Cynthia Martin took over art chores as the regular artist with Star Wars #94 and needless to say, her artwork was not suitable for Star Wars. Her attempt at manga is laudible and we have seen that style work well with Star Wars, but her artwork on this title, a cartoonish and, dare I say, amateurish take on Star Wars is hard to take. The characters are exaggerate, settings scant, and the color palette is garish.
Luckily, there are three issues between Star Wars #94 and the final issue #107 that do not have her artwork, Star Wars #98, 99, and #102. Of the three books, Star Wars #98 is my clear favorite. Unfortunately, the exquisite interior artwork is hidden behind a painted cover by Bill Sienkiewicz which makes this issue easy to overlook. Dark Horse drew attention to this Archie Goodwin written and Al Williamson illustrated masterpiece when they reprinted it in the Classic Star Wars: The Vandelhelm Mission one-shot which is graced with a new Al Williamson cover.
Star Wars #98a - Marvel Comics, U.S. (August 1985)Star Wars #98b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (August 1985)
Cynthia Martin was running behind on the artwork for this title, thankfully, and the content that was originally scheduled for issue #98 was pushed out to issue #101. It does make one wonder if this story was just sitting around unpublished before they decided to use it. Was it originally intended for the newspaper strip, which is Al Williamson's best known Star Wars work, or did Marvel solicit Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson to create this fill-in? It is unlikely it is leftover material from the newspaper run as the classic strip took place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and this story has appearances by Lando Calrissian. Regardless, I for one am thankful Star Wars comic readers received another offering by the dynamic duo of Archie and Al!
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