– Spoiler Review –
Since the series began in 2020, Star Wars (Vol. 2) has brought a formidable foe to disrupt the Rebellion’s recovery after the Battle of Hoth: Commander Ellian Zahra. In Star Wars #24 (Vol. 2), Leia’s rivalry with the woman, and her reign of terror on the Rebellion, comes to a head in an exciting and fitting one-on-one showdown finale.
If there’s one thing the Star Wars series has lacked, from its inception in 2015 even, is a formidable, engaging, and long-lasting antagonist. Darth Vader has shown up a few times, but having him lose to the Rebellion a lot would diminish the threat he poses he couldn’t always be in the picture; Grakkus the Hutt was fun, but wasn’t in it long; Sergeant Kreel and the SCAR troopers tried to shine but they never really won so they never felt like a threat; Queen Trios’ time in the series was more a tragedy than an antagonistic role; and Commander Kanchar was scary big but easily defeated as well. That all changed with the introduction of Ellian Zahra, Commander in the Empire and protégé of Grand Moff Tarkin himself, who has been hassling the Rebellion since this series began. She’s employed unique tactics, captured a stowaway aboard her ship, personally attacked Leia for her role in ending Tarkin’s life and to mentally mess with her, and hunted down and destroy much of the Rebellion fleet as they tried to muster following Hoth. She’s been a frustration in the Rebellion’s side and even to me, as a reader, somehow finding new ways to thwart our heroes’ plans, but not being used to a lengthy threat like her has initially not helped my appreciation of her skills. She’s been such an obstacle, when she said last issue her and her team could take down the entire Rebel fleet in just one Star Destroyer, I believed her like her team did, even though I knew it wouldn’t come true. It’s a testament to Charles Soule’s writing of the character and the structure of the series so far that I’d believe her, and I’d even be scared for all the plot armored characters who go to face her after her ship, the Tarkin’s Will, crashes to the planet below at the end of last issue.
Even alone, her ship destroyed, and her fellow Imperials dead, the full Rebellion fleet hovering overhead, she has control over the situation, threatening to leak all the data she collected from her interrogation of Shara Bey if Leia doesn’t come face her. She’s holed up in a cave, using its inhabitants’ guano to make blasters a risky proposition, though she uses it against the team that goes into check it out first. Chewbacca, Kes Dameron, and Leia go in with blades at the ready then, but Zahra’s too quick, too deadly and fights back Chewie, Kes, and separates Leia from the others…though Chewie recovers enough to send Zahra flying.
Leia finds herself at odds with the little creatures in the cave but Zahra kills them and proceeds to lay out how she’ll make Leia’s death an example that’ll shake the Rebellion to its core, the fear doctrine of Tarkin part of her very soul and every fiber of her being. It’s a spooky, unsettling scene as well, the way the blood from the little flying creatures stains Zahra’s black armor, is intimidating, as is the red of her blade. While Leia is defenseless, her natural reaction not to kill the little creatures pays off, as the parental unit of the little bats comes knocking, attacking Zahra with some type of sticky webbing that pins her to the cave walls. Leia hesitates in saving Zahra, but Kes and Chewie finally catch up, shooting the monster and it skitters away, leaving them alone with the pinned Zahra.
While Leia and Zahra have long been on other sides of the war, of ideology, their fight hasn’t always been physical, more mental. And while Zahra thought she had Leia all figured out, the Rebel leader shows the Commander who she really is, admitting that yes, she has lots of blood on her hands for the destruction of the Death Star, and she’s obviously not sad about Tarkin’s death, but it wasn’t out of revenge, fear, or settling scores, the deaths were for justice, kills only when necessary. Leia’s a Jedi far more she realizes, far more than anyone knows, sounding a lot like the Jedi of The High Republic era Soule’s also had a critical hand in writing, and I’m glad Leia doesn’t kill Zahra here, instead leaving her in the cave, the creature approaching again, the Imperial’s red blade just outside her reach. When Kes, Chewie, and Leia emerge from the cave, the Rebel Fleet gloriously spread above them, Leia says the comradery and feeling of togetherness is what gets them through these things, to fight for tomorrow and the day after that. It’s about as happy an ending as you can get in this time frame, and if I didn’t know the series would continue, I would almost think it ending here would’ve been perfect. I’ll be curious where Soule will take the story next, Return of the Jedi looming overhead more and more the longer the series goes on however, but I’m not too concerned.
