Star Wars Tales Volume 5

Star Wars Tales Volume 5 is the fifth Star Wars Tales trade paperback, collecting issues 17-20.

Star Wars Tales 17

Planet of the Dead

Script: Steve Niles

Pencils: Davidé Fabbri

Inks: Christian Dalla Vecchia

Colors: Sno Cone

12 Pages

Galactic Year: 1 ABY

Preceded by: Tilotny Throws a Shape

Followed by: Lucky Stars

In this possibly canon story, Han Solo and Chewbacca come into the possession of some valuable glowing Tandgor gems, that Solo claims will pay off debts and mod the Millennium Falcon. When the Falcon runs low on fuel they head for a small unnamed planet. Solo receives no lifesign readings, as if the whole planet's population disappeared. After making planet fall, Solo and Chewbacca step out of their ship and into the fog, only for the Corellian to be confronted and overwhelmed by groaning skeletal figures; The undead. After Chewbacca fights them off they beat a hasty retreat back to the Falcon but find the fuel line has been severed. It seems someone doesn't want them to leave. Arming themselves, the two-man crew of the Falcon head back out and come face to face with a local and her baby. She explains that the crew of a 'Great Interplanetary Ark' perished after their ship crashed in the planet's fog. They are compelled to wander the planet as corpses, terrorizing the locals every night. Using the Tandgor Gems to lay down lines, Han forms a makeshift runway that drives away the fog. A ghostly apparition of the ship that crashed long ago uses it to land, easing the spirits of the perished crew. The living dead would no longer terrorize the planets residents. Han and Chewie leave the planet out of pocket, but were rewarded with enough fuel to last them the rest of their journey.

All for You

Script: Adam Gallardo

Pencils: Greg Titus

Inks: Julian Washburn

Colors: John Rauch

10 Pages

Galactic Year: 996 BBY

Preceded by: Jedi vs. Sith

Followed by: The Apprentice

This story is set 996 years before the Battle of Yavin on the planet Ceriun, where a Jedi's ship crashes near a primitive agriculture village. Some of the adults go to inspect the crash, and the dying Jedi gives them a Sith holocron to keep safe until another Jedi can come to retrieve it. The younger generation of the village disagree with their hiding it, and want to take it to give it to any Sith that show up looking for it, so as to get on their good side and be taken as apprentices. Two of the older men are killed in a fight that breaks out, and comes to a halt with a Sith enters and takes the holocron. The boys confront him and tell him they did all of this for him, for the Sith, to prove themselves so he would take them with him. He ends up cutting one boy in half, and tells them the Sith take whatever they want without anyone else's help, and rides off on his speeder

Phantom Menaces

Script: Joe Casey

Pencils: Francisco Paronzini

Colors: Dave Nestelle

8 Pages

Galactic Year: 5 ABY

Preceded by: Mandatory Retirement

Followed by: Collapsing New Empires

Ghosts of Hoth

Script: Rob Williams

Pencils: Cary Nord

Colors: Sno Cone

8 Pages

Galactic Year: 2 ABY

Preceded by: Splinter of the Mind's Eye

Followed by: A Valentine's Story: Breaking the Ice

The Apprentice

Script: Mike Denning

Pencils: David Nakayama

Inks: Greg Adams

Colors: Peter Dawes

6 Pages

Galactic Year: 90-100 BBY

Preceded by: All for You

Followed by: Prototypes

The Sith Lord Finn and his apprentice are on an outlying world, having set off an explosion in a building. On their way back to their ship, they are stopped by Lod, a Toydarian who offers Finn Marka, his blue-haired Human slave girl. When Marka refuses to show Finn her teeth, he hits her, causing the apprentice to angrily yell at him to stop. When Lod tells Finn that he should keep a closer eye on his slave, the apprentice screams that he is not a slave, and kills Lod with his lightsaber.

