Description

Star Wars Tales #16                                                 Comic
Featuring the revelation of how the Dagobah cave, in The Empire Strikes Back, became a place tainted with the malevolent energies of the dark side of the Force.  Awesome!!
Editors: Philip Simon & Dave Land
Cover by: Ashley Wood

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 #16”. At last, the revelation of how the Dagobah cave, in The Empire Strikes Back, became a place tainted with the malevolent energies of the dark side of the Force. Also, this issue features; Darth Vader, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, Princess Leia, Jabba the Hutt, Stormtroopers, and more! 6 Star Wars one-off stories!

Star Wars Tales #16 contains:

“The Other”  10 pages
Writer: Jason Hall
Artist: John McCrea
Colorist: Giulia Brusco
Letterer: Steve Dutro

An Imperial assassination attempt on Princess Leia’s children causes her to draw her lightsaber and defeat her opponents with frightening efficiency. About to kill the last assassin, she sees herself as Darth Vader reflected in the man’s armor. Horrified by her own raw power, and the ease with which she might abuse it, she chooses to neglect her training with Luke, send her children to Anoth for safety with Winter, and let her Jedi abilities fade.
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“Best Birthday Ever”   8 pages
Writer: Tod C. Parkhill
Artist: Joey Mason
Inker: Howard Shum
Colorist: Joey Mason
Letterer: Steve Dutro

Bib Fortuna and Salacious B. Crumb miss the delivery of Jabba Desilijic Tiure’s surprise birthday present and have to go to the local parcel office to collect it. After a series of unfortunate events they are able to retrieve the rancor in time. Jabba considers it his best birthday ever when his new present eats everyone at his court.
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“The Long, Bad Day”   2 pages
Writer: Mike Denning
Artist: Lucas Marangon
Letterer: Steve Dutro

As Darth Vader attempts to return to the first Death Star in his TIE fighter following the battle of Yavin, he is confronted by the mocking spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Furiously, Vader thumps his fist on the control panel where Kenobi has appeared, causing one of his wings to fall off. Again Vader attempts to strike the spirit of Kenobi, this time causing him to fire a torpedo into Grand Moff Tarkin’s escape pod. After causing another wing to fall off, Vader is picked up by the Star Destroyer Xamaural, as Kenobi sarcastically tells him to “Sit up straight.”
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“Kessel Run”   18 pages
Writer: Gilbert Austin
Artist: Gilbert Austin
Editor: Diana Schutz

Squishmael, a Sloogarian who tells stories in exchange for drinks, reminisces about the night Han Solo won the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian. Han feels like he has reached “The Big-Time” but Lando says he needs to build up reputation if he wants to become a great smuggler as it takes more “than a fast ship to be a first class smuggler”. Lando then continues to suggest the Kessel Run as a way to bolster his reputation and Han admits (to some laughter) that he does not know what it is. Lando and his friends reveal that Kessel is not a system, but rather a bird and to complete the Kessel Run Han must catch enough of these Kessel to fill a cargo hold and then deliver them. The question is, how far will he have to go? Will he make it in “fifteenth parsecs…or thirty?” Since the record is about 13, Han agrees and takes off in the direction of the system. He is contacted by a mysterious source offering to help him with his mission as the stranger has associates that currently have Kessel to get rid of. Han agrees to pay for the information and spots a small sum of 1000 credits for the location of the first planet. He agrees as a test to make sure everything seems “on the up and up.” When he arrives at the first planet he finds the contact waiting with the container of Kessel Birds ready to go. Han was then talked out of another 3000 credits to take the first shipment under the promise that they were worth no “less than 12000.” Naturally he pays and gets on his way. After another payment for the second location and again an increasing payment for the birds he totals up 17000 credits spent and comes to the final destination at 11.8 parsecs. He goes to the bartender to search for the buyer he is supposed to find to discover that the bartender is he person he was sent to find. Han is at first relieved and boldly states “Well, Dahk, break open the history books. You’re looking at the man who just made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs!” Dahk announces this to the bar and everyone bursts into laughter as apparently Han has just become “another Kessel Runner” meaning that this group regularly swindles people out of their money. Han and Chewie make a swift exit upon realizing that they actually just picked up a worthless bird and paid heavily for nothing but a few laughs. Meanwhile on the other side of the galaxy Lando and his team divide up the money and share a good laugh over the events of the day. Lando does feel bad about taking so much money from his friend but Squishmael justifies it because Han was supposedly cheating during the game that he won the Milleneum Falcon. Squishmael then tries to carry on his story telling asking the reader if he wishes to hear a tale of how he and Darth Vader were busting up some Tauntaun on Hoth. This last bit lets the reader know that it was probably just all a bit of made up sport from a story teller trying to sneak his way into a few drinks.
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“Lunch Break”   6 pages
Writer: Jonathan Adams
Artist: Jonathan Adams
Editor: Diana Schutz

