Star Wars (1977) 44

"The Force is with you, young Skywalker... but you're not a Jedi yet!"

―Darth Vader

Star Wars 44: The Empire Strikes Back: Duel a Dark Lord is the forty-fourth issue in the Marvel Star Wars series of comics.

Plot

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

By type

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

Characters

C-3PO Lando Calrissian Chewbacca Isdam Edian Boba Fett Obi-Wan Kenobi (Mentioned only) Lobot Bislav Merril Leia Organa Palpatine (Indirect mention only) Firmus Piett R2-D2 Sheckil Luke Skywalker Han Solo (Frozen in carbonite) Jabba Desilijic Tiure (Mentioned only) Darth Vader Yoda (Mentioned only)

Creatures

Bird (Mentioned only)

Droid models

Astromech droid R-series R2-series astromech droid Protocol droid 3PO-series protocol droid

Events

Galactic Civil War Duel on Cloud City

Locations

Bespin Cloud City Carbon-freezing chamber Cloud City Security Tower (Mentioned only) East Platform Platform 327 Hyperspace (Mentioned only) Rebel rendezvous point Tatooine (Mentioned only)

Organizations and titles

Administrator Alliance to Restore the Republic Captain Princess Bespin Wing Guard Bounty hunter Galactic Empire Admiral Galactic Emperor (Mentioned only) Garrison (Mentioned only) Stormtrooper Supreme Commander Jedi (Mentioned only) Order of the Sith Lords Dark Lord of the Sith Sith apprentice Sith Lord

Sentient species

Human Corellian Cyborg Hutt (Mentioned only) Wookiee Rwook

Vehicles and vessels

EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate Redemption Executor-class Star Dreadnought Executor Firespray-31-class patrol and attack craft Slave I TIE/LN starfighter YT-1300 light freighter Millennium Falcon

Weapons and technology

Armor Darth Vader's armor Mandalorian armor Stormtrooper armor Blaster Blaster pistol Model 57 blaster pistol Blaster rifle E-11 blaster rifle EE-3 carbine rifle Borg Construct Aj^6 Bowcaster Class three carbon-freezing chamber Comlink Computer (Mentioned only) Hyperdrive (Mentioned only) L-hand 980 Lightsaber Anakin Skywalker's second lightsaber Darth Vader's lightsaber Power socket Rangefinder Stun (Mentioned only) Tractor beam (Mentioned only)

Miscellanea

Cape Carbon-freezing Carbonite May the Force be with you Mile Mining (Mentioned only) Second Shyriiwook The Force Dark side of the Force Force ghost (Mentioned only) Force Jump Telekinesis Telepathy Tibanna (Mentioned only)

Behind the scenes

This is part six and the conclusion of the six part adaptation of 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.

Trivia

This comic book issue includes advertisements for the following products:

• Marvel Comics' Marvel Spotlight starring Captain Universe comic book
• Star Wars Official Fan Club membership offer
• Grit Magazine
• Pez candy products
• Marvel Anniversary calendar – 1981
• Marvel Comics' Doctor Strange (Volume 1) comic book

Collections

• Marvel Special Edition 2: The Empire Strikes Back
• Marvel Super Special 16: The Empire Strikes Back
• The Marvel Comics Illustrated Version of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
• Classic Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back 2
• Classic Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (TPB)
• Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - The Special Edition (TPB)
• Classic Star Wars Box Set
• Star Wars: The Special Edition Box Set
• Star Wars: A Long Time Ago... Volume 3: Resurrection of Evil
• Star Wars Omnibus: A Long Time Ago.... Volume 2
• Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol. 1
• Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Original Marvel Years Vol. 3
• Star Wars: The Original Trilogy — The Movie Adaptations

Sources

• The Marvel Art of Star Wars

Notes and references

In other languages

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