– Spoiler Review –
Sana Starros is up to her usual schemes, but it puts her in the path of Darth Vader and throws Luke Skywalker into the path of…podracing!? Like some of the good Annuals before it, Star Wars Annual #4 manages to provide a blast of a short story.
Oh Sana Starros, how I’ve missed you in the comics! This is the first appearance of her character in the Star Wars series since Jason Aaron left in late 2017, with her final bow coming in issue #37 back in October, while it’s her second appearance this week in comics thanks to her part in Doctor Aphra #20. I’ve been surprised by her absence since Kieron Gillen took over for the mainline series, but thankfully she got her due recently by being one of the main characters of the latest novel, Last Shot! Regardless, this Annual takes pretty much everything I like about Sana, especially the stuff from her portrayal in issue #34 of SW, and expands on it even more. Once again she’s playing more than one side of a deal for maximum payout, but it leads to some trouble from both the Empire, with Darth Vader on her tail no less, and…R2-D2?! Out of the two, she seems to have a little more trouble with Artoo, but that just goes to show how most people overlook droids so she while she’s prepared for the danger that is Vader, she had no idea of the threat a little astromech could pose. I’d really like to hear the story of how Sana came into possession of the two crossguard lightsabers of Darth Atrius, because I hope it either involves a little help from her ex (or they were still dating) Doctor Aphra or she’s just as good at rummaging the galaxy for artifacts as the good doctor. That she ends the issue on top with plenty of credits to spare is a very fitting position for Sana and I expected nothing less.
My only problem with Luke’s part of the story is how it’s not really explained why he’s even on Hradreek, as we start with him getting an unmarked credit chip from a stranger who seems to know a lot about the Rebellion, and then he’s off investigating a disturbance in the Force. Maybe him saying how this contact was an important one from Leia’s past or something could’ve given the whole bit some purpose, but as it stands it feels like a flimsy scene to ensure Luke is here to be involved with the story. It’s a minor thing however, especially because Annual #4 gives us scenes with Luke holding a crossguard lightsaber AND podracing! The anger imprinted on the crossguard sabers affecting Luke, something we’ve seen before with Sith artifacts in the Lando miniseries and the Acolytes of the Beyond in the Aftermath Trilogy, was an intriguing turn of events, as it goes to show how little of a Jedi he is at the moment, but since he manages to spurn the rage and overcome it in the end, destroying the saber, reveals the potential within. It would be fun to learn Luke tells this story to his pupils and it’s how a young Ben Solo learns of the crossguard design he’ll later use as Kylo Ren!
Look, I know Vader’s goal is to obtain the two sabers of Darth Atrius, but that is definitely not the main reason why he prevents Luke from finishing the podrace. At this point, Vader already knows Luke is his son, so there’s a great little moment where dad is impressed with his son’s performance in the podrace, but it’s never made explicitly clear Vader actually knows it’s Luke so I’m making an assumption on that part. However, Vader does know the announcers believe no human has ever won a podrace before, despite some rumors in lesser systems that one has, so a little pettiness and pride creeps into Vader’s actions and he uses the Force to destroy Luke’s pod and prevent him from winning this more prestigious race (I guess the Boonta Eve isn’t as big as we all thought). I laughed pretty hard at the moment and it’s my favorite part of the whole Annual, because even if it was a central part of Bunn’s pitch for this story, it was worth this whole fun adventure just to get there. As for Vader’s actual reason for tracking down the sabers, I have to assume it’s to add them to Emperor Palpatine’s collection of Sith artifacts, and I loved we got to see Vader wielding one, once again connecting Kylo’s obsession with Vader, and that he’d rather destroy the one he got than show up with half of the collection was a fitting move for him.
It’s pretty cool they told us when Annual #4 takes place, but it unfortunately doesn’t fit very well in the timeframe they gave us. They say it takes place before the events of Star Wars #8, but considering that is a direct sequel to #6, where Sana has already arrived in the Monsua Nebula and revealed herself as Sana Solo, they should’ve said it takes place before issue #6. And even then that’s a little problematic because Sana is hot on Han’s trail as early as Star Wars #4, so while this could conceivably take place in that small window of time, it’s an awkward placement nonetheless. I appreciate the effort of giving us a timeline placement, Marvel/Lucasfilm, but it didn’t quite pan out.
Overall, this Annual was a no-frills fun adventure, making it one of the better ones, but it’s not as great as the 2nd and 3rd ones, making my ranking of the Star Wars Annuals thus: 2, 3, 4, 1. Cullen Bunn, who previously wrote the recent Darth Maul miniseries so hence why he was good with the rage-filled bits of holding the saber, keeps the action slick, provides some good humor, and sets a steady pace, but the broken up dialogue over seemingly too many bubbles (though this might have been a stylistic choice by the letterer) and the aforementioned lack of Luke setup were distracting. Not distracting, surprisingly enough, was the switch between three different artists and two different colorists on the expansive art team, something we’ve not seen since the Shattered Empire mini way back in 2015. On art was Roland Boschi, Marc Laming, and Ario Anindito, with Andres Mossa and Jordan Boyd on colors. While Boschi, Laming, and Ario Anindito clearly have different styles, they meshed rather well here and the switches never pulled me out of the experience, but rather added to it by giving different parts a different tone/feel. It was easy to tell when Mossa was on colors due to his distinctive work when teamed with Marco Checchetto in previous series, and Jordan Boyd’s panels fit with the colors he’s used for his Droid one-shots over the years (and thanks to his tweet, also reveals which style was Boschi’s). Lettering was provided by Clayton Cowles, while editing is still in a transition period, so we have Jordan D. White as Editor and Heather Antos as Assistant Editor mentioned, but they are joined by Mark Paniccia for Editor and Tom Groneman & Emily Newcomen as Assistant Editors as well.
Here are a few other things:
- I’d be down for learning a bit more about Darth Atrius and his penchant for crossguard sabers! And when I pronounced his name as I was reading, it came out like Atreus from the new God of War game for PS4 that I can’t stop playing…if only Star Wars could get a game half as good as that!
- I know Sana says she wants to kick Artoo’s arse the next time she sees him, but that didn’t happen, as far as we see, in the rest of the Star Wars series.
Star Wars Annual #4 delivers a quick, action-packed adventure with some fun little nods across the continuity spectrum.
+ Sana will always win, case #35678
+ Vader’s moment of pride and pettiness
+ Artoo adding to his badass cred
– Oh, hi, thanks for conveniently being here, Luke!
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
Star Wars
Annual: #1 | #2 | #3
Kieron Gillen — Ashes of Jedha (#38-43) / Arc Review by Chris | Mutiny at Mon Cala (#44-49)
Jason Aaron — Skywalker Strikes (#1-6) | Old Ben’s Journals | Showdown on the Smuggler’s Moon (#8-12) | Rebel Jail (#16-19) | The Last Flight of the Harbinger (#21-25) | Yoda’s Secret War (#26-30) | Out Among the Stars (#33-37)
CURRENT SERIES COMIC REVIEWS:
Doctor Aphra
Aphra (#1-6) | And the Enormous Profit (#9-13) | Remastered (#14-19) | The Catastrophe Con (#20-25) | Annual: #1
Darth Vader – Dark Lord of the Sith
The Chosen One (#1-6) | The Dying Light (#7-10) | The Rule of Five (#11-12) | Burning Seas (#13-18)
Poe Dameron
Black Squadron (#1-3) | Lockdown (#4-6) | The Gathering Storm (#7-13) | Legend Lost (#14 – 16) | War Stories (#17-19) | Legend Found (#20-25) | The Awakening (#26-31) | Annual: #1