One of the most remarkable things about Splinter of the Mind’s Eye is the Luke and Leia relationship. You thought that it was always a given that Leia and Han would get to “cloud city” first, huh? Well, there are a couple of legitimate opportunities for Luke and Leia to get there before The Empire Strikes Back even happened!

Splinter of the Mind’s Eye was conceived as a potential backup plan for a low budget sequel if Star Wars proved to be less successful than hoped. It was to exclude the character of Han Solo because it was thought that Harrison Ford would either be unavailable or too expensive–something we’ve already made light of in a previous strip. This left Star Wars with the central characters of Luke, Leia, the droids and Darth Vader. Let’s not forget that while it may only have been a quick peck, Leia did kiss Luke while on the Death Star so at that movie’s conclusion things really could have continued in that direction. So, when stranded in a jungle on an alien world, what are any decent hero and princess supposed to do?

Yes… I know some of you might be in denial having been removed from the context of the time when this book was written. Today, we read the book taking it for granted that the sibling plot twist was only officially introduced in 1983s Return of the Jedi. We read it and retrospectively view Luke and Leia as being related, causing us to shout things like “don’t do it, Luke!” in frustration. However, before 1980 it really wasn’t all that inappropriate for Luke and Leia to look at each other with sex eyes while Duran Duran’s Hungry Like the Wolf played in the background.

Most of the fan humor surrounding the dead end Luke and Leia romance remains solely focused on their onscreen kiss in The Empire Strikes Back, it is therefore nice to highlight the less familiar moments that preceded it. The romance between the two makes its presence known on more than one occasion in the book. Have no fear! BMS will be there!

The Princess pressed close against Luke. He tried to comfort her without appearing anxious, but as the darkness closed to a stygian blackness around them and the night sounds turned to sepulchral moans and hootings, his arm instinctively went around her shoulders. She didn’t object. It made him feel good to sit there like that, leaning against her and trying to ignore the damp ground beneath.
Something called out with an abyssal shrillness, startling Luke from his sleep. Nothing moved beyond the dying fire. With his free hand he tossed several shards of wood onto the embers, watched the fire blaze again.
Then he happened to glance down at his companion’s face. It was not the face of a Princess and a Senator or a leader of the Rebel Alliance, but instead that of a chilled child. Moistly parted in sleep, her lips seemed to beckon to him. He leaned closer, seeking refuge from the damp green and brown of the swamp in that hypnotic redness.
He hesitated, pulled back. She was an aristocrat and Rebel leader. For all he’d accomplished above Yavin, he was still only a pilot and, before that, a farmer’s nephew. Peasant and Princess, he mused disgustedly.
His assignment was to protect her. He wouldn’t abuse that trust, no matter his own hopeless hopes. He would defend against anything that leapt out of the darkness, crawled from the slime, dropped from the gnarled branches they walked under. He would do it out of respect and admiration and possibly out of the most powerful of emotions, unrequited love.
He would even defend her from himself, he determined tiredly. In five minutes he was fast asleep…

Excerpted from Splinter of the Mind’s Eye by Alan Dean Foster, page 37-38.

One of our readers, named James (last name withheld to protect his (or her) identity) sent us a captioned version of one of Leanne’s commission sketches from Baltimore Comic Con. I thought it was so funny that I decided to color it and make it look nice… hence the pinup posted below. We may even offer these as prints at New York Comic Con next week. That’s right, I said NEXT WEEK! We’re STILL looking for helpers at the event which is held on October 8 – 10, 2010 at the Jacob K. Javits Center. Please get in touch with us.


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