Captain America Epic Collection:Hero Or Hoax?

Reprints Captain America and The Falcon (1968) #139-159.
Written by Stan Lee, Gary Friedrich, Steve Engelhart, Gerry Conway and Steve Gerber.
Penciled by John Romita, Sal Buscema, Gil Kane and Gray Morrow.
Inked by John Romita, John Verpoorten, George Roussos, Joe Sinnott, Gray Morrow, Jim Mooney, Frank Giacoia and Vince Colletta.

Summary: New York City's police commissioner has a special assignment for Captain America.  He needs Steve Rogers to join the NYPD and investigate the disappearance of seven officers.  The commissioner isn't sure what's going on, but he says it's "something deadly--something strangely powerful out there."  

On his first night walking the police beat, Steve spots a shadowy figure, changes into his Captain America costume and chases it down.  Cap discovers it's the Grey Gargoyle, a super-villain who battled Thor and Iron Man in the past.  A lab accident turn his skin to stone and gave the Gargoyle the power to turn others to stone for one hour.  

Captain America's partner, the Falcon tangles with Grey Gargoyle, the criminal tries out a new power.  When Sam is turned to stone, Gargoyle also has control over Falcon and forces him to fight Cap!  Grey Gargoyle's primary objective is to steal Element X from SHIELD.  It's a very dangerous element that will enable Gargoyle to conquer the world.  Can Cap and Falcon stop him!

Subsequently, when Falcon returns to Harlem, he is stung by criticism that he's an "Uncle Tom" in his community due to his partnership with Captain America.  His girl friend Leila invites him to a meeting of the People's Militia, a revolutionary political organization.  

The militia's leader is a masked figure known simply as "The Man".  He stirs the crowd into a frenzy and leads them in an attack on a local boys club.  But things aren't quite as they seem.  Captain America and Falcon intervene and attack the militia.  The Man unmasks and reveals that he is actually Cap's deadliest foe, the Red Skull!

After a brief fight, the Skull imprisons Cap & Falcon in a deathtrap and it looks they're goners.  The only one who can save them is Sam's pet falcon Redwing!

Sometime later, there is some tension between Sam and Steve.  Falcon feels unique pressure being African American superhero.  Working with Captain America makes him an outcast in Harlem.  He breaks up their partnership and says he's dedicating himself to protecting his neighborhood.  Sam breaks out a new costume to signify his new direction.  

In his first "solo" mission, Falcon takes down a drug dealer and turns him over to the police.  This makes Sam a hero to Harlem and he's carried through the streets.  Cap is happy for his friend but also saddened that he's lost another partner.  

Shortly after that, Nick Fury has a new mission for Captain America.  The terrorist organization Hydra is back in business.  Fury knows the new Hydra base is located in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip and assigns Cap to find its exact location.  Captain America will be accompanied to Vegas by SHIELD's Femm Force, an all-women squadron led by Steve's girlfriend Sharon Carter (AKA Agent 13).  

Femme Force's second-in-command is Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, known as "Val" to her friends.  Val was romantically linked to Fury until he moved on, she now appears to have feelings for Cap.  This creates a problematic dynamic for everyone.  

Unfortunately for Captain America and his team, Hydra has infiltrated Femme Force and have been monitoring SHIELD.  When Cap arrives in Vegas, Hydra's agents are expecting them and a battle ensues.  When Sharon is shot, Captain America is furious and more determined than ever to take down Hydra.  Fearing the worst, Fury contacts Falcon and sends him to Las Vegas.  Sam is reluctant at first, since he wants to take care of Harlem, but eventually accepts the assignment.

When Cap tracks down Hydra's Supreme Leader, he's shocked to discover that the terror organization's real leader is the Kingpin Of Crime!  Falcon and Captain America go toe-to-toe with the gangster and defeat him.

However, everyone is shocked to learn that Cap's deadliest foe, the Red Skull has been running Hydra behind the scenes.  He's using it as a decoy to buy time for him to build a Nazi Fourth Reich!  

