As the decade came to a close, and Marvel went on overload with their content, from the varied Age of Star Wars maxiseries to some middling tie-ins and miniseries, 2019 looked to have no real end in sight…right up until Marvel announced the end of all its series in an effort to relaunch for the next decade. IDW marched along regardless, solid in its content and quality, not changing much as it approached the new decade, with highlights like Return to Vader’s Castle and their Annual 2019 providing all-ages readers with true joy. With Marvel ending its first “Phase” and the Skywalker Saga coming to a close, 2019 will be memorable for all sorts of reasons, some better than others, so head below the cut for my Star Wars Comics Year-in-Review, where I look at the ups and downs of endings, reveal my Top 5 moments, and some hopes/fears for 2020!
— Spoilers for comics released in 2019 —
Here are the things I liked the most/thought worked the best from the comics in 2019:
A) Ending the First Phase…
For quite some time now, I’ve been calling for the end of the Star Wars mainline series, as I’d hope it would do something new/cover a new era/maybe deal with more original characters…I guess I should’ve been careful what I wished for! Instead of ending just the SW series, Marvel went ahead and ended them all, aiming to relaunch the entire line for 2020 and beyond. A skeptic could say the relaunch effort was sales minded, hoping to inject fledgling or mediocre sales on current titles, and there’s likely a lot of truth to that, but relaunching was feeling necessary at this point, story-wise, as the SW series and most other series were encroaching on The Empire Strikes Back. Endings can be scary, but taking all these series into new directions and eras has far more potential than continuing on as is, and I’ll be curious what else this next “phase” will bring…hopefully it goes beyond more of the same.
B) … And What Endings They Were!
For both the SW mainline series and Doctor Aphra, if even they had ended outright in 2019, with no relaunch in the foreseeable future, at least they had fitting and excellent endings! After Kieron Gillen wrapped up his several arc story for the SW series mid-2019, writer Greg Pak and artist Phil Noto came in for a short story tale combining the best of both previous series writers’ efforts in a fun, memorable final arc. Regardless of how high my expectations were for the finale to my favorite character’s series, Doctor Aphra‘s final arc encapsulated everything I loved about Aphra and the series at large, wrapping up a few remaining loose ends and bringing a series long arc to a close by helping everyone’s favorite rogue realize how far she’s come.
C) The Age of Star Wars Concept
Three separate miniseries, each focusing on villains and heroes from the three distinct movie trilogy eras, was such a fun idea and concept, and while it had some problems in execution, it largely felt like a success: it gave a wide variety of characters the spotlight and offered new insights on several well-known or underdeveloped characters. I hope they return to the idea in the future, but instead of so many well-known/mainly film characters, I’d love it if they visited characters from the books/novels/or lesser known ones, expanding the universe much more than this maxiseries ever did and opening up exposure to the greater galaxy and its many unique and beloved characters; the potential is built into the concept, so hopefully they can capitalize on it.
Here are the things I didn’t think worked and how to fix them:
A) Lack of Female Creatives
This has been a problem since day one, and from the looks of what’s coming in 2020 so far, the problem continues to persist. Having Heather Antos as Assistant Editor from 2015-2018 was a definite plus, but after she left, 2019 truly, deeply, and unfortunately felt her absence. It all stems from a series I’ve talked about in the past, Vader – Dark Visions, which was born from the ashes of a deplorable decision: its third issue twisted the original creator/series’ idea into a gross take on female fandom, and such an issue likely wouldn’t have happened had there been a single female creative in sight. There hasn’t been anything as bad as that issue since, but it certainly felt like a situation bound to happen when female creatives are taken out of the decision making process or outright aren’t included at all. There’s some concerns with the upcoming 2020 lineup, as while the Doctor Aphra relaunch brings with it the first all-female creative team for the series/Marvel’s SW line, it’s mainly a boy’s club from there, including announced characters in other upcoming series. I don’t think it can get much lower than what transpired in the issue I mentioned above, but 2019 showed how terribly wrong things can go and is cautionary tale for Marvel if it continues on with less female voices.
