The Empire Strikes Back Weekly #119
In "An Icy Death," a tense standoff unfolds when a communist general pressures a reluctant lama to reveal the location of a hidden alien spacecraft. With the lives of the peasants hanging in the balance, the lama reluctantly guides the soldiers to a remote mountain—only for the ground to split open and the mountain itself to launch into space, revealing its true nature in a moment of shocking revelation. This gripping tale, illustrated with stark precision by Steve Ditko and lettered by Artie Simek, is a standout in the Marvel UK weekly series. The cover, a dynamic collaboration by Al Williamson and Carlos Garzón, captures the story’s icy dread and sudden peril.
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A communist general demands that the lama tell him of the alien space ship that has landed for repairs. At first the lama refuses to allow the aliens to be conquered by the communists, but he relents after the general threatens to execute all the peasants. The soldiers march off to the mountain the lama has indicated, but after a fruitless search they conclude the lama must have been lying. Suddenly, the mountain begins to shake violently and the soldiers realize too late as it blasts off that the mountain was the space ship.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).