– Spoiler Review –
Since 2015, the Star Wars series has been a constant for Marvel comics, exploring the three year time span between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back with different writers and plenty of different artist teams. With Star Wars #75, the series can’t avoid TESB anymore, bringing the series (for now) to an end, and what an epic, fun, and endearing end it is.
The heroes were always going to get away, as they have every issue since #1, but how the creative teams brought exciting and seemingly insurmountable odds against them and helped them find a way out has been a good chunk of the fun with the Star Wars series. Each writer’s time on the series has had its ups and downs, but the 8-issue epic of “Rebels and Rogues” by Greg Pak and Phil Noto has been one continuous and brilliant up, with Star Wars #75 a fitting and exhilarating way to cap off an excellent run. For starters, the story thread I’ve enjoyed the most this arc, where Threepio and Chewbacca reconciled with becoming main characters instead of the lowly sidekicks, making the big decisions in impossible situations like their human counterparts normally do, is integral to the ending of the arc and its big message. Turns out the rock people could’ve woken their grandmother, aka what K43 actually was, and saved themselves early on, but since Threepio obviously cared about Chewie, and vice a versa, they didn’t want to kill his friend by exposing him to the vacuum of space. They continued to wait, despite Vader’s appearance, because all of Threepio’s fleshy friends came and they cared about him too, much like Threepio managed to care for the rock people as well. It was friendship that saved our heroes in the end, their friendship with one another and how they extend it to those they meet, and this is how the good guys will always win against the darkness in the end. Kieron Gillen’s run ended with an image of the heroes together as friends again, and Pak’s final panel focuses on a friendless Vader, his goals and desires just out of reach again as he sits lonely in his giant Super Star Destroyer; in a way, it’s showing how having friends brings you fulfillment vs how not having some can bring you disappointment. Friendship has always been important to the Saga, as the Original Trilogy is all about the found friendship of the main characters (family reveals notwithstanding), so to see the message carried on by sidekick characters the movies put in the background more often than not was a great touch.
Beyond conveying such a message, there’s a lot to love in the finale like: a scene where Han, Luke, Leia, Dar Champion, and Chewie all go guns blazing at a slightly damaged Darth Vader, who pushes them back for their efforts; a giant rock monster carrying the Millennium Falcon over to our heroes to board; Vader surfing on a rock across lava, à la Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi during their Mustafar fight; and a giant rock grandmother emerges from her planet shell and crushes a Star Destroyer…to say the least. As far as an arc and series finales go, it doesn’t get much bigger or epic than the feeling and events of this issue. Vader reversing the rock people’s EMP felt a bit like a narrative cheat, but if that’s the biggest, though very minor, gripe I have with the finale, this might’ve been the closest to perfect this series has ever been.
I had wondered if Warba would return for the finale and she did, in a rather cathartic moment as she’s the one who drags the rebel team Luke helped escape Sergia to go rescue him, which they do just as Vader is close to his target. She’s later seen pickpocketing one of the rebels as they eat in a Rebellion mess hall in a ship above Hoth, so old habits die hard, but her character arc, from “training” Luke to get what she wants to coming back to save him/join the Rebellion was handled and unfolded rather well, which is why her return in the issue gave me such a giant grin. There wasn’t been a lot of new characters introduced in the Star Wars series, but they have at least gone on to be memorable, like say Sana Starros, and now I can say Warba has done the same, and as long as she survives Empire Ascendant aka Hoth, hopefully Charles Soule will include her a bit in his relaunching of the series in January! Dar Champion and Leia’s closeness giving Han some serious jealousy provided some good humor, and with Boss Carpo killed in the action above what used to be K43, the planet Dar was championing is free from his rule, so he joins up with the Rebellion i.e. trying to stay close to Leia, even though he’s noticed the connection between her and Han that they keep denying. I felt his arc wasn’t as nuanced as Warba’s, and while I wouldn’t be against seeing him again, specifically while Han is out of the picture (ironically so because he’s a picture in Jabba’s palace) since he could provide Leia with some funny distractions as she keeps her eyes on the prize, I wouldn’t miss him if Soule didn’t choose to use him.
At 8 issues, “Rebels and Rogues” was the longest arc in any of the various Star Wars comics from Marvel, just narrowly beating out Soule’s “Fortress Vader” epic to end his Darth Vader – Dark Lord of the Sith series, and I quite enjoyed the longer issue count. It felt like there was some stretching in the middle here, but the 5-6 issue arc count sometimes has felt a little too rushed or not enough to build up character arcs, and Pak took full advantage of the 8 issues, like how I felt about Warba by the end or how he gave Threepio/Chewie their own big moments, and I wouldn’t be against more of these longer arcs in the future.
Phil Noto, with Clayton Cowles on letters, made all the above more than worth tuning into, as the stunning, fun, and epic moments wouldn’t have felt as large if it hadn’t been Noto. The scale and scope of his panels is what really sells these big moments, like say the giant rock person carrying the Falcon or the grandmother floating in space, dwarfing a Star Destroyer like it’s a little toy. I think my favorite panel might be the one where the rock person is carrying the Falcon, as it was such a bizarre, surprising, funny, but easily acceptable moment I never ever imagined would happen. It’s been 8 issues of Noto bliss and the finale was no exception, as even the littler moments, from all the guys watching Dar and Leia’s chemistry or the mess hall scene in the end, have tons of minute details that award taking in the full panel on display. Cowles similarly brought lots of fun, especially with his Chewie howling or the arc-long rock people lettering, and went big for the final issue too.
Here are a few other things:
- Empire Ascendant, the one-shot wrapping up this era of Star Wars comics in general, is out December 18! It’s basically four short stories in one epic sized issue, dealing the stories of characters like Doctor Aphra (woot!), Beilert Valance, and of course the big three; I’ll have a review up as soon as possible after it releases! Chris, our Sous Chef here, should have an arc/retrospective on Greg Pak/Phil Noto’s “Rebels and Rogues” before then!
- While I’m not sure of Warba or Dar’s return when Soule takes over in January, he has teased Shara Bey (last seen in 2015’s Shattered Empire), Poe Dameron’s mom, will be featured so there’s that to look forward to!
Star Wars #75 is not only the ending Greg Pak and Phil Noto’s short story deserved, but one the entire series deserved before it relaunches into a new timeframe next year!
+ The power of friendship
+ A giant rock person carrying the Millennium Falcon like a toy…what!!?
+ Warba’s arc
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
STAR WARS
Greg Pak — Rebels and Rogues: #68 | #69 | #70 | #71 | #72 | #73 | #74
Kieron Gillen — Kieron Gillen Retrospective (#38-67)
Jason Aaron — Jason Aaron Retrospective (#1-37)
CURRENT SERIES COMIC REVIEWS:
Doctor Aphra
Unspeakable Rebel Superweapon (#32-36) | A Rogue’s End (#37-40) | Annual: #2
Allegiance (miniseries)
Jedi: Fallen Order – Dark Temple (miniseries)
Return to Vader’s Castle (miniseries)