The Skull activates a giant "Sleeper" robot that will destroy all human life in its path.  If Captain America and Falcon want to beat Red Skull, they will need to team up with the Kingpin and his criminal empire in order to prevent Nazism from taking over the world!

Back in New York, children are disappearing from Harlem.  Falc and Cap discover it's the work of their foe Batroc The Leaper!  The French mercenary is working for an alien named Jakar who intends to take the souls of the children to space in order to restore life on his home dimension.   How can Captain America and the Falcon defeat a being like Jakar who has otherworldly super-powers?

Sometime afterwards, the super-villains known as Scorpion and Mr. Hyde are out for revenge.  They were placed in an experimental SHIELD prison and will exact vengeance on any SHIELD agent they can find.  They kidnap Sharon and use her as bait to get SHIELD rescue her.  Hyde and Scorpion may regret their plan when Captain America and Falcon show up instead. 

Following that, Steve and Sharon take a vacation in the Bahamas.  At the same time, Sam is shocked when his girlfriend Leila tells him that Captain America is beating people up in Harlem.  Falcon doesn't believe her.  While patrolling, he sees Cap attacking an innocent man and intervenes.  Sam has the upper hand until he's attacked from behind by...Cap's old sidekick Bucky! 

We learn that these two are duplicates who took over the roles during the 1950s, when the real Captain America was missing.  They've gone insane and accuse Falcon and Cap of being Communist sympathizers.  How can Captain America win a battle against a copy of himself?

Finally, the advertising executive-turned-super-villain known as the Viper attacks Cap and Falcon.  He hits the heroes with venom-tipped darts, which puts their lives in jeopardy.  In exchange for his freedom, Viper gives cap a vial of antidote and runs off.  Captain America later learns that when the antidote interacted with the Super-Soldier Serum in his blood, it gives him super-strength. 

Steve later learns that Viper is connected to the police corruption he was investigating.  Viper and the bad cops work for someone known only as the Cowled Commander.  Falcon is able to capture Viper, but he's rescued by a team of villains led by his brother the Eel. 

Who is the mysterious Cowled Commander?  Can Cap and Falcon defeat five super-criminals and simultaneously uncover the corruption in the police department? 

Review:
Captain America Epic Collection:Hero Or Hoax? contains another mixed bag of Cap & Falc stories, but it's mostly enjoyable.  

Story:
I'll start with the best parts of this book.  Steve Engelhart wrote the last seven issues reprinted here.  The conflict with the Cap and Bucky of the 1950s is a high point of the tpb.  Engelhart shows how a great idea and symbol like Captain America could lead to dangerous racist jingoism and nationalism and Steve is shown to be terrified of this possibility.  It's also just an exciting and dramatic story!

I also enjoyed the way Engelhart wrote the Viper.  The villain is a former ad man and talks like one, quoting popular commercial catch-phrases of the 1970s.  Viper's advertising skills are later put to use in Engelhart's famous "Secret Empire" story.  

Gary Friedrich wrote the stories in the middle of the book, including the Hydra/Kingpin/Red Skull saga.  It's important because Kingpin, prior to this storyline, was strictly a Spider-Man villain.  Friedrich introduces Wilson Fisk to the rest of the Marvel Universe, which opened the door for Frank Miller to later turn him into an arch foe for Daredevil.

Other storylines don't work as well.  Stan Lee wrote the beginning of the tpb that focus on Steve going undercover as an NYPD officer.  This is presented as a major change of direction for the character and the series.  But after that, it's dropped for the most part, only popping up again once or twice.  Engelhart wraps up the police corruption storyline but it feels more obligatory than anything else.  

Friedrich also writes a "love rectangle" of sorts for Cap, Sharon, Val and Fury.  It doesn't add much to the story and the women (who are professional secret agents) are written like they just fell out of one of Marvel's "Romance" series.  

