Star Wars 49: The Last Jedi represents the forty-ninth installment of the Marvel's Star Wars comic book saga.
Leia Organa, holding the title of Princess, alongside Luke Skywalker and their droid companions, pilot a Y-wing fighter to a verdant jungle planet. Their mission: to respond to a distress signal originating from Prince Denid of Velmor. Years prior, Denid, his fiancée Loren, and their mutual friend Jedidiah experienced a catastrophic crash on this very world, resulting in Loren's tragic demise. The urgency lies in Denid's immediate return to Velmor to undertake the succession rite, a necessity to prevent his younger brother, a known Imperial sympathizer, from seizing control of the planet. Luke is taken aback upon discovering that Jedidiah, now mentally impaired due to an old injury, once possessed the potential to become a Jedi Knight.
Under the guise of a bounty hunter (Luke) and Loren (Leia), they accompany Prince Denid back to Velmor. Their arrival is perfectly timed to thwart the coronation of Denid's sibling, Anod, as the new monarch. This intervention incites frustration not only in Anod but also in Zelor and Imperial Captain Zeta Traal, each harboring their own ambitions for power.
During the ceremonial Mrid Hunt, intended to celebrate Denid's return, Traal plots the assassination of Denid and Leia, aiming to maintain the planet's allegiance to the Empire. Zelor, too, desires their deaths, driven by his personal ambition to rule Velmor in the absence of a royal heir. The ensuing conflict sees Denid and Leia wounded by Anod, who in turn, is killed by Traal. Zelor, underestimating Luke, believes the seemingly reckless individual will be no match for his energy sword. However, he is mistaken, as Luke's swordsmanship easily overpowers Zelor. As their duel unfolds, Traal seizes a clear opportunity to eliminate both, but Jedidiah heroically intervenes, sacrificing his life to prevent Luke's capture.
With the conspirators neutralized, either through death or capture, Denid is now free to ascend to the throne as King of Velmor, pledging his support to the Rebellion. Luke, Leia, and the droids depart from Velmor, bidding farewell to Denid. Luke assumes responsibility for Jedidiah's remains, conducting a space funeral to honor the fallen hero's bravery.
This marks the solitary appearance of Jedidiah, who uses Jedi as a familiar name. Differing from some Jedi, Jedidiah's body remains intact after death, unlike Obi-Wan Kenobi.
This is the inaugural showing of Captain Zeta Traal.
A textual error occurs where the planet's name, Velmor, is incorrectly spelled as Velmore. Similarly, on page 12, Alderaan is mistakenly written as Alderann.
The Y-wing used by the team to reach Velmor is equipped with a cabin capable of comfortably accommodating four individuals (Luke, Leia, the King of Velmor, and C-3PO). Within the Legends continuity, the Courier variant stands as the only known Y-wing model possessing such capacity. Jedidiah's skin tone is depicted as green on the cover, yet appears purplish throughout the comic.
In this issue, as well as in issues 45 and 51, Luke wields a lightsaber, despite having lost his in issue 44, which corresponds to the events of The Empire Strikes Back. On page 22, the lightsaber blade is colored red.
Unlike typical representations of hyperspace travel, this issue portrays a portal appearing as ships enter and exit hyperspace.
On September 16, 2017, Mark Hamill playfully suggested on his Twitter account that this comic contained spoilers for the then-upcoming film, The Last Jedi.