I have a passion for collecting vintage Star Wars merchandise from the late 70's. Action figures, comics, trading cards etc - anything related to the first Star Wars movie. But why only until 1980? It's not that I don't love The Empire Strikes Back and beyond (I really do), but there is something about that first wave of Star Wars mania that really grips me, back when it was all fresh and exciting...

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Marvel #28 - Whatever Happened to Jabba the Hut?



No, that's not a typo in the title, Jabba the 'Hut' was how it was spelled back then. And check out how he looks!

This was the vile gangster's physical appearance in the early days, long before it was decided that he would be the giant slug we would see in Return of the Jedi.

This issue lets us know what Han and Chewie get up to after our heroes are split up in the aftermath of the whole 'Wheel Saga'. Setting down on a rainy planet called Orleon, they hide out in a cave which appears to have a few leaks. Jabba and his cronies soon arrive, keen on killing our heroes and taking their ship. During a firefight, Han and Chewie make the frightening discovery that their cave is infested with 'stone-mites' - a species created during the Clone Wars as a form of biological warfare. These critters secrete an acid that could eat through the hull of the Falcon.

Han has the great idea of burning the creatures off with some sort of 'de-icer' force field. Eventually, they blast through the rock which is little more than a shell now after the stone mites have devoured half of it and soar away to freedom.

Encountering Jabba's space-cruiser in orbit, Han and Chewie learn that their arch enemy is in a spot of bother. One of his crew members inadvertently brought some of the infernal creatures aboard and now the irate Hut has a hole in his hull. Escaping in a spacesuit, he begs entry aboard the Falcon and receives it only after agreeing to cancel Han's debt to him.

Meanwhile in the adverts... Marvel underoos! And a few other superhero goodies. A gold Cylon commander from Battlestar Galactica and a slightly odd ad for Chiquita Banana walkie-talkies and compasses.




1 comment:

Jimmy Porter said...

Jabba's "I'm a business man line" was the memorable thing about this story. I liked the persona he had here. What a disappointment it was to see him--and a lot of other things--in ROTJ.

I liked that Marvel split the team up for these separate adventures.

This was another issue I missed first run and didn't read until 1990 or so.