Description

Star Wars Tales #10                Variant Comic
Featuring the Stormtroopers Photo Variant Cover.  Awesome!!
Editors: Philip Simon & Dave Land
Variant Cover by: Stormtroopers Photo

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise centered on a film series created by George Lucas. The film series began with Star Wars, released on May 25, 1977. This was followed by two sequels: The Empire Strikes Back, released on May 21, 1980, and Return of the Jedi, released on May 25, 1983. Then more than two decades after the release of the original film, the series continued with a prequel trilogy; consisting of Episode I: The Phantom Menace, released on May 19, 1999; Episode II: Attack of the Clones, released on May 16, 2002; Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, released on May 19, 2005; and  finally the epic saga concluded with Star Wars: The Force Awakens released on December 18, 2015; Star Wars: The Last Jedi was released on December 18, 2017. And Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was released on December 20, 2019.

Star Wars Tales is an anthology comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics, beginning on September 29, 1999, and completing its run on July 13, 2005. Each issue is 64 pages and features a few unrelated stories from various eras of the Star Wars timeline. Stories from issues #1–20 were retroactively labelled “Infinities”, placing them outside the Star Wars canon, while those of issues #21–24 were considered to be within continuity, unless labelled otherwise. References to the stories were made within the Expanded Universe, the entirety of which was deemed non-canon by Lucasfilm in 2014.

And now, Dark Horse Presents “Star Wars Tales #10”. Ever wondered what it would be like to be a stormtrooper? Working for the Empire, never sure where you’re going next, following orders without question, ready to lay down your life for the Emperor? Writer Garth Ennis and penciller John McCrea take us on a journey that shows in agonizing detail what it’s like for those troops in white. Also in this issue are New Zealand newcomers Christian Read and Chris Slane offering the story of a Sith Lord, a lightsaber, and a bit of innovation… This and much, much more in an all-new, action-packed Star Wars Tales!

Star Wars Tales #10 contains:

“Trooper”   20 pages
Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: John McCrea
Inker: Jimmy Palmiotti
Colorist: Brad Anderson
Letterer: Steve Dutro

The story is told from the point of view of an anonymous stormtrooper of the 501st Legion who boards the Tantive IV in the opening scenes of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope.

In the loading bay of an Imperial Star Destroyer, one of the stormtroopers silently prays that he will not be called upon to lead the boarding party. In theory, the explosion caused when the door is breached should cause the defenders to flinch and allow the boarding party to surprise them. The trooper knows better: every single time he has been on this kind of mission, the first trooper through the door was the first to be shot. He flashes back to his early adulthood, living on Greater Marianas, a rustic, backwater planet with constant dust storms. His father was a hunter who scratched out a meager living selling hides, and the young man grew sick of the dust storms, the vagrant lifestyle, and his father’s constant sermonizing about how freedom was the most important thing in life, and taking freedom away was the lowest act imaginable. One day, an Imperial landing party appeared in town and announced that the planet was now under Imperial “protection.” The young man’s father protested, and a stormtrooper shot him dead. “Pa had the freedom he was born with; the other guy had a blaster.” Seeing the end of his old life, the young man appealed to the Imperials to take him with them. The officer in charge said that he would have to demonstrate his loyalty to the Empire first – by executing a random member of the crowd. The young man did. “To me, it wasn’t evil. It was nothing more than common sense. A way off Greater Marianas.” The trooper then recalls the brutal training regimen that initiated him into the stormtrooper ranks: requiring him to kill his fellow recruits, or risk death in training, all designed to drain him of his humanity and individuality, and teach him complete obedience to orders, and to value victory over everything, including his own life. Back in the present, the entire unit freezes as Darth Vader appears and warns the Sergeant in charge that his men had better be up to the mission they are being given. With a tremble, the Sergeant assures Lord Vader that they are. The trooper hears the soldier behind him soil his uniform, “and I curse the day I ever joined the Empire.” He looks back on his life as a trooper again, as he became all but indifferent to the deaths of his comrades and the atrocities he was ordered to carry out, but he is brought back to reality again as the Sergeant selects him to go in first. As the boarding party prepares, the trooper prays silently, swearing that if he survives the next few minutes, then he will desert at the next opportunity and leave the Empire behind; perhaps he will even join the Rebellion, but the important thing is that he will be a free man again. When the door is blown open, the trooper is surprised when the theory works: the defenders flinch, allowing him an extra second to get through the door, and the first shot is taken in the helmet by the Sergeant entering behind him. As he rushes down the corridor, gunning down rebels, he rejoices that he’s alive, and thinks he will make good on his vow as soon as the mission is over. After the ship is taken, Vader is informed the Death Star plans are not in the ship’s main computer; the trooper then silently watches as Vader interrogates then kills the captain of the ship. “Seen that a thousand times before. Never seen it fail.” As the trooper searches the ship for passengers, “the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen shoots me in the face.” He falls and begins to feel cold, which is a bad sign given that the internal temperature of a starship is never cold. As the other troopers stun her, his vision fades to blackness. The last thing he hears is his squadmate saying, “she’ll be all right.” His last thought is, “But I won’t.”
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“Skreej”   8 pages
Writer: Mike Kennedy
Artist: Francisco Ruiz Velasco
Letterer: Steve Dutro

