– Spoiler Review –
Leia Organa is in peril from an enemy long thought gone, the fate of her people is unknown again, and Luke Skywalker may be dead…how is this the series’ penultimate issue?! Star Wars #49 (Vol. 2) caps off Leia’s internal struggle journey with a solid resolution to her current problems.
If there’s one thing writer Charles Soule has focused on, even during all the crossovers, is the characters at the heart of this story, taking them on a journey so they could find themselves closer to where they are in Return of the Jedi than where they left off in The Empire Strikes Back. In the back half of the series, that’s meant a harrowing and intriguing trip into a kyber crystal for Luke Skywalker while Lando Calrissian faced his past actions in the Rebellion’s court of law, so there was one final member of the L-Squad to cover: Leia Organa. Last issue started dealing with her confliction over keeping feet in both worlds and wondering where she should plant them: as a person with feelings taking part in this movement or remain the emotionally removed figurehead of hope. Someone who feels so adherent to duty couldn’t ever really take the chance and go rescue Han Solo because, if she can’t square her personal feelings with her duty, would she ever forgive herself for stepping away, even if only for a moment? The crisis facing the Alderaanian Survivor’s Fleet is a situation which touches on both sides of her dilemma, something close to her heart and yet something that can be considered duty, as pointed out last issue by fellow Alderaanian Evaan Verlaine. With Commander Zahra’s return as the current culprit to the Survivor Fleet’s supposed destruction, there’s nothing more damning to learn than the student of the Alderaanians’ greatest enemy, Grand Moff Tarkin, was the one to potentially finish the job. Zahra’s hate for Leia and desire to see her suffer is a dark mirror for Leia to peer into, as it shows what can happen to a person if all they do is focus on duty, above all else, and forget about their heart along the way. Leia doesn’t say much this issue (but she gives a great speech at the end), especially after hearing the Survivor’s Fleet might be destroyed, but it’s her actions which speak much louder, as she once again, along with Luke, allows Zahra to flee, not trying to kill her. But the former Commander’s desire for revenge blinds her to all else and the Rebellion reinforcements get to finish the job to save Luke and Leia, though the twins only look on in sadness over what had to happen because of her choices, not theirs.
Leia, and us readers, thankfully learn about the actual fate of the Survivor’s Fleet shortly after, Zahra didn’t destroy them but they did lose a few, as Evaan brings Leia a message from another character we met back in the Princess Leia comic series: Beon Beonel! By hiding all together, focusing on what made them all different from everyone else, Beonel and the others began to realize that’s all they were and they couldn’t be anything else other than the survivors of Alderaan. How could they carry on the planet’s rich tradition and honor its memory if they hid in the shadows, never trying to do anything else? After the attack by Zahra, the survivors voted over what to do next and results were to split up, returning to the galaxy to live instead of just survive. The combination of seeing Zahra’s duty-driven hatred and Alderaan deciding to be more than survivors hits at just the right time for Leia, as she’s able to take the two developments and come to an understanding with herself on the way forward, not only for her, but the Rebellion and all which comes afterwards in case they succeed. We get a wonderful speech from her about what conclusion she’s come to and it feels like a rebuttal to the Leia from Star Wars #1 (Vol. 2) back in 2020, the one who decided they can’t save Han, not yet, but they can focus on everyone else instead. She’s put her heart aside and focused on duty ever since, though in the recent Trial of Lando Carlrissian storyline, you could tell how much the loss of Han has weighed on her (especially since they almost had a chance in the War of the Bounty Hunters event), and combined with what she said to Luke last issue, something had to change. Her speech captures what the change is, setting up both her flexibility on her path forward, be it training as a Jedi or going back to the politics, and her commitment to ensuring everything they worked so hard for doesn’t go to waste, like when she breaks away and creates the Resistance, since she knows what needs to be done about the rising threat of the First Order. Choosing to be more than her fight against tyranny, Leia’s next move is one we’re all familiar with, one where she gets to pick her personal feelings over duty: rescuing Han Solo!
