Star Wars 53: The Last Gift From Alderaan!

Star Wars 53: The Last Gift From Alderaan! is the fifty-third issue in the Marvel Star Wars series of comics.

Plot summary
Princess Leia Organa and Captain Chedaki pilot a blockade runner to investigate Imperial activity in the Shiva system, but as the two are entering a shuttle to go down to the planet Shiva IV, the ship is damaged by a space mine. Chedaki is killed in the explosion and Leia is forced to launch the damaged shuttle in order to protect the ship and the rest of the crew from harm. The shuttle crashes on Shiva IV and Leia is immediately attacked by a savage raiding party. A group of natives led by Aron Peacebringer and Kéral Longknife repel the raiders and rescue the princess. Leia returns to the capital Illyriaqüm with Aron, and tries to warn him of the danger that the Galactic Empire poses, but the warlord is not convinced that such an empire exists. But during a gala of Calian nobility, Aron and Leia are both secretly captured by Imperial stormtroopers and brought before General Sk'ar as prisoners.

Behind the scenes
This issue is an homage to "John Carter, Warlord of Mars". John Carter is a character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, famous for inventing Tarzan.

The story introduces Sk'ar, Aron Peacebringer, Ygal Delois, Alisande and Kéral Longknife.

Leia makes reference to the Cherenkov effect when she sees the destroyed city of K'avor. This is a phenomenon discovered on Earth and named after the Russian scientist Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov.

The 2008 The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia has confirmed that the TIE series craft appearing on the comic's cover is a TIE boarding craft, not to be confused with a TIE/sh shuttle.

While not named in this story, Sk'ar's race was retconned to be Kaleesh in later Expanded Universe material.

Collections

 * Classic Star Wars: A Long Time Ago... Volume 3: Resurrection of Evil
 * Omnibus: A Long Time Ago... Volume 3