Star Wars (1977) 21

Shadow of a Dark Lord
Attribution information
Writer	Archie Goodwin
Penciller	Carmine Infantino
Inker	Gene Day
Letterer	John Costanza
Colorist	George Roussos
Cover artist	Carmine Infantino Terry Austin
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Pages	17
Chronological information
Timeline	0 ABY
Series	Marvel Star Wars
Issue number	21
Preceded by	Star Wars 20: Deathgame
Followed by	Star Wars 22: To the Last Gladiator

Warning: This infobox has missing parameters: upc, release date and unrecognized parameters: era, publication date, isbn Star Wars 21: Shadow of a Dark Lord is the twenty-first issue in the Marvel Star Wars series of comics.

Plot

Princess Leia escapes from Simon Greyshade's suite, where she was held captive, and finds Luke Skywalker, who has now recovered from his trance-like state. Luke reveals that his trance was caused by touching someone else's mind through the Force for a moment, someone strong with the Force who he suspects to be Darth Vader. At the same time Greyshade is meeting with his new partner Commander Strom, The Wheel administrator has secretly sent his Wheel Security Force to subdue Strom's troops and recover the money that they had stolen from The Wheel. And now that Han Solo is getting ready to enter the main event of The Big Game he realizes that Chewbacca is also entered in the contest, and according to the rules there can be only one survivor. Meanwhile on the planet Ultaar, Darth Vader finds the remains of a Rebel information retrieval team which has already been wiped out by the bounty hunter Beilert Valance. Vader now realizes that Valance is searching for the same thing that Vader is, the boy who destroyed the Death Star I, and the race is on to see who finds him first.

Appearances

By type

Characters	Organisms	Droid models	Events	Locations
Organizations and titles	Sentient species	Vehicles and vessels	Weapons and technology	Miscellanea

Characters

C-3PO Chewbacca Simon Greyshade Master-Com Obi-Wan Kenobi (Vision to Luke Skywalker) Leia Organa Palpatine (Indirect mention only) R2-D2 Luke Skywalker Han Solo Strom Darth Vader Beilert Valance (Mentioned only) Mulchive Wermis (First appearance)

Droid models

Astromech droid R-series R2-series astromech droid Medical droid Wheel medi-droid Protocol droid 3PO-series protocol droid

Events

Skirmish on Ultaar The Big Game

Locations

Alderaan (Mentioned only) Kessel (Mentioned only) Spice Mines of Kessel (Mentioned only) Tatooine (Mentioned only) The Wheel Crimson Casino Ultaar (First appearance)

Organizations and titles

Alliance to Restore the Republic Galactic Empire Captain Galactic Emperor (Mentioned only) Imperial Senate (Mentioned only) Senator Sector Commander Stormtrooper Order of the Sith Lords Sith Lord Wheel Security Force

Sentient species

Human Corellian Cyborg Wookiee Rwook

Vehicles and vessels

Empire prison ship (Mentioned only) House of Tagge merchant ship (Mentioned only) Pursuit-class light cruiser Rulaarian pleasure yacht (In flashback(s)) T-65 X-wing starfighter (In flashback(s)) TIE Advanced x1 Darth Vader's TIE Advanced x1 TIE/LN starfighter YT-1300 light freighter (In flashback(s)) Millennium Falcon (In flashback(s))

Weapons and technology

Armor Darth Vader's armor Stormtrooper armor Lightsaber Anakin Skywalker's second lightsaber Darth Vader's lightsaber Narco-mist (First appearance) Ray shield

Miscellanea

Giant blossom (First appearance)

Behind the scenes

This issue marks the first appearance of Darth Vader in the series since the adaptation of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. It also foreshadows the telepathic bond between Luke and Vader, which will be greatly expanded upon in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.

Collections

• Classic Star Wars: A Long Time Ago... Volume 2: Dark Encounters
• Omnibus: A Long Time Ago... Volume 1

Notes and references

Wars (1977) 21 Star Wars (1977) 21 on Marvel Comics' official website (Wars (1977) 21 backup link (Star Wars (1977) 21) not verified!)

In other languages

• Deutsch