, Thor discovers if he'd interfered with the game, Odin would have forfeited and Dormammu won; by honourably removing himself from the battle, Thor ensures Odin and Dormammu play to a stalemate. Only afterwards does Thor learn his piece on the board was represented by one of Dormammu's pawns.

I love this story; it's one of the few where Thor does the wrong thing for the right reasons, yet manages to keep me sympathetic to his perspective.

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Graphic Novel: I, Whom the Gods Destroy: Thor Faces Reality

Another tale which is seldom lauded...except by those who have read it.

This story breaks from a lot of readers' expectations of Thor, having him reject his godhood, engage in casual sex, speak in 20th century English and never face an antagonist. Dr. Blake is plagued with guilt when a patient dies on his operating table so he gives up surgery and godhood. Eventually he reclaims his hammer, but refuses to own up to people's perceptions of him, trying to enjoy life in the mortal world. All of Blake's refusals to resume practicing surgery eventually lead to an obvious finale, but it's enacted with a terrific sense of originality from Christopher Priest. If more stories with Dr. Blake had been like this, he wouldn't have been written out.

Christopher Priest has said while writing Power Man & Iron Fist he made a point of restricting Luke Cage's "jive" lingo, noting African-Americans were less likely to use such slang around white people. I wonder if he had a similar idea with Thor - to have Thor speak 20th century slang on Earth, faux-Shakespeare to other Asgardians.

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Thor#344: Loki's Neck, Meet Balder's Sword

Having gone through Hel itself during the aforementioned Ragnarok, Balder gives up on violence. However, when Odin assigns Balder to deliver a message to Loki, he finds himself facing an army of Dark Elves who have come to enlist Loki's neutrality in the impending war with Surtur the fire demon. Balder is forced to resume killing to complete his task, only to find Loki had already signed the treaty with Surtur. Balder doesn't take Loki's gloating at all well.

Of course, it takes a little more than this to slow down Loki.

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Thor#353: Never Trick a Trickster

Following up on the last entry, when Surtur's promised war with Asgard comes, laying the fate of Earth and Asgard on the line, Loki stuns Surtur by joining the fray on Asgard's side!

Even a god of evil has standards!

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Thor#355: the Mysterious Tiwaz

Following Odin's apparent death, Thor is tortured with grief. Encountering the giant Tiwaz in the frozen wastelands, Thor is nursed back to strength by the mysterious sorcerer. Recalling how his father often assumed disguises to test his character, Thor wonders if Tiwaz is yet another masquerade. Although Tiwaz, supposedly a hermit, demonstrates a surprising store of knowledge about Odin and Asgard, he repeatedly denies being Odin. The truth is much more surprising, yet Thor never learns it.

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Thor#356: Hercules the Good Sport

A gang of children belittling a classmate who idolizes Thor confront Thor's friend/rival Hercules and challenge him to identify who's more powerful: him or Thor? Hercules, always one for a grand tale, regales the children with an absolutely ludicrous fight against Thor which casts the god of thunder as cowardly and egotistical, along with various feats of strength which are just plain impossible.

Eventually, Hercules realizes if he continues his story in this vein, the Thor-idolizing child will be humiliated. So, he swallows his own pride and abruptly changes the tone of his tale, giving the victory to Thor.

Hercules' warmth and friendliness shines through in this story, clearly paving the way for his eventual series Incredible Hercules.

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Thor#362: Skurge's Last Stand

For two decades Skurge the Executioner was the mere lackey of Amora the Enchantress, showing up to lend a physical presence against Thor, as opposed to the Enchantress' efforts to seduce the thunder god. Enchantress' methods were unique in comics and she would frequently appear without the Executioner in other books; the Executioner was just another strongarm and seldom appeared in other books without the Enchantress. Adding insult to injury, while Skurge was clearly in love with Amora, he was helping her try to win Thor's heart, making him pathetic for believing she truly loved him.

Thor#360-362 changed it all; having been rejected by Amora yet again, Skurge joins Thor's mission into Hel to rescue mortal souls from Hela, goddess of death. However, an error by Skurge brings the wrath of Hela upon the entire company and Thor prepares to stand alone against the armies of Hel to give his comrades time to escape.

Skurge refuses to let Thor die for his blunder; he owns up his checkered past and constant humiliations, proclaiming he'll guard the Asgardians' flank as they escape Hel.

This isn't the greatest death in comic books; it's the greatest death in fiction. Uh, your mileage may vary.

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Thor#379: the Heroic Proclamation

Cursed by Hela with immortality yet unable to heal his wounds, Thor is in rough shape, donning protective armor to hold himself together. The Midgard Serpent seizes this opportunity to demolish Thor, hoping to alter the prophecies of Ragnarok in its favour. However, with the Serpent disguising itself as the dragon Fin Fang Foom and Thor in his armor, the two enemies don't recognize each other.