B) Misfiring and Overloading on Miniseries/Tie-ins
2019 was basically the year of the miniseries and tie-in, as it had only 3 on-goings (Aphra, Star Wars, and IDW’s SW Adventures) and 12 miniseries/tie-ins, but quantity didn’t mean quality unfortunately. The Rise of Kylo Ren might have the strongest start of any miniseries, the various “Age of…” minis were mostly solid (with Age of Republic being the best of all the minis), I cowered in adoration for Return to Vader’s Castle’s horror and fun, and Galaxy’s Edge had some fun little stories with familiar characters, but it only got more muddled from there: Jedi: Fallen Order tie-in Dark Temple brought in some great new characters but it didn’t feel entirely necessary; a similar problem hindered TIE Fighter, as its sister novel (Alphabet Squadron) barely paid attention to its events (and vice versa); with Allegiance coming up the shortest of tie-ins, literally and figuratively; Target Vader helped me realize not all the comics would be for me; while the less mentioned regarding Dark Visions, the better. So far 2020 looks to have 3 on-goings (a 4th in SW Adventures, again) and only one mini until The Rise of Kylo Ren ends, so maybe Marvel learned their lesson on going over board, a problem IDW has yet to ever worry about and it remains at a consistent, great quality. 2019 showed how quantity is definitely not always a good thing.
Looking Back at My Fixes/Hopes/Fears for 2019 & Looking Ahead at 2020:
To start, I’ll go over my hopes and fears for 2019 from the 2018 Year-in-Review and see how they panned out:
- I hoped for there to be more female creatives, but Tamra Bonvillain was the sole addition; Though creatives like Jody Houser and Rachelle Rosenberg returned, 2019 came up far short on female creatives, a problem which reared its ugly head as mentioned above. The all-female creative team for Aphra‘s 2020 relaunch is a small, but important step.
- After the whole Shadow of Vader debacle, I had hoped Mark Paniccia would be replaced, and I felt the need for it even more so after the Dark Visions issue I mentioned above, but alas he is still here. However, knowing Kevin Feige is basically taking over Marvel comics now too, so the overly conservative Perlmutter doesn’t set back the company and it can embrace diversity, maybe this change will help prevent another disaster.
- Technically, my hope that original characters were created to start a series came true, as the Kendoh gang was created to begin the Galaxy’s Edge miniseries.
- I hoped there would be no more Vader-related comics and that’s been dashed, as 2020 will see the third volume of Darth Vader released.
- I feared Aphra would be killed/series would end and my worst fears came true: her series did end! But…it’s getting relaunched, so all is well with the world!
- I feared no series would explore an era not touched by the movies or TV shows, which technically came true with Jedi: Fallen Order – Dark Temple…though that connected to the game, but not directly!
- Once again, no alien lead character! Fans connect with them all the time, but the movies and TV shows all focus on a human lead character…come on comics, break the mold!
Biggest Hopes for 2020:
- More original characters and/or alien leads, please!
- More series telling big, important storylines like The Rise of Kylo Ren…comics are important too!
- Marvel and IDW arms of Project Luminous end up being something wholly original and a blast!
- Female leads/focused series, which of course means more female creatives too
- Darth Vader Vol. 3 in 2020 is the last Vader comic for some time
Biggest Fears for 2020:
- 2020’s relaunch will be more of the same i.e. not taking risks in the new year/era. The already announced Bounty Hunters fits this fear, as it looks to be a male focused series from a male creative team focusing on Valance Beilert, a popular Legends character made canon very recently.
