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.

Two things about this issue really stood out to me in a positive way; one each on the writing and artistic front. We’ll start with the art. I ADORE that the Dodson-Dodson-Bellaire art team has truly embraced this galaxy far far away with both the variety of species and the styles of the planets. I especially love that it is now incredibly canon that Alderaan was a very diverse planet. In this issue alone, we’ve now seen Alderaanian woman who look white, Asian, and Indian. It’s amazing and it thrills me beyond words.  Diversity at work, folks!

With the writing, I’m impressed with how Waid was able to handle two potentially tricky things: flashbacks and Naboo. Leia’s flashback to her childhood is brief but offers this lovely view into how her life was growing up as royalty. It also gives Waid the chance to briefly write Bail Organa. The universe does not have nearly enough interactions between father and daughter and this one is spot on. On the Naboo front… I will admit that I was equal parts excited and apprehensive when the previous issue revealed their first destination. My apprehension was for naught though as he handled it brilliantly. In the context of the story, it makes sense for the planet to be their first stop and my heart positively jumped out of my chest when Leia saw artwork of her mother. It was the perfect illusion to her birth parentage without hitting you over the head with it or forcing the issue and it was also a nice yet subtle illusion to Leia’s Force sensitivity. I’ll be interested to see if any of this comes into play again later.

I hate to play favorites but this is the best book of the Marvel offerings so far and everyone should be reading it. It’s a great story with a firm grasp on its main characters while also letting her be human. Waid’s Leia isn’t perfect but that’s because she shouldn’t be this perfect, never erring woman. This entire creative team is batting a perfect game so far.

Princess Leia #2 gets another 5/5 from me and I can’t wait to see what next issue brings us. Go buy this book. It’s absolutely worth every last penny.