Gerry Conway wrote the tale that features Batroc and Jakar.  I feel like this is a case of writer and artist not communicating.  Jakar is penciled to look like the Stranger, an earlier alien who made several appearances in other Marvel titles.  Jakar says he disguised himself as the Stranger, then drops the premise...because Cap and Falcon never heard of the Strange?  It's an odd story.  Conway does a better job with the story that  pits the heroes against Hyde and Scorpion.  

Art:
Hero Or Hoax? is penciled by some of the greatest comic book artists of all time.  Sal Buscema pencils the bulk of the book.  He draws lots of great fight scenes, these pages from the Scorpion/Hyde fight are a nice example:

John Romita penciled the the early part of Hero Or Hoax? and his work is also excellent, and Gil Kane provides about half an issue's worth of solid art.

Gray Morrow, who rarely drew Marvel's superhero stories, pencils ten pages in the tpb.  However, they're an important ten pages, since Morrow is the first to draw Falcon's red and white costume, which Sam would wear for several decades.  

How Does It Look?:

Here's a scan from Captain America and The Falcon #149:

And here's how the same pages appear in Hero Or Hoax?:

Extras:
In the back of the tbp, you'll find the cover to Captain America Annual #2 (which contained reprinted Silver Age tales), a house ad for Captain America #139 and ten pages of original art.

Rating:
Captain America Epic Collection:Hero Or Hoax? features great stories and art is full of action and character development.  It's weaker moments prevent me from giving it my highest rating, but it's fun and recommended for fans of Falcon, Cap and comics of the 1970s.

J.A. Morris' rating:

.5

3 and a half Sals.

Captain America Epic Collection:Bucky Reborn

Reprints Captain America #120-138.
Written by Stan Lee.
Penciled by Gene Colan and John Romita.
Inked by Joe Sinnott, Dick Ayers, Frank Giacoia, Bill Everett, Tom Palmer, Wally Wood and John Romita.

Summary:

A carnival hypnotist who goes by the name Suprema decides to use her hypnotic abilities for a life of crime.  She captures SHIELD agent Dum Dum Dugan and forces him to reveal the location of SHIELD'S secret base.  Captain America happens to be at the base, instructing agents in hand-to-hand combat.

Suprema hypnotizes SHIELD agents to do her bidding, including its director Nick Fury.  Only Cap stands in the way of Suprema and world domination!

Later, Captain America tells Fury that he wants his girlfriend, agent Sharon Carter taken off field duty and put on a desk so that she is not putting her life on the line.  If Fury refuses, Cap will no longer help SHIELD fight crime.  Sharon complies, because she loves Cap.  At the same time, Cap's enemy MODOK is concocting a scheme to destroy Captain America.  He directs his AIM scientists to create a cyborg whose only purpose is to kill Cap!

Even though she's no longer a field agent, Sharon intervenes and helps Steve fight the cyborg.  He mistakenly believes she (and Fury) has reneged on their agreement and breaks up with her.  Sharon is devastated by this turn of events.

Feeling distraught over his break-up, Steve is looking for action to take his mind off Sharon.  He hears about the capturing of Doctor Robert Hoskins in Vietnam and heads over there to rescue him.  Cap isn't sure who is behind Hoskins' capture, since the doctor is an advocate of peace and respected by both sides in the conflict.  It turns out to be the work of an unexpected super-villain!

Back in the states, a Harlem-based gangster named Diamond Head frames Falcon for murder.  Sam will need Captain America's help if he wants to clear his name and take down Diamond Head.

Sometime after, a SHIELD scientist named Dr. Ralph Ryder creates a battle suit that will enable SHIELD agents to battle super-powered beings.  Fury tries out the suit in a sparring session with Cap.  However, SHIELD's headquarters are raided by AIM agents who intend to steal the suit and duplicate its technology.

Nick Fury says that anyone could have betrayed him, including Captain America himself.  So he asks Tony Stark to build a new android that is capable of defeating Cap.  Can the star-spangled Avenger defeat Android X-$?

Subsequently, Steve is feeling out of place and time in New York City, so he gets a motorcycle and hits the open road.  Steve overhears members of the Satan's Angels biker gang talk about causing a riot at a rock festival.  Only Captain America can prevent tragedy at the festival!

