Star Wars 24: Silent Drifting is the twenty-fourth issue in the Marvel Star Wars series of comics.
After Han Solo skillfully pilots the Millennium Falcon to destroy two TIE fighters, Princess Leia mentions that Jedi pilots developed that same maneuver. She recounts one particular event involving Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Kenobi, traveling as a passenger on a pleasure cruiser, is notified by Captain Quasar that Merson pirates have been spotted in the Merson asteroid belt. The attacking ships are quickly destroyed, but Obi-Wan suspects the Mersons to have been lured by a signal from within the cruiser. The other passengers immediately accuse Augustus Tryll, a known criminal, of working with the Mersons, but Kenobi is not as quick to judge without proof. When more Merson ships are spotted, he realizes that the signal the pirates are tracking is originating from an innocent fermentation device on board the cruiser. Once he destroys this device, the Merson ships lose track of the pleasure cruiser, and danger is avoided.
This is Mary Jo Duffy's first Star Wars issue. She would later be the regular writer on the title beginning with Star Wars (1977) 70.
The framing story takes place after the events of Star Wars (1977) 15, according to the notation on the first page. Aside from the first four pages and the last half page, the entire story in this issue is a flashback to a time when Obi-Wan Kenobi was an active Jedi Knight in the Galactic Republic. This is the first published story to take place in the Galactic Republic era.
One of the letters in this issue's letters page criticizes the comic series for making Luke and Leia "... act more like young brother and sister than sweethearts." Although the creators of the book didn't know this at the time, four years later Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi would reveal that they were indeed siblings.
- Star Wars Summer Special 1985
- Star Wars: A Long Time Ago... Volume 2: Dark Encounters
- Star Wars Omnibus: A Long Time Ago.... Volume 1
- Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol. 1
- Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Original Marvel Years Vol. 2
- Star Wars Year By Year: A Visual History, New Edition