Behemoth From the World Below

STAR WARS — Issue no. 10, January 1978

Chance Shirley

Jun 14, 2023

Book: Star Wars

Issue No.: 10

Published: January 10, 1978

Title: “Behemoth From the World Below”

Cover Price: 35¢

Format: Original paper copy

For Gen X Star Wars fans, Jaxxon the giant space rabbit is kind of infamous. He’s an example of how the early Star Wars “expanded universe” — the stuff in licensed Star Wars media outside the theatrical movies — could strike a tone inconsistent with the theatrical movies. And it’d be one thing if Jaxxon was just a six-foot-tall bipedal creature with a green, rabbit-like head — it’s not like the look of official Star Wars aliens wasn’t often influenced by real-world animals — but he actually refers to himself as a rabbit.

This issue of Star Wars drops us readers in on a very much already-in-progress story with a wonderfully concise bit of page-one “previously on” expositional narration — “Han Solo’s job seemed simple enough… get together a band of alien warriors and save a village from the outlaw Serji-X Arrogantus and his marauding Cloud Riders! But in the original deal, no one said anything about a monster!”

The monster in question is a very large (I’m estimating more than a hundred feet tall), bipedal, lizard-looking thing, and it’s right there on the opening splash page to hammer home that exposition.

Two panels from this issue showing Jaxxon (who looks like a man with a big green rabbit head) and Amaiza (who is a white-haired woman). In the first panel, Jaxxon is reaching for a pistol. Amaiza says, “Leave the blaster, Jax! And take cover between the rocks! You’ll never —” Jaxxon says, “Already have, Amaiza! But did these floppy ears’a mine detect a little affection in your voice? Hmmmmm?! Nawww! Like my mother told all eighty of us kids — it’d never work out! Marry a nice girl from a nice burrow, an’ —” In the second panel, Amaiza grabs Jaxxon and pulls him out of the way before a large rock falls on him. Jaxxon says, “Whooooeeee!! Almost didn’t see that one! Maybe I ought’a get my eyes checked out if we ever get out’a this mess!” The rock hits the ground with a “Kwump!” sound effect. Narration at the bottom of the panel states, “… which Jaxxon begins to doubt, as he hears a portentous rumble from above…”

Han Solo’s band of alien warriors includes Jaxxon, plus an old Jedi Knight (or at least a Jedi wannabe) named Don-Wan Kihotay (get it?), a kid that’s kind of like a younger version of Luke Skywalker, a cat-like humanoid, and a white-haired young woman named Amaiza. And Han’s best buddy, Chewbacca the wookiee, of course.

This book ends a multi-issue story arc. I’m pretty sure I read some of that arc a few years back in a Star Wars trade paperback. From what I recall (and from what I read in this issue of Star Wars), the initial setup for the story was reminiscent of Seven Samurai. So, yeah, a giant green space rabbit might be a little silly for Star Wars, but doing a Kurosawa riff is 100 percent on brand for Star Wars (one of Star Wars creator George Lucas’ inspirations was Kurosawa’s film The Hidden Fortress).

According to an editor’s note on the fan-mail page, this story also ends Roy Thomas’ (writer) and Howard Chaykin’s (penciler) tenure on the book — both worked on the book since the first issue. The editor’s note also mentions that Marvel’s Star Wars comic book was incredibly popular as of January 1978, calling it “the most-published four-color comic in at least twenty years.” Which isn’t surprising — as someone who grew up in that era, I can attest that Star Wars was a colossal pop culture phenomenon, and fans were rabid for Star Wars toys, t-shirts, drinkware, etc.

This book isn’t just the Han Solo show. We do get a page with Princess Leia traveling through space searching for Luke Skywalker, who has apparently gone missing. I’m sure we’ll see more of the Princess, and maybe Luke, in the next issue.

Next time — Why is Doctor Strange attacking Ghost Rider?

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