As for Zahra, Leia already cut into the sticky webbing to grab the data tape with the info from Shara, so it’s sort of loose. Could the big creature potentially slice at her a bit, loosening it more, enough for her to get out and strike it down with her blade? While the potential for her to survive is slim to non-existent, the fact Soule allows even the slightest option for her to make it out is inspired and inclusive storytelling for future writers (and/or for himself).
Ramon Rosanas takes point for most of the issue, but he’s joined by Madibek Musabekov, though Rachelle Rosenberg remains on colors and Clayton Cowles still lettering. Rosanas’ art has long been a favorite of mine, his ability to capture the essence of characters new and old with his art style of their faces has brought a lot of extra nuance to the series and some of its small, but decisive conversation moments. When Musabekov takes over, I almost didn’t notice at first, their overall styles being similar, though it’s in the faces I detected the change, though I liked what I saw. He really brings the creepy details to Zahra’s approach of Leia in the cave, the splattering of black blood on her black armor, lit by Rosenberg’s colors from the red of the blade, had me shaking in my PJs when reading it. I like how Musabekov scaled up the creatures from Rosanas’ smaller iterations, the three main eyes growing enormously, Rosenberg’s red for the eyes scary yet a glow that feels necessary in the low-light environment, while its teeth interestingly remain about the same size; collaboration on that was key otherwise it’d be shocking if they’d look wildly different. One of my favorite panels, while a small one, is the one of Leia, Kes, and Chewie arm in arm, walking away from the webbed up Zahra, the Commander’s red blade embedded in the ground between them, as it shows what Soule’s script tells us later, about coming out together and being together you can conquer anything it seems, but alone and hateful, you’re stuck against a cave wall in some nasty webbing, while the panel does offer us that potential for Zahra’s survival as well. Cowles’ lettering never distracts from the claustrophobic feeling of the cave, while I really enjoyed the bizarre font for the creature’s hiss as it approaches Zahra after they leave her, while her scream for Leia just before the hiss, red, bold, and blowing up the thought bubble shows she’s finally feeling the fear herself now and clearly doesn’t like it.
Here are a few other things:
- The next issue is going to be quite the treat for fans of the comics overall, especially Soule’s many series, as it’ll include new tales set within his previous works: The Rise of Kylo Ren, Darth Vader – Dark Lord of the Sith, and Poe Dameron, with artists returning as well. The issue’s out July 20 and here’s a glimpse at some of the many variant covers coming out for it in this thread!
- It’s unclear if he’s going to be coming back, so this might be the final issue for Ramon Rosanas for now and I’m really going to miss his work! Hopefully he’ll return.
- Love seeing Leia in this and little Leia in Obi-Wan Kenobi, as it’s easy to see they are one and the same person!
Star Wars #24 (Vol. 2) succinctly wraps up the story we’ve been dealing with for the majority of the series, while gives Commander Zahra a fitting ending (or is it the end…)
+ Zahra’s control of situation almost till the end
+ Leia’s victory for justice’s sake
+ Both art teams did the finale justice as well
– Felt a little abrupt
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.
STAR WARS (Vol. 2)
The Destiny Path: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 / Arc Review — The Will of Tarkin: #7 | #8/Arc Review — Operation Starlight: #9 | #10 | #11 | #12 — War of the Bounty Hunters: #13 | #14 | #15 | #16 | #17 | #18 — Crimson Reign: #19 | #20 | #21 | #22 | #23