Our coverage continues of the Marvel Star Wars comics published between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi! In this episode, Brett Young joins The Irredeemable Shag to discuss Marvel STAR WARS #47 (May 1981), by Archie Goodwin, Carmine Infantino & Gene Day! In this issue, entitled “Droid World”, R2-D2 and C-3PO are on a special mission and must survive a droid uprising! The odds of escape? 25,215 to 1. The plan? Run! Finally, we wrap up with YOUR listener feedback from the previous episode!
- 00:00:30 – Introductions
- 00:08:30 – Guest’s origin with Star Wars comics
- 00:16:00 – Guest’s favorite Star Wars expanded universe character
- 00:20:55 – Star Wars #47 cover discussion
- 00:26:55 – Star Wars #47 interior discussion
- 01:04:55 – The Golden Plif Award
- 01:10:40 – Your listener feedback from the last episode
- 01:26:15 – Sign off
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Wonderful discussion, Shagg and Brett. My impression on the issue was simply “fun!” It gave the comic relief characters a quick adventure, a novel environment, lots of novel droid designs, and a chance for them to be the heroes of a story. Now yes, I consider R2 to be very heroic, but when paired with C-3PO, they fall into Abbott and Costello patterns, or should I say Beetle and Booster. That’s not a bad thing at all. I love stories with a light tone, and like those comic duos, getting out of peril along the way is part of the fun.
But the big thing: the restraining bolt comment. I really feel like Goodwin and editorial dropped the ball here. The whole point in A New Hope was that the restraining bolt was placed on the droid by the Jawas. They didn’t have one on the rebel ship, and if Luke needed a bolt to keep them, he wouldn’t have been removing it in the first place. I’m no expert on the entire lore, but it felt like the bolt was solely for “non-owners” that needed to keep droids in line. Droid are inherently loyal to their current master, either understanding their function or intrinsically in their programming. But boy, even that language isn’t great, but “master” is the word 3PO uses all the time, so I don’t know what other term to use.
OOO! Maybe it’s like Jawas are digital pirates, and the restraining bolt circumvents the terms of service on the droid! Or … maybe not.
It’s interesting how the R2 & 3PO are the first two Star Wars characters ever introduced. They set the plot in motion and were often a visual representation of Star Wars, including their placement in Marvel Comic’s Star Wars corner box. Yet, they were often pushed into the background. This issue gave them a chance to shine. They got involved in action and intrigue and lived to tell about it. It was a rather harrowing adventure for two unarmed droids who weren’t programmed for combat. No wonder R2 took up smoking. Fortunately his buddy 3PO helped him quit and warned a generation about the danger of smoking.
As for the retraining bolt issue, I wonder if that was a requirement of galactic law. Like a leash law. Droids are required to have restraining bolts in public. It would be just like those rebel scum to ignore the laws and let their droids run around a blockade runner unrestrained. Droids are A.I. and we all know what happens when A.I. is unregulated! Citizens! Restrain yor droids! Be sure to have them spayed or neutered as well… wait… maybe that’s what the restraining bolts are for!
I remember buying this issue off the stands. And while the cover is superb (whoever colored it really did a great job), I was disappointed it focused so much on the droids, because they were always my least favorite SW characters. Sure, they set the whole trilogy in motion, but I always thought them as SUPPORTING characters. But I get it, with Lucasfilm having so many restrictions on what Marvel could do with Luke/Vader, AND now Han is off the table, they had to find novel ways to keep the book going.
Re: the toys–I did have the Cantina set. I still remember my Dad buying it for me at Sears. It was a Saturday, and my Mom was working, so it was just the two of us at home. He had to work on something in the garage, so I sat off to the site and put the playset together myself. So many rubberbands!
I had a similar experience to Brett’s Xmas disappointment. My Great Uncle was very handy and had his own woodshop in the back of his house. He knew I loved Star Wars (this would have been 1979-1981 ish) so out of nowhere he promised to make me a wood playset of Luke’s “house” (his word). I was so excited! I’d have MY OWN CUSTOM TATOOINE PLAYSET! Every few weeks we’d visit him and he’d give me updates. My 9 year old brain pictured all those rounded buildings, with moisture evaporators, the whole deal.
