As Marvel celebrates 80 years, they teamed up with Lucasfilm to bring life back to their original Star Wars comics run from the 70/80’s for one more issue, and it’s a love letter to the wackiness and mythos of that run, as well as to fans who enjoyed it all those years ago. For fans like myself who never imbibed, it’s not as glorious of a return, but it’s still a fun diversion, good remembrance, and a measurement of how much/how little has changed.
Don’t let the numbering fool you, #108 “Forever Crimson” isn’t quite a continuation of #107, the final issue of Marvel’s Original Years run (which was rereleased a few weeks ago as part of Marvel’s True Believers line), but rather it is a sequel to “The Crimson Forever” storyline from the 50th issue. While Marvel’s released a little article helping readers get caught up on the 33 year old storyline, #108 has more than enough exposition to get readers up to speed, though it’s maybe a bit too much, as it all ends up making this super-sized issue feel even longer. It’s necessary, as there’s Domina Tagge to reintroduce (Cassio Tagge’s younger sister), Valance the Hunter to fill readers in on (ex-stormtrooper turned cyborg turned droid hater turned compassionate by Luke turned ‘dead’ by Darth Vader), Jaxxon and Amaiza to deal with again, and the whole plotline to fill everyone in on. Written by Matthew Rosenberg, the story involves some special jewels which can either restore life or create a plaque, depending on their distance to one another, which the heroes seemed to stop before (though Luke got infected) thanks to villain Domina Tagge’s help, though now she wants them again to once again try to avenge her family. Somehow Jaxxon and Amaiza get involved and I guess Valance didn’t die all those years ago, his cyborg frame keeping him alive for one more purpose. I wouldn’t get too caught up in the details, dear readers, and just enjoy the bizarre, but fun pulp-adventure story, as while I had no connection to most of the Legends-heavy references, I still found myself enjoying the ride overall.
One thing that stood out is Valance the Hunter’s story, as it’s interesting to see his Legends story finished, again, considering his canon story is only getting started. Introduced to canon in Han Solo – Imperial Cadet, Valance is the star of an upcoming miniseries Target Vader, which sees the ex-Imperial turned cyborg (due to a rebel bombing run, very much like his Legends storyline) hunting Vader on the behalf of a crime syndicate that Vader’s hunting himself. In Legends, as you’ll find out from #108 here, Valance used to hate droids after what happened to him, but Luke Skywalker taught him compassion for droids, and now a changed man, did whatever he could to make sure the Rebellion survived the Empire, including sacrificing himself in a duel against Vader to ensure Luke’s identity was kept secret. In this issue, he comes back and his desire to be whole again leads him to once again save Luke, but also save the galaxy as he destroys the jewels for good; a far better plan to deal with the jewels originally than the Big Three’s plan which involved sending them away on a Star Destroyer. I really liked Valance’s Legends trajectory, his turn to good and his sacrifice(s), so to see Target Vader has him going after the Dark Lord but it’s not due to trying to help the Rebellion and instead just about him being a bounty hunter makes it feel like canon will do him a disservice. I’ll reserve my judgment until that series is done, but it certainly doesn’t feel like a similar trajectory.
Jaxxon and Amaiza have also already joined canon thanks to IDW’s Star Wars Adventures Annual 2018, with another appearance set for Star Wars Adventures Annual 2019 in June! However Domina hasn’t made the canon cut, instead Cassio Tagge got to survive the Death Star’s explosion for a little while, though his attempt to take Vader’s place at the Emperor’s side didn’t go so well, as one can imagine when going up against Vader (as seen in the first Darth Vader comic series).
Rosenberg’s writing (who is weirdly missing from the inside credits page…) both captures the spirit of the older comics, at least as I can tell from reading #107 after it was rereleased a few weeks ago, and while I’ve dinged him for the heavy, unavoidable exposition, there’s plenty of humor and pathos to make up for it, though overall it still feels a bit long. As for art, “Forever Crimson” is made up of eight chapters, each with a different art team: Chapter 1: Giuseppe Camuncoli and Cam Smith, with Andrea Broccardo; Chapter 2: Kerry Gammill and Ze Carlos; Chapter 3: Andrea Broccardo; Chapter 4: Jan Duursema; Chapter 5: Andrea Broccardo; Chapter 6: Stefano Landini; Chapter 7: Luke Ross; Chapter 8: Leonard Kirk; while Chris Sotomayer provided colors and Clayton Cowles as letterer. There’s not a complaint to be found about a single team’s work, and if I had to pick favorites, I’d pick: Jan Duursema, whose work I enjoyed on the Legends Dawn of the Jedi series, while here she manages to most closely hue to an older style like they had in the 70’s/80’s, as she did pencils on the original run’s 90th issue!; and the other would be Luke Ross, whose work I’ve really come to appreciate after Age of Republic and he doesn’t disappoint here!
Here are a few other things:
- Unlike me, Chris actually read the Original Years #50 issue, of which #108 is a sequel to in a sense, and he’s got a review of both which will be live shortly!
- Considering we’re 5 years into the new canon, reading this I couldn’t help but think how I’m totally okay without any continuation of Legends material. This comes from someone who felt that way from the moment they announced the clean slate in 2014, but in the intervening years the prospect had intrigued me from time to time, though I’m now more than content with how they are picking and choosing from Legends material to build canon.
- There’s a short little interview with Rosenberg about getting to do this project.
Star Wars Original Marvel Years #108 is fun time capsule of what Star Wars comics used to be, and while those who read the older content will probably enjoy it a tad more than those who haven’t, it’s a fun pulp-adventure anyone can pick up.
+ Fun, pulp-adventure feel
+ Looks and feels like a by-gone era…in a good way!
– Exposition makes it feel lengthy
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.