This is it. This is the issue we’ve been dreading since this time last month. Kanan: The Last Padawan #2 by Greg Weisman and Pepe Larraz hits comic stores today. It’s the follow up to an issue that had all of us still talking at Celebration so how does this latest issue hold up?
Category Archives: Reviews
Review: Princess Leia #3
Leia and Evaan have found some Alderaanians and are now off to Sullust in search of more, unaware of the traitor in their midst. Princess Leia #3 by Mark Waid and Terry Dodson is out today in comic stores and continues to live up to the high standards of the previous issues. Naboo may not have gone completely according to plan but Sullust… Sullust is really not what Leia expected. The Alderaanian Enclave there is lead by a woman who calls herself Preserver Jora Astane and she is really not a fan of the Princess.
There are some mild spoilers in this review.
Review: Lords of the Sith by Paul S. Kemp
Growing rebellion on Ryloth prompts Palpatine and Vader to personally travel to the planet to deal with matters. Immediately upon arrival, their Star Destroyer is attacked by Cham Syndulla’s forces. Vader and Palpatine are forced to evacuate and crash land on Ryloth. Seeing this opportunity, Cham engages in a dangerous game to hunt down and kill the two heads of the Empire and finally free his people from Imperial oppression.
Thus is the setup for Lords of the Sith by Paul S. Kemp.
Head below the cut for the spoiler-filled review!
Review: Star Wars #4
Didn’t get enough Star Wars last weekend? Good news: Star Wars #4 by Jason Aaron and John Cassaday is out today! Our heroes were successful (albeit just barely) in their mission to destroy the weapons factory on Cymoon 1 but what now for both the Rebels and the Empire?
I usually discuss the art after the plot but Cassaday drew such a gorgeous panel of Luke in his pilot helmet towards the end of the issue that I have to mention it right away! I actually paused for a minute just to take in every detail. A lot of gorgeous work went into that one panel between Cassaday’s lines and Laura Martin’s colors. There are also some other very nice pages for Luke fans but wow did that other panel just blow me away. John Cassaday will certainly be missed when he leaves the book.
On the story front, this main Star Wars book and the Darth Vader book definitely seem to be intertwined. It would be interesting to see a more detailed timeline of where each issue falls in relation to the others as this is now the second time we the readers have seen Vader dealing with Jabba. As far as plot goes, this is definitely a transitional set-up issue. Aaron is moving his characters into position for the next arc but it all feels very organic and not like a place holder issue where everyone’s treading water.
Speaking of characters! You can attribute it to either great characterization or wonderful coordination by the story group or both but the Leia featured in Aaron’s book is definitely on the same page as the Leia who is in the pages of Mark Waid’s book. In both, she’s very proactive and trying to do more than the Rebellion will let her. It’s great in terms of both continuity and who Leia Organa is as a person.
Oh yeah. And there’s a character return that’ll definitely have some fans fist pumping the air.
(As a side note, please tell me that someone else out there read the last few lines of the opening scroll and immediately heard Katara’s voice from the Avatar opening…)
Star Wars #4 gets another solid recommendation from me but you’re already reading this book, right?
Review: Darth Vader #4
We’ve met Doctor Aphra, Triple-Zero, and BT and now they have their mission to further Darth Vader’s need for a secret personal force. In Darth Vader #4 by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca, the “team” is off to Geonosis… a place that Vader knows well.
Interestingly enough, the star of the issue, in my eyes, is Triple Zero. While he’s obviously an inversion of Threepio, it works surprisingly well and doesn’t come off as an evil parody. He’s still got the fussiness of a protocol droid but Triple Zero is also definitely fine with both murder and torture. It’s a great way to take the premise and build off of it in a way that doesn’t feel boring.
On a similar vein of character moving past their concepts, Doctor Aphra continues to be a fantastic addition to the Star Wars universe. She’s a smart and capable woman of color who may babble when she’s nervous but doesn’t have any illusions about how this galaxy works. This is a galaxy that needs more realists and I definitely look forward to seeing how the working relationship between her and Vader evolves.
