– Spoiler Review –
Thanks to the events of Star Wars #65, things are really heating up (see what I did there?) for the last two issues of Gillen’s final arc, “The Scourging of Shu-Torun.”
As you can probably guess from my opening sentence, this is another issue of set up. But unlike last issue, #65 is action-packed set up, moving all the pieces into place for a potentially epic-sized finale to Gillen’s run. To me, the best aspect to this issue is Queen Trios, as she starts making the tough, necessary decisions needed to save her planet from the Rebellion. The specter of Vader looms over the fate of her planet, as he’s promised Alderaan-levels of destruction if she should fail him, and we really see how the pressure of such threats has molded Trios’ thoughts and actions. The pressure brings out a ruthlessness in her, as she’s both willing to risk the lives of her nobles and her own, if it means breaking out of the trap Leia has set and fighting back against the insurgents. She even directly threatens one of her nobles (who appears to be Trios’ father’s mother) with a blaster to the face, telling the woman she wouldn’t think twice about sacrificing her because Trios’ father and brothers were already sacrificed for the survival of the planet so another person of nobility would be nothing if it meant to ensure the planet’s survival. When she uses a drilling ship to break out of the door locking her and the nobles in the Abyssal Rooms, she wastes no time dealing with Han, Leia, Meorti, and Tunga’s defense of the Royal landing pad, smashing through the building to begin retaking the throne room and undo the Rebels’ plans. When we first met Trios back in “The Shu-Torun War” arc of the first Darth Vader series, she was beginning to learn how to ruthlessly rule to ensure the planet met its quotas, therefore keeping her people alive. Now she’s been under that pressure for a while and it’s definitely changed her, though I’m still holding out some hope she has some regrets for what she’s done since Vader left her alive. We’ll see once her and Leia face off next issue, as well as how she reacts to the returning Commander Kanchar’s actions to bombard the palace.
Luke gets a rather awesome moment, storming the entrenched Shu-Torun guards, dual-wielding a blaster and lightsaber, but his heroics gain a dark edge when he realizes what Benthic and Partisans are planning on doing: giving the Empire its own Jedha by splitting Shu-Torun in two. We leave the thread there, as Luke goes on the run from the Partisans to regroup and work on stopping them. The rest of the heroes don’t have much else to do this issue than get out of Queen Trios’ ship’s way, but the big moments will come in the following two issues. As for the remaining villains, Commander Kanchar comes back to Shu-Torun because Scar Squad, who we left on Hubin at the end of the last arc, manages to reach out to him regarding the plans they found Leia had left behind. Of course this comes just when the Rebels are so close to their goal, though Kanchar not thinking twice about bombarding the palace will certainly have some intriguing repercussions. There was an intriguing theory that the Death Cult of the Central Isopter visiting Shu-Torun in the first issue of this arc was actually Scar Squad, but I’m happy that turned out to be false, and I hope the shuttle that picks up the Squad does not bring them into the events of the last two issues of this arc, as I’ve never quite been a fan of Scar due to their continued incompetence.
Art continues to excel thanks to Angel Unzueta and Guru-eFX, from the imposing way they frame and pose the structures of the brutal Shu-Torun world, Luke’s dual-wielding moment, and even the utter ruthlessness in Trios’ face. I’m really looking forward to seeing what they’ll bring to all-out war and destruction in the remaining few issues of the arc!
Here are a few other things:
- We finally know, officially, what creative team is next for the Star Wars series after Gillen leaves in June: Writer Greg Pak, currently writing the Age of Rebellion, and artist extraordinaire Phil Noto (Chewbacca, Poe Dameron)! As revealed at Celebration Chicago 2019’s Marvel panel, now the recent July solicits offer even more details about their run for the series: closing into The Empire Strikes Back, our heroes are sent on crazy mission to mislead and misdirect Vader’s probe droid barrage. It’s not a new era, but it sounds fun enough and the creative team’s quite the catch, so I put my initial misgivings aside and see what they have to offer!
- Much like I did at the end of Jason Aaron’s run with this series, I’ll have a retrospective coming for Kieron Gillen’s time with the series, sometime either just before or a little after Grek Pak begins in July.
Star Wars #65 offers more set up, a little more action to spruce it up, and sets the stage for a potentially epic finale.
+ Trios under pressure
+ Everything’s converging at once
– Set up feeling continues
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 | #64 | #66 | #67 / Arc Review by Chris | Kieron Gillen Retrospective
Jason Aaron — Jason Aaron Retrospective (#1-37)
Greg Pak — Rebels and Rogues (#68-72)