– Spoiler Review –
Star Wars #62 is the beginning of the end for writer Kieron Gillen, as “The Scourging of Shu-Torun” arc will be his last, and this issue feels like a proper start to what can only be described as the culmination of Gillen’s entire run.
I heard about a big shot Rebellion leader, putting together a crew: Leia begins her not fully revenge, more economical strike against Shu-Torun, the homeworld of Rebellion betrayer Queen Trios. She needs a special crew for the job and most of the issue is a fun, quick whose who and where’s what of Gillen’s time on the series, as Leia, Luke, and Han round up Tunga, the shape-shifter from “Mutiny At Mon Cala,” Benthic and his partisans from “Ashes of Jedha,” and Meorti, translated to Hope, from “Hope Dies.” When the crew goes to find Tunga, he’s actually putting on the play of their exploits from the “Mutiny” arc, with hilarious name changes like Luc Swordswinger and Ham Nogo, while Tunga is playing the part of Luc, complete with an awesome nod to Ralph McQuarrie’s iconic artwork via their actors outfits and a mock poster for the play. Not only that, there’s a fun comment on all the backlash to Alden Ehrenreich’s casting in Solo: A Star Wars Story, as Han has problems with the actor portraying him and Tunga tells him, “There’s more to acting than a mere likeness,” something I agree with because I absolutely loved Alden as a young Han. When recruiting Benthic to their mission, Leia goes full badass, staring him down as she calls him out for his useless quest on Jedha, something that earns her his respect, though the solicitations have been teasing he’ll cause trouble for the mission regardless. Luke goes looking for the Cult of the Central Isopter on Jedha while they are visiting, a creepy Force-related Death Cult, as he understands the dangers they pose but also realizes the help they can give with his anger heading into the mission against Trios, but they have abandoned Jedha for the next disaster to worship; there’s an absolutely hilarious line from Han saying he hates to sound like Luke’s dad but he’s concerned on why Luke is hanging around with death cults. And the recruitment of Meorti comes from her off-hand comment due to being around the crew as they wonder where to get a slicer, another funny little scene as she’s not too excited about being part of the mission in a dead-pan sort of way; as you may recall, Meorti is translated to “Hope,” so when she was part of the “Hope Dies” arc and survived, it showed that hope can live on, from a certain point of view. Not only is the sequence of events funny, quick, and exciting, it gives the opening to Gillen’s arc a sense of finality, as we’re revisiting all his past work as we move towards the conclusion.
Han asks a question early on that mirrors a lot of fans reactions to Leia’s mission to scourge Shu-Torun (twice now Han plays the audience surrogate), as he questions her if she went full Darth Vader on them when she reveals the vulnerabilities of the volcanic world and how she wants to exploit them; her line about just needing, “…a little push in the right place, and the whole system will come crashing down,” echoes Jyn Erso’s words regarding the contents of her father’s message and the exploit he planted in the Death Star, which is appropriate considering Gillen started his arc honoring Rogue One. Leia counters Han and Luke’s concerns by saying the population won’t be hurt, but the final panels provide some ominous foreshadowing: the Cult of the Central Isopter has come to Shu-Torun to watch its destruction! They can sense it coming, but they don’t know how much or how bad, though regardless it does not speak well for Leia’s plans to leave the innocent untouched in her big mission aka why you don’t invite Partisans to the subtle party.
This already feels like such a fitting way to end Kieron Gillen’s time on the series, as bringing back players from across his story arcs feeds into the serialized nature of his run on the series, whereas Jason Aaron’s final arc was a series of one-shots, mirroring how most of his run was anthology-lite. This was such a fun issue, playful but thoughtful, respectful to the past but pushing ever forward, and if Gillen can maintain this pace and feeling, he’ll be leaving the series with his best arc yet. The art team for Star Wars issue #62 is Andrea Broccardo (art) and Guru-eFX (colors), and much like last arc, Broccardo will not return until the final issue (#67 out in June) and Angel Unzueta will handle the bulk of the arc. I love Unzueta’s work, especially in the Poe Dameron series, but I found myself kind of wishing Broccardo would’ve stuck around all of last arc and once again I’m reminded how much I enjoy his work after this issue. Clayton Cowles joins us for the arc as letterer!
Here are a few other things:
- The covers by Gerald Parel are freaking gorgeous! They are like paintings I’d expect to find in a museum, not as a comic book cover!
- By the end of March, we should at least have a solicitation about the final issue of “The Scourging of Shu-Torun,” but I’ll be curious to learn when and if we’ll know what is next for the mainline Star Wars series. Will it finally come to an end? Will it pick up in a new era and/or new heroes to follow? Will it just continue on straight until The Empire Strikes Back begins with a new creative team? Considering the solicitations that will release at the end of April would most likely provide the answer, I expect we won’t learn what’s next until either that release…or a little convention happening mid-April called Star Wars Celebration Chicago 2019. That would be my bet! As for what outcome I’d want…I kind of want the series to end for good after Gillen.
Star Wars #62 is a rollicking beginning to Gillen’s end as “The Scourging of Shu-Torun” commences.
+ Fun, quick pace as Leia puts together her crew
+ Visiting Gillen’s past work
+ Great humor
+ Love those McQuarrie references
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 (#44-49) / Arc Review by Chris | Hope Dies (#50-55) / Arc Review by Chris | The Escape (#56-61) | The Scourging of Shu-Torun: #63 | #64 | #65 | #66 | #67 / Arc Review by Chris | Kieron Gillen Retrospective
Jason Aaron — Jason Aaron Retrospective (#1-37)
Greg Pak — Rebels and Rogues (#68-72)