Issue number fifty-three of Marvel's Star Wars comic book series is titled Star Wars 53: The Last Gift From Alderaan!.
In this story, Princess Leia Organa, along with Captain Chedaki, are piloting a blockade runner to investigate potential Imperial activities within the Shiva system. As they transition into a shuttle for descent to the planet Shiva IV, a space mine strikes their ship, causing significant damage. The explosion results in Chedaki's death, and Leia is compelled to launch the damaged shuttle, prioritizing the safety of the remaining crew and the vessel. The shuttle subsequently crashes on Shiva IV, where Leia immediately faces an attack from a group of savage raiders. Fortunately, a band of natives, led by Aron Peacebringer and Kéral Longknife, intervene, driving off the raiders and rescuing the princess. Leia accompanies Aron back to the capital city of Illyriaqüm and attempts to caution him about the looming threat of the Galactic Empire. However, the warlord remains unconvinced of the Empire's existence. Later, during a gala attended by Calian nobility, both Aron and Leia are secretly apprehended by Imperial stormtroopers and brought before General Sk'ar as prisoners.
The artistic foundation for this issue, along with the following one, originated from previously unused artwork intended for the canceled Marvel Comics series John Carter, Warlord of Mars. Carmine Infantino, a regular artist for the Star Wars series, had contributed some fill-in artwork inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs's space-fantasy warlord John Carter of Mars. This artwork was left unused after the series was canceled. Approximately a year after the cancellation, Marvel, wanting to make use of the existing art, commissioned Chris Claremont to craft a new story around it. Additionally, Walter Simonson was tasked with adapting Infantino's artwork to seamlessly integrate it into the Star Wars series. The character of John Carter was reimagined as Aron Peacebringer from Shiva IV in the storyline that spanned these two issues. Within the Star-Words letters column, the creative team presented the issues as simply drawing inspiration from the John Carter narratives.
This narrative marks the initial appearances of Sk'ar, Aron Peacebringer, Ygal Delois, Alisande and Kéral Longknife.
Leia makes a reference to the Cherenkov effect upon witnessing the destruction of the city of K'avor. This effect is named in honor of the real-world Russian scientist Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov.
The 2008 publication The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia clarified that the TIE Series spacecraft featured on the comic's cover is a TIE boarding craft, distinct from a TIE/sh VIP shuttle.
While not explicitly stated within this particular story, later additions to the Expanded Universe retconned Sk'ar's species as Kaleesh.