- Aphra’s all-female creative team will be an outlier, not the norm
- Aphra, Tolvan, and Sana will remain the outliers with regards to LGBTQ+ representation, further disappointing fans after the mediocre showing in The Rise of Skywalker
- I’ve been taking diversity data for the comics, as an effort to contribute to Eleven-ThirtyEight’s Minority Report, and EVERY year, even after IDW was added to the data, the gender disparity remains roughly the same, 70% Male characters to 30% Female characters: 2015 – 22% with 31 characters; 2016 – 31% with 39 characters; 2017 – 30% with 45 characters; 2018 – 32% with 102 characters; 2019 – 27% with 99 characters (where I only count characters given a name and have a speaking role). Though ETE will be ending their Minorty Report after their 2019 one, I’ll still be taking the data to see if anything changes, but I fear it’ll be more of the same since it hasn’t changed yet.
Top 5 Moments (in no particular order):
Jar Jar Binks Saves Rex with a Lightsaber / Chewie & Maz Laying Waste to their Enemies with a Side of Flirting (Republic Special #1 / Resistance Special #1): Like I said, this is kind of cheating to include two for one, but both moments highlight the fun, absurdity, and depth found within some of the Ages’ Special issues, and the maxiseries as a whole. Jar Jar swinging in with a lightsaber to save Captain Rex from both the Separatists and himself offers laughs but also provides the character a chance to continue building a better reputation through his surprisingly wise words to Rex. Maz Kanata, straddling Chewie’s shoulders, mowing down surrounding enemies, paid off a little funny moment from 2015’s The Force Awakens, but also dove a bit into the unique bond between the two, potentially going a little further than expected. The art in each focuses on and amplifies the delight of each moment, making them way too hard to forget and a joy to see in action. Sometimes big arcs and epic stories don’t have room for these little, but big moments and the Special issues took advantage of the open opportunity in unique and enticing ways.
Aphra Admits She’s Changed…by Telling Vader He’s the Best Thing to Happen to Her (Doctor Aphra #40): Aphra has been my favorite character in Star Wars since we first met her in 2015, but I will admit she’s had so many opportunities to change from her selfish ways that her refusal to seemingly do so (be it due to the creators or not) has increasingly seemed unrealistic. Minor changes have crept in as the series continued thankfully, leading to better and better arcs as the series built to its volume one end, and then “A Rogue’s End” let Aphra in on the changes, too. As she went about trying to repair her broken relationship with Tolvan and helping to get her father and ward out of the swing of Vader’s lightsaber, she delivered one of the series’ best speeches (thank you, writer Simon Spurrier!) about what it even means to change, including such choice like how the true measure of a life is whether you can live with yourself or not; her actions in the final arc show she’s finally making choices which will result with her living with herself. She ends her speech by telling Vader he’s the best thing to ever happen to her, which feels both like a meta commentary on her being created for the first volume of Darth Vader and how his intervention in her life, despite the constant threat of death, put her on this path that’s led her to change her ways, fall in love, make peace with her father, and avenge her mother, among other things. Without running into Vader, would any of those enormous life events happened, let alone would she have lived this long? The possibility is fleeting and readers (and Star Wars in general) are better off anyways that she did.
Threepio and Chewie Take Center Stage (Star Wars #74 Vol. 1): In the mainline series’ final arc, writer Greg Pak placed the original trilogy heroes on separate but eventually overlapping adventures, including putting Threepio and Chewbacca in charge of one of the more outlandish Rebellion schemes to throw the Empire off their scent/take out Darth Vader: blow up an uninhabited planet. Placing characters normally relegated to sidekicks or comedic relief was a refreshing move, but Pak’s story forced them into the decision making roles normally reserved for the human main characters. It was compelling to watch, as they debating sentience and their importance in the story, and then were forced to make big decisions and selfless choices, to which they rose to the occasion much easier than our heroes normally seem to: Threepio sacrifices himself so a sentient race of rock people can help his friends as the converge into an Imperial nightmare, while Chewie puts his life on the line to protect Luke by bashing a giant rock into Darth Vader’s helmet. Anyone can be a hero, and the sidekicks proved they’ve had it in them all along.
