– Spoiler Review –
Age of Rebellion – Special #1 spins some side tales about characters like IG-88, Yoda, and Biggs Darklighter and Jek Porkins, and while one falters a bit, the others provide some thrills, chills, and a very important, teachable moment.
“The Long Game” – Simon Spurrier (Writer), Caspar Wijngaard (Artist), Lee Loughridge (Colorist), Travis Lanham (Letterer throughout)
When I was younger, I used to throw a blanket over my face when the fearsome Rancor rumbled onto the screen in Return of the Jedi. I avoided horror movies at all costs as a kid as well, even if it earned me nicknames because I admitted they unnaturally scared me. But nothing quite frightened me like battling IG-88 in the bowels of a salvage planet as Dash Rendar in Shadows of the Empire, a boss battle I only ever finished by pure luck as I had one hand clutched to the N64 remote and the other covering my face. I’ve since gone back and played the game more times than I can count over the years, and every time it got a little less scary, to the point nowadays I don’t quite understand the fear I had. I tell you all this because this IG-88 story brought me right back to little 5-6 year old me playing Shadows, as it reminds me why I was so afraid of the bone thin assassin droid: he always defies expectations. In Shadows, his lumbering, clanking body appeared around a corner I never expected, and in “The Long Game,” he even plans on getting blown up to fulfill his ultimate bounty. Spurrier had some fun with the Legends version of his life, and how legends are made, in the narration for the story, while he still managed to keep the core of the creepy, horrifying droid alive through the character’s unnerving plan and dedication to getting his bounties.
Caspar Wijngaard first showed his talents to us Star Wars fans with Doctor Aphra Annual #2 and I’ve been eager to see him return, and while he’ll be joining Aphra for a bit coming up, his return here delighted. There’s not much you can do with droid faces, but the way Wijngaard poses IG-88 speaks volumes, and is the main driving force in making me feel like my younger self and frightened of the plodding droid. I really enjoyed how Loughridge basically gave each place the story visits its own color scheme, while his colors for IG’s red eye are another important factor into what scared me about the droid once again.
Bonus Thoughts:
- Jon Favreau revealed the IG droid he’s teased being in the upcoming live-action show The Mandalorian is not IG-88, but an IG-11.
“The Trial of Dagobah” – Marc Guggenheim (Writer), Andrea Broccardo (Artist), Dono Sánchez-Almara (Colorist)
One of the best things about Yoda’s many appearances lately have been showing how even the grandest of Jedi Masters must constantly struggle against the dark side. It’s a much more realistic and relatable aspect to the Jedi and the fight between light and dark, as we Earthlings can find ourselves struggling day in and day out even once we think we’ve gotten it all figured out. The struggle never ends, the battle continues, and we must be ever vigilante we don’t fall prey to the dark. The Last Jedi became contentious for depicting such a basic, understandable part of life, because years of the EU and head canons meant Luke Skywalker had to be the ultimate badass who never faltered, but time and time again Yoda has been shown dealing with faltering, so if he’s had to deal with, there’s no way Luke didn’t. First in The Clone Wars’ “Lost Missions,” Yoda is seen struggling literally with a dark side version of himself (a story via George Lucas, by the way), while in Star Wars Rebels, Yoda admits he and the Jedi succumbed to fear, the dark side, during the Clone Wars and that’s how the Sith won. And now we see Yoda on Dagobah, dealing with the struggle once again, reminding us of an adage he shares with Luke in TLJ, of how failure is the greatest teacher, as he learns from his failure which led him to exile and the galaxy into turmoil all those years ago. I got a little emotional reading “The Trial of Dagobah,” as it’s always hopeful to see such a great Jedi fall but know how to pick themselves back up again, giving myself and others hope they can do the same when they are down. And getting to witness his approach to the freshly landed Luke for their first meeting in Empire Strikes Back, hearing the hope he has in the boy, who seems like a reward for his trust in the light, the Force, which shows us how important and rewarding it is to keep up the fight against the dark. Guggenheim’s work here makes this my favorite of the Special’s tales, as it both understands its character really well and lines up with content we’ve seen with him before, but it speaks to readers through Yoda’s struggles and offers hope.
Broccardo is an artist I always hope to see more of and his take on Yoda and Dagobah doesn’t disappoint. I enjoyed the expansion of Dagobah’s biomes and the look of the cat-rhinos, but his take on Yoda, from the constant close ups as he goes from sadness to resolve, to the excellent shot of Yoda with a bow and arrow (!), might be one of the best artist renditions I’ve ever seen. Sánchez-Almara’s colors manage to capture the dankness of Dagobah but infuse it with a little light, making it feel a little more inviting than as we’ve seen in drenched in rain.
“Stolen Valor” – Jon Adams (Writer, Artist), Chris O’Halloran (Colorist)
I don’t quite know where to start with this one…nor really to end with it either. Jon Adams has such a classic style of art/writing that brings me back to Sunday morning cartoon strips in the newspaper, and it’s a bit bizarre to see Star Wars represented in such a way. For art, it feels almost out of universe, especially with the weird dinosaur-like creatures on the planet Biggs and Jek’s visit for vacation, while on writing the weirdness comes from the heavy text, not just in subject matter but in density, and the goofiness of names spoken by characters/character depictions. Biggs feels a little too over the top in his zealousness, but since we’ve not spent much time with him, it’s hard to compare him to other depictions, though what little time we have spent certainly makes some of his verbiage here feel more like it was written to make a point, not to be more time with the character. The same goes for Jek Porkins, whose qualms with warfare, and what type of person he’ll be after the fighting is all over feel like great subjects to tackle, but knowing Porkins’ fate, it leaves the ending of “Stolen Valor” drifting in space. Adams is free to go in the directions he chooses due to lack of time with these characters, but since all the dialogue, no matter the character, felt hamstrung to fit a point and not very Star Wars, the whole story didn’t resonant with me as much as Adams seemed to be hoping his tale would. It’s not a bad story, there are some genuinely fun moments, like Biggs and Jek riding a snake across the water, and some genuinely good points to be made about warfare, but the art’s whimsical nature and the dialogue’s awkwardness in the GFFA clash against the points Adam’s is attempting to make, preventing them from landing a solid hit.
Age of Rebellion – Special #1 might not be as memorable as the Age of Republic’s, it’s really difficult to match Jar Jar with a lightsaber, but it has its own important moments, even if one story falters a little.
+ Yoda’s continued fight to stay in the light
+ IG-88 story brings me back to the fear from Shadows of the Empire
+ Some funny images and intriguing ideas in the final story…
– …but its unique trappings hamper its message
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
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