The moment in which Thor unveils his true identity is like something from mythology, as when Ulysses identified himself to Polyphemus; it's a terrific response to the simple query, "who are you?"

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Thor#382: Thor's Sense of Humour

Having removed Hela's curse, Thor visits Loki, who played no small part in his woes. Loki is aloof, knowing he and Thor will battle each other again and thinking Thor has no leverage with which to punish him. He's wrong.

But it's Thor's reaction to Loki's pain which is truly priceless, given Loki's typically dim view of Thor's intelligence.

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Thor#388: the Celestials, Redux

Attempting to save an alien world from the Celestials (who have already judged it unfit), Thor once again gives everything he has to combat them, even shattering Mjolnir in an ultimately futile attempt at halting their progress.

Outnumbered, overpowered and defenseless, Thor's response?

Yes, this is one reason why DeFalco & Frenz get a lot of rope from me. Go get 'em, Thor!

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Thor#390: Captain America is Worthy

This really belongs on a Captain America list, but...

At this time, Steve Rogers had been stripped of the Captain America identity by the US government, who gave the outfit to an obedient lackey. Now garbed as "the Captain," this marked Steve's first encounter with Thor following the loss of his identity. He has more bad news for Thor: their old friend Iron Man, then in the midst of the "Armor Wars" had turned fugitive and even struck Cap down from behind. Thor wonders if he can still believe in his old friend, thinking if Iron Man can become an enemy, even Captain America could have compromised himself. However, when Thor's attacked by some Egyptian gods and separated from Mjolnir, the Captain comes to Thor's rescue...and how!

Part of why I love this moment is the Captain doesn't suddenly adopt Thor's costume or powers - he just swings the hammer at a few of the enemies, then returns it to Thor. I love how secure the Captain is about himself and Mjolnir's ownership; he wields the hammer only long enough to return it. It's a terrific bonding moment.

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Thor#436: the Absorbing Man's Spine Meets Thor

Ah, Eric Masterson. During the DeFalco/Frenz years, Eric served as Thor's new mortal identity, but unlike Dr. Blake Eric was a real person who had to share his life with a god. After Thor was exiled by Odin for murdering Loki, Eric was given all of Thor's power...but he had none of his friend's experience to draw upon. This led to comedic moments like this, as Eric uses Mjolnir to home in on the Absorbing Man...only for his cape to get in his way.

It's for moments such as these Eric earned his moniker "the Everyman Avenger."

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Thunderstrike#8: Thunderstrike the Bully

After gaining a heroic identity of his own - Thunderstrike - Eric's own book did an excellent job of continuing his story, placing him into situations Thor simply wouldn't work in. When Eric's son Kevin is held hostage by Bobby Steele, newly-wed to Eric's ex-wife, Eric believes only Thunderstrike's sheer might can get Kevin back. However, Kevin discovers Bobby is out of his mind from drug abuse and gets him to stand down.

Thunderstrike intervenes at exactly the wrong time, earning a stern rebuke from his own son!

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Thunderstrike#10: Taking One for a Friend

As a bank robber starts a crime spree dressed as Thor, Thunderstrike worries about the effect it's having on his friend's reputation. Unable to convince the public the thief isn't the real Thor, Eric takes matters into his own hands and impersonates Thor himself!

Although Thor's reputation is saved, Thunderstrike is still thought of as a knock-off Thor with little or no respect. But that's okay...Eric has the real Thor in his corner!

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Thunderstrike#24: Hoo boy.

In the climax of Thunderstrike's series, Eric takes the cursed axe of Skurge the Executioner to defeat Seth, Egyptian god of death. He wins, but the axe possesses Eric, rendering him dangerous and too powerful for the Avengers to defeat. Battling the axe's influence within his own mind, Eric, joined by the spirit of Skurge, purifies himself of the axe.

But he doesn't survive.

Just this year, Kevin inherited his father's powers in DeFalco/Frenz's new Thunderstrike mini-series. And the legend continues...

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Thor#85: Beta Ray Bill, Sole Survivor

With the decision to cancel Thor in 2004, Michael Avon Oeming was able to bring about the Ragnarok story to end all Ragnarok stories as every Thor cast member is brought to their demise. Well, everyone except for Beta Ray Bill, the alien hero from Simonson's run who had proved himself worthy of Mjolnir. Although Bill is prepared to die for his adopted home, Thor sends Bill away so he won't be present as Asgard dies. Thor's rationale for this is rather wonderful.

For all the sturm und drang present in Oeming's Ragnarok story, this little moment Thor and Bill share was, for me, the emotional core of the epic; I originally read it in script form months before publication and just seeing the words I remarked, "Oh, wow...this really is the last issue of Thor. They're going through with it."

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I hope you enjoyed this list; feedback is appreciated. I'd love to hear which Thor stories are your favourites!