After a month off, Rinzler and Mayhew are back with the next issue of the adaptation of George Lucas’s original screenplay. The Star Wars #5 hits shelves in a local comic store near you today as our heroes find out whether or not Kane Starkiller’s sacrifice was worth it.
There are some spoilers for this issue in the review.
The escape from Aquilae goes less than smoothly, regardless of General Skywalker’s confidence. The Sith are there to intercept their escape attempt and the group is split into two as they try and elude the Sith’s grasp. Their success… varies. It’s going to take an explosive escape and a fast ship for them to finally make it off the planet.
This is one of the most action packed issues of the limited series so far. It’s almost entirely action but that really helps the story move forward as our heroes had to get off of Aquilae some time soon. At the same time, Rinzler manages to casually work in some more world building details that help flesh out this alternate universe without being too heavy handed. General Luke Skywalker is by far the best thing to come out of this series. He fills the Obi-Wan Kenobi role from the original film but adds an extra touch of proactive badass to it. I’ve never seen someone break out of handcuffs quite like that before.
The one thing about this story that didn’t quite jive with me was the sudden appearance of a love story between Leia and Annikin. We’ve seen them bickering (which is what passed for flirting between Leia and Han in the Original Trilogy) in previous issues but the declarations of love felt rushed and a bit out of left wing. Leia and Han worked well together because we got to see them build up that relationship over a longer period of time so it felt more natural when they went from fighting to flirting and then declarations of love. Between Queen Leia and Annikin though? Not so much.
As always, Mike Mayhew’s art on the book is flawless and his style is perfect for this sort of story. His takes on the character twists is refreshing. The Imperial starship towards the end actually has some hints of a Firefly-class ship from a different universe with space travel which made me smile. Mayhew also continues to draw some of the best facial expressions in the medium right now.
Once again, the creators deliver with a fun book that takes the basic premise and manages to improve upon it and make it so much more than a gimic. And hey! If you need an incentive to pick this book up… Rinzler and Mayhew promise us Wookiees next issue!
