Star Wars 44

"No, Luke. I am your father"

- Darth Vader

"Duel a Dark Lord!" is the title to the forty-fourth issue of the first Star Wars ongoing comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The story was written by Archie Goodwin with artwork and inks by Al Williamson and Carlos Garzón. It was colored by Glynis Wein and lettered by Rick Veitch. The story was edited by Archie Goodwin with Danny Fingeroth as assistant editor. This issue shipped with a February, 1981 cover date and carries a cover price of .50 cents per copy.

Synopsis
Luke Skywalker arrives in Cloud City and R2-D2 and they begin looking for their friends. Darth Vader delivers the frozen body of Han Solo over to Boba Fett and instructs the Ugnaught workers to reset the carbon-freezing chamber for Skywalker. He then instructs his officers to have Leia and Chewbacca brought aboard his ship. Lando Calrissian fires back, claiming that part of the deal was that they would remain in the city. Vader venomously tells him that he is altering the deal.

The Imperial soldiers begin escorting Leia and Chewbacca back to the ship when they come upon Luke. A firefight takes place and the group splits up. Lando, feeling guilty over betraying Han, has his own men overtake the stormtroopers. He frees Leia and Chewbacca and the partially re-constructed C-3PO. They try to make it back to the landing pad to free Han, but they are too late. As they arrive, Boba Fett takes off with Han's body en route to his employer, Jabba the Hutt. They board the Millennium Falcon and leave Cloud City.

Meanwhile, Luke goes to the carbon freezing facility where he finds Darth Vader waiting for him. They ignite their lightsabers and begin dueling. Their fight takes them to a gantry hanging above one of the city's exhaust shafts. Vader slices off Luke's right hand with his saber. Luke accuses Vader of killing his father, to which Vader replies, “No, Luke. I am your father”. Unable to handle the truth of the matter, Luke flings himself off the gantry where he begins falling to his death.

Falling through the various tunnel shafts below the city, he is eventually expelled and left hanging from a sensor vane on the underbelly of the floating city. He reaches out with the Force to project his thoughts to Leia. Leia, hearing Luke's telepathic cry for help, orders Lando to turn the Falcon around and go back for him. They pick Luke up and rendezvous with the Rebel Fleet.

Onboard a medical ship, Luke is cleaned up and his hand is replaced with a cybernetic replacement. Now he has to deal with his failure to rescue Han as well as the revelation that Darth Vader, the most evil being in the galaxy, is his father.

Appearances

 * Luke Skywalker
 * Leia Organa
 * Chewbacca
 * C-3PO
 * R2-D2


 * Lando Calrissian
 * Lobot


 * Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker
 * Boba Fett
 * Firmus Piett
 * Sheckil


 * Bislsav Merril
 * Isdam Edian


 * Alliance to Restore the Republic


 * Humans
 * Alderaanians
 * Clones
 * Corellians
 * Cyborgs
 * Tatooinians


 * Ugnaughts
 * Wookiees


 * Outer space
 * Anoat Sector
 * Bespin System
 * Bespin
 * Cloud City


 * Blaster
 * Blaster pistol
 * Model 57 blaster pistol
 * Blaster rifle
 * E-11 blaster rifle
 * EE-3 carbine rifle


 * Bowcaster
 * Carbonite
 * Class three carbon-freezing chamber
 * Comlink
 * Lightsaber


 * EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate
 * Firespray-31-class patrol and attack craft
 * Slave I


 * Imperial Star Destroyer
 * Imperial Super Star Destroyer
 * Imperial Super Star Destroyer Executor


 * TIE/In starfighters
 * YT-1300 light freighter
 * Millennium Falcon


 * The Force
 * Force push
 * Telekinesis
 * Telepathy


 * 3 ABY
 * Galactic Civil War
 * Severed hand
 * Space travel
 * Space vessels
 * Suspended animation

Notes & Trivia

 * This is the sixth and final chapter in the comic book adaptation of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.


 * There is a five page pin-up section in this issue featuring art by Walt Simonson, Joe Jusko, Fred Hembeck, Bob Layton & Marshall Rogers.


 * Han Solo appears frozen in carbonite in this issue only.


 * Bislsav Merril and Isdam Edian are not named in this issue. They are members of the Bespin Wing Guard.