The comic adaptation of George Lucas’s original screenplay is back!  The Star Wars #7 by Jonathan Rinzler and Mike Mayhew hits comic stores everywhere today.  Will General Skywalker succeed in keeping the royal heirs to Aquillae safe from the Empire’s grasp?

Crash landings are the name of the game when it came to Yavin.  Luke Skywalker and Han Solo leave the two young princes in the care of an anthropologist named Owen Lars and set out to find Princess Leia (who has been captured by slave trappers) and Annikin Skywalker (who has been declared some sort of god by the wookiees.)  Even with their new allies, our heroes are in for a tough battle if they’re going to rescue Leia from the clutches of the Empire and Darth Vader.

The Star Wars continues to be a surprisingly enjoyable read.  Right now, my only quibble with the pacing is my worry about how on earth Rinzler is going to fit everything into the final issue.  After all, they’ve got a Queen to rescue, an Empire to defeat, and a Death Star Space Fortress to blow up.  Or something like that.  Guessing aside, Rinzler continues to write an entertaining book.  It keeps readers turning the page especially since it’s a story that feels familiar yet has a different twist to it.  This version of Darth Vader has a sort of old school comic book villain feel to him but instead of feeling cliché, it actually works.  After all, he’s not meant to be the Vader from the films and neither should he feel like a carbon copy.

Plot wise, it’s neat to see the Jedi using an army of wookiees in their battle against the Empire.  At the very least, fans who are still bitter about the ewoks will get a huge kick out of their inclusion here.  Despite being giant furry fighters, there’s still ambiguity about whether they can all really help free Aquilae which keeps the story interesting.

As always, Mayhew’s artwork continues to be superb fit for the book.  We didn’t get quite as many of his usually priceless facial expressions but there is a two-page spread of a battle between our heroes and their new wookiee allies and the Empire that more than makes up for it.  There’s no dialogue or sound effects on the page; just pure action.  It’s always nice when a writer knows when to step back for a page and just let the artist shine.  I shall honestly miss getting to flip through a Star Wars comic with Mike Mayhew drawing Jedi.

The Star Wars #7 gets another 4/5 along with a recommendation to give it a read.