Han Solo at Stars' End (comic strip)

Warning: This infobox has missing parameters: release date and unrecognized parameters: publication date Han Solo at Stars' End is a comic strip that was based on the novel of the same name by Brian Daley. It was adapted by Archie Goodwin and illustrated by Alfredo Alcala in 1980. It also nearly ended up being the last Star Wars newspaper comic to be written.

The strip has been republished by Dark Horse Comics in 1997. It was also on StarWars.com's webstrips section of Hyperspace.

Plot summary

Upon discovering that they need a special waiver in order to operate the Millennium Falcon within the Corporate Sector without running afoul of the authorities, Han Solo and Chewbacca attempt to get in touch with Doc, an outlaw technician. However, Doc's daughter Jessa informs them that Doc has vanished, presumably abducted. Han works out a deal with Jessa: in exchange for the waiver and upgrades to the Falcon, he and Chewbacca will help discover what happened to Doc and other enemies of the Corporate Sector Authority, the capitalistic and authoritarian organization that oversees the Corporate Sector. As part of this effort, Han and Chewbacca escort two droids, Bollux and Blue Max, to the planet Orron III, where they meet with Rekkon, the leader of the missing-persons search. Blue Max, a small computer probe hidden in Bollux's chest cavity, is able to infiltrate the Authority's computer network and begin searching for the location of the abductees. However, Rekkon's small group has been compromised by a traitor, and their activities are discovered. During the group's attempt to escape the planet, Chewbacca is captured by Espos (Authority Security Police) and taken away. Han and the others manage to escape the planet aboard the Falcon. During liftoff, the traitor shoots Rekkon and destroys the data that Blue Max gathered. Before dying, however, Rekkon is able to leave the words "Stars' End, Mytus VII" scrawled on the Falcon's game table. Han realizes that this must be the location of the Authority's covert prison facility. After unmasking and dealing with the traitor, Han and the remaining members of Rekkon's group fly to Stars' End. Masquerading as interstellar entertainers, they infiltrate the facility and rescue the kidnap victims, including Doc and Chewbacca. The facility and staff members are destroyed in the escape.

Development

This strip almost ended up being the last Star Wars newspaper strip to run in the Los Angeles Times. In January 1981, the LA Times dropped the Star Wars strip, citing lack of interest. The Star Wars Fan Club wrote a letter of protest on the subject, which convinced the LA Times to allow the strip to continue,^[2] beginning with The Bounty Hunter of Ord Mantell.

The beginning strip for the story arc was later published on the official Star Wars Tumblr account.^[3]