Our coverage continues of the Marvel Star Wars comics published between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi! In this episode, Devin Clancy joins The Irredeemable Shag to dive into Marvel STAR WARS #50 (August 1981), written by Archie Goodwin with art by Al Williamson, Walt Simonson and Tom Palmer. The Crimson Fever is spreading… Luke Skywalker is dying… and the Rebels are forced to abandon their desperate search for the captured Han Solo. This super-sized anniversary issue deserves super-sized coverage! Finally, we wrap up with YOUR listener feedback from the previous episode!
- 00:00:30 – Introductions
- 00:08:55 – Guest’s origin with Star Wars comics
- 00:23:10 – Guest’s favorite Star Wars expanded universe character
- 00:27:40 – Star Wars #50 cover discussion
- 00:38:30 – Star Wars #50 interior discussion
- 01:49:15 – The Golden Plif Award
- 01:52:30 – Your listener feedback from the last episode
- 02:09:05 – Sign off
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Is there a gallery?
Sorry, John. We don’t do a gallery for this show. These are some of the most reprinted comics of all time, so they are commonly available, and I don’t want to risk the wrath of Lucasfilm/Disney. But if you check @empiretojedi on social media, I have been posting many images there.
Will do!
Thanks again for inviting me to talk about this book. So much fun!
One tangent I left out in my “origin story” was the reason I only had the droid action figures in 1980. My dad was staunchly anti-gun and had declared that I shouldn’t have toy guns. I’m sure he was thinking of me running around with realistic-looking full size guns. He was genuinely confounded by toy guns that were less than an inch long. That rule bent rather quickly as soon as I suffered the peer pressure of not having enough Star Wars figures..
LOL! Great story! And thanks again for being on the show! Had a blast!
My two cents, I’d say “go for it!” with covering the NPR radio dramas (I’d even say to do ROTJ, but hearing Shag’s comments suggests that it might move too far away from “Find your joy,” and so I wouldn’t push that too hard). If it seems outside the purview of THIS show, just do it on either “Once Upon a Geek” or “Give Me Those Star Wars.” They’ll still show up on my feed, either way.
You know who else lost an arm and got a nearly undetectable replacement? Dr. Ebenzan is probably just as capable of getting a cybernetic arm as Luke.
That cover for some reason hs Mad Magazine (complementary) vibes, like a cover before adding gags, but I don’t think there’s any creative overlap hrre.
You should totally do the radio shows because they are great. I’d even go so far as to I say when you get to the end, you should stretch into it slightly to cover Jawas Of Doom because I know someone perfect to cover that issue, should we both still be alive when you get there!
You undersold the cover of this masterpiece of comic art. I remember seeing that absolutely amazing cover in the sinner rack of The Walden Books at The Methuen Mall. (Boy does that sentence age me!). I was with my dad and younger brother when, there it was, right out in front as I turned the rack looking for which comics I was going to buy… and I kept right on spinning!
“You don’t want Star Wars?” My dad asked incredulously.
“Nah… it’s not as good without Han Solo in it!” I replied with smug derision.
“We’ll… who’s that?” He asked pointing toward the image of Han Solo in the background.
“What!?! How!?! He’s frozen!!! Captured!” I flipped through the book to make sure this wasn’t a hoax, an imaginary story, an out right lie! It wasn’t! There he was with his faithful Wookie companion Chewbacca. It appeared to be some tale from out of the past! Even longer ago in a Galaxy slightly less far away! (Assuming we’re in fact in an ever expanding universe! Star Wars issue 50 went into the group of comic purchases. Later when I got home and started to read them I grabbed Star Wars first, and skipped right to the Han Solo flashback tale. It was probably a few years before I actually read the rest of the comic.
Star Wars 50 is not only the pinnacle of the original Marvel run, it is a standout of ALL the Star Wars comics published. The creative team figured out how to celebrate the 50th issue milestone, include all the main characters, and make it work within the continuity of the films.
When I sold off my Marvel Star Wars collection in the late 90s, I kept issues 50, 70, and a few othe Han Solo centric issues. Over the years I sold those off as well, except for issue 50 which remains in my collection to this day. It’s one of my favorite books and is in a binder with several other comics of sentimental value, that can be grabbed should I ever have to evacuate in case of an emergency.
This was a great episode about a great comic.
As for the NPR radio series, that sounds like it would be fun to review. If you don’t think it fit here, you vould always do it in Once Upon a Geek
Thanks to Devin for the treasury shout out (yes, I listen to the show).
The kid that bullied him for not having enough Star Wars figures probably “grew up” to threaten Rian Johnson online.
