Our coverage continues of the Marvel Star Wars comics published between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi! In this episode, Jarrod Alberich The Yard Sale Artist joins The Irredeemable Shag to discuss Marvel STAR WARS #45 (March 1981), by Archie Goodwin, Carmine Infantino, Gene Day & Chris Stone! In this issue, entitled “DEATH PROBE”, Luke Skywalker battles to save the Rebel fleet from an infiltrator Probe Droid (… or a Probot?)! Finally, we wrap up with YOUR listener feedback from the previous episode!
- 00:00:30 – Introductions
- 00:12:40 – Guest’s origin with Star Wars comics
- 00:15:50 – Guest’s favorite Star Wars expanded universe character
- 00:18:10 – Star Wars #45 cover discussion
- 00:22:30 – Star Wars #45 interior discussion
- 01:01:05 – The Golden Plif Award
- 01:07:00 – Your listener feedback from the last episode
- 01:29:40 – Sign off
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Fun one. Going to be interesting to follow the lightsaber thread and see if they wait until the very last minute to take it away and explain it or if they address it later. I assume there will be lots of no-prizes about it and hope you monitor the letters page for those. (My attempt: found in Obi-wan’s possessions on the falcon, he had a spare in case he had to train the ‘there is another’ (Leia, but we don’t learn that until Jedi).) Better than the hyperspace Mjolnr option…
1. Rob does’nt know much about star wars be gentle
2. I liked JAXXON AS a kid
2a I figure a RABBIT May work in regular star wars…
3 A Green Rabbit says Marvel comics!
4. it’s not the Marvel UNIVERSE But it IS the Marvel multiverse the visable spectrum works differntly a LOT MORE GREEN (LIKE PINK IN THE TREK TOON)
Just think: if James Earl Jones received this issue as a Christmas present when it came out in December 1980, he might have read it and then commented, “I see you have constructed a new light saber,” before he delivered that line in Return of the Jedi. It’s possible, right?
Seriously, I’m really enjoying this podcast. I read some but not all of these comics back in the day, so I’m really looking forward to following along with all these Star Wars adventures, most of which will be new to me.
Sounds like great comic . I think I have said it my favorite Star Wars movie is return of the Jedi.
Here’s a secret question: which Star Wars character I’m watching red dwarf an old bbc sci-fi comedy that is still going here’s the main question who do think. In the Star Wars universe would watch red dwarf?
What an incredible issue! The cover is amazing, the title is pure pulp sci-fi. Death Probe! It was a Terminator before we had the Terminator. A mechanical nightmare of pure destruction. The only hope a Jedi apprentice and his plucky astromech. It’s actually the perfect follow up to the movie. The Empire is on the offensive while the Rebel Alliance is on the run, licking their wounds. Right off the bat Marvel Star Wars kicks into lightspeed for its greatest era! Except there’s no Han Solo so it sucks. Yeah, I didn’t read this one until at least a decade later as I cherry picked the issues of this era. My loss.
As I said in other social media posts, my theory on Luke’s lightsaber is he got it from Yoda. It’s entirely possible that shortly after the end of Empire Luke returned to Degobah to see Yoda. He probably didn’t stay too long, but Yoda likely provided some more training and a lightsaber. Either his own, or perhaps one from a fallen Jedi he acquired after The Clone Wars.
As for Luke using his blaster to propel himself through space. In the movies, the blasters do appear to have a bit of kick back when fired, so that would provide some momentum in the void of space.
Finally, to answer your question about my favorite Star Wars film. That would be the original Star Wars. It’s just pure fun and entertainment. I completely understand why most fans feel Empire is the best film in the series, but for me it can never attain first place for one reason. It’s not a complete movie in and of itself. It relays to heavily on what came before, and it leaves you hanging in what is to come. It is literally a bridge between two points. It’s a beautiful bridge, a landmark like The Golden Gate, but it collapses without it support struts.
