By Yiannis Kalapothara
Introduction
Splinter of the Mind's Eye was written by Alan Dean Foster (Foster) in collaboration with George Lucas in 1977. It was originally planned to be the script for a low-budget sequel to the original Star Wars in case the movie flopped in the box office. However the movie ended being a momentous success, and so the script was published in the form of a novel the following year with the title, Splinter of the Minds Eye.
In 1996 Dark Horse comics made a comic adaptation. The Comic was written by Terry Austin and drawn by Chris Sprouse. The story was released in four issues and would be recollected in several graphic novels. Splinter of The Minds eye belongs to the Expanded Universe Timeline*. I will primarily focus on the Comic adaptation though I will reference the novel in select cases.
Quick Plot Summary
The Story begins some time after the destruction of the Death Star Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia Organa and the two droids have exited hyperspace. Leia's ship is damaged and has to make an emergency landing. Whilst deciding the best course for action they are caught in a mysterious colorful storm orbiting the planet Mimban which fries their controls and causes them to plummet down into the thick Mimbanese jungles. Over the course of the story they have run-ins with imperial forces, various natives and fauna of the planet, the fearsome Darth Vader and a mystic woman who they join in search of the fabled Kaibur Crystal. The story’s climax involves a fierce duel with the Dark Lord, Darth Vader.
Characters
Luke Skywalker: Luke follows much of the same character beats that he did in ANH*. He is still blissfully optimistic approaching even the most dire of situations with a positive view. An example would be in the beginning when he is spiraling the storm in orbit above Mimban. He comments, “like my old skyhopper back home”. This line demonstrates Luke's optimism as he tries to relate his current predicament to one from his past. In this case it is ironic since his, “Skyhopper”* doesn’t equate to an
X-Wing. This optimism continues throughout the story. Luke also acts like this throughout the entirety of the story. Luke is also shown to be relatively violent, this is when he and Leia are ambushed in the caves by the Coway natives of Mimban, where he slices many of them with his lightsaber. I would say that this is a bit out of character for him. I would have preferred for him to either be captured or find some way to escape. Besides that, Luke's character doesn’t change much from what we saw in ANH. Luke Skywalker didn’t intrigue me in this story. However, this doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy his role within the narrative.
Princess Leia Organa: Leia much like Luke isn’t that interesting in the story, again her character is more or less the continuation of what it was in ANH. She may look like a pampered princess on the surface, but make no mistake she is a dangerous opponent. Her most infamous moment of the story is when she duels Vader with Luke's lightsaber for what is a respectable time considering who she’s up against. Of course the relationship the three characters had with one another wasn’t disclosed yet. This also expands to the flirtatious relationship Luke and Leia have at this time. Leia during the Original trilogy also acts very much like a maternal figure for the male characters, with her being stereotypically worried for their well being.However she isn’t always as tender as the effeminate stereotype. This is showcased when she says, “Luke, are you okay?, are you crazy!”. Overall her character is a favorite of mine in stories of this era, she both encompasses the character of a classic heroine yet also fosters the wit of a cunning politician. In the climax of the story when Luke is injured she picks up his lightsaber and duels Darth Vader for a short while until she is struck down by his lightsaber. Luke eventually regains consciousness and battles Vader, defeating him by making him fall down a deep hole. Leia by this point is presumed dead, but she is healed by the Kaibur crystal. This last ditch duel against Vader shows her determination in protecting the people she cares for and her defiance towards evil. Out of the two leads of the story, Leia is my favourite due to this faithful portrayal of her character.
Captain Supervisor Grammel: Grammel is comparable to a common bully. Unlike other imperial officers he isn’t afraid to get his hand dirty. On several occasions we see him getting physical with his adversaries. For example in his opening scene, he charges a disobedient miner with assault and intent to murder, the miner protests saying he will,”file a report to the Imperial Bureau", Grammel is seen holding a data stick and responds with, “then you’ll need this recorded transcript of the event.” He then proceeds to gauge out the eye of the offender with the data stick. Afterwards he snarkily comments saying, ‘throw the trash to the detention center will you.” Grammel continues with this demeanor until Darth Vader arrives on planet with the intent to capture Luke Skywalker. Grammel's character is unrecognizable, from then on he talks with a permanent stutter and has a hapless gaze in awe of his superior, “They have… escaped My lord… with the help of one Jedi Master my–” Vader is not one who tolerates failure and doesn’t hesitate to slice Grammel directly in half at the first hint of his failure. Grammell had to be my favorite character of the story, it is a rarity to come across a competent and able Imperial officer, one which bites just as harshly as he barks. This demeanor all but changes the moment Vader arrives, revealing how insignificant he is in the grand scheme of things. Also, the title “Captain Supervisor” is exclusive to this character, seen nowhere else in the expanded universe.