The Star Wars series, always pretty to very good in my opinion, was really on a roll here, just one really fun adventure after the next.
Covering the radio dramas sounds like a fun, unique idea. If you do undertake this quest, check out the new book by Maria Jose and John Tenuto: The Star Wars Radio Dramas: Brian Daley and the Serialization That Saved NPR
Yes! cover those radio dramas. I heard you like things like Big Finish, so this bodes well!
Yes should cover the radio shows could do a format where play episode and talk about with guest at the beginning at end . You call it theater from Galaxy far far away . Just an idea .
The comic sounds great .
Here’s my secret question: let’s say some how you are able to send holocron cube in to Star Wars universe with some earth media on it
The following
On complete comic book run ,
Multiple tv series say five complete all of v counts as one just so you now , two Doctor who and two v books , and last but not least, Elvis Presley movie and one Beatles movie and one beach movie and other comedy the Star Wars universe needs to laugh more and I like the of Han flying through space singing beach blanket bingo theme song just to annoy chewi .
I’m all for you covering the radio dramas. Gives me a good excuse to track a set of them down and finally listen.
That’s interesting the Millennium Falcon’s gun turret didn’t get used in ESB or RoTJ. That never crossed my mind but explains why it was such a thrill to see Finn use them in The Force Awakens. And even better in The Rise of Skywalker when actor Denis Lawson returned to play Wedge one last time and they filmed him manning those same quad guns.
Thrilled to hear you both are fans of the X-Wing series of novels. I rank those books just as highly as Timothy Zahn’s contributions to the galaxy far far away. Zahn, Stackpole and Allston were tops in my book at writing Star Wars.
I reread the issue after listening to your podcast and I found it interesting you mentioned Simonson only inked his own pencils on the last page. But that to0 right panel with a closeup of Leia is about the prettiest we have ever seen the Princess in this Marvel series.
Great episode, as always! Devin was a terrific guest.
I realized upon listening to this episode for Star Wars #50 that I never commented on the episode for #49. Since that was Shag and Rob, it’s always fun having you two together. Great job on that one and the same for this one. However, what I appreciate most about this episode is Shag’s absolute love for this comic. We all have issues that were our “firsts” or have some special place in our hearts and I’ve heard Shag talk about this one before, but it was even better for him to have the entire episode to devote to why he has such passion for it. I will repeat, I still never really got into the Marvel Star Wars comics, but, darn, this episode does a great job of getting me to reconsider that decision. Thanks again for all the shared joy.
Since I came in on the later Micheline stuff and the Duffy run, I only purchased #50 as part of the epic back issue hunt my dad and I embarked on to get the whole set. Domina Taage was an interesting villain and I wish they’d brought her back during this series. I really, really like the Han Solo portion of the story, it has the feel of one of the Brian Daley novels. Great outer space adventure where amazing and often bonkers stuff happens. The framing story is good too, but I enjoy the Han and Chewie story more.
Agreed on the wonderful cover and story, worthy of the 50th issue of the series.
Side note, it seems like they didn’t have better photo references for the bounty hunters than they had for the ESB adaptation. It’s interesting how little photos seem to exist of Zuckuss and 4-LOM, in particular. I wonder if they were last-minute additions to fill out the lineup of bounty hunters in the movie. It could explain why two guys have insect looking heads!
Picture this. It’s a hot August day in the early ‘90’s. Summer break is winding down and my small Midwest town is holding its annual flea market.
Me being a Star Wars loving kid who had just fallen hard for Marvel Comics thanks to their trading cards just stumbled across a copy of Star Wars #50 in a moldering old long box that this even older moldier dude was selling. I had to have it and I reread that thing a hundred times.
Cut to a few weeks ago, I stumble across a repost about a podcast with a picture of that unmistakable, unforgettable cover to Star Wars #50.
Ya got me. I’m all in and listening from the beginning. Great show, loving it, keep up the great work.
Now to dig through my collection downstairs to find that comic. I’m overdue for a reread.
Here is what I don’t understand about Marvel’s Star Wars comic. I’ve heard multiple times that Star Wars was the comic book that saved Marvel during some very tough times. If that’s the case, why did it take them FIFTY ISSUES before they brought their A game?
I remember trying Marvel’s Star Wars a few times and being really disappointed. The stories were okay and I really didn’t like Carmine’s artwork. I could only afford 3 or 4 comics a month, so Star Wars didn’t make the cut. I’ll never understand why they didn’t hand this book over to a team like Gerry Conway (still can’t believe he is gone 🙁 ) and John Buscema. That I would have bought.
THANKS for another amazing episode. LOVING this podcast.