365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 52: The Seven Effective Anger Management Habits of the Sith

Panels from Star Wars: Purge one-hot (December 2005), script by John Ostrander, pencils and inks by Doug Wheatley, colors by Ronda Pattison, letters by Michael David Thomas

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 51: The next movie can pretty much be two hours of this as far as I'm concerned

Panels from "Spy Girls" in Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures v.7 (October 2006), script by Ryan Kaufman, pencils and inks by Stewart McKenny, color by Dan Jackson, letters by Michael Heisler

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 50: Bounty hunters worship the lord of planet Fantagraphics

Panels from Star Wars: Jabba The Hutt: The Hunger of Princess Nampione-shot (June 1995), script by Jim Woodring, pencils by Art Wetherell, inks by Monty Sheldon, colors by Matt Webb, letters by Steve Dutro

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 49: Boba's not here, man

Panels from Star Wars: Infinities: The Empire Strikes Back #2 (August 2002), script by Dave Land, pencils by Davide Fabbri, inks by Christian Dalla Vecchia, colors by Dan Jackson, letters by Steve Dutro

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 48: In the Star Wars Universe, no one can shoot straight

Panel from Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi: Prisoner of Bogan #4 (March 2013), story and script by John Ostrander, story and pencils by Jan Duursema, inks by Dan Parsons, colors by Wes Dzioba, letters by Michael Heisler

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 47: Star Wars Bromance Week

Panels from Star Wars (1977 series) #17 (November 1978), plot by Chris Claremont, script by Archie Goodwin, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Al Milgrom, colors by Marie Severin, letters by Rick Parker




Panels from Star Wars (1977 series) #1 (July 1977), script by Roy Thomas, pencils and inks by Howard Chaykin, colors by Marie Severin, letters by Jim Novak




Panels from Star Wars (1977 series) #5 (November 1977), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Howard Chaykin, inks by Steve Leialoha, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Tom Orzechowski



Panels from Star Wars (1977 series) #6 (December 1977); script by Roy Thomas; layouts by Howard Chaykin; finishes by Rick Hober; inks by Bill Wray, Rick Hoberg, and Dave Stevens; colors by Paty Cockrum, letters by Carol Lay and Mike Royer


Biggs Darklighter
21 BBY - 0 BBY

Oh heck, I can't do this all week. Tomorrow: something normal.

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 46: Star Wars Romance Week, Day 8: Play it again, Han

Let's wrap up Star Wars Romance Week with the most iconic romantic moment of the Star Wars Originalogy! Well, after Jar Jar getting his tongue caught in a pod racing engine. C'mon, read along...you know how it goes!


And now, here's the same moment as seen in the comic book adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back!



Panels from Star Wars (1977 series) #44 (February 1981), script by Archie Goodwin, pencils and inks by Al Williamson and Carlos Garzon, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Rick Veitch
WHOA THAT'S NOT RIGHT now wait a minute folks, calm down. Nobody better blame scripter Archie Goodwin, because he is one cool guy. And also because one of the perils of doing a movie adaptation is that you have to work from a movie script that may not be final, or may not accurately reflect what will eventually be on the screen, in this case the galaxy-famous "I love you" "I know" quote. Especially since it was an on-set ab-lib by Harrison Ford:

"It was such a contest between George and I about whether that was appropriate or whether the audience would enjoy that line or not, to the point where he made me go to a test screening to sit next to him to prove it was going to get a bad laugh.... And it didn't. It got a good laugh. So it stayed in."

Which proves once and for all yet another famous Harrison Ford quote:

"George, you can type this shit, but you sure as hell can't say it."

Thank you, Mister Ford, for helping us laugh at George Lucas...again!

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 45: Star Wars Romance Week, Day 7: As seen on the Star Wars Holiday Special II

Cover of Star Wars: A Valentine Story one-shot (February 2003); pencils, inks, and colors by Paul Chadwick

Today in Comics History, February 13, 1864: Crocodile Rocks [Mrs. Crawford to Sleep]

from "The Crocodile Strikes!" in Captain America Comics #19 (Marvel/Timely, October 1942), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Al Avison, inks by Syd Shores and George Klein
What th' Sam Scratch is goin on here? For more info and crocobackground, why not check out this post from 2011? It wouldn't kill ya to look! Well, probably.

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 44: Star Wars Romance Week, Day 6: 01001100010011110101011001000101

Not all the entries for Star Wars Romance Week are about the galaxy's humans, of course. No, the strange aliens and other lifeforms of the Star Wars Universe, expanded or compacted, well deserve love, and in fact wasn't that what the Rebel Alliance was fighting for in the end? Yes, there are a billion love stories in the universe, and I've only shown you a handful (if you have a hand with five fingers on it, which not all beings in the universe do).

But I'm sparing you the (possibly fictional, but who knows with the Expanded Universe?) love stories of Greedo, Jabba the Hutt, or Yoda ("Just a boy am I, in front of a girl standing, to love him asking her.'" And this week we won't see (but we will eventually, because it is one of the finest Star Wars stories ever) the longing of George R. Binks for his lost love. Not even that time when Artoo had a rusty weekend on Zeltros with a automatic coffee machine.

Instead, please may I present the tale of the most selfless droid ever (with the possible exceptional Skippy the Jedi Droid, whose history you will also see here eventually): the droid who saved the Rebel Alliance, whose actions eventually led us to meet the Ewoks (please don't hold that against her), and who faced off (sorta) against Darth Vader himself. Please meet Ellie. She's Threepio's true unrequited love.


