Most of Star Wars #11 is used to setup the reunion of our main heroes after Han Solo and Chewbacca's adventures in Star Wars #7 - 10. After departing Aduba-3, Han and Chewbacca, aboard the Millennium Falcon, are captured by Crimson Jack for the second time. On Jacks' Star Destroyer, Han and Chewbacca are reunited with Princess Leia, who was taken prison by Jack when she secretly took off from the Rebel base on Yavin IV to find Luke Skywalker. Leia manipulates events so that Han and Jack work together to reach the location of Luke's last transmission, the Drexel system. Meanwhile, on the water planet Drexel, Luke, C-3PO, and R2-D2 are on a sinking ship which is being attacked by a sea creature. Luke and the Droids are forced to abandon the ship in an escape pod. The issue ends with Luke and the Droids in the floating pod watching the attack from afar when a second sea creature shows up, this time with a rider.
Star Wars #11a - Marvel Comics, U.S. (May 1978)
The cover for Star Wars #11 shows the first sea creature attacking Luke's sinking ship. The creature on the cover looks more like a large rattlesnake and not like the creature drawn inside. Luke is shooting with a blaster from the hull of the ship, which he is also doing in the story. Absent on the cover is Luke's belt which holds his lightsaber. The yellow background matches the scene from the interior of this issue.
Star Wars Weekly #22a - Marvel Comics, England (July 5, 1978) last half of Star Wars #11
Star Wars Weekly #22 shows a more dynamic depiction of the same scene. The sea creature is more menacing on this cover and Luke has clearly given up fighting and is retreating, having dropped his weapon. The creature looks more like a dragon on this cover, but again does not accurately represent how it looks inside. Carmine Infantino's sea creatures have elongated, flat muzzles and powerful necks that end at a thick torso similar to a brontosaurus. They truly are alien and not easily identifiable. On this cover, it looks like Luke and the Droids are in a decked out raft and not on the hull of their starship or in the escape pod. Additionally, the colors are different. The creature inside is red, not green, and it is light outside, not dark. More apparent is Luke's orange tunic; traditionally it is white. To be fair, the Star Wars Weeklies have black and white interiors, so having different colors on the cover are not necessarily wrong for readers of these British magazines.
I like how Luke Skywalker is using a blaster in this story and didn't instinctively reach for his lightsaber. It makes sense the blaster would remain Luke's weapon of choice since he is not adept at using the saber. In the next issue, Luke does use his lightsaber to keep Governor Quarg's men at bay. While it isn't shown inside the issue, I believe this is because Luke dropped his blaster when he was retreating from the sea creature as shown on the cover for Star Wars Weekly #22. (Inside the story, his blaster just disappears after he retreats.)
Overall, the Star Wars #11 cover is more accurate to the story inside, but I feel the cover for Star Wars #22 is more interesting.
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