Tamtel Skreej is at an Imperial Information Center on the planet Tatooine. Skreej tells the officer behind the desk about how his ID and luggage had been stolen after he’d passed out drunk the night before. The officer suggested that a bribe might be the only way to get his stuff back quickly. Skreej walks out of the center fuming at the officer and calling him a “mercenary.” The officer is likewise fuming at the lack of bribe and called Tamtel Skreej a “tourist”. Skreej then goes to a local cantina in order to drown his sorrows. He asks for a pint, but is unable to pay for it and is beginning to panic when a friendly local pays for the drink for him. The local tells him that everyone can see he’s not from Tatooine because he is too clean, as even the richest locals have a layer of dust on them. The local then suggests that he buy one of his maps. Skreej realizes that the local saw him in the cantina just before he was robbed. The local tells him that he was drunk as a fish and that the lady he was with had to carry him out. The local keeps suggesting that the Skreej should buy a map, but Skreej continues asking questions about the previous night, eventually finding out that they left in a rented speeder. He then runs out of the cantina as the local yells back at him angrily, “Hey! Where you goin’? You owe me 8 credits! Lousy tourist…” After talking to people at every Rental garage in town, Skreej ends up at Randal’s Rentals, a cheap and sleazy rental garage. After pestering the proprietor Skreej finds out that the thief went to the Jundland Wastes and Jabba’s Palace after renting a speeder. Skreej then hitches a ride with a Swoop gang and ends up in Jabba’s Palace. After the Gatekeeper Droid refuses to let him in, Skreej gets in by hiding in a Jawa’s crate. As he infiltrates the palace he notices someone wearing his hat. Skreej yells to the man, who turns around, surprised that Skreej is there. The man begins to lead Skreej out of the palace, but Tamtel starts screaming about how his job has been taken from him. He starts yelling for security, but as Barada and a Gamorrean guard arrive, the man pushes Skreej into a hole marked “Rancor Chum.” The man then introduces himself to Barada as “Tamtel Skreej”.
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“Nameless”   8 pages
Writer: Christian Read
Artist: Chris Slane
Colorists: Matt Hollingsworth & Giulia Brusco
Letterer: Jason Hvam
Editor: Diana Schutz

Darth Sidious questions his apprentice Darth Maul to explain the story behind his new double-bladed lightsaber. Maul was ordered to the Jentares system by Sidious to kill the Jedi master Siolo Ur Manka. But Manka easily defeated Maul’s surprise attack, using only a wooden staff. Having fled, Maul regrouped and constructs his new weapon. In the next fight Maul surprises Manka, stabbing him through the back with the second blade. Sidious encourages Maul to name the weapon. However Maul does not want it to become anything more than an instrument of murder – and nameless.
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“A Wookie Scorned”   10 pages
Writer: Jason Hall
Artist: Christina Chen
Colorist: Dan Jackson
Letterer: Steve Dutro

Chewbacca feels that he isn’t being very much appreciated by Han who is in love with Leia. In the end Leia goes out with Chewbacca, and Han nearly thinks of going out with C-3PO…
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“Free Memory”   10 pages
Writer: Brett Matthews
Artist: Vatche Mavlian
Colorist: Michelle Madsen
Editor: Scott Allie

After R2-D2 fails to turn up for servicing, C-3PO finds him replaying the recording of Princess Leia’s message to Ben Kenobi on the CR90 corvette – Tantive IV. When C-3PO asks why he still has this ancient history clogging up his memory, R2-D2 plays some other, as yet unseen, messages. They feature: – a message from Han Solo for Luke and Leia just before he leaves Yavin 4 to its fate with the Death Star; – a message from Leia for Luke just before the imminent Imperial attack on Echo Base; – musings from Luke as he looks upon the Ewok celebrations at the fall of the Empire. C-3PO decides that perhaps R2-D2 does not need service at this time.
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Variant Comic is bagged & double boarded and will be carefully / securely packaged then shipped via USPS Priority Mail to ensure that it arrives to you perfectly and quickly.

First Printing
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Publication Date: December 2001
Format: FC, 64 pages, Comic, 10.20″ x 6.65″
UPC: 761568001105

Collectible Entertainment note: Variant Comic is in Very Fine to Very Fine + condition.  Beautiful!  Please See Scans!!  A must have for any serious Star Wars and/or Stormtroopers collector / enthusiast.  A fun & entertaining read.  Very Highly Recommended.

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