– Spoiler Review –
The penultimate issue of Greg Pak’s “Age” is here with Age of Rebellion – Luke Skywalker #1, which sees Luke’s latest temptation to the dark side coming from a surprising place, while its connections to other facets of Luke’s story make it truly great.
On a mission to secure hyperfuel (yup, more coaxium hijinks!) for the Rebellion sometime between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker begins to get some bad vibes from the Force about threats to the mission. Though it doesn’t come from the Force itself, but rather from a sinister source trying to tempt him to the dark side, hoping he’ll begin to give in and mess up the mission, costing the Rebellion both important fuel and fighters. The sinister source? None other than Sheev Palpatine! Impatient with Darth Vader’s lack of progress with bringing young Skywalker in, though more impatient for a new, younger, and potentially more powerful apprentice, ol’ Palpy reaches out to Luke in the Force to begin planting seeds of doubt, guilt, anger, and more, all in an attempt to begin his fall to the dark side. But to keep some continuity here, Sheevster can only send some bad juju vibes through the Force, no actual words or visions involved, helping to keep their meeting in RotJ intact.
As for Luke, this issue’s ability to connect across other canon content shows how well Pak understands the character, much like the Leia and Han issues, making me even more excited for Pak’s takeover the mainline Star Wars series. Luke, decked out in his black outfit from RotJ, fits both the perception of him being an incredible warrior and an aloof mystic in this issue, as he cuts down K-2SO-like security droids with ease with his lightsaber, though he melts to the background once the accolades start, unconcerned with the praise and dangerous pride that can come with it. As Sheev begins his manipulations, it triggers Luke to have a vision, one where the mission fails both due to his fault and a Major’s fault for not listening to him, and he takes the failure to heart, fleeing into a self-imposed exile. Luke snaps out of the vision of course, but not before we see him settle into a peaceful planet’s society and have a family, relaxing away from the war. The vision fits with both the The Last Jedi novelization and film in intriguing ways.
The novelization starts with a big surprise (which author Jason Fry dives a bit into on Twitter): Luke married to Camie on Tatooine, having never left and joined the Rebellion, enjoying a peaceful life but knowing evil reigns supreme in the galaxy, though it is quickly revealed to be a dream being sent to him by the Force itself, trying to coax him out of his exile on Ahch-To. I liked how both the novel’s dream and his own self-made, dark side inspired vision here include him having a family, but what intrigued me more was how this issue’s vision is the dark side tempting him with what he could have, relaxing away from the galaxy, while the novelizations’ dream is the Force itself showing him how being retired from the galaxy with a family would’ve caused even more strife and pain than his current course. The similarities to the film come from seeing Luke banish his X-wing to the depths of a watery grave, in TLJ we see it after the fact and here we see it as it happens, but also how a vision involving failure on an important mission and actual failure with his Jedi Order both cause him to think self-imposed exile is the best recourse.
Though those aren’t the only ways Luke Skywalker #1 gels with other facets of canon. In Legends, Luke goes on to be a General for the New Republic before setting out to start his own Order, but everything we’ve gotten so far shows in canon he does the opposite, melding into the background so the NR doesn’t pin its only hopes and successes on him. In Shattered Empire, he sneakily recruits Shara Bey to help him get stolen Force-imbued trees, and the Aftermath Trilogy seems to suggest he bounced fairly quickly into his Jedi artifacts hunt, something we get a taste of in Battlefront II’s campaign where Del Meeko stumbles into Luke at the Emperor’s Pillio Observatory. In this issue, Luke shies away from taking any credit in helping the Major lead an important distraction to help the main team’s escape, a far cry from his excitement to partake in the medal ceremony on Yavin, fitting with his quick aloofness once the war is over. Luke sees the power of his abilities and knows to be cautious with them, knows pride can come with being put on a pedestal for them and the path that could lead him down, also fitting very well into the Jedi he’s become by RotJ. Luke getting into the action was neat to see for sure, but having him experience how even he can be wrong, that no matter how powerful he is he has to rely on others, results in a much more nuanced portrayal and makes me even more excited to see what he all got up to in the intervening years between the original and the sequel trilogies.
Once again, the Hero issue has a smattering of individuals on its art team. There’s Chris Sprouse, Scott Koblish, Stefano Landini on art, Karl Story and Marc Deering for inks, and Tamra Bonvillain as colors. Despite the three artists, the styles meld for the most part, making sure it’s not too distracting when it does switch. Whoever’s work makes up the opening several pages might just be my favorite, and I have a funny feeling it’s Sprouse, as Luke looks similar to how he was drawn in Age of Rebellion – Han Solo #1 (which he drew exclusively). It’s all rather great work, with another highlight the little vignette of Luke’s vision as he grows old with the planet he’s exiled on, though at one point someone draws Palpatine way too similar to Thanos in the Avengers’ films, disturbing chin and all, which is just plain wrong…if a little funny (as seen in the first panel of Sheev after Luke breaks out of his dream).
Here are a few other things:
- Originally meant to come out on June 12, Age of Rebellion – Darth Vader #1, the finale to Pak’s Age of Rebellion, has been delayed to June 26. No reason was given, though that is often the case.
- I appreciated there was a Pau’an for the unnamed Major, as we don’t see a lot of non-aliens in high position often enough, and a unnamed female rebel solider who did a lot of talking, but when I take my annual diversity data, neither will count towards any category as I only record characters if they are named. I wonder what goes into the decision on who/what is or isn’t named.
Age of Rebellion – Luke Skywalker #1 does its character justice as it fits itself snugly within the rest of canon, both informing on what has come before and setting up what’s to come.
+ Luke, Jedi Knight
+ Connections across the lore
+ Sheevster impatient
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
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