British Star Wars Weekly #47 - 50

The British Star Wars Weekly #47 - 50 contain the story The Keeper's World originally present in Pizzazz #1 - 9.  This story, along with the Aduba-3 story from Star Wars #7 - 10 are the earliest non-movie Star Wars stories released, pre-dating the Splinter of the Mind's Eye novel which was published in March 1978.

The story has an opening similiar to the Aduba-3 tale in Star Wars #7, except here, it is Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia Organa, C-3P0, and R2-D2 who are boarding a spacecraft on Yavin 4 instead of Han Solo and Chewbacca.  This story takes place immediately after the Star Wars movie ends and Luke and Leia are traveling to another Rebel base in the Akuria System with R2-D2 providing navigation and C-3P0 onboard to act as a translator for other droids when they reach the system.  Unfortunately, they learn that not all the repairs to R2-D2 after the attack on the Death Star were completed properly and they come out of hyperspace too soon.  The cover of Star Wars Weekly #47 depicts their small craft emerging from hyperspace in the middle of a Imperial Star Destroyer fleet.

Star Wars Weekly #47a - Marvel Comics, England (December 27, 1978)

The Star Destroyers attempt to detain the small spaceship with tractor beams, but the ship escapes, taking damage in the process, and the small craft crashes on an unexplored jungle planet.  Luke, C-3P0, and R2-D2 do some exploring while Leia attempts to contact the Rebel base on Yavin 4.  While exploring, they discover an extremely large footprint from a creature.  Meanwhile, the Imperials have discovered the location of the downed spaceship.  Back on the planet, the heroes are attacked by a large monster as shown on the cover of Star Wars Weekly #48.

Star Wars Weekly #48a - Marvel Comics, England (January 3, 1979)

R2-D2 is able to find the creature's mother which is even bigger and the mother comes and picks up her child and wanders back into the jungle.  Just then, an Imperial spacecraft, which looks remarkably like a TIE Fighter but containing an Imperial Commander and several Imperial Stormtroopers, appears in the sky.  Our heroes flee into the jungle and stumble across ruins which they enter.  The Imperials, now on foot, catch up to them, but before any shots are fired, C-3P0 accidentally bumps a switch on the wall and our heroes vanish.  They reappear in a room beneath the surface of the planet and meet four children, each with the ability to control one of the 4 elements: fire, water, wind, and earth.  As the children are explaining their powers, the Imperials suddenly appear, having used the same switch as C-3P0.  The children use their powers to delay the Imperial troops and they lead our heroes to a sentient computer they call the Keeper.  The Keeper proceeds to envelop our heroes in a strange beam as show on the cover of Star Wars Weekly #49.

Star Wars Weekly #49a - Marvel Comics, England (January 10, 1979)

Rather than harm our heroes, the beam instead projects a history lesson into their heads.  The people from the war torn planet fled into space, but left the Keeper behind to rebuild the planet.  It created the four children androids to assist with the task and helped the wildlife on the surface thrive.  As the Imperials draw closer, the Keeper causes an earthquake which prompts the Imperials to quickly leave the planet, presuming the Rebels have died in the natural event.  The Keeper shields the heroes and repairs the damaged spacecraft allowing the Rebels to leave the planet.  The final cover is a photo cover of the Millenium Falcon.

Star Wars Weekly #50a - Marvel Comics, England (January 17, 1979)

The writer and artist for this story is Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin, who also worked on the Star Wars movie adaptation.  It establishes the status quo for Marvel's run up until The Empire Strikes Back; the Rebellion will continue to use their base at Yavin 4 despite the Empire knowing it's location.  This story along with the Aduba-3 story in the Star Wars title also cement the trope of encountering otherworldly creatures on adventures which greatly differentiates Star Wars from Star Trek.  The Keeper in this story however is very much the type of science fiction entity that is more at home in a Star Trek tale than Star Wars.  Additionally, the four androids are more evocative of superheroes than Star Wars.