Star Wars #88

Marvel's Star Wars #88 arrives with a bold declaration right on the cover: "Darth Vader is Dead — Long Live the New Dark Lord!" Bob McLeod and Tom Palmer's cover plunges us into a tense outdoor confrontation, where a skull-faced armored figure in a sweeping blue cape unleashes a searing energy blast at a determined woman wearing a gold collar, while the familiar faces of C-3PO and R-2D2 watch from the corner inset. Writer Jo Duffy and artist Bob McLeod's "Figurehead" promises a galaxy in transition, and this October 1984 issue makes it clear that the power vacuum left behind is anything but empty.