– Spoiler Review –
More details of our heroes’ situation comes to intriguing light, while the stark reality settling in provides some good and less than amusing surprises in Star Wars #31 (Vol. 2).
Taken in by the Abyssian leader Blythe, our group of Rebel heroes Leia, Luke, Amilyn, Lando, and Chewbacca find themselves on the grand tour of the Kezarat Colony, learning a condensed version of its history while being processed into its society to be helpful members. According to their history, there have been many attempts to leave, exploring the area around No-Space and finding nothing, their ships unable to jump to hyperspace just like our heroes’ couldn’t either, while they’ve had to fight off Nihil in the earliest days and now fear the Killdroids we saw last issue, while eventually they figured out the best way to live and thrive with the limited resources they’ve had. They’ve had many newcomers over the centuries, each attempting to liberate them from their situation and bring them to the rest of the galaxy, but with obviously no success so far. One of the visitors was a Jedi named Alareen Xie, who we’ve not met before but maybe could in upcoming The High Republic content, who helped them fight back the Nihil and protected them until the day she died, though her presence and actions have made her mythological in nature to the colony, many believing another Jedi will return and save them once and for all. Luke has to let down Forvan, the kid we met last issue and Blythe’s son, that he’s likely not the Jedi of the Colony’s dreams, though he has hints of the wise old Jedi Master from The Last Jedi in his talk with the kid, as he tells him he and his friends will do whatever they can to help free them from this place, but he admits they will likely fail here and there; after all, failure is the greatest teacher. After that, the team is separated into groups to be questioned and then added into the society to earn their place in the colony, as Blythe and the group have had 200 years of not going anywhere hanging over all their thoughts and decisions, almost unwilling to accept they could do anything different (especially since no one else could so far), learning the wrong lesson from failure and giving up like Luke did for a bit.
There’s some intriguing things that come from the character pairings, though one might stand out more than the other, which we’ll discuss in a moment. First, we’ll start with Luke and Leia, which is where we see the other aspects of the Jedi Master Luke we meet in The Last Jedi, as he’s anxiously pacing in their little holding room, desperate to get back to Holdo’s ship because he feels like, without the sacred Jedi text he liberated from the strange planet in issue #21 (which made my Top 5 Moments in my 2022 Star Wars Comics Year-in-Review), he can’t become a Jedi; Yoda burns those down for a reason, but Luke’s just not there yet. Leia, who took charge with introducing and talking with Blythe after he gives his welcome to the Colony spiel, is obviously worried about how he’s acting, and I like even these little moments of sibling building. In another room are Chewbacca and Lobot, the Wookiee taking the chance to nap since Lobot’s not much of a conversationalist, and he sees the great Jedi mural in his mind eye, something catching his attention. On one of the ships depicted, there’s a little green dot, which can be seen the first time we see the mural, and Chewie puts two and two together: the Path engine aboard Holdo’s ship is what the green dot means. Does the Colony need it to get it out? It seemed to bring and keep them here, so could Chewie find a way to use it take the colony away from the deadly Killdroids and endless No-Space? I love that Chewie will get to have a heroic moment coming up then, even if Luke might get the credit considering he’s the Jedi, as the Wookiee always wins in the end.
