– Spoiler Review –
In Star Wars #64, “The Scourging of Shu-Torun” loses a little fun and quite a bit of momentum, as ominous moments stack up and prepare us for what may come next.
The fun being gone isn’t a bad thing, but it didn’t leave the building as there’s still plenty here, especially with Tunga, the shapeshifter, hamming it up as Queen Trios. His time as Trios leaves most of the crew finally impressed with his skills, though Threepio is always complimenting him, and I had a blast watching a monarch more in line of what you’d see in a period piece than what we get in Star Wars, especially since we knew it wasn’t a legitimate way said character acts. But having some of the fun leave the arc was necessary, as the arc’s title is all about destruction of a planet, and eventually the caper feel of the story needed to shift so it’d be more fitting for such darker fodder. I doubt this’ll be the last time this arc can be deemed fun, but it might not come until the very end again as things take a dark, expected turn by the issue’s end.
In the most unsurprising development of all time, the Partisans plan to go rogue, paying the Empire back for what it did to Jedha. That Luke is around with Benthic as he goes down a darker, bloodier path makes this feel like a repeat of the “Ashes of Jedha” arc, and I hope we don’t have them go over the same debates again. What the Partisans plan is, instead of just disabling the Spike, they overcharge their final explosive to turn the shielded life-blood of the planet around, tearing it apart like the single reactor Death Strike did to Jedha. As dastardly as their plan seems, it’s just the far more direct approach to destroying Shu-Torun, while Leia’s plan, innocent as it may seem, would have similar repercussions anyways. It’s no mistake back in issue #50 they included a backup story about Queen Trios’ relationship with Darth Vader and the Empire, either telling new readers or reminding old ones that Vader promised to visit the same destruction on Shu-Torun that the Death Star did to Alderaan if she wouldn’t meet the Empire’s shipment demands (Darth Vader Annual #1). So if Leia’s plans weren’t hijacked by the Partisans, and I hope to the angels of Iego she figured this would happen, making Shu-Torun unimportant to the Empire would bring the wrath of Darth Vader anyways, effectively killing the planet. Neither plan will end well, but I’m curious if we’ll find Leia teaming up with Queen Trios to prevent the Partisan’s plans, at the very least, before this arc is over, as Luke and Chewie look to be in the thick of that action for the rest of the arc unless they gain help from the others.
Last issue, I felt like Queen Trios would not only figure out Leia’s little message and put their whole plan in jeopardy, but I’ve also had a theory she purposefully allowed Leia to get the information she found on Shu-Torun as a way to help get Trios out of the Empire’s thumbs by being able to blame a loss of production on them. My first theory, Trios figuring out Leia’s message, was debunked, as she didn’t put it together until AFTER the team had shut down all of Shu-Torun. My second theory could still be an option, but odds are slim to unlikely after Trios slams her glass in frustration, realizing there is nothing they can do as they are at the mercy of the Rebels. To make my theory right, her reaction would have to be a show, but it seems like only Tunga as Trios is the only version of Trios who puts on an act. Though, like I mused at the end of the last paragraph, could Trios make an appeal to Leia and they team up in the end, even if they seemed destined to battle (according to solicits, that is, which can’t always be trusted)?
Angel Unzueta (art) and Guru-eFX (colors) will see us through to the end this arc, and while this was a little less busy of an arc, I loved the images of Tunga in Trios’ clothing before he shapeshifts, the direly large, imposing look of the Spike, and seeing Trios get a pissed once she realizes what Leia is up to is rather priceless. I’m looking forward to how they’ll handle things as they heat up over the next few issues. Sorry, had to have a heat pun about a volcanic planet at some point!
Here are a few other things:
- While we’ll still have to wait until Celebration Chicago, and the Marvel panel on Saturday, April 13, to learn who is taking over for Kieron Gillen when his run ends in June, we have our first hints at what’s next. Florian from Jedi-Bibliothek, the super sleuth of the publishing world, found a German Amazon listing about the next arc, which will still be set in the same era and follows a tale about the Empire sending out probes to hunt down the Rebellion, and our heroes go on crazy missions to mislead and misdirect the spying eyes. I’m a bit bummed we won’t be moving into a new era, but depending on the writer (and art team), this sounds like a fun ride because it looks to open the galaxy up a bit.
Star Wars #64 was the first issue of Gillen’s final arc that felt more like his previous arcs, but the sense of impending doom does need a different pace and feel than the more free-flowing, adventurous pace of the first two issues.
+ Tunga’s Trios Performance
+ A necessary turn of tone…
– …though it comes at the expense of pace
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) / Arc Review by Chris | The Scourging of Shu-Torun: #62 | #63 | #65 | #66 | #67 / Arc Review by Chris | Kieron Gillen Retrospective
Jason Aaron — Jason Aaron Retrospective (#1-37)
Greg Pak — Rebels and Rogues (#68-72)