Comic Review: Star Wars #8: Taking the Fight to the Empire

Just as millions of fans all around the world, I too was deeply touched by Star Wars when I was a kid. The opening shot of that mighty Star Destroyer sailing over the camera, the vibrant sound of the lightsabers, and of course, those haunting mechanical gasps for air by Darth Vader are part of what can easily be the most exciting and memorable movie experience of my generation. It’s movies like Star Wars what justify the art of Cinema, and the social ritual of moviegoing.

As relevant and inspiring to my life as it is, I have to say my affection and patience with George Lucas’ admirable work of art kind of stops with the original trilogy. Sure, I have my fair share of Star Wars toys and collectibles, but I’m not the kind of fan that eagerly digests without question every single thing that comes out with the Star Wars trademark. I’ve really never had the urge to buy a Wookie Cookbook, a Lando Calrissian Cologne or a disturbing Jar Jar Binks ahm… candy dispenser Sex Toy?

I find most of the comics, games and books derived from the saga repetitive and apart from the obvious monetary motivation, lacking the backbone to justify their existence. Of course, there are huge exceptions to what I have just said and you can certainly find real gems in the Star Wars Universe that both honor the original movies and stand on their own as great works. Timothy Zahn’s ‘Heir to the Empire’ is one of the best Sci-Fi books of the 90’s (Don’t be surprised if this book becomes the blue print for the upcoming Episode VII) and every hardcore gamer knows that ‘Knights of the Old Republic’ and ‘Tie Fighter’ are two of the best games of all time.

But sadly, the hits are much more rare than the misses.

The well known powerhouse Dark Horse has been the official publisher of the Star Wars comics since the early 1990’s with mixed success. This past January, Dark Horse launched an ambitious Star Wars reboot and to pull it off they enlisted a dream team headlined by Rodolfo Migliari(!) and Alex Ross (!!) as cover Artists, Brian Wood (The Massive, Conan the Barbarian, Local) as writer and Carlos D’anda (Batman: Arkham City) and Ryan Kelly (Local) as main artists.

By the roster of artists assembled here, it seems Dark Horse is really putting big chips into this endeavor. That was the main hook for me to take the assignment to review this series, as the story outline seemed kind of pointless. The intention of this new series is to retell the saga from the aftermath of the Battle of Yavin up until the events that lead to The Empire Strikes Back. My first thought was a howling cry of disapproval: “AGAIN??!!”

And so, a bit reluctantly, I grabbed my copy and began to read. Boy I have to say, I had to shut all my prejudiced rants right from the opening page. One of the things that have pushed me away from all the spinoffs and deviations of the Star Wars expanded Universe so far is that very few of them feel like Star Wars. And even fewer bring something new or exciting to the well known story.

These are two things Brian Wood and his team surprisingly manage to achieve.

The artwork is truly mesmerizing, capturing the color palette of the movies and giving spectacular panels full of detail and motion. Framing, Lighting and rhythm are impeccable and you almost feel like watching a Peter Suschitzky reel. And most importantly, the use of parallel story lines that makes the films so distinctive, is used at full glory and is solidly achieved by Wood.

In the 8th entry of this series, we follow three stories; Princess Leia goes alone in her X Wing to seek among the stars for a new safe haven for the Rebel alliance. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles take an undercover mission inside a Star Destroyer with the intention of hacking in their communications systems… while in another corner of the galaxy Han Solo and Chewbacca have a dance of their own… with Boba Fett!

This feels exactly like the movies, capturing the same tone in structure and dialogue of George Lucas’ vision. This is exactly Star Wars as everybody remembers it, The laser sounds, Han Solo’s scoundrel ways, and the iconic ships all make their apparition. But, what makes this series worth your time is the almost seamless way it introduces new characters and events we haven’t seen before.

Dark Horse manages here to create the perfect cocktail, with the correct amount of Nostalgia to satisfy traditionalist fans and enough freshness to appeal to new inductees and general comic fans. This issue will be launched to the public this 14th of August, and you can find it through Comixology and via Dark Horse for $2.99 paper edition and $1.99 digital.

A very, very recommended purchase that will not disappoint.

FULL CREDITS

Writer
Brian Wood

Penciler
Ryan Kelly

Inker
Dan Parsons

Colorist
Gabe Eltaeb

Cover Artist
David Michael Beck

Editor
Randy Stradley

32 Pages, Full color.