I've been on a bit of a Star Wars kick - or, more specifically, a "Han Solo & Chewbacca" kick - of late, re-reading Brian Daley's three "Adventures of Han Solo" novels from the late 1970s and the A.C. Crispin Solo Trilogy from the late 90s. I liked the 70s books better, but the more recent novels did a good job of fleshing out the character's backstory and setting him up for his intro in the original movie.Han Solo's always been my favorite character in the SW universe, and I really enjoyed Archie Goodwin's characterization of the space smuggler back in the old Marvel Comics series, especially since all he had to go on was one movie appearance. All those "Expanded Universe" books and stuff weren't yet even a glint in Lucas' eye.
One memorable story arc occurred on a giant space station/casino called "The Wheel," especially when Solo and his hirsute first mate were tricked into battling to the death in an anti-gravity arena filled with opponents, and a holographic "outer space" environment, complete with stars and exploding planets.
This issue, #22, is from that multi-part epic, and was drawn by the legendary Carmine Infantino and inked by Bob Wiacek. A lot of people hated Infantino's Star Wars art - it was so stylized and the characters only vaguely resembled the film actors - but I loved it, and thought that Wiacek's lush brushwork was particularly complimentary to Infantino's pencils.
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