Finn scolds the apprentice for showing compassion, a Jedi trait, and Marka asks to be taken with them, using a mind trick on the apprentice. Finn says that he has no need for a slave and already has an apprentice, and the two Sith leave, heading back to their ship. Finn orders the apprentice to deal with Marka as he heads to the top of the building their landing pad is on. A few minutes later the apprentice returns with Marka in tow, having been unable to kill her. Finn once more tells Marka that he already has an apprentice.

In response, Marka uses the Force to snatch the apprentice's lightsaber, then pushes him off the building to his death. Finn's only response is to ask Marka if she is coming or not.

Dark Journey

Script: Jason Hall

Pencils: Ben Templesmith

12 Pages

Galactic Year: 22 BBY

Preceded by: Another Fine Mess

Followed by: Double Blind

During the Clone Wars, the Jedi Vydel Dir'Nul has ignored the call of the Jedi Council to take up a position as general. Instead, she tracks a serial killer called Kardem as vengeance for the murder of her lover, the freighter pilot Ash B'risko. Since Ash, Kardem has killed only female Twi'leks, but more disturbing is his means of killing: lightsaber and Force lightning, indicating that he is a dark Jedi. As she finds Kardem's eighth victim after following his trail of hints, a hooded figure approaches her and calls her name. They fight, but the figure disarms her and tells her he has come to take her back to the Jedi Council, but she retaliates with Force lightning. As he calls the name of Master Dir'Nul, she responds that her name is Kardem. The Jedi reveals that Dir'Nul is Kardem. She discovered Ash with a Twi'lek dancing girl, and in her rage killed him, creating the dark side mental persona of Kardem in the process. From then on, she killed female Twi'leks in the Kardem persona, then investigated the murders in the Dir'Nul persona. The Jedi tells her that he was sent to bring her back, dead or alive. Calling upon the dark side, Kardem kills him with lightning and his lightsaber. She then reverts to the Dir'Nul persona and is shocked to find that "Kardem" has claimed yet another victim, this time a Jedi. She reaffirms her vow to bring the killer to justice.

Star Wars Tales 18

Number Two in the Galaxy

Script: Henry Gilroy

Pencils: Todd Demong

Colors: Jim Campbell

10 Pages

Galactic Year: 7 BBY

Preceded by: The Sandstorm

Followed by: Payback

Boba Fett comes to get his armor repaired on the remote planet of Ma'ar Shaddam. While he is not wearing it, a group of bounty hunters attempt to kill him. Dressed only in a robe, he tricks some of the hunters into killing each other. He kills another barehanded and steals the dead being's blade. The ringleader of the hunters steals Fett's Mandalorian armor and Slave I. Using the ship's cannons, he blasts the facility that Fett is in. Believing he killed Fett, he goes to a nearby cantina, impersonating him. Fett comes in wearing Jango's old armor and takes his armor back, but leaves the impersonator alive to remember who is number one.

Payback

Script: Andy Diggle

Pencils: Henry Flint

Colors: Chris Blythe

8 Pages

Galactic Year: 7 BBY

Preceded by: Number Two in the Galaxy

Followed by: Being Boba Fett

Boba Fett takes a job from Drex, a crime lord in the Gallapraxis system. It is his job to get Feleen Bantillian, dead or alive, for the fee of 50,000. Drex tells him that Bantillian had killed his son. Fett tracks him to an abandoned droid plant on Vornax, and gives him a chance to surrender. Bantillian tells Fett that he is Drex's son, and that Fett killed his brother. Drex set up Fett. Fett fires at Bantillian, who blocks the blast with an old droideka shield. Bantillian closes the roof of the area they are in. Dozens of old droids stagger towards Fett, trying to kill him. A war droid shoots him out of the sky, damaging his jetpack. Fett destroys the droid. Fett then shoots a tank of machine oil, setting Bantillian afire. The being jumps into a deep pool of water, only belatedly realizing that he cannot swim. He calls for his droids to help and all of them sink to the bottom. Fett goes back to an astonished Drex, who pays Fett reluctantly. Fett gives Drex Bantillian's head, with a thermal detonator in the mouth. As Fett leaves he mutters, "Payback doesn't pay."

