– Spoiler Review –
The first villain for Age of Resistance is the chrome dome herself, Captain Phasma! Much like Taylor’s previous issue, Age of Resistance – Captain Phasma #1 fits snuggly into her previous appearances.
Set some time before The Force Awakens/The Last Jedi, the issue follows KM-8713, a trooper in the First Order who has ambitions to become the next Phasma. It goes as well for her as you might expect if you’ve read or seen Phasma’s previous appearances, even if it was only the films, which is not good at all. Age of Resistance writer Tom Taylor has proven, two issues in, his biggest strengths for his “Age” so far is connecting characters to what has come before and splendidly capturing their characterizations. He might’ve went a little too far with the former this issue however, as the fate of KM, or “Kim” as I’ve taken to calling her, mirrors a trooper Phasma recruits and leads in her 2017 miniseries, Captain Phasma: both look up to Phasma and are taken under her wing, only to learn the truth of her selfishness and self-preservation. And Phasma’s words here about survival, honed from her primitive years as seen in the novel, Phasma, feed into her decision to give into Finn and Han’s demands to lower Starkiller’s shields in TFA, something the previous miniseries built off of by taking place moments after she’s placed in the trash compactor; Phasma might fight for the First Order, but she’s always looking out to save her hide first and foremost. So while this issue’s tale might not be the most original, it definitely is Phasma to her cold core.
For Villain issues, art for Age of Resistance comes from Leonard Kirk (pencils), Cory Hamscher (inks), and Guru-eFX (colors). I’ve not had much problems with Kirk’s work, despite some odd faces for established characters, and considering everyone is mostly in helmets this issue, I enjoyed his work far more. There are a few moments where Phasma has her helmet off, same as Kim, but Kirk and team only highlight the chrome trooper’s eye, much like The Last Jedi, preferring to keep her entire face either obscured by objects or shadows, something I’m happy they did as it keeps that mystery. The darker palette on the war-torn world was a wonderful way by the team to foreshadow the story’s ending.
Here are a few other things:
- I do not believe Taylor is going the rhyming route that Jody Houser did with Age of Republic and it’ll remained to be seen if this was a good or bad choice. If there was any rhyming, I’d say it goes to show how compassion needs the right teacher to flourish, as it can be used against those who believe it in, as Finn #1 had a junker siding with Finn on saving indigenous lifeforms while Kim’s compassion for her fellow troopers was used against her to serve Phasma’s will.
Age of Resistance – Captain Phasma #1 keeps the miniseries’ strengths, even if they result in a tale already told.
+ That’s survive-at-all-costs Phasma, alright
+ Only her eye
– Mostly been there before story
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
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