“Rather tight security for a pumpkin festival.”
Star Wars: The Protocol Offensive
Dark Horse (September, 1997)
WRITERS: Anthony Daniels (yes, C3PO himself) & Ryder Windham OUTLINE: Brian Daley ARTIST: Igor Kordey LETTERER: Sean Konot DESIGN: Scott Tice ASSISTANT EDITOR: David Land EDITOR: Bob Cooper
The Troobs and Hobors of planet Tahlboor are trying to settle a long feud while the Tion Hegemony is hoping to establish a trade route with both sides. However, when the Troob leader’s wife wins Threepio from the Tion representative in a card game, the Hobor leader accuses the two groups of conspiring against him and demonstrates a powerful weapon, then demands negotiations continue on the planet and with the representative’s son, Jake. The Hobor leader also demands Artoo, splitting up our heroes. Things get worse when the Troob prince is found head and the Hobor princess accuses of his murder. However the two were actually having a secret romance (probably because their fathers are feuding) and the unaware Troob leader declares war on the Hobors. Then the Droids figure out someone is trying to play both sides hoping for mutual genocide so he can take control of the weapon. Once he’s found out and ends up dying at the hands of the very weapon he wanted to steal, the girl decides to get off planet for a while with the Droids following her (R2 needing repair after the Droids had to save her and themselves from a spider monster) and the two sides decide to discuss peace on their own without the Hegemony.
What they got right: As an adventure it works well. R2 and 3PO play off each other well and there are some good moments. The tragic romance of Ket and Loorna is played well and you feel for the girl having to lose her boyfriend, then get accused of her murder leading to a potential civil war.
What they got wrong: While a few scenes (like C-3PO’s head projected through the machine to reveal the killer) looked cool, the failings of the painted art style still shine through when it comes to character expressions. There really isn’t a mystery for the reader to solve. There are no clues except for when the killer claims to go to talk to Ket but couldn’t find him, yet the boy ends up murdered. They had the potential for an interesting murder mystery with the Droids but didn’t capitalize on it.
Other notes: There’s an interesting story attached to this tale behind the scenes. Windham had approached Daley and Daniels with the idea of Daley writing a story and Daniels writing dialog in Threepio’s voice, which should be easy for the man who played him. However, Daley was called to work on the radio adaptation of Return Of The Jedi, where Daniels was the only actor from the movie appearing. (Anthony Daniels loves playing C3PO, and has portrayed him in all three cartoons.) Then Daley passed away. Dark Horse approached Windham to use his outline and still bring Daniels in as intended to complete the project. It’s a gimmicky idea at best but luckily the story stands out enough to not be bothered by that.
Recommendation: Not much of a mystery but a good adventure for our Droids. I’m glad we’re ending the Droids adventures in my collection currently on a high note. It’s a story worth picking up.
This is also the end of Star Wars stories until I find those few remaining comics set during the Old Republic. Check the Sunday posting to see what’s replacing it in our Wednesday Midnight review.
BW Media Spotlight 
It’s pretty cool that you have a large number of Star Wars comic books from the 1990s and early 21st century. They should be going up in value (along with other Star Wars products) with the December release of the new Star Wars movie.
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