– Spoiler Review –
The second issue of Greg Pak’s Age of Rebellion had a lot more to prove to me than its first, the Leia issue, as I feel like its character has had his time in the spotlight, but Age of Rebellion – Grand Moff Tarkin #1 proves me wrong by taking off his shirt. I kid…for the most part. Head below for why!
As James Luceno is wont to do, his novel Tarkin was a comprehensive, detailed look at the titular character’s life, so it’s hard to imagine any other material adding much more to his story (though Rogue One did provide some interesting Death Star context). Somehow Age of Rebellion – Grand Moff Tarkin #1’s writer, Pak, finds a way to build on that history and distills the tomes worth of character work in Tarkin into this compact, one-shot issue, “Tooth and Claw.” And it all involves Tarkin going shirtless, revealing his ripped, scarred body, which might just rival Han Solo’s chest reveal last year (and even Kylo Ren’s in The Last Jedi). Again, I kid that’s the most important part of this issue, though it’s hard to forget, as the distillation of Tarkin comes from how his hard past on Eriadu, where he was basically thrown to the wolves and asked to survive by his family, has toughened him against weakness and sympathy, instead making him laser focused on survival and attaining his goals. When a Death Star firing simulation (the issue is set between their destruction of Scarif base and Alderaan) fails due to several gunners hearing about the target and getting second thoughts, Tarkin approaches one and challenges him to a duel, besting the younger man viciously. It turns out the battle was all in his head, showing him how unworthy is chosen opponent would be, and he instead carries on with allowing his considerable reputation to proceed him in warning them about another failure. Despite the success when firing on Alderaan (RIP!), secretly installed biometric scanners reveal some gunners still faltered, though one challenges him on whether he’d fire on his own home (as the gunner was from Alderaan himself) and Tarkin’s response, without hesitation, is yes. He even imagines the destruction again, showing that while his past honed him into the man he is today, he feels no sentiment to it and is ready to sacrifice all to survive against the looming Rebel threat. If that’s not the most Tarkin answer in the history of Tarkin, I don’t know what is!
A great feature of the Age of Republic was how the hero and villain issues each month rhymed, as in they managed to compare and contrast the characters to offer even more insight into them, and it looks like Age of Rebellion continues the idea. In the Princess Leia issue that released the same day as Grand Moff Tarkin, I offered some ideas on how these two issues rhymed, but here I’ll offer another thought. Whereas the ones in my Leia review offer a potential comparison between the two characters, once you dig into Tarkin’s issue can you glean a contrast, as while both of their pasts define them to others, Tarkin personally is defined by it as well, while Leia breaks out from her past to define herself. Or more interestingly, Tarkin is willing to blow up his planet while Leia does her best to deflect from destruction from her planet, willing to sacrifice someplace else instead, but as we’ve learned in subsequent stories, like Star Wars Annual #2, she would be willing to do it all over again despite knowing the outcome.
With art by Marc Laming, who will doing all the villain issues, and colors by Jordan Boyd and Neeraj Menon, the team really brought the sharpness of Peter Cushing’s features to life, while Laming had plenty of movie-esque poses like Tarkin holding up a finger or contemplating with his hand on his chin, but the vivid detail to a shirtless Tarkin is something no one can ever forget, for better or worse. There’s a bleaker color palate than what’s on display in the Leia issue, which gives this a darker, villain-like edge, though so far I’d say Age of Republic’s villain team was a smidgen better in this regard. Regardless, it was rather neat to finally see some of the Tarkin novel come to life visually thanks to an opening flashback to his younger days. Letterer Travis Lanham was a little more reserved than the Leia issue, but rightfully so, as there wasn’t as much action within.
Here are a few other things:
- However minor it was, bringing to light the hesitation of the Death Star gunners goes a long way in helping show not everyone in the Empire was pure evil, or even began to second guess their role in the fight. It recalls the really excellent novel Lost Stars, which showed how some could come to rationalize the destruction while others finally broke away when it happened, while plenty others didn’t get a chance either way when the Rebellion blew the station up.
- Get a glimpse of Age of Resistance now, thanks to Jedi-Bibliothek, but stayed tune to Celebration Chicago 2019 on Saturday for all the official Star Wars comics reveals!
- Over on Twitter, Greg Pak shared a short but insightful thread about creating this and the Leia issue.
- Also, another great essay from Tosche-Station’s Bria. Maybe they should just stick with her for the remainder of the maxiseries.
Age of Rebellion – Grand Moff Tarkin #1 goes shirtless I mean, helps Greg Pak go two for two on the opening salvo of his “Age,” as he finds a great way to really dig to the meat of Tarkin.
+ Tarkin’s “challenge” aka the shirtless scene
+ Tarkin-like response about destroying his homeplanet
+ Cold feet Death Star gunners
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
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