All good things must come to an end and thus so does The Star Wars this week.  Issue #8 hits comic store shelves today as J.W. Rinzler and Mike Mayhew bring this excellent alternative universe to its close.

It’s a race against the Empire as Annikin Starkiller infiltrates the Space Fortress to rescue Queen Leia.  Meanwhile, General Luke Skywalker is leading an army of newly trained wookiees in an aerial starfighter against the deadly battle-station.  Annikin, never one for stealth, has already been spotted by Darth Vader and Prince Valorum who are more than happy to deal with the Jedi…

The Star Wars #8 is a fitting end to the book.  Although many readers will likely guess how this story ends because we’ve all seen A New Hope, The Star Wars #8 manages to make it fun and intriguing nonetheless.  Rinzler even manages to pull a great plot twist off that I definitely didn’t see coming.  Overall, the dialogue is snappy and never feels forced and like a perfect fit for this alternate Star Wars universe.

My biggest quibble is that the last few pages felt very rushed especially with the ending Star Wars scroll.  I would’ve preferred that they charge an extra dollar for this issue and expand the page count a little in order to make sure that the space battle gets its proper due as does the reunion of our surviving heroes.  (Fans will, however, undoubtedly get a kick out of a certain panel on the second to last page.)

I’ve said it in every issue but it’s consistently remains true and bears repeating: Mike Mayhew’s artwork on this book has been nothing short of fantastic.  We even get to see him show off with some great lightsaber work on one page and with some neat use of Force powers a page later.  My only problem is that I haven’t seen anyone do costumes of the designs yet.  (Come on, cosplayers who routinely do awesome stuff like this.  Don’t let me down!)  Regardless,  I will sincerely miss seeing his gorgeous artwork and positively priceless facial expressions in a book each month.  I can but cross my fingers that we’ll get to see him draw another Star Wars book one day.

Ultimately, The Star Wars gets a solid 4.5/5 from me along with the recommendation that you pick up the collected edition once it’s released.