This was better than I remember the novel being. Well adapted,
and well drawn as well. A good refresher, since I don't want to
read the book again. The crystal is obviously what the title is
named after.
Luke and Leia and the two droids are on a diplomatic mission
to a planet with Rebel sympathies. But they are forced to crash land
on the next planet out from the star, not even within hailing distance
of the planet they want to go to.
They make their way to a partially walled city, where they discover
stormtroopers. The Empire appears to be mining on this planet.
Luke and Leia steal some miner's clothing, and go to a cantina, where they
fool the Imperials, and contact a strange woman, who seems to be attuned
to the Force. She presents them with a shard from what is called
the Kaiburr crystal.
Leaving the cantina, they attract unwanted attention. They
end up in a fight with some other miners, which attracts stormtroopers.
Luke and Leia are imprisoned, while the supervisor contacts his boss, who
recognizes Leia. He ends up called Darth Vader.
Luke and Leia are put in a cell with two beasts called Yuzzem.
The old woman appears outside their cell window, forty stories up (!),
and uses the Force to open their door. They escape, and take off
in the woman's all terrain vehicle.
They are not out of danger, however, as a giant worm topples
the vehicle and chases them towards a pit. Leia finds a ledge to
stand on, and the worm falls into the pit as it overextends itself trying
to catch them.
The ladder, however, is gone. The old woman recognizes
the pit as some sort of access tunnel to the native species of the planet.
They are spurned by the Imperials, and live completely underground.
Luke and Leia go look for an exit from the underground, and the
old lady and the droids go from above. Of course, they meet eventually.
But they are all captured in one way or another by the native species.
Luke and Leia manage to fight them off, which impresses them. They
challenge Luke to a duel, which he wins using the Force.
The natives agree to help this group of travelers ambush the
Imperials who are on their way into the pit. Luke can sense Vader
leading them.
They manage to outwit the Imperials, of course. It seems
that anybody with one blaster and several sticks and stones can defeat
a legion of Imperial troops. I have to admit, though, that even Vader
was unimpressed with this legion, and ends up killing their supervisor.
Luke and his friends find the crystal before Vader, and hurt
and chase away its guardian lizard. Vader arrives before they can
reach it, though, and baits Leia into a fight. It seems that he's
teasing her, because he barely spends any energy, while also just missing
her, giving her little scrapes. She doesn't actually do him any harm.
This, I believe, is different from the novel. I don't remember it
too well, but I thought she was made out to be his equal. Luke joins
the fight as well, and only manages to defeat Vader because the old woman
has retrieved the crystal for him. It seems that it has the power
to augment the Force ability. Why Vader is not able to do the same
is not properly explained.
They are able to escape, and presumably continue with their diplomatic
mission.
The art in this comic was great. I don't think I've seen
Leia drawn better -in that black suit, she was, um, beautiful!
This rendition was, as I remember it, much better than the novel
version, in that it toned down a lot of the relationship between Luke and
Leia, and their force powers and ability to fend off Vader. But I
think that's what is called hindsight, since it was more than a decade
since even Jedi came out in theatres.
I heard a rumour that the Kaiburr crystal could play a part in
one of the prequels. I'm
torn about that. It could bring the Force up beyond the magical powers
that it already has. I don't remember what happened to the crystal
in the novel, but here, the old lady seems to keep it.
by Warren Dunn, all rights reserved.
