The Lesser-Known EU: Star Wars Infinities

I would like to thank amara z for this thorough review and contribution to the blog!

Star Wars Infinities

Alter one event, and a new future comes to be….

This is the premise behind the comic book series Star Wars Infinities. A crucial event is taken in each movie and changed, resulting in a different series of events. The tagline on the back of the comics is – “The possibilities are endless!” It is fairly AU which admittedly intrigued me when I first saw it in the comic bookstore last year. New to Star Wars comics, I wasn’t too sure, but since it had to do with the Original Trilogy, I figured I’d give it a try. Four comics were published for each movie and I purchased the trade paperback of Star Wars Infinities - New Hope first.

From a Han and Leia perspective, you could pass on these and not miss anything. They certainly don’t run off and get married or anything like that (darn it!). But from a Star Wars perspective, a couple of these are probably worth a look at, especially if you like AU. In general, events are not the same as the movie they are varying from, but they also seem to like to use events from all three movies and mix them together. I’ll try to keep the review to the main twist from the original movie, any funny or odd moments (and there were some very odd moments), and of course, any Han and Leia action.

* SPOILER ALERT * – this contains spoilers. So if you were planning to read these for yourself, then nothing to see here. Move along; move along.

Star Wars – A New Hope

My daughter read this before me. I don’t remember exactly what she said, but she was pretty shocked. So I had to read it right away and I was not disappointed. I actually really liked it. Han and Leia have no interaction in this whatsoever. That’s a bit of a let down. A lot of the story is about Han and Luke. On the upside, Han gets a lot of “screen” time. He’s every bit the scoundrel we know and love and gets some great lines. Case in point – in one scene, Threepio pulls a gun on Han and threatens him. Yeah, you read that correctly. At a much later point, just before a ceremony, Han asks Luke if he frisked Threepio.

The big twist from the movie is that Luke made the shot, but it didn’t work. The torpedoes detonate prematurely and only damage the Death Star and not even enough to disable it completely. The Death Star fires on the Rebel base.

Luckily, the base is not completely destroyed. Leia manages to escape before the Death Star fires again and obliterates Yavin IV. Unfortunately, she flies straight into the Empire’s hands. Long story short with her is that she is brought before the Emperor on Coruscant and ends up a shill for the Empire. I can’t tell for sure she is a Sith, but she probably is. Bare minimum, she is trained in the ways of the Force.

At least she does get one last line in before she initially lands on Coruscant and becomes the Empire’s puppet.

I thought that was cute.

The downside is that Luke and Han believe Leia is dead. They manage to escape through the debris field and Han gets Luke on board the Falcon. Han says some not so nice things about the Rebellion being over and how he’s retired from the hero business and he ends up in a fist fight with Luke. Oddly, the Force ghost of Obi-Wan breaks it up and Luke has Han take him to Dagobah. You can only imagine what Han had to say about the planet.

That’s pretty indicative of Han in this particular comic.

Han eventually leaves and five years pass. Luke is still on Dagobah, Leia is on Coruscant, and Han is trying to drum up business, and causing trouble as always, on Ord Mantell. The holonews is announcing the formation of the new Imperial Senate and guess whose front and center advocating for the Senate – Leia. Han sees she’s still alive and goes nuts, especially since she is now all for the Empire. It’s creepy. They call the Death Star the Justice Star. And worse yet, use the Jedi Council chambers as their home (although that was the Emperor’s doing).

Sorry. Had to stop shuddering.

Anyhow, Han and Chewie have to blast their way out of Ord Mantell and head for Dagobah to get Luke.

Luke has been training with Yoda all this time just like he did in Empire. There is even the infamous cave scene, but this time it’s not his own face he sees in Vader’s helmet.

Han arrives on Dagobah, gives Luke the news about Leia, and Luke admits he always knew she was alive. He pushes for Han, Chewie, and himself to rescue her and Han eventually agrees to at least take him to Coruscant. But before they leave, Luke gets the full low down on his parentage and his relationship to Leia from Yoda and Obi-Wan. Yep, all that good stuff from ESB and ROTJ about Vader is his father and Leia his sister.

In an odd twist, Yoda goes with the group to Coruscant. There are some cute lines in the comic about going to Coruscant being a bad idea and Han initially has “a good feeling about this,” but takes it back. But if I saw the Death Star and most if not all of the Imperial fleet hanging around Coruscant, I’d be nervous too.

Han and Luke land on the Death Star, leaving Yoda there with R2. Then they go to Coruscant, battle Palpatine’s guards, and end up in front of the Emperor, Vader, and Leia (this is when Threepio pulls the gun on Han). Luke and Leia end up battling each other and this part is very similar to ROTJ. It comes out that Leia is Luke’s sister, which Vader didn’t know, and eventually she comes around, refusing to fight any more. The Emperor lays into Luke and Leia with Force lightening and Vader stops him.

While this was all going on, Yoda was busy using the Jedi mind trick to take control of the Death Star from Tarkin. Yeah, you read that correctly too. Very odd. And during the fight between Luke and Leia, he starts taking out Imperial ships and aims the Death Star directly for Coruscant. Luke, Leia, Han, and Threepio escape just in time leaving the Emperor and Vader behind. It is kind of funny because the Emperor tells Yoda over the comm to come down and face me. Yoda tells him he’s coming to see him, i.e. about to crash into Coruscant. Kind of cool.

There is one last page after this. It’s many years later after the fall of the Empire. Peace has come to the galaxy with a New Republic. As chancellor, Leia is leading the celebration. Threepio wishes R2 was still around, he perished on the Death Star, and turns out they had R2’s memories transferred to another astromech droid. Awww.

I thought it was a good read. If you’re mostly into Han and Leia, this won’t be for you. But Han is very much his rapscallion self in this and really carried it for me.

Thanks again for the review, amara!