The final pairing is Amilyn Holdo and Lando Calrissian, the latter feeling sorry for himself and helpless at his continued swindler bad reputation, the former there with some real good advice about focusing on worry about how he should feel about himself over how others feel about him. It’s a great conversation, the two characters an odd pair but an interesting one nonetheless, as Holdo is free from concerns about how others view her so she’s the best person for mid-life-swindler-crisis Lando to deal with at this time. After all, once we get to Return of the Jedi and after, he certainly seems to take the positive attitude in himself to try and do less problematic things with his life, so this is a nice push towards how he’ll get to that mindset after his choices in The Empire Strikes Back and after. After they’ve exhausted the topic to Holdo’s liking, when Lando laments again they have no cards to pass the time, she says there’s a different way they could…promptly sitting next to Lando and making out with him. While this happens when all seems lost and they’re in the vacuum of No-Space, these are read or written in a vacuum, so this choice is shocking as hoped, but not in the way I believe it was intended. For starters, Amilyn Holdo, while never specifically labeled anything since author Claudia Gray (another High Republic luminary like writer Charles Soule) knew in-universe there’d likely be a different way of putting it, made Amilyn basically pansexual, interested in aliens, Leia, and claiming liking just men was limiting. There’s some little hints of it in The Last Jedi, but not only has most of her other stories not made this a explicit in some way, we already had Amilyn focusing solely on the men at the beginning of their vacation instead, without even a glancing line about Leia’s looks to maybe help upkeep the representation. As for Lando, it’s been 5 years since an interview with Solo: A Star Wars Story writer Jon Kasdan (who has since gone on to write Willow, which features a queer relationship) claimed Lando was also pansexual, the only hint of that in the film being L3-37’s comment about her and him but she’s still feminine, while every story since has only had him solely interested in women (from Soule’s other Lando writings, Daniel José Older’s Last Shot, to Adam Christopher’s Shadow of the Sith); this lack of supporting representation makes the comment simply words, meaning his inclusion on the first set of Pride Month variant covers a meaningless gesture. While them kissing one another doesn’t betray their LGBTQIA+ status, the fact that neither has any meaningful interest or relationships with anyone other than cishet aka straight people might, most readers likely aren’t aware they are anything but straight then, especially since this comic hasn’t bothered to comment on it at all. So the shock here is instead on fans aching for representation and always being let down, not the bigots who would’ve been loud, yet minor had the pairings here been anything but this.
While Soule’s dialogue might make the Colony an intimidating prospect the art team of Andrés Genolet, Rachelle Rosenberg as colorist, and Clayton Cowles lettering sets us at ease. There’s a certain innocence Genolet provided to Blythe and Forvan which alleviates readers of any concerns, with both of them having wil exels), expressive and excited at times, or thoughtful and peaceful, this on boarding process a well-oiled astromech at this point. I don’t know why, but I’ve always enjoyed when there’s art inside of art, in this case the mural of mythological Jedi: Narratively it’s a showcase of how Luke should strive to be in a galaxy devoid of Jedi, a figure of hope where there is none, but functionally for our story it’s to hide the answer of their escape; I had to go back to verify the green dot Chewie noticed was visible in the first panel of the mural and it was. Rosenberg’s colors give the mural a very ancient feeling stone tablet-esque, while the blinding white for the Jedi character depicted really captures everyone’s eyes, making her the focus and not the potential hint hiding in plain sight. It’s not just the colors which try to district us, it’s also Clayton’s work, the word bubbles both leaving the space open for eyes to peruse the mural and yet drawing us onward, away from the hint. The panels of the Killdroids breaking down and into Holdo’s ship are really cool, from their imposing scale to their intimidating might, helped not only by the way they make mincemeat of the ship, but Cowles’ thick, angry SFX as they tear it apart, while Rosenberg’s colors make it both dark and scary out by them, their blue Nihil marks menacing, though the sparkly background of space alluring due to the various pinpricks of light.
Here are a few other things:
- Don’t forget, we technically already know they’ll get off, but the more this issue made it seem impossible, the more intrigued I am to learn HOW they manage to make it out of this.
- For the Black History Month variant covers, you can see above it features Lando! Next month are the Women’s History variants, where Amilyn will be featured! Sort of ironic these two were picked after they’ve had this little connection.
Star Wars #31 (Vol. 2) maintains and pushes forward on an intriguing storyline, though it attempts shock but lands in a way it likely didn’t mean.
+ Colony backstory
+ Chewie putting things together
– Lando and Holdo disappointing, not shocking
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 | #24 — Special Issue: #25 — The Path to Victory: #26 | #27 | #28 | #29 | #30