– Spoiler Review –
The penultimate issue of The Battle of Jakku maxiseries, Last Stand #3, finally begins the eponymous battle, but it’s still trying to pack too much in too little space.
My problems with the cramped nature of this maxiseries feels exponential in the penultimate issue, as there’s so many moving parts and threads to cover and clearly not enough space to do it all justice, even Adelhard comes off as a passenger ahead of the end, as the story is propelled by plot developments and not character-related ones. For starters, while it’s great to finally see the battle this series was named after, it’s so chaotic and not so clearly shown/written, it’s hard to follow and anticlimactic, regardless of Gallius Rax’s big speech, especially given the way it’s been depicted in other mediums and stories before. And all the double-crossing, who-is-working-for-who stuff even gets a comment from Kranor, wondering why his leaders wanted his allegiances to Adelhard shift so much, and the answer from Spice Runner of Kijimi right-hand man Tomasso makes all the back and forth feel even more redundant. And Luke Skywalker seems less like himself again, so pushy and not believing in others, and he ping-pongs over trusting the Spice Runners, telling Rynn Zenat he trusts her after she reveals she was one, and then immediately starts backtracking when they get to a secret meeting. And like I said, Adelhard factors in at the very end, after being absent last issue, yet he’s less of a threat than everyone keeps talking him up to be, like before, as the moment he decides to launch his crazy both side attack in the battle, he’s interrupted by a surprising returning character and his plans are thrown up in the air. Altogether, all the developments and moving pieces make this issue read less like the penultimate entry and rather another small part of something far larger, so I’ll be interested what the series attempts to do to wrap this all up.
At this point in the series, I’ve had no real connection to Rynn Zenat since there’s been a lack of development for her, so the revelation Tomasso adopted her after her parents were killed, raising her as a Spice Runner till she went off to join the Rebellion, just sort of passed over the character and didn’t change anything for me with her. And then we learn, via Tomasso, Zeva Bliss was working behind-the-scenes with the underworld to see who would be ready to help bring Adelhard down, sort of flies in the face of what we did hear from Zeva in previous issues and their big power play moment in the final page reads like a dues ex machina moment rather than some great twist. This secret meeting is also where Luke seems so out of character, as we typically see him prone to talking a little more wistfully, in riddles, in other stories/mediums, yet when Tomasso does much the same, Luke gets in the man’s face, pointing a finger and asking him to speak plainly, which leaves Tomasso to remind Luke not everything is so black and white…like why should he have to tell the man who redeemed his father, Darth Vader, about things being more nuanced? It makes no sense. Regardless, the Spice Runner underworld dealing at least comes with a great surprise that, while it doesn’t make up for how this was all delivered, it’s certainly a damn blessing: Eleodie Maracavanya, pirate leader extraordinaire and the first non-binary character in canon, who hasn’t been seen since the Aftermath Trilogy, returns!! Zhey were involved in some clean-up of Imperials from the Battle of Jakku, so this is news zhey were involved at the battle itself, but hey, whatever brings Eleodie back, if even for a cameo like other characters have been, we’ll take it!
Jethro Morales steps back for an issue and Leonard Kirk returns on art, with Jim Campbell and Joe Caramagna on colors and lettering still, respectively. We’ve known the Battle of Jakku is something wild to behold, from how it’s been described in other books or seen in Battlefront II (2017), and Kirk does his best to match those accounts. There’s a double-page splash around the midway point which has a bevy of ships from different sides of the fight, from what looks like a Starhawk, there’s Lando’s yahcht, X-wings, A-wings, Super and regular Star Destroyers, with blaster fire and explosions all over, while insert panels give us a glimpse of the determined fighters of the New Republic, including a female pilot who crashed on Jakku and is battling it on the ground afterwards. It does feel like there’s so many moving parts thanks to this piece of art on its own, while Caramagna keeps the chaos as clean as he can, from the various shouts of dialogue between pilots and planners and even the return of the third-person omniscient narration, while the sparing usage of sound FX makes them more impactful, like when Lando bursts onto the scene early in the story. The final page does a great job with sense of scale, as Adelhard’s Star Destroyer is dwarfed by Eleodie’s Super Star Destroyer, this giant triangle in the space above his little ship, giving the impression he’s out matched and his plans are definitely about to be ruined.
Here are a few other things:
- Earlier this week, I released by 2024 Star Wars Comics Year-in-Review article, where I list my Top 5 Moments of the year, Top Creatives, and what I did and didn’t like. Please check it out, as I also revealed not only am I not covering the comics as often in the past (like I won’t be doing every issue for every series anymore, maybe more per miniseries or storyline arc), but I do summarize my feelings on this maxiseries so far.
- Lando, with Preeti in tow, magically appearing to help in the middle of the battle feels very Battle of Exegol of him.
- I did appreciate hearing some familiar squadron names being dropped during the battle: Blade Squadron, which has a series of Star Wars Insider shorts which expanded the B-wing group’s exploits since and before Return of the Jedi (B-wings got their big live-action moment in Skeleton Crew’s finale); Phantom Squadron, which Wedge Antilles put together for the liberation of Kashyyyk and Temmin “Snap” Wexley is a part of, was reinstated for Jakku; and Phoenix Squadron, which isn’t our Star Wars Rebels crew but I get wanting to call my squad after some real heroes!
- The brief scene with RAE SLOANE seems to finally line up with how she is in the books, but there’s too much ambiguity it doesn’t really clear things up.
- Han returns and he’s immediately window dressing again.
- Given the finale releases a week after this, 1/22/2025, which is one day before the comic solicitations will likely release for April 2025, could the finale bring with it something which heralds a reveal of a new series? We’ll find out next week.
The Battle of Jakku: Last Stand #3 brings us to its big battle but crams too much in for it to be anything noteworthy, leaving us curious how this is all supposed to wrap up in one more issue.
+ Battle signals the end is nigh
– Battle is here but lost in the cramped story
– Too much to likely wrap up in a satisfying manner
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.
THE BATTLE OF JAKKU MAXISERIES REVIEWS
Insurgency Rising: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 – Republic Under Siege: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 – Last Stand: #1 | #2