Steve keeps riding his motorcycle, getting as far as the Midwest.  Unbeknownst to Cap, he's being tracked by his arch-nemesis the Red Skull!  The villain plans to attack King Hassab of oil-rich Irabia, whose motorcade is close to Captain America.  An attack on the king could plunge the world into a state of total war!  Cap must keep the King Hassab safe and find a way to defeat Red Skull.

Shortly after that, Cap breaks up a riot on a college campus and encourages both sides to engage civilly with each other.  A TV producer notices this and asks Captain America to speak on television about peaceful solutions to domestic conflicts.

Unfortunately for Cap, it's a set-up and he's attacked by his old enemy Batroc the leaper, master of Savate!  Batroc is accompanied by Whirlwind and Porcupine, who form Batroc's Brigade.  The criminals are being paid by a mysterious figure known as the Hood.

Steve keeps riding westward and winds up in the San Francisco Bay area.  The Hood is also in the same area working on a scheme to defeat Captain America.  He finds a very agile amnesiac who bears a striking resemblance to Cap's deceased partner Bucky Barnes.  The young man is taken to the Hood's lair to be treated for amnesia.

The Hood is revealed to be Nazi war criminal Baron Von Strucker, master of weapons.  He leaks news that Bucky is alive and under his care, hoping Captain America will pay him a visit.  Cap takes the bait and is shocked to discover that the Hood is Nazi war criminal Baron Von Strucker, master of weapons.  Strucker attacks Captain America with a crossbow, mace and a spear and has Cap on the ropes.  However, Strucker is thwarted by Bucky, who turns on the baron and saves Cap.

With Bucky alive, his partnership with Captain America appears to be restored and Steve is overjoyed to learn that Bucky is alive.  This is depressing news for Falcon, who thought he would become Cap's partner.  But Captain America's joy is shortlived when Bucky attacks him!

Barnes' return was part of a plot orchestrated by MODOK.  When Steve returns to New York, the villain sends a robot called Bulldozer to destroy tenement buildings in Harlem.  When Falcon and Cap intervene, the citizens of Harlem by cheering on Bulldozer!  Falcon and Captain America go to Tony Stark for technological assistance in taking down Bulldozer.

Following the Bulldozer incident, a new super-duo is born when Steve and Sam decide to fight crime together!  But Falcon's frustrated when he learns his nephew Jody is running numbers for a Harlem gangster named Stoneface.  Jody tells his Uncle Sam that it's the best way to make money and says Stoneface's lawyers will help him if he's arrested.

However, when the police catch up with Jody, only Captain America shows up to vouch for him.  It's up to Cap and Falc to bring Stoneface to justice and protect Jody and his family from the gangster's hired guns.

Next up, SHIELD scientist Dr. Erik Gorbo creates a super-strength serum out of blood cells taken from an ape.  Gorbo turns into an ape while retaining his intelligence, plus the ability to telethapathically control animals.  He uses this new power to rob banks and interfere with SHIELD efforts.

When Captain America and Falcon try to capture Gorbo, they all wind up underground.  This places the heroes in between a battle between Gorbo and the Moleman, ruler of Subterannea!

Finally, Falcon sees Spider-Man swinging through Harlem.  When Sam notices Spidey is fleeing from the police, he decides to capture the webhead himself.  This will help cement his crime-fighting reputation and get him out from under Cap's shadow.

Falcon eventually catches up to Spider-Man and a battle ensues.  Sam gives Spidey all he's got, but Spider-Man's super-strength proves too much for him to handle.  Spider-Man swings away, leaving Falcon unconscious.  He leaves a Spider-Tracer on Falc, so he can track Falcon and figure out why he attacked.

Sam is later hit by a car and captured by Stoneface!  Only Spider-Man and Captain America can save Falcon from the gangster!

All that, plus, we learn the secret origin of MODOK!

And a cameo appearance by comicdom's #1 super-villain Doctor Doom!

