Monday, June 28, 2021

Star Wars Comics: X-Wing Rogue Squadron #11-14, Devilworlds #1, Shadows of the Empire #5-6

My Recent Reads

X-Wing Rogue Squadron #11: Battleground: Tatooine, Part 3
Originally Published August 14, 1996
Writers: Michael A. Stackpole and Jan Strnad
Artist: John Nadeau
In-Story Timeline: 4 ABY

  • The Twi'lek Firith Olan is the only one who knows where Jabba the Hutt kept his hidden cache of stolen Imperial weapons.
  • Rogue Squadron is eager to find the cache before either the Imps or the gangsters get their hands on them first.  Thus, Olan is a key figure in their plans.

X-Wing Rogue Squadron #12: Battleground: Tatooine, Part 4
September 11, 1996
Stackpole and Strnad/Nadeau
  • A troop of Imperial Special Forces soldiers, betrayed by the Imperials in the last issue, team up with Rogue Squadron in order to find the cache of weapons and stick it to the bad guys.
  • The story arc concludes.  The good guys win.
  • Winter and Tycho smooch.  They've been building up to this for a while.
  • Wedge finds a new gig for Elscol.  She'll lead a liberation army on Tatooine, armed with the newly recovered weaponry.

X-Wing Rogue Squadron #13: The Warrior Princess, Part 1
October 1, 1996
Stackpole and Scott Tolson/Nadeau

  • Surprise!  Rogue pilot Plourr is a princess!
  • Eiattu 6 wants her back to help bring peace to her war-ravaged planet.
  • Understandably, she's a little uneasy about the prospect.  Last time she was there, she narrowly escaped the murder of the entire royal family.
  • She also is promised in marriage.

X-Wing Rogue Squadron #14: The Warrior Princess, Part 2
December 1, 1996
Stackpole and Tolson/Nadeau
  • Plourr's betrothed, Count Rial, isn't such a bad guy.  He's a good pilot, too.  He helps Rogue Squadron in a scrap with the Imperials.
  • What are the Imperials doing on Eiattu 6 anyway?
  • We meet Harran, Plourr's brother and leader of People's Liberation Batallion who are not so keen for the old power structure to be reinstated.
  • Actually, Plourr feels the same and she tells the nobles she's not inclined to support their return to dominance.
  • Harran, meanwhile, is not the altruist he seems - more inclined to play everyone off of each other for his own self-interest.

Classic Star Wars: Devilworlds #1
August 21, 1996
Stories previously published in Marvel UK's Star Wars magazine
Writers: Alan Moore, Steven Moore and Steve Parkhouse
Artists: John Stokes and Alan Davis
Multiple eras

  • This issue collects four stories from the UK's fan mag:
    • "Dark Lord's Conscience"
    • "Dark Knight's Devilry"
    • "The Flight of the Falcon"
    • "Blind Fury!"
  • Yes, the writer noted above is the Alan Moore, he of Watchmen, V for Vendetta, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, etc.  He wrote the first and fourth stories in the collection.
  • The stories are good but not exceptional.  "The Flight of the Falcon" offers an alternate story for how the Millennium Falcon comes into Han Solo's possession - non-canon, obviously.

Shadows of the Empire #5
September 4, 1996
John Wagner/Kilian Plunkett
3.5 ABY

  • Lando saves Luke from bounty hunters and they get away in the Falcon.
  • Leia is falling for Xizor but Chewie helps her come to her senses.
  • Chewie gets away but now Leia is being held captive.
Shadows of the Empire #6
October 1, 1996
John Wagner/Kilian Plunkett
3.5 ABY

  • The boys rescue Leia and destroy Xizor's castle.
  • Vader learns that Xizor was the one who placed the second, death bounty on Luke.  Displeased, Vader destroys Xizor's, presumably killing him as well.  (Worth noting, it is his last appearance in the timeline - so far).
  • Boba Fett fends off his competing bounty hunters and successfully delivers the frozen Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt.
  • The Shadows of the Empire story ends just in time for the events of Return of the Jedi to begin.

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