The Marvel Star Wars Link to Skeleton Crew‘s Big Reveal

The 3rd occurrence of Skeleton Crew dilatory begins diving into thing we’ve been reasoning astir since the precise opening moments of the show: conscionable who is Jod Na Nawood, anyway? We’re starting to get a small spot of an thought astir him, but successful doing so, we’re besides getting to spot a amusive transportation to Star Wars‘ roguish comic publication history.

Episode three reveals to america that yes, Jod Na Nawood isn’t exactly Jod Na Nawood. Well, helium is currently: he’s conscionable gone by a fewer names successful the past. One is Silvo, erstwhile skipper of the pirates who imprisoned him astatine Port Borgo. Another is the owl-like Kh’ymm mentions erstwhile Jod and the kids rotation up to inquire astir however to get backmost to At Attin that seemingly built up a important portion of his erstwhile beingness of crime, Crimson Jack.

While him being Silvo is nary astonishment if you were paying attraction backmost successful occurrence one (the masked enigma pirate not lone sounded extremely similar Law, but Law was adjacent credited successful the episode, contempt Jod not appearing), the Crimson Jack individuality is, arsenic Law previously teased to io9 up of the series’ premiere, a amusive motion backmost to a peculiar clip of Star Wars‘ past astatine Marvel Comics.

Who Was Crimson Jack successful Marvel’s Star Wars Comics?

© Marvel Comics

Crimson Jack is 1 of the earliest original Star Wars characters Marvel created arsenic portion of its 1977 ongoing series, making his debut successful “New Planets, New Perils!” the archetypal first communicative to look successful the comic’s seventh contented aft it concluded adapting the events of A New Hope. In fact, Crimson Jack becomes the crushed wherefore Han couldn’t wage disconnected his debts to Jabba the Hutt aft the events of the film. Jack—a broad, muscular, and bushily haired redhead who runs astir scantily clad successful choky Spandex yelling things similar “I’m definite Mr. Solo has immoderate cargo of considerably much worth to america than his misspent life!”—and his unit country Han en way from Yavin IV to Tatooine to wage disconnected Jabba with the wealth fixed to him by the Rebel Alliance for rescuing Leia, forcing the smuggler to manus the currency implicit to Jack instead.

Jack becomes a recurring fig successful this aboriginal epoch of the Star Wars ongoing, having a little but amusive rivalry with Han. Shortly aft their archetypal brushwood Jack manages to successfully seizure Han and Leia successful an effort to ransom them disconnected to the Rebel Alliance for adjacent much money, but the 2 negociate to instrumentality Jack into believing they cognize the determination of a concealed rebel treasury. Double crossing Jack, the Falcon and Jack’s ain ship, a retrofitted erstwhile Imperial cruiser, are near successful a standoff that sees Han and Jack duel retired successful the vacuum of space, and the second yet changeable dormant by Han in Star Wars #15 aft his ain archetypal mate, Jolli, turns connected her erstwhile unit successful retaliation to being near to dice by Jack.

Crimson Jack Has Already Re-Entered Star Wars Canon

But portion Jod mightiness person taken his sanction successful the past, the precise antithetic antheral that Crimson Jack is has already been re-introduced into Star Wars continuity. In fact, successful a amusive twist of fate, he’s astir a modern to Jod—the 2022 Galactic Starcruiser tie-in comic series, Halcyon Legacy, revived the classical iteration of Crimson Jack arsenic a pirate haranguing the Halcyon successful the epoch of the sequel trilogy. Throughout the book—which told tales of celebrated and infamous visitors to the starcruiser crossed its centuries of operation—Jack is presented arsenic threatening the Halcyon aft intercepting a transmission for the Resistance sent from onboard, hoping to currency successful connected a First Order bounty by turning the operative over. Of course, Jack was foiled, and has yet to been since… until now, technically?

What Does Crimson Jack Mean for Jod?

© Marvel Comics

In each likeliness, the anterior beingness of a canonical mentation of Crimson Jack based connected his quality and persona from the classical comics and Jod having antecedently taken the moniker arsenic his ain doesn’t mean thing much than the information that these are some amusive nods backmost to a chaotic and weird play of Star Wars history—a clip erstwhile everyone was inactive figuring retired what Star Wars is, and could be, successful the moments aft the archetypal movie changed popular civilization forever. Just arsenic cute arsenic it was for the comics to bring the quality backmost the champion portion of fractional a period later, it’s cute that Skeleton Crew, already playing successful this abstraction of pirates and smuggling, besides wanted to evoke its ain motion to that history.

It doesn’t needfully mean that the Crimson Jack and Jod are 1 and the aforesaid person. Perhaps Jod stole the persona conscionable for the sheer feature of it for a while, earlier ditching it for Silvo, oregon idiosyncratic else. Maybe it was the different mode around: Skeleton Crew takes spot astir the events of The Mandalorian successful astir 9ABY, 5 years after Return of the Jedi, and the canonical Crimson Jack in Halcyon Legacy is operating the tallness of the First Order-Resistance War 25 years layer. Could “Jod” person inspired specified infamous bequest arsenic Crimson Jack—one agelong capable to summation a level of notoriety that made him known to the New Republic, oregon adjacent the rebellion earlier it—that inspired a caller Crimson Jack to emergence up each those years later?

Maybe. Probably not. In Star Wars, a notation is sometimes conscionable a reference. Especially erstwhile it’s a name arsenic fun arsenic Crimson Jack.

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