Star Wars Comics: Classic Star Wars #20, Tales of the Jedi: The Freedon Nadd Uprising 1

Yeah, not so many issues this week.  Marvel Unlimited is glitching at the moment and judging from the automated response I got to my complaint, I'm guessing not just for me - frustrating.

My Recent Reads

Classic Star Wars #20

Originally Published June 7, 1994

Reproduction of a comic strip from 1983-84

Writer: Archie Goodwin

Artist: Al Williamson

In-Story Timeline: 0 ABY

via Wookieepedia

• This is the final issue of this series and also the end of the newspaper strip.  Overall, I definitely enjoyed it.  None of the stories are canon but they're still fun - a romp through an imaginary galaxy.  I'm always up for that!  I suppose I can see why Star Wars didn't ultimately succeed as a comic strip.  It's kinda like the saga we know, yet it's not quite the same.  Close wasn't good enough.  Even so, the quality of execution is perfectly acceptable, on par with the Star Wars comic books of the same era.
• I still don't think I would have read it at the time even if it had been in my paper.  I've never been a fan of serialized comic strips, not even Spider-Man.  Others in my family enjoy them - my wife and my father bonded over Brenda Starr early in our relationship.  The only one that ever worked for me was the satirical Bloom County but I even found that one hard to get into until I read a collection.  Right, the story...
• A New Beginning continues.
• The glowing stuff is valuable spices.  Han and Luke manage to convince Raskar this is the "treasure" they were hiding, even though Luke had just discovered them on the sensors.
• The group manages to escape the planet, now with a hull full of spices for Raskar.  They head to Ord Mantell.
• Showdown begins.  The story ran from December 26, 1983 - February 5, 1984.
• The group runs into a band of bounty hunters, also after the reward for Han.
• Surprisingly, the turncoat Raskar comes to our friends' rescue.
• The Final Trap begins.   The story ran from February 6 - March 11, 1984.
• Vader sends an Imperial Probe Droid to the planet Verdanth in an ongoing search for the new Rebel base.  The Rebels send Artoo and Threepio to check it out.
• On their way back to Hoth from their adventures with the bounty hunters, Luke, Han and Chewie detour to rescue the now imperiled droids.
• Once in contact via the Probe Droid, Vader tries to extract the location of the base from Luke's mind using the Force.  Our man successfully resists.
• Meanwhile, Han and Artoo - mostly Artoo - figure out how to destroy the Probe Droid.
• Our friends finally go home and the series ends.

Tales of the Jedi: The Freedon Nadd Uprising 1

August 2, 1994

Tom Veitch/Tony Akins

In-Story Timeline: 3,998 BBY

via Wookieepedia

• We return to the story of Ulic Qel-Droma and his friends on Onderon.
• The Beast Wars are over and the new rulers of Iziz, Galia and Oron Kira, wish to purge their world of Dark Side influence by sending away the sarcophagi of the former rulers: Queen Amanoa and Freedon Nadd.
• However, during the ceremony, a group of "Naddists" attack, stealing the sarcophagi.
• The word sarcophagi, the proper plural of sarcophagus, is used numerous times in the text.  This pleases me greatly.
• Master Arca and Ulic go to King Ommin, Galia's father, long confined to life-support, for help.
• It turns out, Ommin isn't so helpless at all and his own sympathies lie with the Dark Side, not the Light.  He rises from his bed and kidnaps Arca.
• Ulic and Galia return to Iziz to discover the Naddists have taken over.  They and their friends retreat and call out to the Republic and the Jedi for help.
• Among those who respond to the call are Master Thon and Nomi.  And so, the two previous threads of Tales of the Jedi come together.
• While officials on Corsucant debate their own response to the crisis, Satal and Aleema Keto, heirs to royalty in the Empress Teta system, steal Dark Side relics from the Galactic Museum.
• Together, they head to Onderon themselves, though they intend to take up with the baddies.