– Spoiler Review –
Star Wars #1 (Vol. 2) begins “The Destiny Path” arc and Marvel’s big 2020 relaunch, pushing all their series post-The Empire Strikes Back as a fresh start for the new decade. By the first issue alone, it seems like the new creative team and new era result in a tighter character focus for the series, beginning with the immediate fallout of the events on Cloud City, as Luke, Leia, and Lando (L-Squad!) deal with revelations, one another, and what to do for the Rebellion next in the wake of their defeat on Hoth.
When it was announced Charles Soule would be the writer for the relaunch of the Star Wars series, I rejoiced a bit because from his track record alone, he’s been one of the strongest writers for the comics due to his ability to combine character focus with epic action and epic events; by the end of the issue #1, it’s clear it’ll continue to be the case. In fact, delving more into the character interactions after a rousing defeat than dealing with the heroes going on big adventures after a rousing victory is the shot in the arm the Star Wars series sorely needed. Leia and Chewie berate Lando for his actions and decisions on Cloud City, while he offers his best defense, something Soule has experience with being an attorney, while Luke is in a bit of a daze after the revelation Vader is his father, unsure of his path going forward. It all feels natural, as this is how their reactions should be to TESB’s events, and it paints some complex and entertaining arcs to take these familiar characters on. In particular, Luke’s uncertainty regarding his Jedi path, with him acting on fear and anger despite his recent teachings from Yoda, should be compelling considering we know he’s much farther along his Jedi path by the start of Return of the Jedi, so what changes his mind after all his doubts here? While Lando’s attempts at making right by Leia, Chewie, and the Rebellion after Cloud City might not be as profound, as Chewie’s hilarious reluctance to let him pilot the Falcon shows here, I look forward to having him in the spotlight, as Soule proved handily in his first SW comic, 2015’s excellent Lando mini, he understands the character very well (finger’s crossed we get some Lobot). And having Leia forge ahead as always, taking a moment to console Luke, reprimand Lando, and go save more of the Rebellion by commandeering the Falcon is so Leia in a crisis it hurts; I’m looking forward to her determination, as she willingness to forget Han and focus on the more important stuff for the time being.
L-Squad, the totally awesome name I’m giving Luke, Leia, and Lando right now, aren’t the relaunched series’ only characters in the spotlight, as it seems we’re also going to be spending time with the Pathfinders, a group of elite rebel soldiers, as well as one very important A-wing pilot. The Pathfinders, first introduced in 2015’s Shattered Empire, didn’t get explored much beyond one specific member, someone with a connection to the A-wing pilot: Kes Dameron, the husband of Shara Bey (A-wing pilot extraordinaire), the parents of Poe Dameron (whom Soule wrote 31 issues about in his own series)! Shara took front and center stage in SE and has been a favorite since, though we’ve unfortunately not gotten much content with her, so it’s great she and Kes finally get to take the spotlight again, something we got a preview of in the short story “An Echo of Victory,” as seen in the one-shot Empire Ascendant, as it might mean we won’t always be following L-Squad to explore more of what the Rebellion does in the wake of Hoth. The other two Pathfinders, Frell and Needle, add some aliens to the mix and offer some fun humor, as I really enjoyed Frell’s nonchalance regarding the space battle around them, ready to fall asleep until it was over. As he proved in Poe Dameron, an ensemble cast is something Soule can handle well, so I’m excited about this influx of characters into the series, instead of being worried.
As for that space battle? Well, the 4th Division of the Rebellion finds itself under fire from Commander Zahra, a cunning and sharp new Imperial. She employs an interesting tactic to corner the rebels: trapping them between a sun and an energy weapon cordon aka a giant wall of never ending turbolaser fire from Imperial ships. She also proves more than capable when she asks to take over a turbolaser manually and lines up the perfect shot on a fleeing X-wing, though L-Squad, in the Millennium Falcon, thwarts her plans and the fleet makes an escape. It isn’t much of an escape though, as the rebels soon discern the Empire has cracked their secure codes, which is how it’s hunting down their various scattered forces, and they can’t warn anyone because it’ll only doom the recipient, which sets up for an interesting problem for L-Squad to conquer and begins explaining why they became so distracted from rescuing Han Solo it doesn’t really happen for another year. Zahra manages to avert death via Darth Vader after reporting in, being told in no uncertain terms she’s not to touch the Falcon due to an important target, as well as not to fail again, so in a way I hope she wins a bit so she can stick around for a while.
