Star Wars #3 (Marvel 2015) - A Review

Star Wars #3 is one big action sequence until it's last three pages. I mention this only as a preface to the following sentence.  By The Maker, this is one heck of an action sequence!

How awesome is this book?  Darth Vader single-handedly disabling an AT-AT Walker with his light-saber is only the second-most awesome thing that happens over the course of this issue.  That is the scale we are dealing with as far as this book is concerned.


John Cassaday displays this action with all the grandeur one would expect - both from Cassady himself and from the Star Wars franchise in general - and Laura Martin does a fair job varying the color palette as best she can given the limited coloration of a military outpost on a desert planet. The only real flaw in the artwork is that Cassaday sometimes goes too far in trying to capture the likeness of the actors from the original movies. As a result, the characters' expressions don't always match up with the emotion expressed in the dialogue.


Thankfully, these occurrences are few and far between. And despite the high-action content of this issue, Jason Aaron still finds a way to sneak in a few character moments for both Luke and Darth Vader as the issue progresses.  All in all, if you haven't been giving the new Star Wars book a shot, you should. This is more than simple nostalgia. This is everything space opera and comics should be.

Star Wars #2 (Marvel 2015) - A Review

The second issue of the new Star Wars book starts right where the first one left off, as our heroes attempt to blow up an Imperial weapons factory and escape with their lives.  There's just one thing standing in their way - Darth Vader! And to say that he is not amused would be putting it mildly.


Jason Aaron's script perfectly captures the feel of the films, for good and for ill.  Some of the dialogue is awkward but in a way that seems fitting to the characters (i.e. some of Darth Vader's grandiose speeches).  Still, there are enough good character touches to make up for it, such as Han's still refusing to believe in The Force even as Vader is taking apart the AT-AT Walker Han is piloting...with one hand!


The artwork is still top notch with John Cassaday doing a fine job of capturing the established characters and blocking the action.  Laura Martin's colors keep things vibrant, despite the dull, mechanical setting of the story. And Chris Eliopoulos makes even the letters and fonts of this book visually interesting!

Star Wars #1 (Marvel 2015) - A Review

Like most people my age, I was a fan of Star Wars growing up.  I had the original Kenner action figures, played pretend I was Luke Skywalker and wore out at least one video tape of the first movie. Yet somewhere along the line, despite still owning a plastic lightsaber, I became less fanatical about it.

Maybe it was the disappointment of the prequels.  Maybe it was the entire Expanded Universe being written off. Maybe it was a fandom that had somehow gone from holding Han Solo as the epitome of coolness to worshiping Boba Fett as the embodiment of bad-ass.

(Okay. So maybe one good thing came of the EU being sacrificed. But is losing Mara Jade really worth insuring that Boba Fett died as he was meant to - accidentally catapulted into a giant space anus?)

Regardless, I wasn't quite as hyped as some of my colleagues were about a new Marvel Comics Star Wars series.  At least, I wasn't before I picked up this first issue.  And suddenly my inner five-year-old was making WOOOSH noises while wielding a cardboard tube and squealing in glee inside my head.


The story opens sometime shortly after the end of Episode IV, with our favorite group of Rebels infiltrating an Imperial weapons factory with the intent of blowing it up. The good news is that - for once - the infiltration goes smoothly. The bad news is that what was meant to be a simple act of espionage suddenly becomes a rescue mission once the timer is already running...


Writer Jason Aaron perfectly captures the feeling of the classic Star Wars movies. Not only in how the story opens with a familiar opening scroll of yellow text and a long shot of a spaceship but in terms of how all the dialogue scans. You can almost hear the voices of Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and company throughout the book.


Artist John Cassaday does a good job caricaturing the cast of the movie. Indeed, the only flaw to Cassady's work is how lifeless some panels appear, with more work being put into emulation of the famous faces than in conveying expressions.  Still, the action sequences are well-laid out and exciting. The colors by Laura Martin are well chosen. And Chris Eliopoulos's letters subtly enhance the dialogue.