Being Boba Fett

Script: Jason Hall

Pencils: Stewart McKenny

Inks: John Wycough

Colors: Dave Nestelle

12 Pages

Galactic Year: 6 BBY

Preceded by: Payback

Followed by: The Princess Leia Diaries

The story begins with Boba Fett waking up in his home. After looking in the mirror and seeing his father's face, Boba looks for his daily bounty. After passing up escaped Wookiee slaves and high-ranking Imperial defectors, he settles for a dead-or-alive bounty named Bendu Fry. He goes into the cantina, where Fry is telling a joke to two women. As he says the punch line, Fett approaches. Fry tries to run, but Fett easily catches the fat Devaronian. To save his life, Bendu tells Fett of a Twi'lek Jedi Knight who is living on the planet. Fett leaves to track the Jedi down, and seems to locate his target. It turns out, however, the Twi'lek is not the Jedi after all, but the Jedi's son. The boy's father was killed at the Battle of Geonosis. Fett allows the boy to live and returns to cantina, disintegrating Bendu and getting his bounty.

Way of the Warrior

Script: Peter Alilunas

Pencils: Will Conrad

10 Pages

Galactic Year: 23 BBY

Preceded by: Honor and Duty

Followed by: The Eyes of Revolution

On the planet Kuat a year prior to the Battle Of Geonosis, a lone cloaked figure wanders into a small colony. When the leader of the colonists, Larbo emerges to see what is happening, the young Boba Fett hurls a thermal detonator and flees into one of the tents. As Chaos ensues Jango Fett arrives to slaughter the scattered prey. When approached by two gun men, a flick Knife appears from his gauntlet and, presumably, slits their throats. He then hunts down the other Colonists. Larbo finds Boba cowering in the corner of his tent and holds him at gunpoint to interrogate him. He is horrified to learn the young boy is the bounty hunters son. Jango, having finished assassinating the remaining members of the camp tracks down Boba and demands Larbo releases his son and slashes his way through the tents canopy. A disgusted Larbo asks what kind of man would use his own son a bait, and Boba replies "Only a son can know his father's heart". Jango seizes Boba and throws a Thermal Detonator into the tent before escaping with the boy. Jango and Boba leave the planet in Slave I, and the Bounty Hunter confirms to Count Dooku that his mission was accomplished. The Ruling Families can now commence with building factories for the Trade Federation and the Sith Lords other allies. On Boba's first training mission he learns an important lesson - that a warrior must suppress all emotion to succeed.

Revenants

Script: W. Haden Blackman

Pencils: Dub with Niko Henrichon

Inks: Pierre-André Déry

Colors: Phiz

16 Pages

Galactic Year: 25 ABY

Preceded by: Chewbacca

Followed by: Equals and Opposites

Several months after Chewbacca's death, Han Solo has been convinced by his wife and Lando Calrissian to stop moping and go on a reconnaissance mission on the other side of the galaxy from Vector Prime. Near Raxus Prime, Han's shuttle encounters Slave I and is shot down onto the junkyard moon. Keeping a log on his datapad for Leia, Han spends the next few weeks trekking across the moon, making makeshift weapons and survival gear to avoid Boba Fett, who is hunting him. Han finally comes to the realization that there is more than one Fett following him. When that happens, he comes face to face with the real Fett. Fett reveals to Han that the entire event has been a training exercise to cull the weak recruits from the new batch of Mandalorian Protectors prior to them taking up service for the Yuuzhan Vong - since, as mercenaries, the Mandalorians go for the highest bidder, and the Yuuzhan Vong are currently the richest ones in the galaxy. The Mandalorians then take off, leaving Han behind.

Star Wars Tales 19

Collapsing New Empires

Script: Jim Pascoe

Pencils: Ramon Bachs

Inks: Kris Justice

Colors: Tom Smith

10 Pages

Galactic Year: 6 ABY

Preceded by: Phantom Menaces

Followed by: Dark Forces: Rebel Agent

The Value of Proper Intelligence to Any Successful Military Campaign is Not to be Underestimated

Script: Ken Lizzi

Pencils: Lucas Marangon

2 Pages

Galactic Year: 18-5 BBY

Preceded by: The Duty

Followed by: The Destroyer

On the planet Gibbela, an agricultural planet well off any trade routes, a small Imperial contingent arrives to take control on the planet, demanding surrender from the first inhabitant they meet, a short, unassuming farmer. Much to their surprise, it transforms into a gigantic clawed beast and kills them all. The creature shrinks back to its original size and continues its fieldwork, using the remaining armor and weapons of the deceased Imperials as farm equipment.

