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Released by: Dark Horse Comics
Released on: Apr. 16, 2014
Skywalker and Solo set out to rescue both Anakin and Leia, leaving her younger royal brothers Biggs and Windy at the far outpost of Lars. Anakin, meanwhile, is trying to escape when the wookie village when he encounters the fiercest one of them - but he's interested in following Starkiller rather than stopping him. Since he was saved by Anakin he won't now leave his side even as he and Artwo get out of the village.
They soon all encounter each other and Solo is able to translate what the wookie - Chewbacca - is saying, that he owes a great debt to Anakin and that his people believe him to be a god. Luke just shakes his head while Solo laughs. Together, then, they find the Imperial outpost where Leia is most likely being held. They mount a joint attack, with General Skywalker providing some better logistics to the wookies who've been trying to fight the Imperials since they arrived. Their attack is a sort of success as they route the forces but only to learn that not only is the princess not there - captive on a ship that departed quite recently - but, also, that her younger brothers have been also captured by the Imperial forces.
Anakin thus sets out in disguise as a “skyraider†to board the ship holding Leia while Luke stays behind to teach the wookies how to fly the Imperial fighter ships. Meanwhile, Leia finds that her captor is Darth Vader who looks and acts like an old Hollywood movie Nazi, sadistically torturing her and laughing maniacally.
The wookies are able to stop the Imperials taking her brothers and Threepio away and at least are able to rescue them. Luke's training efforts are yielding some surprising results, and Anakin boards the Imperial ship and with that info Luke's ready to lead his freshly-trained pilots into battle to rescue Leia.
This is issue 7 of 8 of this adaptation of the original rough draft for Lucas' franchise-establishing film. As a lifelong fan of that series this has been a fun take on it all, getting to see where the story came from and what it turned into eventually. More of Lucas' influences are on display here, too, really teased out in this dramatization by Jonathan Rinzler and excellent portrayed by Mike Mayhew's artwork. Also, the covers in this series have been really outstanding, too. This is a real treat for long-time Star Wars fans and very much worth picking up.
