– Spoiler Review –
The penultimate “Mutiny at Mon Cala” issue, Star Wars #48, shows the price of success, setting us up for one heckuva finale and the next arc of the series.
Star Wars #48’s ending is a signal of changes to come for not only this arc, but the series ahead, and it’ll be both exciting and gloomy. As Luke, Han, and Leia’s mission to spur Mon Cala to the Rebellion’s side looks to have succeeded, which was not without a cost, the happy ending turns dark in a flash. Last issue revealed King Lee-Char clings to life in the Imperial prison, he awakes here long enough for Leia to fill him in on the events that he has missed, including Admiral Raddus’ death, and he manages to ask they deliver a message from him to his people. All this time I’d been thinking we’d find Lee-Char dead or he’d never get a chance to talk without dying first, but I’m happy to be proven wrong and he does manage to record an inspiring speech to his people. However, the Imperials find the rebels thanks to the Moff activating a secret, conveniently placed silent alarm button, and their typical terrible aims claims the life of the Moff and Lee-Char. It’s a bummer of a way to go for him, though his death was part of the recording and acts as the final catalyst to bring the Mon Cala into the Rebellion, so in the end it’s a cool legacy for Lee-Char as a character, as the beginning of his rule joined his people together and the end of it saw them rise up from oppression. Unfortunately, it won’t be as easy as “yay, they are on the Rebellion’s side” now.
If you recall, we were introduced to the Mon Cala Regent Urtya, who was reluctant to rebel against the Empire because he didn’t want to lose anymore lives, back in first issue of this arc (#44). He tracks down the Big Three returning from the nearby prison planet to their secret meeting place with the droids and the Clawdite pretending to be the Moff and confronts them regarding the footage. He continues to keep his stance about saving lives and says it’s not the Rebellion’s decision to make on whether they should rebel or not, going so far as to stun gun Leia to take the footage away. In a way, Urtya does have a point, that it’s Mon Cala’s right to choose on whether they should join up or not, as the Rebellion helping people against the Empire can always put a target on their back and they might not be able to get away a second time if the Rebellion isn’t there anymore (they touched a bit on this, surprisingly enough, in Hera’s issue of IDW’s Star Wars Adventures: Forces of Destiny miniseries). It’s a bit surprising then, and feels a bit out of character, that Urtya takes the message to his little home and immediately broadcasts it to the fleet, as while he’s technically letting Mon Cala decide, it’s a poorly planned move; Leia points out why: there’s no backup from the Rebellion’s meager fleet, or any other allies, nor are they prepared for the arrival of the Imperial fleet, meaning this mutiny might just end before it truly begins. The mission is technically a success, but the cost might be far higher than necessary, as Lee-Char’s death was inevitable, but the losses the Mon Cala fleet and peoples’ are about to suffer were preventable. And with the next arc being titled “Hope Dies,” as the July solicitations revealed last month, you can bet it’ll be a tough battle.
Not everything in this issue worked as well as the ending, which brought everything this arc has been pushing towards together, though the rest wasn’t anything terrible. I quite enjoyed Threepio’s idea for a stalling tactic, performing a play both because the Clawdite Tunga loves to act and the droid thinks it could be his big break into the performing arts scene. Heck, even the way Tunga dresses up the droids to disguise them was fun, even if it didn’t actually help them escape unseen. But some of the humor this issue, while feeling very on brand for the characters spewing it out, didn’t land as much as usual for me and I’m not sure if it was because it seemed out of place, like it was inserted to fill a quota, or these just weren’t the jokes for me. The stuff with Han regarding searching for the camera and his joke about finding it didn’t work, but at the same time his comment about Luke’s dig against the Falcon or his banter with Chewie after their brief battle got me laughing, as did Threepio’s dreams of performing, so I guess it’s really that some jokes didn’t work and just be aware your mileage may vary.
Beyond the hit or miss humor, Kieron Gillen’s plotting really paid off this issue, as you could feel the weight of everything that’s come before and how this is what he’s been working towards; I expected nothing less. I don’t feel like I need to keep getting into this for each review, but besides the Mon Cala faces this issue, you can be sure I had problems with the human faces, as even though Salvador Larroca is doing a little less tracing, those that remain are a blight. Guru-eFX provided colors.
Here are a few other things:
- This series released its 4th Annual issue the same day as this one and hopefully I’ll have a review up soon. So far I’d rate the Annuals in this order: 2, 3, 1.
- The cover for this issue is pretty mesmerizing. Many thanks to David Marquez and Matthew Wilson!
Failure can be found in success and Star Wars #48 is getting readers ready to experience the fallout.
+ Threepio’s stalling tactics
+ Success comes with a price
– Some of the humor didn’t land
– Yes, the art is still an issue
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
Star Wars
Kieron Gillen — Ashes of Jedha (#38-43) / Arc Review by Chris | Mutiny at Mon Cala: #44 | #45 | #46 | #47 | #49 / Arc Review by Chris | Hope Dies (#50-55) / Arc Review by Chris | The Escape (#56-61) / Arc Review by Chris | The Scourging of Shu-Torun (#62-67) / Arc Review by Chris | Kieron Gillen Retrospective
Jason Aaron — Jason Aaron Retrospective (#1-37)
Greg Pak — Rebels and Rogues (#68-72)