This is definitely a great book for some good old-fashioned Vader violence. Larroca draws a great Vader and he definitely has fun with all the action sequences. Edgar Delgado’s colors compliment his line work nicely. It’s also a testament to the work of both the artist and writer that the art of Vader still manages to be expressive and tell a story with his body language even though you can’t see his face.
Speaking of Vader, I haven’t discussed him much yet in a review of his starring book. This is definitely a great read for those who love the character. I find that Gillen’s allusions to Anakin are certainly obvious but they don’t feel out of place for the situation. It’s nice to see that despite Vader’s efforts, Anakin isn’t completely gone.
Oh. And that last page cliffhanger? I can’t wait until next month’s issue. It has the potential to be fantastic.
Darth Vader #4 gets another 4/5 from me this week.
Go/No-Go – Star Wars Rebels: Servants of the Empire: Rebel in the Ranks
Servants of the Empire: Rebel in the Ranks is the second installment in the young reader tie-in series to Star Wars Rebels. The first book, Edge of the Galaxy, introduced us to Zare Leonis, his sister Dhara, and soon-to-be girlfriend Merei Spanjak in the year before Zare entered the Imperial Academy on Lothal. Rebel in the Ranks picks up the story with Zare as a new Imperial cadet and follows him as he tries to learn the truth about what happened to his sister. Along the way he meets another cadet who has no love for the Empire.
Review: Kanan: The Last Padawan #1
A review of Kanan: The Last Padawan #1 in 7 gifs:
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http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b382/chaosbria/GIF/RHMITYES_zps67c997f4.gif
Review: Darth Vader #3
And now for something completely different… Darth Vader #3 by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca is out today in comic stores and online. Gillen and Larroca take the story down to a smaller scale this week as Vader tracks down Aphra who has a very particular set of skills.
This review contains spoilers.
Review: Princess Leia #2
Princess Leia’s mission to track down all her remaining Alderaanian survivors continues as she lands on Naboo with her new accomplice and fellow Alderaanian Evaan. Mark Waid, Terry Dodson, Rachel Dodson, and Jordie Bellaire knock it out of the park yet again with the second issue that’s in stores today!
This review contains mild spoilers.
Our Alderaanian heroines arrive on Naboo to find retrieve the Melodic order; a famous performance group from their homeworld. It will hardly be an easy task though to elude Imperial detection… even with the help of Leia’s old friend Lord Junn.
Review: Star Wars #3
It’s an explosive conclusion this week to the first arc of the new Star Wars comic. Star Wars #3 by Jason Aaron and John Cassaday is out now and so far, they’ve lived up to the promise of their first issue. Luke, Leia, and Han’s mission to destroy the weapons factory hasn’t gone as planned and now, it’ll be tough enough to escape from Vader and the Empire with their lives let alone finish their mission.
As with the previous issues, it’s obvious that this is a labor of love for both Aaron and Cassaday. It’s difficult to say which Aaron does a better job with: the characters or the plot. That’s impressive. His Leia and Han have the perfect level of post-Yavin bickering (aka: not too heavy on the flirting subtext) while Luke is trying to live up to his mental expectations for himself. Or at least what he thinks Obi-Wan and his father would expect of him.
The plot line for this first arc was a great choice. Attacking a weapons factory is a high stakes mission without being involving entire fleets and large armies. It’s the right level of important and tense for a story such as this and, without any spoilers, I found it to have a very satisfying conclusion.
Cassaday’s art with Laura Martin’s colors continue to be a great fit for the book. His panels where he’s having fun with facial expressions are definitely my favorites. The joy on Luke’s face as he flies the speeder, even in the heat of battle, is positively tangible.
As I said in my review of the first issue, the true test of this book will be how the second arc plays out. However, if the last two pages are any indicator, I think it has potential to be just as great.
Star Wars #3 gets a 4/5 from me for both this issue and for the first arc. Go pick up the first three issues if you haven’t yet!