Then we go there one week and he brings it out…and it’s a wood box, painted a shade of red not to be found in Star Wars in any way. It had some white detailing, making the whole thing look like a clown’s toy chest. NO ONE would mistake it for a Star Wars playset. I was crushingly disappointed. But, even at that young age, I knew I couldn’t show that so I put on the best fake smile I could muster, and thanked him.
I never used it in conjunction with my Star Wars figures.
I listened to this episode immediately after Brett’s beloved Philadelphia Eagles lost their home playoff game, so it was pleasant to hear the joy and excitement in his voice when I knew, at that moment, he was dying inside.
And when Brett mentioned artist Greg Land during his In-Stock Trades segment, I instantly thought, “Ah, Greg Land… the original AI artist!”
This was great episode .
And when you described the opening scene the droids theme was playing in my head as well .
Also . Add art carney and b Arthur charters to my list of favorite characters in the Star Wars universe.
I didn’t know b Arthur could sing .
Can’t wait to see what’s next
Happy life day !!!
Great episode. Although not as big a fan of Star Wars as some of you guys, in 1977-83 I was pretty all in. Had all the issues of this series and always enjoyed it. I did recall this one since it was so droid centric. I love the period you are walking through here – the “no Han Solo” stuff must have been a challenge for the creators. It always reminded me of DC doing the same thing in between Star Trek II and III.
Great episode as always! I’m really enjoying your discussions and how the comics provide new adventures for different characters every issue, within the confines of the filmmakers’ restrictions on what can happen in the comics. I also enjoyed your and Brett’s discussion of Star Wars toys.
I still remember the first four action figures I received for Christmas, which must have been in 1977 because I saw the original film for the first time over that holiday break. I received Princess Leia, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Darth Vader. No Luke or Han yet, but I still had enough characters to create some adventures, like a droid-centric or Leia-centric story, and Darth Vader as a villain. I eventually got all the other Star Wars figures, as well as all the MASH action figures, so I’m pretty sure at some point I used my action figures to create a shared MASH-Star Wars extended universe. Yeah, I had a lot of free time as a kid!
I had the audio cassette and read along book of this story long before I had the comic. In fact, I think this is one of the last of the 107 I acquired in the great back issue hunt. I like the occasional Artoo and Threepio adventure. That’s the nice thing about ongoing mediums like comics or newspaper comic strips, there’s enough room to highlight everyone. A few items: 1) you talked about how unusual Z-X3’s magenta color was and how it undercut his menace. The read along book had different illustrations than the comic and in those he’s a deep red color, which IMO is much better. 2) Just speculating, but Kligson’s cyborg look may have been an effort to visually differentiate him from Valance the Hunter, who had a more traditionally sci-fi cyborg appearance—even looking somewhat like the Terminator after some of his fake skin was blown off.
Every time I listen to this podcast, I ask myself what I was doing wrong with regards to Marvel’s Star Wars comics. I loved Star Wars and read both Marvel and DC Comics of all shapes and sizes at the time, so you would think I was the perfect audience for this book, but it didn’t click for me. I continue to come back to Jaxxon who was mentioned again during this episode. I remember seeing Jaxxon in his first appearance and I didn’t get the impression “tough talking anthropomorphic attitude” like Rocket Raccoon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or even Bucky O’Hare. I “read” him as Bugs Bunny. Don’t get me wrong. I loved Bugs Bunny, too, but he was NOT “cool” like Star Wars, so I quickly dismissed Jaxxon as the “big talking rabbit” and moved on. As I keep saying, this podcast is making me want to dive back in and read these comics, if I only had unlimited time. But to be honest, it’s more fun having Shag and his guests “read” the issues to me! Thanks for a fun show that I was not expecting to listen to, much less like!
What a great episode with a brilliant guest. That guy really knew his stuff about bunnies and the such.