Breha Teaches Leia About Her Real Mother, Padmé (Star Wars Adventures Annual 2019): One of those mysteries, only made one due to how the prequels unfolded, was how Leia remembered her mother, as she told Luke in Return of the Jedi, if Padmé had died right after childbirth, as seen in Revenge of the Sith. While Breha’s tale of Padmé’s exploits to an incredibly young Leia seems to answer the mystery, as she even says Leia will only remember “feelings” much like she would go on to say to Luke, that’s not what makes this moment so special (though it does help, even if it was used a lot for click-bait worthy). Instead, what makes it Top 5 material is the beauty of the writing and the art, where writing team Pierrick Colinet & Elsa Charretier manage to capture her strength of purpose and pursuit of peace, while the art from Margaux Saltel is nothing short of stunning and majestic for the images Leia is creating from Breha’s story. IDW isn’t as concerned with telling important, canon-expanding tales as Marvel, but rather with delivering important messages always imbedded into the Saga, allowing them to offer such a brilliant, small, and instantly memorable moment.
Honoring Peter Cushing’s Hammer Horror Past (Return to Vader’s Castle #2 “The Curse of Tarkin): IDW’s Vader’s Castle series has brought horror to Star Wars in an entertaining and vibrant way, and this year’s entry, Return to Vader’s Castle, managed to take honoring the legacy of legendary actors in Star Wars to a whole new level. Sir Christopher Lee (Count Dooku) got his due last year, though it was a little too campy for my tastes, but the issue about Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin this year combined the actor’s Hammer horror past with Tarkin’s less than savory experimental department. The result was horrifically fun, as Tarkin became Tarkin-stein due to his creation of a monster meant to win the war, which breaks loose and hunts him down. The Tarkin Initiative is home to many strange experiments by the Moff, so it was genius how writer Cavan Scott used that history to make Tarkin more like Cushing’s famous Hammer horror character, Frankenstein, while Tarkin’s cruelness also matches Frankenstein’s from the older films, allowing Cushing’s past to meld with future. It’s a creative way to both bring on the horror and honor a great actor’s legacy…and making more great Star Wars stories.
Overall Rankings
2019’s rankings weren’t very difficult to figure out, as I felt rather confident in my feelings for each and every series shortly after I finished them. I’m not sure if I’ll be keeping this feature for upcoming year-in-reviews, as I’m not particularly fond of placing arbitrary numbers on my feelings regarding something, as it tells a different picture than what I’m really feeling: for example, Allegiance wasn’t much to remember, but it’s far better than Dark Visions despite the one number difference. I was surprised at how high Return to Vader’s Castle ended up and I was disappointed so many series with high potential ended up further down than my initial expectations.
- Doctor Aphra
- Age of Republic
- Return to Vader’s Castle
- Star Wars (Vol. 1)
- Age of Resistance
- Star Wars Adventures
- Age of Rebellion
- Galaxy’s Edge / Jedi: Fallen Order – Dark Temple (tie)
- Han Solo – Imperial Cadet / Solo: A Star Wars Story Adaptation (tie)
- TIE Fighter
- Target Vader
- Allegiance
- Vader – Dark Visions
There were fantastic showings from the usual suspects like Aphra and the Star Wars series, with a few surprises like Age of Republic or the heights of Return to Vader’s Castle‘s frights, but an overabundance of series led to quantity overrunning quality, making the fresh start for the new decade a very welcomed sight as 2019 came to an end.
With 2019 being an end to the decade and Marvel’s first phase, I too shall be reconsidering how to structure these year-in-reviews for the future, with potential changes like a list of top issues, discussing short pluses/minuses for each individual series, and more. If you have any thoughts on what you’d like to see in these posts going forward, feel free to reach out to me via the social media channels below! And keep your eyes peeled to the Manor later this January for our Top 10 Moments in Comics from Chris and I to celebrate the first 5 years of canon comics!
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. All comic images are credited to Marvel/IDW/Lucasfilm
COMIC YEAR IN REVIEWS:
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022