Review: “Star Wars” #1 from Dark Horse

See the preview at http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/19-812/Star-Wars-1

So, when I walked into my local comic shop (Neptune Comics – give them a try! I don’t make money by linking them; they’re just good people.), I wasn’t sure I was going to buy “Star Wars” #1.  I knew the story — this takes place shortly after Episode IV, and it could be a continuity mess by treading in the waters of the established “Expanded Universe”.  However, after I decided to pick it up, I jokingly told the owner, “Well, they can’t screw it up any more! And they may just burn it clean by the time Episode VII comes out!” 

It’s been a long time since I really, really enjoyed a “Star Wars” comic book.  Probably not since the 1990’s, when “Dark Empire” was out, the Timothy Zahn trilogy was being adapted — you know, the early days of the revived Star Wars comic line.  Oh, I’m sure there have been other comics that have been good, but it’s been many years since there’s been a “Holy crap, this is great!” comic.

This comic could be it.  I’m not as quick to praise Brian Wood as many other comics reviewers have been, but I certainly see the potential here.  What I liked about it is that it is a great point to just jump right in.  All you need to know about these characters is from Episode IV.  No need to have read twenty years of Expanded Universe stories to get up to speed.  It’s Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie, just like you left them after the victory ceremony on Yavin.

It’s interesting to see the Rebel Alliance this way.  We all remember how Return of the Jedi ended, so to see the rebellion still struggling is a great “new” viewpoint.  And I love what Brian is doing with Leia’s characterization.  You know she’s a diplomat, you know she’s a Senator, you know she’s a Rebel spy — but here you get to see how capable she is outside of the rules of diplomacy.  You understand she’s more than just a pretty figure in white — although, it is funny that her X-Wing jumpsuit is all white — and you get to see that she does, indeed, know how to handle a blaster outside of an improvised rescue.

As for Luke, you see him struggling to figure out who he is.  He’s just lost Ben, and he feels alone to figure out how to use this power of the Force he supposedly has.  It’s Luke at a very vulnerable and lonely spot in his life, and it’s much different than the brash farmboy/hotshot pilot/hero of the Rebellion we see at the end of A New Hope.  When we next see him in The Empire Strikes Back, he’s obviously gained some skills, and this comic may be a great way of showing his training.

Han and Chewbacca are a bit more mysterious here.  We never saw what Han did with the money he got from the Alliance before helping Luke destroy the Death Star.  In fact, it’s a plot point that I never stopped to really consider.  However, I don’t feel that Brian has nailed the characterization of Han here just right.  Something felt off with the exposition, since Han is also Chewie’s ersatz interpreter.

The comic feels like it belongs in a different time period — narration boxes are all over the place, and that’s a good thing.  There’s too much infodump to be done via conversations, so having it written like this is a big help.

To see Vader being taken to task by the Emperor is also nice.  You don’t really get to see the aftermath of Vader’s failure, and having Palpatine involved does help to link the overall storyline together.  His absence in Episode IV is understandable, so his inclusion here helps to put Vader back on the path of success.  It does also help to show what Vader is going to do now that he knows the name of the person who contributed to his failure.

Carlos D’Anda’s art is fantastic — his representations of all the familiar characters is spot on.  No complaints.

As for the true meat of the story, where Mon Mothma asks Leia to take part in some black-ops secret mission, it’s intriguing.  There’s a spy within the Rebellion, and it’s up to Leia to flush him or her out, while at the same time try to find a new home for the rebels (perhaps somewhere… cold….).

I’m intrigued.  Brian Wood has shown enough that I want to see where this story is going for the foreseeable future.  Pick it up, Star Wars fans.