Third time must be the charm for the Star Wars line of comics. Dark Horse’s 20-plus years were fantastic but they were hobbled by a couple things.
- Most of what they did wasn’t Canon before it was relabeled “Legends.”
- They didn’t get to have the level of coordination Disney has brought the franchise with the exception of Shadows of the Empire around 1996.
Now everything Marvel does has the editors going over the stories to make sure they line up with other elements: novels, films and toys; to make sure it all syncs up. For example, Captain/Admiral Sloane from the Rebels novel New Dawn re-appeared in Aftermath AND the Kanan comic book. In the latter, it was nice to see what she is supposed to look like because I got a couple aspects wrong. The novels have lined up characters before with different authors but my point is the comics rarely did unless it was a marketing campaign attacking all the geek avenues or an adaptation (aka the Thrawn trilogy).
I digress though, I want to give a quick update on the two main series…Star Wars and Darth Vader. The former has picked up somewhat, namely in the art department after the first story arc. I do enjoy the interludes between arcs too. Before Star Wars jumps into another chapter of the saga, Luke reads from Obi-Wan’s journal that Jedi Master kept during his 20 years in hiding. It’s cool to see he wasn’t completely useless. Hell, Obi-Wan and Uncle Owen had a couple interactions before the movie in which Owen told the “crazy old hermit” to stay away from Luke or you’ll get him killed like his father. Hmm. Obi-Wan lied about what happened. Then again, how do you break it gently to Own, hey, your step-brother is now Darth Vader, scourge of the galaxy and mass-murderer. As much as I’m enjoying Star Wars more, Darth Vader remains my favorite of the two. Darth is continuously scheming with and against the Emperor now that he knows (through Boba Fett) the pilot who destroyed the Death Star happens to be Luke Skywalker, his son. Ergo, Vader and Palpatine are now enemies yet they “cooperate” to keep the Empire together. The loss of giant battle station has greatly weakened the Empire as Grand General Tagge pointed out. Anyway, Vader I enjoy more thanks to his helpers BT-1 and Triple Zero. These two are the anti-R2-D2 and C-3P0. They enjoy killing and torturing the living plus they’re very obedient to Vader…so far. In the recent crossover Darth Vader Down, the authors that Triple Zero has the same voice as Threepio, hence he tricked Luke when a Vader ally gave the protocol-assassin droid a quick paint job.
Now to get to the heart of this entry…the four mini-series Marvel has published, each focuses individuals and one on a duo.
First is Princess Leia which appeared shortly after the main two titles began. Days after the Death Star‘s destruction, the Rebels begin their evacuation of Yavin-4. Leia is relegated by General Dodanna to a “supervisory” role due to the huge bounty on her head (10 million Imperial credits). He’s very concerned for her safety. Then Leia overhears some criticism from a fellow Alderaanian Evaan Verlaine calling her an “ice queen” for being so cold at the medal ceremony. This inspires Leia to undertake a special mission and makes Evaan her pilot. The plan is to find enclaves of other Alderaanians living on other worlds, evacuate them to safety and thus, Alderaan will live on via its culture. Why? Leia probably figures the Emperor to be a spiteful person who won’t stop at just destroying her homeworld.
I loved this miniseries! Finally, Leia gets to be truly large and in charge! I’ve bought at least one copy of the trade paperback to give to a friend’s daughters since we all know Carrie Fisher didn’t get to do much in any film. Oh she was quite a presence in Star Wars with the zingers but afterwards Leia was often the damsel in distress. Leia and Evaan also travel to Naboo and Sullust where there are known Alderaanian “neighborhoods” like our country has significant numbers of Arabs in Detroit or Russians in NYC.
Everybody’s favorite smooth operator comes next in an adventure involving him and his buddy Lobot before they landed their lucrative opportunity on Bespin. Before Lando was reunited with Han and Chewbacca, he owed a crime boss a large sum of money. In order to pay it off, he accepts a job to steal a yacht from an Imperial ship yard. Why? Allegedly, the yacht carries numerous antiquities worth enough for everybody involved in the heist a chance to retire. For this operation Lando recruits an Ugnaught archaeologist and the mobster assigns two cat-like alien ninjas who don’t speak to “outsiders.” The theft goes off without a hitch but you’ll soon see why three Imperial Imperial-class Star Destroyers pop out of Hyperspace shortly after Lando and the gang leave the dock. The yacht’s owner is not just any idle, billionaire.
Lando‘s best part is a cameo made by another famous and under-utilized starship.
Leia wasn’t the only person with other things to do after the Yavin-4 victory celebration. Chewbacca borrows an A-Wing fighter for some unexplained reason and he crash lands on a planet dominated by a crime lord. This crime lord runs a mine in which he uses slaves to harvest a gas the Empire needs to power its weaponry. The slaves are primarily people who owe the gangster money so I guess he’s really a loan shark. Amongst the mine workers/slaves is a young, feisty girl named Zarro. With her father’s help, she escapes. Instead of fleeing as far away as she can, Zarro seeks help to free all the people left behind. The nearby town is no help, many fear and/or cooperate with the crime lord. Meanwhile, Chewbacca is gambling at Sabacc to earn the money to repair his A-Wing. Zarro spots our furry hero and the arm-twisting begins. She’s very skilled at appealing to his sense of justice as you’ll see in the flashbacks Chewie has whenever Zarro mentions the horrors the people in the mine are enduring. They have to hurry too, the gangster is planning to sell the whole operation to the Empire.
Author Gerry Duggan and artist Phil Noto did an excel job with a character who doesn’t speak anything audible (or would it be legible) for the audience. It became another trade I scored thanks to the strong presence of Zarro. She may be a kid but she doesn’t give you diabetes by being sickeningly sweet or precocious, a common error when writers script the dialog of children or teens.
This miniseries is the dud in the quartet. I had higher expectations regarding anything with Obi-Wan Kenobi as the star. The focus here is mainly Anakin though. For some reason, these two go on an adventure between the dreadful Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones to investigate a distress signal from a world the Republic has quarantined and/or ignored. What they encounter is some boring steampunk planet embroiled in a civil war of sorts. Sprinkle in some Anakin flashbacks in which he has some private face time hanging with Chancellor Palpatine. Even without Lucas driving the franchise, the Jedi remain pretty dumb by allowing one of their most volatile probationary students to hang out with galaxy’s head of state. Too bad this story is incredibly boring in addition to its implausibility.
On the upside, Poe Dameron has his miniseries coming up next! The short verdict if you scrolled down.
- Princess Leia: yes
- Lando: yes
- Chewbacca: yes
- Obi-Wan & Anakin: no, watch Clone Wars instead.