– Spoiler Review –
In the final entry in the Age of Star Wars maxiseries, the Age of Resistance miniseries delves into the characters and setting of the sequel trilogy, expanding on what we already know about some of the era’s best characters with exciting side adventures, but with one final movie on the way, most of the stories come short of adding anything.
While Age of Rebellion has had too many stories about its characters already out there, and Age of Republic somewhere in between (as large gaps still persist), you’d think the fresh coat of paint on canon that is Age of Resistance’s sequel trilogy would be full of opportunities, but with The Rise of Skywalker still on its way, this Age’s writer, Tom Taylor, had to paint between the lines. This didn’t hamper Taylor much, as plenty of the tales within were excellent, exciting character deep-dives, where he captured many of their personalities with aplomb, but plenty of issues that looked to be big-ticket items felt like more of the same from what’s already been in the first two films, The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. The Kylo Ren issue, which brought an end to the miniseries, felt less exploratory of the character than Supreme Leader Snoke #1, itself not giving as much spotlight to its titular character. On the flip side, Rose Tico #1 brought some much needed and appreciated backstory to Rose and her sister Paige and General Hux’s issue showed the true shrewdness of the First Order General. And then there’s the special commendation for Rey #1, a brilliant issue that saw everything from Rey and Leia spending more time together, including a heady-hitting conversation, to Rey managing to be a Jedi before any training and overthrow a despot between hyperspace jumps from D’Qar and Ahch-To (which helped make one forget how it was seemingly impossibly shoehorned in that small time window).
For Age of Resistance’s Hero and Villain artist teams, both teams had some excellent issues, but not only were the Heroes issues more consistent, the team might be my favorite Hero team of the entire maxiseries! For Heroes, the team consisted of Ramon Rosanas on art and Guru-eFX for colors, while the Villains team had Leonard Kirk on pencils, Cory Hamscher for inks, and colorist Guru-eFX again. What makes the Hero issues so special is Rosanas’ ability to really capture actors’ faces, from the stoic moments to funny ones, and expand on those expressions without losing the spirit of the actor involved. His panel layouts also flow really well, helping land comedic beats (funny moments in Finn) or big reveals (Holdo’s surprise appearance in Poe’s issue), while backgrounds appear distinct and clear. Kirk and team for the Villains had some standout issues as well, but sometimes it was the small or epic, big moments that worked the best from them. The way they hid Captain Phasma’s face, only showing one bright, blazing blue eye like in TLJ, was a phenomenal small moment, while Kylo Ren downing a Zillo Beast and shouting all should bow to him was a big moment Kirk and team went all out for and succeeded.
Each Age’s Special issue has had at least one stand-out story, and Resistance’s was bereft with them, including what might be the best, and most special, Special tale. In fact, it’s the very first story, “Maz’s Scoundrels,” which still rattles around in my brain, from some of the questions it raises to the absolute hilarity of it all. Taylor provides writing duties with Matteo Buffagni for pencils and Chris O’Halloran for colors, and it’s quite the combination they have going on, as Taylor’s script makes one question just how far the crush between Maz and Chewie has gone, while the absurdity, humor, and ultimate pay-off to Maz’s funny line in TFA drawn in total gorgeousness by Buffagni, where Maz stands atop Chewie’s shoulders and mows down enemies combines for a moment of perfection. The next story brings Amilyn Holdo into the spotlight, “The Bridge,” written by G. Willow Wilson, with Elsa Charretier on art and Nick Filardi for colors. It’s a great little tale about how one should never underestimate others due to their appearance or actions, feeling a bit like a bite-sized moral lesson from IDW’s Star Wars Adventures, feeling only compounded with the excellent art from Charretier. The last tale, “Robot Resistance,” from writer Chris Eliopoulos, with art by Javier Pina and colors from Guru-eFX, was fun, but there were far more entertaining BB-8 adventures in the Poe Dameron series.
Here are a few other things:
- It’s not over yet; we’ll have a review for the whole maxiseries before November, where I’ll look back at all three Ages and see what’s the best of the best overall! UPDATE: It’s here!
Age of Resistance brought some bright and interesting light to some of the newest Star Wars characters, but it felt constrained by the impending Saga finale.
+ Adding paint between the lines to the newest characters
+ Rey issue/Maz and Chewie’s Special moment
+ Hero Art
– Didn’t live up to expectations with some issues
– Constrained by final film
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
AGE OF STAR WARS Maxiseries Review
AGE OF RESISTANCE
Finn | Phasma | Special | General Hux | Poe Dameron | Supreme Leader Snoke | Rose Tico | Rey | Kylo Ren
AGE OF REBELLION
Princess Leia | Grand Moff Tarkin | Special | Han Solo | Boba Fett | Lando Calrissian | Jabba the Hutt | Luke Skywalker | Darth Vader | Miniseries Review
AGE OF REPUBLIC
Qui-Gon Jinn | Darth Maul | Obi-Wan Kenobi | Jango Fett | Special | Anakin Skywalker | Count Dooku | Padmé Amidala | General Grievous | Miniseries Review