Rather Darkness Visible

Script: Jeremy Barlow

Pencils: Greg Tocchini

Inks: Eddie Wagner

Colors: Michael Atiyeh

10 Pages

Galactic Year: 21 BBY

Preceded by: Honor Bound

Followed by: The Battle of Jabiim

On Katanos VII, Jedi Knight Lunis and his Padawan Obs Kaj investigate intelligence that the miners of the planet are performing illegal cloning experiments. Obs Kaj has grown disillusioned with the state of affairs in the Republic and secretly plans to leave the Jedi Order after the mission. However, when they arrive, they discover that they have walked into an ambush. The miners reveal that as profits from the cortosis mines declined, they looked to the Galactic Senate for support, but were spurned, and they began cloning operations to earn the necessary income. Their cloning attempts failed, and eventually they turned to the Confederacy of Independent Systems when they learned about the bounties that had been placed on Jedi. As the miners attack the Jedi, Obs Kaj feels cut off in the Force from her Master, a result of her distancing herself. Lunis eventually falls and Kaj flees, escaping in a short-range shuttlepod. As she leaves the planet's surface, broadcasting a distress call, a ship makes contact with her. When it approaches, she realizes it is in fact Count Dooku, who promptly fires upon her, blowing her craft from the sky. When Dooku later makes contact with the miners, he says he will only pay for the death of Lunis, half of what they expected and not enough to keep the mines afloat.

The Rebel Club

Story & Art: Scott Kurtz

Colors: Jim Zubkavich

8 Pages

This story is non-canon

The Lost Lightsaber

Script: Andrew Robinson & Jim Royal

Pencils: Núria Peris

Inks: Kris Justice

Colors: Tom Smith

8 Pages

Galactic Year: 40 ABY

Preceded by: Equals and Opposites

Followed by: Broken

Into the Great Unknown

Script: Haden Blackman

Pencils: Sean Murphy

Colors: Dan Jackson

10 Pages

This story is non-canon

Han Solo and Chewbacca are aboard the Millennium Falcon when they are attacked by Imperials. They are forced to leap to hyperspace blind and end up in our solar system, where they crash on Earth's Pacific Northwest. Believing they are on Endor due to the large trees, they venture out to investigate, when Han is killed by Native Americans. The mourning Chewbacca leaves the Falcon to live in the trees, where the natives believe him to be Sasquatch. 126 years later, the wreckage of the Falcon and Han’s remains are found by the intrepid American archaeologist Indiana Jones and his sidekick, Short Round. Indy, spooked by how 'eerily familiar' the remains are, decide to leave them in peace.

Storyteller

Script: Jason Hall

Pencils: Paul Lee

8 Pages

Galactic Year: Long after the Battle of Yavin

Preceded by: Trust Issues

Sometime long after the Battle of Yavin, the wicked Vindar have forced their neighboring race into slavery and rule them with an iron fist. The Vindar have tortured, burned, and killed many members of the other race, thus breaking the spirits of most of the race's people -- but not that of Otalp. Since he was young, his den-mother told him of the mysterious "Oracle" she saw in one of her visions. The Oracle is said to tell tales of the past to give hope for the future. Otalp's den-brother, Remoh, disagrees with this, but only travels with Otalp to escape the misery of their eternal slavery.

