– Spoiler Review –
General Leia gets in on the action of busting Lor San Tekka out of prison on Cato Nemoidia, as Poe Dameron issue #21 pulls pieces into place for what looks to be another entertaining mission for Black Squadron.
For most of Poe Dameron, General Leia has been at the periphery, appearing only when Poe and Black Squadron are back on D’Qar at the Resistance Base. While we’ve had to look at other comics and stories to see her putting boots on the ground, issue #21 gives her a chance to stretch her legs, playing both the Princess and the General to help spring Lor San Tekka and gain his information on Luke Skywalker’s whereabouts. I hope the series continues to give her a bigger role when it can because her character, no matter her age or role, is a true delight, and artist Angel Unzueta captures the sparkle Carrie Fisher brought to Leia, as does Charles Soule through his writing. Seeing as this is set post-Bloodline, pre-The Force Awakens, she now knows the true identity of her parents, so having her in regal wear to honor her adopted parents while parading around Padmé’s wardrobe, talking about it in reverence, is an exciting, poignant moment, especially when she hopes she could hand them down to a granddaughter one day. Why do you feel the need to pull on our heartstrings so damn much, Soule?!? And later, when she switches gears into the fighter we all know her to be, the humor shines through and I can’t wait to see her enjoy herself, out in the field again as this arc continues.
Jess Pava’s astromech curse continue unabated, but BB-8 comes to the rescue, sort of: he manages to convince his girlfriend, Ivee to work with her in the mission to Cato Nemoidia. Jess being “The Great Destroyer” has played to good laughs in the series so far and this issue is no different, as Ivee doesn’t seem fully convinced but willing to go along anyways. Soule has said he writes out actual dialogue for BB-8 and this is one of those times I’m dying to know what the little ball droid had in mind that got Ivee to go along with Jess, despite the latter droid’s great reluctance. The big question for the rest of the arc becomes: will Beebee Eight still have a girlfriend once this mission is through? Stay tuned! Speaking of relationship issues, Snap opens up to Poe about his and Karé’s breakup, though at an inopportune moment: going out for a test flight, as he nearly gets Poe killed in the process. We’ve not spent enough on their actual relationship to make me care that much for it, but I’m giving this thread the benefit of the doubt considering this is Soule writing.
Though we don’t learn a lot about Lor San Tekka here, we do get to learn about the artifact he was inspecting: the Kazerath Device, something that Tekka believes comes from a time when the Dark and Light were united. Intriguing to be sure, but even more pertinent is how Tekka feels about the war between the Light and the Dark, that he wants it to end by the two sides learning to work together. Sounds a lot like where The Last Jedi might be heading, no? Luke wants to end the Jedi and there are all these hints Rey and Kylo find themselves working together in some way. It’s interesting to see a non-Force user like Tekka looking for ways to unite both sides of the Force and eventually learning how he got into that mindset will be something I hope to see uncovered one day. Also something I’d like to learn: who owns the Kazerath Device, considering they aren’t named here and have denied Tekka access to it. Two issues later and putting Lor San Tekka into the series has paid off, adding new and intriguing layers to his character and connections to the story ahead.
Angel Unzueta (art) and Arif Prianto (colors) delight, from the sparkle Leia has getting back into action, the greasy Jess looking despondent over her situation, to the glimpse of a gorgeous old Padmé dress and the opulence of Cato Nemoidia, it’s all worth flipping to the next page.
Here are a few other things:
- Suralinda was in most of the issue but didn’t have a big part to play, but I’m just happy to see her around regardless, as she’s one of my favorite character from the series and comics in general.
- While we only got one panel that showed off more of D’Qar, it was neat to see some of the abandoned planet beyond just the Resistance base. Makes me curious to learn what happened that led to it being abandoned and if we’ll see more glimpses of areas surrounding the base in The Last Jedi.
- I don’t want to spoil anything, but there’s some strong hints some characters from Battlefront II‘s single-player story might’ve been involved with giving Lor San Tekka the map of Luke Skywalker.
- Last issue, I mentioned it would be fun to see Tekka and Dameron not run into each other because I felt that, after viewing The Force Awakens again, they haven’t met before Jakku, but another few rewatches of the opening scene as led me to believe it could imply they’ve met before…so who knows! But we’ll see soon here!
With Leia in action and Lor San Tekka in sight, Poe Dameron #21 brings the fun to the intrigue.
+ General and Princess Leia
+ Lor San Tekka’s thoughts on the war between the Light and the Dark
+ Has BB-8 doomed his girlfriend??
– Still not enough to make me care for Karé and Snap’s relationship woes
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth and you can follow the website @MynockManor.
Poe Dameron
Full Series Retrospective with Chris and Ryan
Black Squadron (#1-3) | Lockdown (#4-6) | The Gathering Storm (#7-13) | Legend Lost (#14 – 16) | War Stories (#17 – 19) | Legend Found: #20 | #22 | #23 | #24 | #25 / Arc Review (by Chris) | The Awakening (#26-31) | Annual: #1 | #2