Cover of Star Wars (1977 series) #80 (February 1984), pencils by Ron Frenz, inks by Tom Palmer
Luke, Leia, and Threepio are on a secret mission to an Imperial outpost to contact Tay Vanis, carrying data tapes smuggled to him by spies in the Bothan system. "Ah ha!" you Star Wars-addicted trivia buffs may say, immediately understanding the reference, but don't spoil it for the more casual fans before the end of the post, won't you? That's where they encounter Ellie — technically known as LE914. And for somebody on the Rebel team, it's love at first ocular reception.


Panels from Star Wars (1977 series) #80 (February 1984), script by Jo Duffy, breakdowns by Ron Frenz, finishes by Tom Palmer, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Joe Rosen
Luke and Leia cautiously ask LE914 if she can locate Tay Vanis within the Imperial Base, while Threepio puts to use everything he learned from smooth, smooth Lando Calrissian.


Suddenly! An Imperial Stormtrooper! And wouldn't ya know it; he's the one Imperial Stormtrooper in this part of the galaxy who can shoot straight. Ellie pushes Threepio out of the line of fire in the electronic blink of an artificial eye and takes the laser hit herself, smack dab in the droid guts. Owww that's gotta hurt.


Curiouser and curiouser, as you might say if you'd managed to smuggle a copy of Alice in Wonderland into the Star Wars universe via the fabled and dangerous Dodgson run. Ellie's in a rare position as a data manager (really, just how odd is that?) and she's also armored like a battleship. If they had battleships in the Star Wars universe, which we've never seen, maybe because they don't seem to have oceans in the Star Wars universe. So that's two things they barely have ever invented: boats and wheels.


Luke and Leia discover a recording by Tay Vanis. Surprise! he doesn't have the secret data tapes anymore. He left them with his droid, just like Princess Leia did in the first five minutes of A New Hope. Geez, you people, has no one ever heard of email?


So go ahead, let's see if you can match wits and figure out where the important MacGuffin tapes are. They've been left with a droid, and we've met one new droid since the beginning of this story, so naturally Tay Vanis's droid must be...well, it coulda been any of a bajillion of 'em in the universe, but it does turn out to be Ellie 914. How very convenient.


Did you ever get the feeling that if Han or Luke or Leia just listened to what Threepio is trying to tell them once in a while, it'd cut down on their problems? No? Me either. Meanwhile: serious Leia is serious.


They discover Tay Vanis, who's already been caught, tortured, and left as a trap for the Rebels by Darth Vader, hence the "this scene actually does not occur in this comic but hey, it's pretty close" cover of the issue. Knowing he would be the rebel sent to retrieve the missing plans, Vader sends a pre-recorded, it's-not-live but-it's-Memorex holographic message directly to Luke: Skywalker has fallen into his trap, and now Vader will shut his trap.


Time's running out and the Imperials are closing in. Luke and company barely have time to escape themselves, let alone take the dying Tay Vanis with him. (geez, that boy is no good at dragging barely-alive people out of danger sistuations, is he?) But where are the secret data tapes? Vader don't get 'em, Ellie's got 'em/ Which, you probably knew all along but I just had too many misty tears in my eyes at this point to have predicted that sniffle


In fact, if you're not tearing up like a space baby without her space-bottle, then you're a better Wookiee than I am, Chewbacca-din.


I've poked some fun above in my usual way of talking about a story, but these next four panels are immensely affecting and powerful: Frenz, Palmer, and Oliver have all done a incredible job portraying Luke, Leia, and Threepio as they witness Ellie's self-destruction to protect her dying master and cover the trail of his secrets. The emotion in Luke and Leia's faces and bodies tells the story wordlessly. Threepio, of course, stands there, watching.


By now you probably have figured out that the eagerly-sought-after data tapes of this story were the schematics of the second Death Star being constructed in the Endor system. "Many Bothans died to bring us this information," Rebel leader Mon Mothma declares in Return of the Jedi, at the strategy meeting to take down that Death Star. She didn't mention the Rebel spy Tay Vanis. Nor did she mention the loss of a droid. But there are three Rebels — one in particular — who will never forget the sacafricie of LE-914.


To paraphrase Roy Thomas: "Even a 'droid can cry."

Flashback Friday: Fifty Shades of Jean Grey

Filling up Fridays: Fine Flashback Fosts Posts, re-presenting some of my favorite Comics Oughta Be Fun! entries that you might not have seen, or would enjoy seeing again, or maybe you're just going to go out to the pub tonight so you won't have to worry about it, see if I care...anyway, re-presenting a Bully classic originally published on July 17, 2012! (I was six then.)

Red

Yellow

Blue

Black

White

Green

Orange

Purple

Pink

Blue and Yellow

Black and Yellow

Grey

Jungle animal prints!

??!???

Can't make up her mind!

365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 43: Star Wars Romance Week, Day 5: Luke and Mara, sittin' in a space-tree, S-P-A-C-E-K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Page from Star Wars: Union #3 (January 2000), script by Michael A. Stackpole, pencils by Robert Teranishi, inks and colors by Chris Chuckry, letters by Vickie Williams

Today in Comics History, February 11, 1572: Queen Elizabeth I writes one of the most historically important missives of her time so that it can be later used in a comic book

from Catwoman (2011 series) #35 (DC, December 2014), script by Genevieve Valentine, pencils and inks by Garry Brown, colors by Lee Loughridge, letters by Sal Cipriano and Taylor Esposito