The twenty-sixth installment of the Legends comic book series, titled Star Wars 26, which is also known as Star Wars, was brought to life by the writing of Archie Goodwin and the illustrations of Carmine Infantino. Marvel Comics released it to the public on May 22, 1979. Within its pages lies the tale of "Doom Mission!," where Luke Skywalker delves into the reasons behind Imperial marauders showing up in Alliance controlled areas.
The Gordian Reach Sector is under an blockade established by the Empire. As Luke and Leia journey back to the Rebel base situated on Yavin 4, they find themselves in an ambush set by a pair of Imperial TIE fighters. Just when it seems all hope is lost, a Rebel X-wing patrol appears on the scene and eliminates the two hostile fighters.
Upon their eventual arrival at the base, they relay the events they witnessed to General Jan Dodonna, specifically the entry of TIE fighters into Yavin's gaseous atmosphere. Considering the density of Yavin's atmosphere, which hinders typical communication signals, they infer that the House of Tagge and the Empire have pioneered a novel communication technology and have established a launch facility within the gas giant. Luke undertakes a mission to recover one of these communication devices from a crashed TIE fighter, but at the expense of severe damage to R2-D2.
Subsequently, Luke pilots a captured TIE fighter, equipped with the newly acquired communication unit, through Yavin's atmosphere towards the Achtnak Turbine Station. He successfully obliterates the station, but then faces the challenge of navigating back to open space without any navigational assistance from the station. By channeling the Force for guidance, Luke skillfully escapes the dense atmosphere. Unbeknownst to him, Baron Orman Tagge trailed him, thus avoiding being stranded on Yavin indefinitely.
- UPC 071486028178; May 22 , 1979 ; Marvel Comics ; First printing [1]
- (No UPC) ; October 6 , 2015 ; Marvel Comics; Digital edition [3]