Darth Vader: “Vader” in this story is in my opinion written superbly and authentically. In the Original Star Wars, Darth Vader was depicted as a dark, towering figure, one
which causes foes and allies alike to wet their pants from fear. Foster manages to write this character to a tee. Excluding his confrontations with Captain Supervisor Grammel, His fight with Luke and Leia at the end is spectacular and showcases his immense power and fortitude. During said fight, Vader keeps saying things along the lines of, “This is it Luke Skywalker, I’ve got you!”. This is an inconsistency because if he actually knew Luke Skywalker's name he would have probably confronted him about being his Father. However, Lucas hadn’t yet come up with that detail of the story and so this inconsistency makes sense within the context of the time when the story was written. Besides that, Vader's character in the story is a very truthful rendition of who he was originally written to be, the towering demon which slays all who stand in his way and disappoint him. For those reasons I found Darth Vader an ominous villain and rightful opponent for the protagonists of the story.
Halla: Halla’s character is the archetype of an old adventurer who is always on the hunt for some magical mucguffin. She looks like an old southern woman and talks just like one. Her character is very similar to Han Solo’s character from the movie. She starts off as a very individualistic person who is only interested in their goal and not ruffling too many feathers. She will only help the group steal transport of the planet if they aid her first. She even threatened them with revealing them to the imperial authorities if they at any point cross her. My favorite quote of hers is when Luke and Leia are trapped inside one of the deep black wells, Halla casually tells the two to head east and that the Coways which inhabit the underground are peaceful people. After the groups splits, C-3PO rejoices, telling her how fortunate they are that she knows so much about the planet. Halla answers, “ If I’d told them the truth they'd still be clinging onto that ledge!”. This shows her double sided nature but also her pragmatism, knowing that if they have any hopes of reaching the crystal. She would sacrifice them in service of her goal. Her character much like Han Solo’s does shift by the end where she stops being so selfish and helps the rest of the group.
The other infamous part of her character is how she identifies as a, “Master of the Force”. Whilst yes she has some sort of telekinetic abilities, they are miniscule nd far from a “masters level”. She can barely move a glass on a table using her mind. She also often refers to Luke as “fellow force user”and so on. I loved Halla’s character in this story and her mannerism as well as her character, which as mentioned mirrors the arc of Han Solo in the film. I hope that some day we see more of her character.
Kee & Hin: Kee & Hin are a Yuzzum couple, they are first introduced in the detention Cell and Luke and Leia are thrown into. They are primarily depicted as two fearsome barbaric beings though are quickly proven to be valuable and loyal allies. I can’t really use a quote from them as they are mute throughout the Story, sometimes Luke will budge in and comment on their feelings which he is able to understand via the Force. You don’t necessarily need dialogue from them, their actions and the context of the scene often spell it out. Sprouse's depiction of the Yuzzum as a towering, bipedal, furry creature, is very much in line with the novel, however the appearance of the Yuzzum species would be retconned a year later in the Star Wars special
editions which depicts them as short and feeble with a lot less hair on them. I have a tendency to love the character archetype of the, “silent giants”. This story is no exception.
The Droids: I have not much to say for the droids as characters, their characters remain stationary in every single one of their appearances. However, I do always enjoy the comic relief banter between them with C-3PO stating, "There's no creature alive with the bad taste to devour Artoo!”. R2 then replies with his signature bionic sounds, to which C-3PO responds with, “Very funny I hope one of the local carnivores chokes on you and breaks your external sensors.” This banter between them is a common and a constant staple in Star Wars narratives. I liked the two droids in this story for those reasons.
Art
Style:
The art style is not stylized and instead attempts to portray the images of the story in a realistic style or as realistic as art looked in the 1990s. The art style is adequate and fitting with the tone of the story. I enjoy the style quite a bit for these reasons.
Illustrations:
When Splinter of the Mind was originally published in 1978, Star Wars did not have the endless visual media to draw from, thus the novel often gave lackluster descriptions of things like spaceships and technology. However, by 1996 Star Wars had a vast library of iconography. The artist (Chris Sprouse) took advantage of this and inserted already established imagery to fill in Foster's place holders. Things such as imperial shuttles, landing pads etc… He did however give life to many of the original descriptions. Like the native green mimbanese with their elongated tongue and the many Temples which dot the landscape. I also believe that the colorist James Sinclair did a fabulous job especially in a scene where Luke and Leia are paddling in a cavern on a large lilypad, the scene has a dark green tone over it.
Expressing the oftentimes surreal environment one can encounter beneath the surface. Again I think that the illustrations match the story very well and enjoy it for that reason.
