The ongoing Star Wars series launched by Marvel in 2015 came to a unremarkable conclusion with issue #75 in November 2019. Greg Pak only wrote 8 issues for the main title and I was not a fan of those issues. The series ending was not particularly strong, evoking a strange element found in the story arcs from Poe Dameron #1 - 3 and from Star Wars #26 - 30. Both those stories featured large bipedal humanoid creatures and in Star Wars #75, an even larger creature helps our heroes escape both the Empire and Boss Carpo. I believe stories with large humanoid creatures can work with Star Wars, the Gorax on Endor comes to mind, but I do not feel it worked well in any of the 3 stories Marvel gave us.
Even more disappointing, Greg Pak's issues do not even attempt to lead into The Empire Strikes Back. For example we never encounter the bounty hunter from Ord Mantell that causes Han to want to abandon the Rebellion on Hoth. In addition to Han, none of the other characters are emotionally where they are at the beginning of that movie. Given that Marvel knew they were going to restart the title after this issue and pick up where The Empire Strikes Back ends, it is clear these final issues are just filler, and not very good filler. All they did was buy Marvel time for the Star Wars line reboot in early 2020.
This final issue has an eBay exclusive that was commissioned by MyComicShop. The cover of this exclusive has artwork by R.B. Silva who does a decent job depicting images from the story inside. It is just unfortunate the story inside is not deserving of an exclusive. This artwork can be considered a preview for the 2020 ongoing title, where R.B. Silva servers as the cover artist for the first six issues.
Star Wars #75e - Marvel Comics, U.S. (November 2019) eBay exclusive
I find it ironic that Marvel published every issue of this Star Wars title using 3 digits for the number on the cover, padding the number with zeroes where needed. For example, the issue number on this cover is 075. It was a foregone conclusion this title would never reach issue #100. Still, for Marvel to have published any title for as long as they did this one without renumbering in the modern era is an accomplishment.
Winloss and Nokk are a husband and wife monster-hunting team. Winloss is a human who wears a backpack that includes mechanical legs and arms that augment his agility and strength. Nokk is a Trandosian who does not believe in killing innocent creatures. The duo have a quirky relationship and their banter is lovably entertaining. In their first appearance in Doctor Aphra Annual #2, they believe Doctor Aphra hires them to capture a monster for a crime boss, but Aphra really wants them to free her from the Shadowfang Beast that swallowed her whole.
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Annual #2a - Marvel Comics, U.S. (September 2018) 1st appearance of Winloss and NokkStar Wars: Doctor Aphra Annual #2b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (September 2018) 1st appearance of Winloss and Nokk
Winloss and Nokk's first cover appearance is on the variant edition of Doctor Aphra Annual #2. It shows Winloss in the foreground hanging onto a wall with the help of his backpack while Nokk is holding onto his legs. Aphra is walking away from them with a backpack full of treasure. This scene is not actually in the story, but instead, Winloss steals the artifact Aphra retrieved before she flies away using a rocket backpack. They do not appear on the standard cover which shows Doctor Aphra running from the Shadowfang Beast.
