IDW’s Star Wars Adventures, which launched in September of last year, as been steadily bringing readers great little stories with familiar characters big and small across the saga for quite some time. It’s Annual 2018 issue isn’t much different, though it has two great scribes in John Jackson Miller (welcome back to Star Wars comics, sir!) and Cavan Scott, and is the much awaited (or dreaded, depending on who you ask) return of the Marvel’s giant green bunny character, Jaxxon.
“Mind Your Manners” Written by John Jackson Miller, Art by Jon Sommariva, Colors by Matt Herms, Lettering by Tom B. Long
On a diplomatic mission to Sarka, Luke makes a rough landing which injures Leia, leaving her unable to continue the mission and forcing the farmboy to go in her stead. Threepio, well trained in the complicated Sarkan customs, joins Luke to help him bumble through the proceedings, but a member of the Queen’s court is pro-Imperial and does everything he can to catch Luke messing up and ruin the Alliance’s chances of striking a deal for their power crystals. The Sarkans, a reptile species, dress and act like something out of the medieval ages, which gives us the funny image of Luke dressing like a Venice merchant, so it’s not as fancy as his attire in The Screaming Citadel’s first issue. Of course the Sarkan customs are obtuse in the obscene, but they produce a few laughs, and get downright ridiculous when Lord Rooz comes up with a few to get Luke and Leia in trouble. Luke does his best under the circumstances, but I really loved Leia’s rescue of him in the final part of the story, and how it ties into some obscure knowledge of Sarkan history to make the whole thing a diplomatic success for the Rebellion.
Sure, it’s a little over the top in some places, but it’s John Jackson Miller’s subtle wordplay and winks and nods to other parts of the saga that add an extra layer to the proceedings. For starters, and I just put this together while writing the review, Lord Rooz is a clever play on the word
ruse, helping to betray the pro-Imperial Sarkan’s intentions (and the spelling “rooz” is, funnily enough, how the dictionary spells the pronunciation of the word ruse). There’s the exchange between Luke and Threepio where the droid suggests Luke complain to the person who made him, if they ever meet, for not adding specific upgrades; Luke saying a line Rey utters upon seeing Takodana in The Force Awakens (get your conspiracy theory hats on about this meaning they are still somehow related); And later Leia makes the comparison of Luke taking her place on the mission to that of the Jedi acting as emissaries of the Republic back in the day. It’s this extra layer that provides fun for all ages, making this a solid, fun, little adventure, as has been the case for IDW’s series so far.
The art, across every Adventures issue I’ve read, is stylistically akin to something you’d maybe see on Saturday morning cartoons, and the work done by Jon Sommariva and Matt Herms is no different. It’s an enjoyable, light style that fits well with the tone of the story, though the colors sometimes seemed muted. There’s several panels I really enjoyed, including the aforementioned Luke in Venice merchant attire, Artoo shocking two Sarkan guards, and the overall look of the Queen’s throne room.
“The Lost Eggs of Livorno” Written by Cavan Scott, Art by Mauricet, Colors by Chris Fenoglio, Lettering by Tom B. Long
In a surprising, interesting move, IDW has gone ahead and brought the (in)famous Jaxxon, basically a green rabbit with an attitude, and his partner in crime, Amaiza Foxtrain, back into canon. These two were initially part of Marvel’s first Star Wars comics way back when, so not only was it surprising that IDW got their paws on these two first, the divisive history surrounding Jaxxon (more so than Amaiza, though her original outfit was a sign of the times) basically paints him as the reason those early stories were so campy, which makes this an interesting revival. I won’t dive too deeply into the complicated past and expectations with Jaxxon, mainly because there’s already an absolutely excellent article over at Eleven Thirty-Eight explaining the whole thing.
As someone who never read those early comics, and only heard of Jaxxon in passing throughout the years as a fan, I didn’t have any preconceived notions for the character coming into this story. The green Bugs Bunny look isn’t too hard to get over, especially since he’s not written with slapstick comedy involved, but rather a gruff, cynical bent. Sure, his ship is the Rabbit’s Foot and other characters call him cottontail, but it’s thanks to Cavan Scott’s portrayal of Jaxxon and the double/triple crossing story that both distract and help readers accept those faucets of the character. It’s a much shorter story than the main one, of course, but Scott takes advantage of the quick pace to tell the caper story well. Amaiza shares equal time and focus, while her role as a pirate doesn’t seemed to have changed.
In the end though, the much hyped return of Jaxxon doesn’t paint the character to be that much more interesting or different from others we’ve met before, besides his appearance of course. Not to say this story isn’t bad, in fact it’s a great little short tail (had to get my rabbit pun in here somewhere), it just felt like it could’ve starred any character and been the same. Though I will admit, by making Jaxxon and Amaiza fit in a story you could imagine any Star Wars character in, it makes it much easier to accept them into canon. Then again, the story being centered around eggs wouldn’t have had the same laughs if it didn’t involve a bunny.
The art from Mauricet, with colors by Chris Fenoglio, was a bit cleaner in style than the main story’s, while giving the proceedings a pulp-action feel. And as I said, Jaxxon feels at home in Star Wars and it’s due to the art style, especially as the takes on familiar characters like Han and Leia keep a consistent look with Jaxxon furry-ness.
For both stories, we have IDW’s letterer of choice, Tom B. Long, who does an excellent job across both issues. As for IDW Editors, there’s Assistant Editor Elizabeth Brei, with Editors Bobby Curnow & Denton J. Tipton, who we all have to thank for bringing the green bunny, and Amaiza, back to life…so to speak.
Here are a few other things:
- As a kid I read a few Star Wars comics from Dark Horse, but never really got into any series, or comics for that matter. Shortly after the announcement of the Disney purchase/new movies, having just begun my foray into comics with the likes of Saga and Fable, I decided to jump into John Jackson Miller’s Knights of the Old Republic series. Legends or not, it’s an excellent series with some very memorable characters, especially Gryph, and I’d highly suggest giving them a read! It was great to have Miller writing comics again with the lead story here, but I’d love to see him in charge of a full series again one day.
- Check out Comics With Kenobi’s latest episode for a chat with writer Cavan Scott, who joins at the 37:20 mark, talking about the return of Jaxxon and Amaiza, including why space carrots didn’t make the cut.
Star Wars Adventures Annual 2018 is more of the same fun the series has put out so far, though it’ll long be remembered for it’s solid recanonization of Jaxxon and Amaiza.
+ Sarkans crazy manners led to good fun
+ Jaxxon and Amaiza are canon and it’s not a bad thing
+ Solid work from all creative teams/members
– Though the return of Jaxxon/Amaiza didn’t quite feel special
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
IDW’S STAR WARS ADVENTURES:
Vol. 1: Heroes of the Galaxy (#1-2) | Forces of Destiny (#1-5)
CURRENT MARVEL COMIC REVIEWS:
Doctor Aphra
Aphra (#1-6) | And the Enormous Profit (#9-13) | Remastered (#14-19) | Annual: #1
Darth Vader – Dark Lord of the Sith
The Chosen One (#1-6) | The Dying Light (#7-12) | The Rule of Five (#11-12) | Burning Seas (#13-18)
Poe Dameron
Black Squadron (#1-3) | Lockdown (#4-6) | The Gathering Storm (#7-13) | Legend Lost (#14 – 16) | War Stories (#17-19) | Legend Found (#20-25) | The Awakening (#26-31) | Annual: #1
Star Wars
Ashes of Jedha (#38-43) | Mutiny at Mon Cala (#44-49) | Annual: #3