– Spoiler Review –
The furry murder bears of the Forest Moon of Endor must decide how to treat the newcomers to the village, a big debate they’re already having after the Empire and Rebellion left, but with so many different sides and opinions, will they keep the peace or bring danger to their homes? Find out in my review of Ewoks #2!
Bright Tree Village finds itself with some unexpected visitors in the form of a group led by General Koyatta looking for a weapons cache, who has mercenaries like 4-LOM, Zuckuss, former Imperial scout trooper (glad they cleared that up) Khu Fornot, and the towering Dowutin Koll Orvenk to protect him and help him bring them back. Having learned a little of the local customs and beliefs after first landing, they prey on these things when running into the Ewoks of Bright Tree Village, though the mysterious Red Ghost and Wicket and Meedro all converge there too, ready to jump in if needed. What follows is a rather dense issue of debates and intense conversations as the situation slowly gets out of control for both sides, and while I appreciate a series featuring the cuddly murder bears is full of so much dialogue, the amount and sometimes clunkiness of the back and forth’s here in Steve Orlando’s script felt like it bogged down an otherwise good issue. It was intriguing to see 4-LOM’s gamble with religious figures pay off in getting Chief Chirpa to allow the group, but all the debating over each new element slowed momentum gained from moments like the Red Ghost’s appearance, aka Chirpa’s daughter Asha Fahn, or Wicket and Meedro’s interruption. It still led to an entertaining issue, as we got to see many different opinions about how to treat outsiders, some general feelings about Asha, and some minor details about the new mercenaries, but having so many opinions made it hard to concentrate on any, let alone let them really shine. Letterer Joe Caramagna did a great job letting it all flow along each page and panel, often surprising with have one character’s dialogue on the opposite side of where they were in a panel to help create an effect of a real debate, so it’s also at least presented well enough it doesn’t take away from the rest of the art team’s visuals.
As I mentioned earlier, I was pleased Khu Fornot’s dialogue seemed to clarify he’s just a scout trooper who was on the Forest Moon during the battle, and not some clone given how he was initially drawn, though now even that seems a little different. Koll Orvenk’s tiredness regarding violence, not wanting to be an assassin and even stopping Koyatta from spearing Wicket, was a nice touch given his imposing size and stature. Koll’s reluctance to kill or massacre the Ewoks leads to a stalemate and has him butting heads with Koyatta and Fornot, giving the mercenary group some good variety of viewpoints. Now the Gorax’s out of the cave, so to speak, I’m hoping we’ll get a little more with Asha, Kneesa, and Chief Chirpa, as they are his daughters after all, and I’d like to see their dynamic now that Asha’s back. And Wicket showing off his broken Basic skills was a neat little surprise and, while it’s nothing new overall for the character, wouldn’t it be cool if he could speak to Leia a little if they ever saw one another again?
On art again is both Álvaro López and Laura Braga again, joined by Antonio Fabela for colors and Caramagna lettering. Once again, it’s hard for me to totally discern when it’s Lopez or Braga, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all, as it helps maintain visual consistency and just shows the skills of both. A standout sequence to me was when Koll intervenes with Koyatta as he’s about to kill Wicket, as the previous page pulls further out from the Dowutin’s face across three panels, as if to show us he’s not getting angry, rather calmer, thinking about what he wants to do. The next page is a sudden change of perspective, with the viewpoint of us close to and looking up at Koyatta, the spear raised in his hands, but surprise is on his face, as we see Koll’s claws peaking over the Imperial’s back, and a little word bubble hangs at about his eye level, behind his head, leading us to Koll, just out of frame. Whereas Fabela ensured there was blackness around the Koll pull backs on the previous page and an action background consisting of gold and brownish orange colors for the panels of Koyatta’s tussle with Wicket, the green of the Endor forest permeates the background on this page, a soothing hue which stands at such a stark contrast from the previous page, it feels like an exhale of the tension. The next panel is split in the middle, depicting two parts of the same scene, where our perspective switches to looking down on Koyatta from Koll’s point-of-view almost, showing how much control he has of the situation despite the Imperial barking orders at him. We return to the earlier perspective in the final two panels of the page, but now Koll’s head rests just behind Koyatta’s, as if he’s being as gentle as possible about his insistence they move on towards their goal, leaving the little fury ones behind. A few pages later, when Koyatta is demanding a hostage after everything that happened, the panel where most of the Ewoks step back from Asha, putting her up for sacrifice, really paints a picture of how much her reclusiveness as ostracized her from the group, despite being the chief’s daughter, as there’s a gulf of space between her and her kind and Koyatta, not standing too far away.
Here are a few other things:
- Expect the third issue of Ewoks on December 18, followed by its finale on January 29.
- While last issue revealed this sort of ties into the larger Battle of Jakku maxiseries, the second issue doesn’t really make any mention, so as expected, one could easily read this without having to know much from the other series. The maxiseries just finished its first of three miniseries and is about to launch into its middle part on 11/20/2024.
Ewoks #2 might get a little too wordy for its own good, but it still entertains.
+ Expanding characters and art team giving us isolation and a Dowutin’s prowess
– Too dialogue heavy for its own good
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Bluesky, Twitter @MynockManor, and Instagram @mynockmanor.