When they reach the cave where The Oracle is fabled to live, Remoh repeats the classic line. As they enter the cave, they come across a certain protocol droid sputtering about a tragedy that occurred when he was last deactivated. The droid says strange words, like "Ar-Too" and "Master Luke", which confuses the brothers. As soon he starts talking in an understandable language, Otalp requests a story from him. Though the droid admits to being not that good a storyteller, he decides, because Otalp and Remoh came so far, to tell them the best story he knows. The story of young boy from a desolate planet who redeemed a darkened soul and freed the galaxy from the clutches of the ultimate evil using a mythical tool known as a "lightsaber". As the droid tells this story, the two brothers imagine it all as though it were their own kind who was fighting the fights.

Just after the storyteller has concluded his tale, the Vindar blasts his head off. While Remoh hides, Otalp claims that he came alone. The Vindar kills him and leave to attend other matters. As Remoh gazes over the petrified corpse of his brother, he notices an oddly shaped metal rod poking out of the storyteller's severed torso chest. Remoh notices it has a button and pushes it. A glowing, green blade appears from the rod. Realization dawning on him, he starts to think of a way to free his desolate planet from the clutches of their ultimate evil.

Star Wars Tales 20

George R. Binks

Story & Art: Tony Millionaire

Colors: Jim Campbell

10 Pages

Galactic Year: 45 BBY

Preceded by: Lil' Maul in: Hate Leads to Lollipops

Followed by: Mythology

On the seas of Naboo, George R. Binks of the Binks & Son Whaling Company attempts to take down a whale. However, the irresponsibility and clumsiness of his son Jar Jar causes their ship to founder and the Binkses to be marooned on a deserted island. A month goes by, and George is driven to madness by his son's follies. When Jar Jar proposes to swim for the mainland, George eagerly agrees, knowing that he will likely not make it. However, his wife intervenes. George, unable to take any more, decides to shoot himself. When his wife tries to stop him by asking him to "Think of our son!", he pulls the trigger, which grazes his skull. As he lies there he reminisces of his love Sheebla, and how he chose not to marry her because she could not bear him the son he wanted. As he imagines seeing Sheebla standing before him, the hallucination clears to reveal that it is really Jar Jar with an octopus wrapped around his head. George's only response is crushing despair.

Who's Your Daddy

Story & Art: Jason

Colors: Paul Hornschemeier

1 Page

This story is non-canon

Fred Jawa

Story & Art: Bob Fingerman

6 Pages

This story is non-canon

Luke Skywalker: Detective

Story & Art: Rick Geary

Colors: Sno Cone

12 Pages

Galactic Year: 8 BBY

Preceded by: Nerf Herder

Followed by: The Sandstorm

Hunger Pains

Story & Art: Jim Campbell

2 Pages

Galactic Year: 3 ABY

Preceded by: Thank the Maker

Followed by: Blind Fury

Failing Up With Jar Jar Binks

Story & Art: Peter Bagge

7 Pages

This story is non-canon

Nobody's Perfect

Story & Art: Peter Bagge

1 Page

Galactic Year: 22 BBY

Preceded by: Tag and Bink: Revenge of the Clone Menace

Followed by: The Lesson

Problem Solvers

Story & Art: Chris Eliopoulos

4 Pages

Galactic Year: 6 ABY

Preceded by: Boba Fett: Twin Engines of Destruction

Followed by: Lando's Commandos: On Eagle's Wings

Melvin Fett

Story & Art: James Kochalka

4 Pages

This story is non-canon

Melvin Fett, cousin of the infamous Boba Fett, travels to the "desert" planet of Tatooine seeking the bounty on Jar Jar Binks, hoping to finally gain respect from other bounty hunters. As he walks under the boiling twin suns in the Tatooine dunes, he hears Jar Jar, but because he is unable to see because of the sweat stinging his eyes, he doesn't notice that it is just a Jawa drinking out of a Jar Jar Binks Commemorative Drinking Cup with flexible straw and "talking action". As he pulls out his blaster, he trips on a rock and the blaster flies out of his hands and knocks out the Jawa. Grabbing the cup, he praises himself by the capture, thinking the other bounty hunters will never laugh at him ever again.

Young Lando Calrissian

Story & Art: Gilbert Hernandez

Colors: Michelle Madsen

8 Pages

Galactic Year: 5 BBY

Preceded by: Routine

Followed by: Falling Star