– Spoiler Review –
With Vader hot on their tails, how will Luke, Leia, Han, and still absent Chewie make it off Cymoon-1?
The answer is: not without a little trouble. Vader chops down the AT-AT Han, Leia, Artoo, and the slaves are trying to escape in after they’ve been cornered by heavy artillery. They come out battered and bruised, Han the most, and Leia takes everyone to the Falcon (having her carry Han and get everyone to safety was a really awesome moment for Leia). Chewebacca finally reappears after his showdown with Vader, rescuing Threepio from the junk aliens and repairing the ship as fast as his furball paws let him. It’s a thrilling, quick-paced tale like the previous two issues and even knowing these characters survive, it has an entertaining amount of tension.
Luke has some pretty cool scenes causing chaos to the Imperials on his borrowed speeder bike, swinging about his lightsaber. But he’s still reeling from the death of so many slaves, which he considers his fault since he freed them, and vows to make their deaths worth something. It seems the Overseer of the weapons factory is able to stop the Rebel sabotage on their reactor, so Luke goes in the old fashioned way and shoots it with the bike. Even with Vader in hot pursuit, he manages to pull it off and get back to the Falcon as it blasts off the moon. It’s not all celebrations and cheers, as Luke considers his ‘victory’ more luck than skill or Jedi training, even though Leia believes otherwise, and there’s no telling how long Han will be out of commission.
But what we’ll all be talking about until #4 is out (4/22/2015, by the way) are just two panels: the one just before the AT-AT goes down, where Han and Leia share one heck of a moment. She uses his grogginess from the crash to sneak in some compliments which shows their very slowly, but ever evolving relationship; And the final panel, where it’s revealed Obi-Wan left a package for Luke in his old hut. Much like having Luke and Vader meet prior to ESB, Ben’s container for Luke is quite the surprise. But what’s all in the box? My guess is a Jedi Holocron, possibly even built by or added to by Ben himself.
Here are a few other things:
- Vader #1 ‘spoiled’ that our heroes escaped here, but it didn’t cover any specifics. Plus, it can’t really be a spoiler since we all technically know they’ll make it out alive anyways. But it helps set up Vader’s beginning obsession about Luke, which we saw in Vader #1 when he doesn’t tell Palpatine about Luke and recruits bounty hunters to track the Rebels down.
- There two new vehicles introduced in this issue, an Imperial assault tank, which looks almost identical to the Separatists’ AATs, and an Imperial combat speeder, which is what Vader pursues Luke with. Interesting to see the Empire is reusing/remodifying old Separatist tech, something we’re seeing more of in the new canon.
Star Wars #3 wraps up all the action on Cymoon-1, with the Rebels successful in their mission, though not without some casualties, injuries, and lack of confidence afterwards. But with a major weapons factory destroyed, the Rebellion gets a boost it desperately needs to hold onto their victory over the Death Star. And now we have to patiently await to see the contents of Obi-Wan’s container for Luke.
+ Obi-Wan left a package?!?
+ Leia’s interactions with Han, Luke
– Escape felt a little too easy
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
Star Wars (Vol. 1)
Jason Aaron: Skywalker Strikes: #1 | #2 | #4 | #5 | #6 | Old Ben’s Journals | Showdown on the Smuggler’s Moon (#8-12) | Rebel Jail (#16-19) | The Last Flight of the Harbinger (#21-25) | Yoda’s Secret War (#26-30) | The Screaming Citadel crossover (#31-32)| Out Among the Stars (#33-37) | Retrospective (#1-37)
Kieron Gillen Retrospective (#38-67) | Greg Pak and Phil Noto Retrospective (#68-75)