I definitely say ProBot. (I always thought Probe Droid was the floating thing with a hypodermic needle Darth brings into Leia’s prison cell in Star Wars,)
I did not read these books but I am listening because the topic is fascinated. I have to imagine the whole thing in my head! I did read a smattering of Star Wars comics so I can get the Infantino visual vibe. And I can remember loving Jaxxon.
It is interesting to see these creators trying to figure out the frontier of Star Wars. Lifting R2 and slowing his heart rate! The Force must be strong in him!
Great fun discussion from you both!
Another great episode, Shag, with one of my Top 20 favorite guests!
I almost laughed when Jarrod talked about struggling to capture Mark Hamill’s likeness whenever he sketches Luke Skywalker. There absolutely is something undefinably atypical about his face. Kenner and Hasbro have made a hundred Luke Skywalker action figures, and none of them have been able to capture Hamill’s likeness correctly, despite their new-ish photo-real face printing technology. It’s almost become a joke amongst Star Wars toy collectors, so to hear Jarrod bring up the same phenomenon in a different medium is funny to me.
Also, speaking of action figures, I have that Jaxxon action figure he mentioned. It’s glorious.
Andrew Leyland week 1? The yardsale artist in week 2? You’re off to a great start with these 2 as guest hosts! 2 of my favorite podcast personalities teaming up with my other favorite, Shagg.
I really enjoy these stories from before when we knew what exactly was going in the Star Wars universe. The art, not so much. I agree with Shagg. Infantino was great on super heroes, but I’m not a fan of his Luke Skywalker or his R2. I dug the fun stand alone story. Just action from the word go. Keep up the good work and I look forward to the next installment and remember… Morts Rock
I like the ship in this one. It resembles the Corellian Gunship in the Weet End Games RPG. That was always one of my favorite. I assume they were both working off of Ralph McQuaire’s original Millennium Falcon design.
After the adaptation’s art by Williamson, I was kinda dreading returning to Infantino, but I really enjoyed it! There’s such energy and great storytelling. This felt like a chance to relaunch the series after Empire and get back into the swing of original stories. Lots of fun to be sure. I do agree that R2’s head is simply too flat. It should be perfectly round, but instead it’s slightly deflated, and looks off every time. But that’s my only nitpick.
So THAT’S how Jarrod got nicknamed Death Probe! That’s just too great! Now I just need the PG rated version of how Shagg got nicknamed Irredeemable. I’m too sensitive for the NSFW version.
As for Luke having a light saber, my no-prize is ridiculous and simple. The saber got sucked into the same tubes that Luke fell into, and it bounced around until coming to a stop, and in one of those off-camera moments, it got caught on Luke’s leg as he slid by and it stayed stuck all the way onto the Falcon. I’m sure all of those details simply got cut by an overzealous film editor. Yeah, that’s the ticket!
I’m enjoying this comic series a lot. Thanks for getting me onto it, Shagg!
Oh, I think there was a discussion about the blasters and cannons and stuff. They can’t actually be moving at the speed of light or we as viewers wouldn’t see any movement. They would appear as a single line from source to target, similar to how phasers in Trek appear. I think I read somewhere the suggestion that they’re more of a plasma beam, so they shoot superheated matter. But hey, I’m no expert, just a thought.
Really enjoyed this episode. Not enough Airwolf references but other than that, often genuinely funny. Interesting to hear Jarrod talk about likeness issues with Hamill. John Byrne has said the same thing about William Shatner – he’s apparently very hard to capture.
You and Jarrod were a blast to listen to, feeding off one another’s humor, going back and forth as you did, had me chucking through the whole episode. And you both may just have changed my mind about Carmine Infantino’s run on Star Wars. As a kid I was fine with it but as I got older I became somewhat critical of his time on the book. Hard to deny the energy he would infuse into his art though and I’m gonna revisit these issues with less judgmental eyes. Looking forward to future episodes and guests, and if 3-4 years isn’t too early… throw my name into the hat vying to join you for Issue #78. I would never pass up an opportunity to talk about Wedge Antilles.