Kjazhed-Uhl, a stormtrooper, sits down to lunch with his friend Bob, also a stormtrooper. Bob pulls out Darth Vader’s diary, and the two flip through it. They find random thoughts, memories, and doodles. Then they find a recent entry about how all of the stormtroopers forgot his birthday, and he spent the day crying in his room and drinking himself to the point where he experiences a “flood” and subsequently passes out. Then Bob and Kjazhed-Uhl attend a briefing. As they leave the room, one of the two friends wishes Vader a happy birthday. Somehow, Vader seems to smile through his mask.
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“Heart of Darknesss”   12 pages
Writer: Paul Lee
Artists: Paul Lee & Brian Horton
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
Editor: Scott Allie

A group of Jedi has been dispatched to hunt down and stop several Dark Jedi. The mission leads the Jedi to a Commerce Guild trading station. One Jedi, Minch, catches up to a Dark Jedi and corners him. Igniting his lightsaber, Minch attempts to defeat the Dark Jedi in combat. As they duel, the Dark Jedi insults Minch in an attempt to anger him, referring to him as a Padawan and calling him “Little One.” This ploy seems to work as Minch is knocked to the ground. Luckily for him, four other Jedi arrive at the scene quickly, but the Dark Jedi plunges his own lightsaber into his chest. Minch is left feeling angry and embarrassed by his failure to defeat the Dark Jedi on his own. The Jedi are then contacted by allies monitoring the trading station, who alert them to the launch of a small ship. The Jedi hurry to their starfighters and attempt to contact the other ship, which they’ve decided must be piloted by the Bpfasshi Dark Jedi Master. Following the ship closely, they attempt once again to contact it. It is then when the ship turns and makes a run for the planet Dagobah. Wanting to make up for his defeat at the hands of the Dark Jedi, Minch breaks off formation and disobeys orders to return, heading after the Bpfasshi master. On the way down, Minch’s ship is struck by lightning and crashes into a swamp. Ignoring further orders to ‘sit tight’, Minch runs after the fleeing Bpfasshi master into the vegetation of the planet. Minch follows the master into a cave underneath a tree. As Minch enters the cave, the Bpfasshi Master calls him a ‘Child’ who is ‘small and weak, full of fear and anger.’ Irritated at once by being called a small weak little Jedi, Minch leaps up at the Dark Jedi Master, yelling “size matters not!” Having blocked the initial attack and unleashing his own strength upon Minch the Master says matter-of-factly, “As you can see size does matter.” Angered, Minch sweeps his saber at the Bpfasshi, who then apparently changes into hundreds of smaller incarnations, who crawl onto Minch. He desperately sweeps around with his lightsaber as his vision blackens. Awakening seconds later, he sees the Master lying next to the wall of the cave, wounded and bleeding. He tells Minch “…you will make a great addition… to the Dark Jedi… one day…” before passing away. Reporting to the other Jedi, Minch announces, “Complete is our mission.” He walks to the craft that has arrived to take him from Dagobah and says to himself “Away from this cursed place, the sooner the better.” Meanwhile, the blood from the Dark Jedi Master seeps into the ground in the cave.
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Comic is bagged & triple 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: June 2003
Format: FC, 64 pages, Comic, 10.20″ x 6.65″
UPC: 761568972894

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

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