Review:
I should mention here that most of thes contained in this tpb were new to me.  Captain America Epic Collection:Bucky Reborn is a fun book with good stories and great art.  However, it's not perfect.

Story:
Stan Lee writes all of stories reprinted in this tpb and they cover a wide variety of adventures.  We get  "street level" tales set in Harlem, Cap and Falcon fighting robots and a quick detour to the Vietnam War.

Perhaps the best (and most important, from a historical perspective) is Lee's decision to make the Falcon Captain America's partner.  Maybe some of Lee's attempts at "urban" dialogue haven't aged well, but it represents a quantum leap in terms of diversity in comics at the time.  Sam Wilson is strong, well-written character who makes a great partner for Cap.

Lee also does a nice job establishing MODOK as one of Captain America's greatest foes.  The AIM leader is responsible for the fake Bucky, Bulldozer and the cyborg's attacks on Cap.  I also appreciated seeing MODOK's origin, something I'd heard about but never read in comic form.

Sending Steve to fight Satan's Angels at a rock festival makes for an interesting topical tale.  This story was published only a few months after the disaster at the Rolling Stone's Altamont Concert, where Hell's Angels acted as "security" and physically assaulted the concertgoers.

Other parts of Bucky Reborn don't work as well.  The Bucky's return is a bit silly.  Unless he was supposed to have been in suspended animation, Bucky should've been depicted as being much older.  Maybe this is a case of writer and artist not communicating?  Strucker has a throwaway line about how Cap will be "so overjoyed, he won't think to question the contradiction of their ages," but it's not mentioned any other time.

The portions of the story that focus on Steve's relationship with Sharon Carter are a bit hard to get through.  It sort of makes sense that Cap, being a "man out of time" isn't crazy about Sharon having a dangerous job.  But there are too many scenes of Steve whining and brooding about their breakup.

A mixed bag of stories, but the good parts outweigh the lesser material.

Art:
This is where Bucky Reborn truly shines.  Gene Colan is one of my favorite artists of all time.  Colan (embellished by six inkers) gives us lots of great action scenes that feel like they could jump off the pages at any time.  This page, featuring a battle between Cap and Batroc's Brigade is a great example:

And on these pages, the top left panel is bordering on 3-D:

Very nice work by Colan.

The final issue reprinted features excellent art by John Romita Sr., which is appropriate, since it features Spider-Man as a guest star.

How Does It Look?:
Here's are two pages from a copy of Captain America #131:

This is how the same pages appear in Bucky Reborn:

Extras:
The book opens with two stories published during the end of the Silver Age (which I don't review here).  In the back of this tpb, you'll find the cover for Captain America Annual #1 (which consisted of reprinted Silver Age stories), two Marvel house ads and nine pages of original art.

Rating:
Captain America Epic Collection:Bucky Reborn gives us some (mostly) fun stories and fantastic art.  The tales that feature the Falcon and Gene Colan's art make it worth purchasing for any fans of Bronze Age comics.

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 Sals.

Star Wars:Dark Encounters

Reprints Star Wars (1977) #21-38 and Star Wars Annual #1.
Written by Archie Goodwin, Jo Duffy, Chris Claremont and Michael Golden.
Penciled by Carmine Infantino, Michael Golden and Mike Vosberg.
Inked by Gene Day, Bob Wiacek, Terry Austin and Steve Leialoha.

Summary:
Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo and Chewbacca are still imprisoned on the casino space station known as The Wheel.  When they are finally able to escape, the heroes rush directly into the clutches of their arch foe Darth Vader!  The Dark Lord is obsessively pursuing the heroes so he can learn the name of the pilot who destroyed the Death Star.  Through his use of the Force, he contacts Luke telepathically and learns he is the pilot he's been seeking.  Fortunately, Luke is able to mentally fight off Vader before he can learn his name.