This little journey for Leia feels right ahead of her leading the rescue of Han Solo from carbonite, putting her in the right place to allow for such a decision regarding following her heart while the bigger fight continues. Overall though, the final page of issue #49, where Luke, Lando, Chewie, the droids, and Leia gather to start the plan to rescue Han, as later seen in Return of the Jedi, I’m not sure if it felt as earned as it could’ve. The series took all its characters on the right journeys to get to this moment, but for it to just be dropped in the final page of the penultimate issue, without maybe getting to see some of the actual planning, comes off as too sudden. Of course we were building to RotJ and the rescue, but with plenty of unanswered questions I’m sure the 50-page finale won’t really cover, because in the end it doesn’t need to, like what happens to Luke’s yellow saber or is there still room for the novel Moving Target (and other stories in this timeframe), it makes the scene feel a little anticlimactic. It’s still earned, don’t get me wrong, and while the finale could add a little something to aide this issue’s final page, I was just expecting something…more from this scene, I guess, after four years. But that sounds like more a me problem than a series (or serious) problem, so we’ll see how the finale goes next month, as overall this certainly has been a really enjoyable run!
Jehtro Morales once again provides art alongside series staples Rachelle Rosenberg and Clayton Cowles on coloring and lettering! For an issue about Leia’s journey, Luke gets some really cool, big moments that the art team really delivers on, the first being when he makes his grand entrance into Zahra’s ship. She pulls in his escape pod but keeps it just outside the hanger, but Luke’s a Jedi and the Force is his ally, so he slices his way out and propels himself across space, much like his sister many years later, somersaulting in for the landing. The previous page shows Zahra sneering at Luke, floating in the pod in space, and him packed tightly in, watching, so having the next page start with such a big panel for him slicing his way out, Cowles’ sound FX matching the panel’s size, makes his move all the more sudden and surprising, with Rosenberg’s colors lighting his blade in such a way it looks immensely powerful in the deep golden yellow. The panel where Luke has to close the gap makes his move seem totally desperate, while his mouth and body steaming after arriving in the ship’s far warmer climate in the final part of the page show how close he was to pushing it for being out in space. When she moves to attack him after he buys them time to wait for reinforcements, you already know it’s over before it starts, not only because of Luke’s plot armor, but because of how she charges him and his back is to her and yet he doesn’t look fazed in the slightest. The following panel, with an all-white background, depicts several swings between the two sword-wielding combatants, yet it’s largely Luke just dodging Zahra’s wild attempts, until the echoes of their fight lead us to a fully colored moment where Luke’s slicing his way through her blade, his face as emotionless as it was before this started and hers in utter surprise. The final panel is in a way a reverse of the one before the fight, as now Luke and Zahra are facing one another, yet we only see her face, angry at the yellow blade glowing in front of her face.
Here are a few other things:
- Speaking of the finale, issue #50 is not only a big one because it’ll be 50 full pages, but it’ll span stories across many eras, from the High Republic to the sequel trilogy, as the framing story looks to be Luke Skywalker teaching a young Ben Solo!
- As for what’s coming next, we currently know of two things, the Ewoks miniseries and the big 12-issue maxiseries, The Battle of Jakku, which picks up the thread with many of the characters in this era of comics and builds up to the titular battle! As for what’s after that…Marvel has been tight-lipped (though we know Marc Guggenheim is back and working on something), but maybe we’ll finally learn more at NYCC in October!
Star Wars #49’s (Vol. 2) final page might not hit as hard as one would expect, it at least caps off an excellent little journey for Leia Organa.
+ Leia’s revelation on how to go forward
+ Luke having big moments the art team does a great job bringing to life
– Final page doesn’t hit as hard as it could
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.
STAR WARS (Vol. 2)
The Destiny Path: #1-6 — Operation Starlight: #7-11 — War of the Bounty Hunters: #12-18 — Crimson Reign: #19-24 — Special Issue: #25 — The Path to Victory: #26-30 — Quests of the Force: #31 | #32 | #33 | #34 | #35 | #36 — Dark Droids: #37 | #38 | #39 | #40 | #41 — #42 | #43 — Trial of Lando Calrissian: #44 | #45 | #46 | #47 — #48