Mysticism
The Force: This being early on in Star Wars’s development as a franchise, means that the force and its scope isn’t that well understood. Thus Use of the Force is basic and rudimentary. However I do like to believe that the force purposefully caused the strom responsible for the group crash landing onto the planet. That it was responsible for the adventure the group went on (more about this in the Issues/Problems Section).
The Kaiburr Crystal: The Kaibur crystal is shown to resemble a round and pink diamond emanating energy. It is evident that its immense power has attracted people the likes of Darth Vader and the Emperor to Old Adventurers and treasure seekers like Kee. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the mining operations on the planet were installed in order to find the crystal. The fact that the Kaiburr Crystal loses all its power when outside the temples' vicinity could be a metaphorical teaching of how some things are better left where they are and as the story depicts, the search for them can often be harsh and dangerous. It is also a “Mcguffin”, an otherwise useless object which drives the plot and narrative of the story.
Cthulhu: The Kaibur crystal is situated in the middle of a statue of what is very evidently a depiction of the lovecraftian entity of Cthulhu. The entity is referred to by Halla as, “Pomojema, God of the Kaibur” This is accurate to the novel where the statue is described as such. Foster even said that he was reading Lovecraftian works at the time and thus was inspired to write the cosmic entity into the story. Star Wars very much used to hinge on the fact that the story took place a long time ago in a Galaxy far far away… Many Cosmic horror stories engage with this topic as well including other Star Wars stories from the Era which I would like to some day review.
Treatment of the Natives
Throughout this story the natives of the Planet Mimban are not regarded too highly by the settler population. In the beginning when the group enters the cantina. We can see a green Mimbanese licking a golden liquid off the floor while the miners around him laugh. There is also the scene where Luke and Leia are taken into custody. The detention center appears to be built within a temple-looking structure of sorts. An evident desecration of what is implied to be a holy sight. Luke comments on this, asking the Stormtrooper guard, “Did the natives build these?” With the Stormtrooper replying, “Them, there's no way they could’ve built anything like this.” In this exchange we can clearly see that the settlers of Mimban think very little of the natives, often treating them as slaves and desecrating their temples.
Important to mention is that the 1970s was the decade in which Native Americans started being viewed as the victims rather than the aggressors. For decades American media had depicted them as savages. However attitudes by the 70s had begun to shift. Infamously after the, “Conflict at Wounded Knee 1973”*. It is more than possible that Foster was inspired by the anti colonialist and native american power movements of the era, thus implementing this depiction of them in his story.
Issues/Problems
I have a couple issues with the story. My main issue is regarding the pacing, being an adaptation of a novel you can imagine a lot had to be either cut or condensed in
order to fit in 100 pages. The start especially seems rushed, it’s about ten or so pages of deadspace from the moment they crashland on the planet until they get to the main plot. The ending feels just as rushed (though that is how it felt in the novel as well). Another issue I had was the mediocre dialogue. The dialogue and interactions often lack character and depth, and yes comics do have the capabilities to portray realistic and good sounding dialogue. Perhaps if the art was more expressionistic than this issue would have been mitigated.
How Would I Improve The Story
If I could make a change to the story, it would be on how the group originally gets stranded on the planet due to a “mysterious and colorful storm” This for one is a massive coincidence, who knew our main characters would be hit by a seemingly random storm which has no other bearing or effect on the story except inciting it. I would instead have them be pursued and shot down by the empire, who then notify the local garrison of rebel activity. The Protagonists are then entwined in a constant game of cat and mouse, having to avoid the imperials at every turn from the very start of the story.
Ranking
I Overall rank the story an 8/10, great in my book. The feeling of Classic Space Fantasy adventure combined with the zany nature of Star Wars Literature at the Combines to make an enjoyable story. Although my aforementioned issues with the story have a bearing on the ranking. I still don’t think they are that big of a problem to hinder my enjoyment of the story. If you like classic Adventure and Space Fantasy, a low stakes and easy reading story I would recommend this comic.
Glossary
* ANH: Abbreviation for Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope
* Expanded Universe Timeline: The old continuity of everything Star Wars outside the movie which existed before 2014. The timeline was rebooted by Disney in order to make way for new stories. Many ongoing projects were canceled, storylines were left unfinished and fans of Star Wars literature like me yearn for more.
* T16-Skyhopper: A low altitude flying vehicle, Luke used to own one on Tatooine, it is the real life equivalent of a motor bike. It’s like Luke is comparing the handling of a motor-cycle to a fighter jet.
* The Incident at Wounded Knee: An armed confrontation between Native Americans of the Sioux tribe and National Guardsmen in the Dakotas of the Northwestern United States in 1973. This incident occurred over exploitation of natural resources on sacred native lands.
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