When Leia and Luke are returning to the Rebel base on Yavin, they're attacked by a ship owned by the House Of Tagge company.  The Tagge family, led by Baron Ormon Tagge, are a wealthy family of nobles who have close business ties to the Empire.   Baron Tagge is a rival of Vader, who once defeated Ormon in a lightsaber duel blinded the Baron, forcing him to where cybernetic glasses in order to see.

Ormon is close to finding the Rebel's base on Yavin.  The base's location has been shielded from the Imperials due to the planet's gaseous clouds.  Capturing rebels and their hidden fortress would gain the House of Tagge favor in the eyes of the Emperor and simultaneously threaten Vader's power.  Can Luke and the Rebel Alliance beat back Tagge's ships and keep the location of the base a secret?

Next, the bounty hunter called Valance plans to kill Luke.  Because Valance is a cyborg, he is deeply prejudiced against droids.  Luke's friendship with C-3PO disgusts the bounty hunter so much that he plans to kill Skywalker.  However, Luke is saved by a strange twist that has a major impact on Valance.

Elsewhere, Han and Chewie's luck runs out when they're cornered by Jabba the Hut and his henchmen! Han still hasn't paid back his debt to the gangster and Jabba will take it out of Han's hide if necessary.  Can the Wookie and the scoundrel pilot escape from this encounter with their lives?

On another planet, Darth Vader tortures a captured rebel prisoner into giving him information about the pilot who blew up the Death Star.  The Sith Lord learns of a rebel named Tyler Lucian who deserted just before the Battle Of Yavin.  Lucian believed the rebels had no chance against the Death Star.  Vader learns that Lucian is hiding out on the planet Centares and decides to personally capture him, believing Lucian will give him the name of the pilot he seeks. But Valance is also chasing after Lucian, which leads him into a face-to-face conflict between the bounty hunter and Darth Vader!

After that, Princess Leia goes on a solo undercover mission on the planet Metalorn.  Her goal is to contact her old political mentor so he can spread word that the Rebel Alliance is powerful and growing in strength.  Unfortunately, Baron Tagge has arrived simultaneously and hopes to capture or kill Leia.  This leads to a confrontation between the princess and the baron!

Later, the heroes visit the planet Tirahnn.  Skywalker and the princess are attacked by a group of Catumen who are acting on orders from a flying, bat-winged woman named Kharys, the Majestrix of planet Skye.  Han has battled Kharys before and decides that the best way to defeat her is to attack her on her home planet.

When Chewbacca and Han are captured by Kharys, Luke and Leia must team up with some natives of Skye to save their friends.  The star warriors are aided by Katya M'Buele, an old smuggler friend from Han's past.  Luke learns that his old mentor Obi-Wan visited Skye before, which makes them sympathetic to Skywalker's cause.  Luke is fitted with a pair of wings and ends up in an airborne lightsaber duel with Kharys!

Following that, Luke returns to his home planet Tatooine on a mission to recruit blockade runners for the rebellion.  When he visits his family's old moisture farm, Luke is surprised to see it inhabited by his old friends Fixer and Camie.

Fixer informs Luke that he serves as caretaker of the farm, the land is owned by the House Of Tagge! Baron Tagge and his scientist brother Silas are using moisture farms to develop a superweapon they hope will lead to the absolute destruction of the rebellion!

Silas Tagge's superweapon is called the Omega Frost.  It can flash-freeze anything that contains moisture.  The Tagges lure Han and the rebel fleet into the Asteroid Corridor, where they plan to freeze the Millenium Falcon and all the other rebel ships!  Making matters even worse, Luke has been captured by the Tagges so that Ormon can test his lightsaber abilities against Skywalker.  How will Luke, Han and Chewie escape Baron Tagge and his imperial troops?

Subsequently, a spaceship arrives at the rebel base.  It contains representatives of a religious sect called the Order of the Sacred Circle, they reside on the planet Monastery. Their leader, a priestess named Sister Domina informs the alliance that her order has remained neutral in the galactic civil war, but that some members now want to join the Empire.

