– Spoiler Review –
Rogue Squadron’s latest recruit goes AWOL and Aayla Secura battles Ventress in an action-packed Star Wars Adventures #12 (Vol. 2)!
“Squad Goals – Part 2″ Written by Cavan Scott, Art by Manuel Bracchi, Colors by Bracardi Curry, Lettering throughout by Johanna Nattalie
Ibti Myrak, the unruly pilot grounded from flying with Rogue Squadron by Commander Luke Skywalker himself, continues to be a menace, even on the ground this issue. She’s short on patience and bad at explaining herself, so even when confronted by fabled Admiral Gial Ackbar, Ibti doesn’t waste her time seeing if they’ll believe her and instead throws a poor tech into Ackbar to rush off to save Rogue Squadron. Turns out the turncoat was, Kullan, as telegraphed last issue, and while his trap certainly looks to catch the formidable squad off-guard, Ibti’s wild return changes everything. Her rogue nature, as part of Rogue Squad, is exactly what the team needs to get out of their latest bind, and while she still needed to understand working with the team or following orders is vital, Luke and team have to appreciate her instincts and abilities as well. It’s a fun, exciting finale to the story, it’s simpler feeling an important one to have every once in a while, allowing us to enjoy the pilots in action and worry less about some galaxy-changing moment for once.
Everything kinetic about Manuel Bracchi’s art adds a palpable sense of urgency to Ibti’s flight from the Rebellion’s ship and the somewhat dire situation above Valo as Kullan has Rogue Squad trapped. Nattalie’s lettering was a lot of fun this issue, with the big name plates, and while it looked official and important, it still brought out the humor in the funny comments about each character. In fact, Bracchi’s art fits the descriptions of Ackbar, his Mon Cala face looking as annoyed as the comment seemed to suggest, his scowl looking extra scowl-icious. As for Curry’s colors, I really loved the way the orange on the X-wing pilots suits and the explosions popped, while the bright red and greens of the laser blasts looked like something from the films. In the end, I really hope we can have a pilot-focused series again soon, as the Poe Dameron comic was the closest thing to a Rogue Squadron-like comic we’ve had in canon, and this art team would be well-suited to such a series, from how the action is framed, the sense of scale when the big ships so up, while Scott’s ability to ease into the latest Rogue Squad mission means he’d be the perfect fit to write more.
Bonus Thoughts:
- Just like the week SWA #11 came out last month, this is ONE of THREE comics written by the always busy and always humble Cavan Scott! I’m working on reviews for them, so I’ll update this when they are done, but he writes both the main tale in Star Wars Adventures Annual 2021 and the framing story in the special one-shot release, Life Day #1!
Tales of Villainy: “Give & Take” Written & Art by Andrew Lee Griffith
Aayla Secura, in the heart of the Clone Wars, investigates a Separatist facility alongside the trusty QT-KT,* coming close to what looks like Death Star tech. Before she and QT can uncover the truth of the facility’s purpose, Asajj Ventress appears and the two battle, with Ventress full of her quips and dark side focused feelings considering how early in the war this takes place. Secura shows Asajj the true might of the Jedi, not in physicality, but willingness to save others, put themselves in danger, even if it means failing the main objective, as she rescues some Geonosians as the facility begins to crumble. Of course it was all some elaborate scheme to make the Jedi and Republic think whatever was being built there was destroyed, so why worry about it with so many other battles to fight in the larger war, but that only strengthens the Jedi and Secura’s actions, as those Geonosians would’ve died for nothing but a cover up if Count Dooku, his Master, and Asajj had their way. There hasn’t been a lot of content with Secura so it was a relief this Clone Wars set tale focused on her instead of the usual Jedi.
When artist and writer are one in the same, as was the case with Andrew Lee Griffith for “Give & Take,” there always seems to be distinct sense of clarity between both aspects, helping make sure each panel tells the story he’s trying to convey. Asajj and Aayla’s lightsaber battle might run much of the tall facility, but that’s not the focus, their platform hopping in the background and their exchange of words over lightsaber clashes come into focus, thus displaying the epic nature of their battle but locking in the focus for the small page count. It was neat for the data disc Aayla and QT grab to be similar to the one in Rogue One, establishing another connection between the facility and the Death Star beyond how the tall room look like the firing tube for the DS’ laser. The scene of Aayla bursting out of the rubble after saving the innocents had a neat blurring effect, while the adherence to The Clone Wars-like designs was fitting for Griffith’s style, and overall I liked his work I’d love to see it more, be it in this era or others.
Bonus Thoughts:
- *What a great dedication to Katie Johnson! QT-KT is an homage to R2-KT, itself a droid built by Albin Johnson and members of the 501st Legion of cosplayers (Albin being the founder), for his daughter as she was dealing with brain cancer. R2-KT was put in both The Clone Wars show and its opening movie, while later making it into The Force Awakens. QT-KT was made as an homage to R2-KT in The Clone Wars because Dave Filoni and team thought her inclusion with the D-Squad arc could lead to some confusion, so in a way both droids honor Katie. Lovely little moment I was not expecting in this tale.
Here are a few other things:
- Is this one of the last few issues of IDW’s time with Star Wars? It’s not 100% clear but it sure seems that way after Dark Horse Comics looks to join the Star Wars ring again and produce all-ages content in 2022.
Star Wars Adventures #12 (Vol. 2) is full of action, though it still makes time for some lessons too.
+ Action in both fun and with purpose
+ Art teams are excellent for both stories
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.
IDW’S STAR WARS ADVENTURES (Vol. 2) REVIEWS:
#1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | #7 | #8 | #9 | #10 | #11