Every Star Wars character has a name, even those only having a couple of minutes or a few seconds of screen-time. Some of them have become household names for the most devoted fans; Wedge Antilles, for example, who is hardly a main character in the films, is a well-known favorite among the fans, both for his brief original trilogy appearances and his numerous starring roles in Legends canon.
And then there are some characters who most fans have probably never given a second thought to. Green Leader, also known as Arvel Crynyd, may be such a one. His screen time in the films (Return of the Jedi, to be specific) was even less than Antilles’s, though it was arguably more spectacular; Crynyd is the A-Wing pilot who made the ultimate sacrifice and charged his damaged ship through the bridge viewport of the Super Star Destroyer Executor during the Battle of Endor. This caused the Destroyer to crash into the second Death Star, thereby decisively turning the tide of the battle in the rebels’ favor.
Forgot about him? Sadly, I did. But after you read the fan fiction comic by Daniel Warren Johnson, you won’t ever forget Green Leader again.
You can read and see Arvel Crynyd’s short, but emotional story here.
Johnson’s foreword to “Green Leader” is full of love for the work.
"For some reason, this A wing pilot MOVED me. Everything about this part of Return of the Jedi made me want to DRAW and CREATE. This is a fan fiction comic I made in April, just because I love this scene and I love comics. I was originally going to only have this story in print with me at shows, but I want as many people to see it as possible. There’s a big part of me in these eleven pages, I hope you can see it."
We certainly can. Thank you, Daniel, for creating such a moving vignette for Star Wars fans to read, consider, and enjoy.
Extra thanks to my friend Pablo, who directed me to this amazing comic!