Star Wars, Geek Culture, and Power Converters
Let me start with a note that you should definitely read this before you read Vader Down #1 as this is an arc wrap up before getting into the crossover.
Star Wars #12 by Jason Aaron and Stuart Immonen is a nice little wrap up to the second arc. We get a final-final answer to the Sana question, Luke gets rescued, and there’s some really freaking cool stuff in the middle. Some spoilers are going to follow.
The latest issue of Star Wars by Jason Aaron and Stuart Immonen is out this week or, as I prefer to call it, “The One Where Everyone Gets Beat Up.” Or: “The One Where Everyone Gets Beat Up Except For Leia Who Continues To Be The Queen And Have No Time For Everyone’s Bull$#!).”
Aside from our heroes having a really rough 20 pages, the other big theme of this book seems to have been Questions and Answers. We do finally get the answer to the question we’ve been asking about Sana Solo for months now which is about what many of us suspected. (Side note: can the Sana+Han=Finn people cut it out now?) In its place, we have new questions such as… wait can droids feel pain now without having special programing? Just who is this Gamemaster fellow? How does one go about acquiring Jedi bones? And most importantly… is Dengar actually Roose Bolton?!?
Stuart Immonen’s work continues to be impressive as hell. Not only does he draw a great Luke Skywalker but his Chewbacca is also pretty awesome. And heck, I’d love to see him draw a book that’s just about Han and Leia doing their bickering/working together thing. His work on the action scenes in this book, especially those with Luke, particularly good. You can feel the movement within the panels. Static has no place in combat!
All of this makes Star Wars #11 a fun and fast paced read that manages to do, well, just about everything. Aaron’s ability to keep readers on the edge of their seats is nothing less than impressive. I’d like to have Issue #12 now, please and thank you.
The best way to describe Star Wars #10 is that it’s fun. To be fair, ‘fun’ has been a great way to describe this entire run on this book thus far but there was something about this particular issue that just felt really really fun. Star Wars #10 by Jason Aaron and Stuart Immonen is out today and definitely takes readers for a ride.
It’s hard to say what’s more fun: Leia dealing with both of the Solos or Chewbacca and Threepio on their adventure on Nar Shaddaa. While we still don’t really have tons in terms of answers of who Sana is and whether or not she and Han are actually married, it’s entertaining to watch Leia be 100% done with their crap within mere minutes and be far more focused on getting herself out of there alive and in one piece. Chewie and Threepio, on the other hand, was the team up that I didn’t know that I’ve always wanted. There’s something humorous about pairing the character who talks to much with the one who we can’t understand and prefers to cut right to the chase.
Stuart Immonen is amazing on this book. While I was content with John Cassaday’s work, Immonen is taking things to a whole new level. There’s nothing about his work that I don’t love and I think that the Luke lovers out there will have a particular appreciation for some of his panels. It’s the little things that really take this work to the new level from the facial expressions to his design work on Grakkus the Hutt with the lightsaber necklace and the spider-leg walking… things.
Oh. And those last few pages? While they’re probably just the creative team broadening the galaxy, I’m choosing to interpret them as Aaron trolling everyone.
Star Wars #10 gets a strong Hell Yeah! from me this week for being such a fun read.
Things aren’t looking up for Han, Leia, or Luke this week as they find themselves betrayed and in the Empire’s crosshairs and chasing after a lightsaber respectively. Star Wars is back this week with Issue #9 from Jason Aaron and Stuart Immonen and, well, we’ve still got a lot of questions.
But first, a bit of unsolicited advice for my fellow reviewers. Try reading a comic issue and then getting on an exercise bike and mulling over the issue in your mind because boy doe sit do wonders. How else would I have thought of the idea of just reviewing this issue in hashtags and then determined it was a poor one?
That said, #NotAllHutts would probably be Grakkus the Hutt’s hashtag of choice because, see, he collects Jedi antiques which makes him different from other hutts who only do the whole smuggling drug ring thing. Not all hutts. The Star Wars universe seems to be hell bent on exploring the heck out of how Luke goes from knowing nothing to knowing slightly less than nothing about being a Jedi over the course of three years. It’s not Jason Aaron’s fault in the least as he’s just one of at least four different groups within Star Wars that have decided to tackle this issue but it’s starting to feel a little old for me. Mostly, it just seems like this is the only plot line he’s really been given lately. Leia may be sent on a lot of missions but at least they’ve all resonated for different reasons. And speaking of the other Skywalker twin…
Leia is a delight in this book. It finally hit me (during the aforementioned cycle time) that Aaron has really nailed her attitude during the Death Star rescue mission over the past few issues. He’s seemed to find the perfect mix of take-charge and over-your-crap Leia in this book.
On the art front, Stuart Immonen is perfect. Please let us keep him for forever. (Except for the Kenobi interludes. Give us Simone Bianchi for this.) But Immonen the rest of the time, please and thank you.
Star Wars #8 is out today. The bad news is that we don’t get the answers we’ve so anxiously been awaiting. The good news is that Stuart Immonen took over art duties and rocked the hell out of it.
Luke’s journey to Tatooine wasn’t as fruitful as he’d hoped. His next plan for learning how to be a Jedi is about to take him to a hive of even more scum and villainy. Meanwhile, Han and Leia find themselves caught between an Imperial patrol and a woman named Sana Solo who says she’s Han’s wife and hardly seems to be his biggest fan.
Somehow, Jason Aaron manages to keep a reader’s interest throughout an issue where we don’t get the answer we’ve been so desperately wanting for two months now. Actually, I may be even more confused as to who Sana Solo was than I was before. Is she actually his wife or not? Maybe next issue we’ll get some solid answers?
Character-wise, the two who stood out to me this issue were the Skywalker twins. Aaron really nailed how impetuous Luke can be at times especially right after he leaves Tatooine. On the flip side, we get to see Leia’s very no-nonsense attitude that rears its head so frequently when Han Solo is involved. I’m very impressed by how both writers Marvel has tapped so far have seemed to really get all aspects of Leia’s character.
Unsurprisingly, Stuart Immonen rocks his first issue on Star Wars especially when paired with Justin Ponsor’s colors. Everyone’s body language tells just as much of the story as the dialog bubbles which makes for a more dynamic book. Can we keep him on this book forever? I’d especially like to see him do an arc where he gets to do all of the artistic set up and come up with what the planet looks like and also what Leia’s outfit of the day is. (So sue me, I’m a geek with a weakness for fashion and costume design.)
Overall, Star Wars #8 was an enjoyable issue with some great art that has left me wanting it to be September already so I can have #9 in my hands. No seriously: who the heck is Sana Solo?