She invites the rebels to send a representative to argue their case in front of the order.  A quick attraction develops between Luke and Domina and when he hears that the Darth Vader will be the imperial representative on Monastery, Skywalker insists he be the one to oppose his arguments.

Leia is worried, since Luke has little experience with politics and diplomacy.  She, Han, Chewie and the droids follow Luke to Monastery.  Luke will need her help, because Domina and her order aren't exactly what they appear to be.

Finally, Luke and Leia are transporting medical supplies when they're attacked by a Star Destroyer.  The Imperials chase them into some sort of uncharted void in space. The Princess and Luke encounter a gigantic green spaceship which swallows them!  The heroes learn that this "ship" is a living being and it attempts to expel them into space!

All that, plus a previously untold adventure of Obi-Wan Kenobi!

Review:
Star Wars:Dark Encounters is a fun book that marks the end of an era for Star Wars comics and the franchise in general.  The stories reprinted here are the last tales published before the release of The Empire Strikes Back.  Up to this point, Marvel had only the first movie to use as a basis for stories and introduced lots of interesting characters and planets.  From here onward, Marvel's Star Wars series would be forced to march more strictly in step with the movies.

Story:
Archie Goodwin wrote most of the tales reprinted in this book.  These adventures of the Star Wars gang are filled with drama and action from start to finish.

Dark Encounters features a nice combination of old and new antagonists.  The first issue reprinted here features Darth Vader's first comic book appearance since the end of Marvel's movie adaptation.  I felt like Vader was written in a way that was consistent with his portrayal in the first film.

The House of Tagge are also great adversaries for Luke, Leia and co.  Kudos to Goodwin for creating such memorable villains.  Baron Tagge's feud with Vader adds an interesting element to the Rebels vs. Empire dynamic.

Jo Duffy wrote the story about young Obi-Wan Kenobi.  I always liked Kenobi and this is an entertaining tale.  It's worth noting that this is the first depiction of  the "Old Republic" in any media.

Chris Claremont penned the Skye adventure and it's pretty good too.  One of Claremont's trademarks is his "travelogue" descriptions of real places.   Here, he provides us with a great travelogue narration about the fictional city of Tirhann.  Claremont also creates good villains to battle the rebel heroes.

The only real problem I had with anything here is the idea that the Rebel Alliance stayed in their base on Yavin after the battle with the Death Star.  I'm pretty sure would have known they were still on Yavin.  We're told that the base is hidden by gaseous clouds, but that sort of strains credulity, even in the context of the Star Wars universe!

Since these adventures pre-date The Empire Strikes Back, there are several plot points that have since been contradicted.

When the heroes visit the planet Skye, we're told that during the Clone Wars, Skye was saved by three Jedi:Obi-Wan, Darth Vader...and Luke's father!  Of course we know today that the last two are one and the same.

We also get a story where Han and Chewbacca save Jabba The Hutt and thus, pay off their debt to the gangster.  We get one page near the end where we learn Chewie and Han have done something else that's cost Jabba lots of money, which puts a bounty back on their heads.  This reads like something that was added at the last second because someone from Lucasfilm caught it too late and needed to restore the bounty, since it was a big part of the next film.  It's worth mentioning that Jabba looks nothing like he does in Return Of The Jedi and the word "Hutt" is spelled with only one letter T in these stories.

However, none of these "errors" ruined my enjoyment of Dark Encounters.

Art:
Carmine Infantino pencils most of these stories.  As I said in my review of the previous volume, Infantino's depiction of the characters takes some getting used to.  But I like his work here.  This two-page spread of Han and Chewie is a nice example of Infantino's art in this book:

The best art in Dark Encounters comes in the last story.  Michael Golden and Terry Austin make the living starship something you're unlikely to forget.

How Does It Look?:
Here's a scan from my copy of Star Wars #28:

And here's how the same pages appear in this TPB:

Star Wars:Dark Encounters contains nice work from some of the biggest names of the Bronze Age and is highly recommended to Star Wars fans who don't mind that the stories it contains are "contradicted" by the later movies.

J.A. Morris rating:

4 Sals!