The art team is a new one, with Jesús Saiz on art/colors, Arif Prianto assisting on colors as well, and Clayton Cowles as letterer. I’m really digging their work, as I’m enjoying the scratchy look to the art and darker, muted colors, which even Prianto holds back on his usual brightness when he helps on some panels, as it gives the series a more grounded and desperate feel than shiny, bright, and big art we’ve gotten in the past. In particular, which usually seems to be my problem with established characters, I’m actually liking Saiz and team’s facial art, as it’s a nice mix between original take and familiar look, similar to Phil Noto’s excellent art; however, I’m mixed on Luke’s face, but it’s not distracting in any way. The space battle, and its energy cordon, were a bit disorientating at the outset, but I liked how they portrayed the action overall. My favorite stuff had to be Luke’s ruminations on finding out Vader is his father/losing his hand, with flashes of Ben Kenobi and Darth Vader mixed in for good measure, because between his facial expressions and these psychological glimpses into Luke’s headspace, the script didn’t need to do much to lifting on telling us he’s a bit broken by the revelations and the half-truths from his Jedi pals.
Here are a few other things:
- When I first saw the panel with Luke cracking the glass, letting out his frustrations in a moment of silence after learning about his father, I did think about a similar scene with Vader in the earlier comics, but I didn’t think it was totally intentional. Turns out, Soule admits it was intentional, and the more I think about it, the more I should’ve realized it was: in Star Wars #6 (Vol. 1)/Darth Vader #6 (Vol. 1), after Vader learns he has a son, he cracks some glass behind him, one of the comics’ biggest moments still to this day, and now here in Star Wars #1 (Vol. 2), Luke does a similar thing when he learns about his father; Great choice of a parallel!
- This being a relaunch and all, there are several variant covers for collectors to pick up. Soule has them on his site, with my favorites being: Phil Noto’s Jaxxon variant, continuing a running joke with him on covers; and Jen Bartel’s beautiful rendition of Leia in her Cloud City attire (included above).
- Add “Mynock spit” to the list of enduring swear word terms our vaunted mynocks here at the Manor have the honor of being a part of!; I looked back at how they have been treated by canon, including terms like this, in a very tongue-in-cheek article for the site’s 5 year anniversary mid-2019!
- If you’ve enjoyed Soule’s comics in the past, he’s also written two books well-worth reading: Anyone and The Oracle Year. While both are fantastic, I just finished his second novel, Anyone, and it’s exceptional in depth of world-building, scope, and characters, while some of the body-horror inherent in the story, where a new technology allows anyone to enter the body of anyone else, left me with chills for days; check it out now and get ready for the upcoming TV show adaptation! In comics, he’s got a crazy good new series with Scott Synder over at Image called Undiscovered Country, about America reaching out to the world with a cure for a plague after being walled-in for 30 years…and it only gets more insane and interesting from there!
- Soule also is writing the epic The Rise of Kylo Ren miniseries, the second issue of which lands later this month, while he’s involved in the upcoming Project Luminous, which we should learn a bit more about sometime later this month too!
- You can look back the first volume of the Star Wars series, which ran from 2015-2019, with our retrospectives after each writer left the series: Jason Aaron (#1-37), Kieron Gillen (#38-67), Greg Pak (#68-75)
Star Wars #1 (Vol. 2) is a fantastic start to the series’ relaunch, and given the pedigree of Charles Soule, it’s highly unlikely to be a fluke, meaning we’re in for a real treat for however long he’s on for this second volume.
+ Character focus/arc potentials
+ L-Squad interactions
+ Shara Bey and Kes Dameron, more please and thank you
+ Compelling villain and interesting plot to resolve
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
STAR WARS
The Destiny Path: #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 / Arc Review