Comic Review: Star Wars: In the Shadow of Yavin by Brian Wood and Carlos D'Anda

Star Wars, Volume 1: In the Shadow of Yavin by Brian Wood

With thanks to NetGalley and Darkhorse Comics for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.

The Star Wars universe has become so vast that if you want to look up something on Wookieepedia, you should set aside at least an hour of your time to allow for the multitude of side-clicking you’re inevitably going to end up doing within each entry. Expanded Universe (EU) stories extend into the distant past and the distant future and everything in between, but it seems that the legacy is returning to its roots with a series of new stories focusing on Han, Leia and Luke, directly following A New Hope. I’m looking forward to the upcoming Razor's Edge , and in the mean time, enjoyed this new comic series.

The most impressive aspect of this story is that it dives right into the fact that both Luke and Leia just watched their lives and the people they loved catastrophically destroyed. Things like that tend to weigh on you, particularly Leia, who was forced to watch the destruction of her entire planet shortly after hours of rigorous torture at the hands of Darth Vader.

This focuses heavily on the fact that Leia has not been allowed, nor allowed herself the time to deal because the situation is still dire. The destruction of the Death Star has only increased pressure on the Rebel Alliance and her role as a leader means she is constantly working and constantly needing to prove herself. The pressure rises even more when Mon Mothma tasks her with forming and leading a black ops team of pilots. Their purpose: find a new location for the Rebel base and root out the traitor in their midst. Leia herself gets to fly the sleek new X-Wings, revealing yet another of her skills.

Luke doesn’t feature as prominently as expected, though he and Wedge are part of the team. Luke is played up a bit more as the cocky kid we saw in A New Hope, rather than the more subdued and stoic Luke that starts to develop in The Empire Strikes Back. His attitude reminds us that he is barely twenty years old, so his actions are somewhat understandable. But that means that Leia is the same age, revealing the stark contrast of maturity and responsibility between them. I would have liked to see far more that conflict, but instead, we get the more simplistic love triangle plot device that plays out weakly for all involved.

Meanwhile, the fallout from Yavin has affected others as well. Namely, Darth Vader, whom the Emperor is pretty mad at for letting a wee X-Wing blow up an entire space station. Vader has been demoted to supervising the construction of the second Death Star and spends a lot of time mulling over the name “Skywalker” and what he sensed from the pilot that destroyed the Death Star.

And last, but certainly not least, is Han Solo. Joining up with the Rebels has tagged him and Chewie, their career as neutral smuggler and leaving them no other options but to continue working with the Alliance. Mon Mothma has entrusted him with a significant amount of credits to broker a deal with a contact. Is Han worthy of that trust? Hmmm….

Overall, I liked the elements of the characters and story that are introduced. There is a lot of potential for interesting intrigue and character development, with some reasonably good gun and dogfights tossed in for good measure.

3.5 of 5 stars

Comic Review Bites: The Great Comixology Raid

I hopped on Comixology to pick up this month's read for my ladies comic book club and ended up finding a few other gems.

LAZARUS: Greg Rucka’s creator-owned title is being heavily pumped by Image and for good reason. Well, Rucka is good enough reason for me, actually.

Money is power and those without it are Waste. The Families are the ones with power and Forever Carlyle is a Lazarus, a Family member trained and augmented to serve and protect the family’s needs. As the codename implies, there is a lot of death involved in her life, but we quickly learn that, because of how much she understands physical death, there are a lot of unresolved emotions connected to killing that Forever should not be having. For now, she does her job to protect the Family, but her increasing empathy is probably going to be problematic.

The cold-hearted killer with a warming heart is not an unusual, nor is the powerful few lording over the poor. But I’m confident that Rucka will bring in the heavy emotional content that will make everything worthwhile.

PETER PANZERFAUST: This is a unique retelling of the Peter Pan legend that transposes the story into World War II. Peter is an American soldier who seems to just appear to a bunch of French orphans one day and drags them along on his quest to find the missing and mysterious Belle. Peter is the same confident boy we know, but without the magic – only, the story and art does a great job of making you wonder if there is a bit of magic going on, or is it really just Peter’s exuberance and utter belief that he can and will achieve anything he sets out to do?

X-MEN #2: I am collecting this on the principal that comic companies need to have more females and PoCs front and centre and this book truly fills that need.

Unfortunately, the story is falling flat. It’s a typical bigger bad than the last time story, with the twist being that she’s stolen the body of a former teammate who may or may not be dead. There’s no issue with the characters because I know and love them all and love seeing them. Last issue had them interacting more and it was a great insight into their personalities and friendships, but this issue, they really aren’t doing anything.

There are some very small moments of intrigue, such as the continued existence of the mysterious baby. But otherwise, I’m not blown away yet.

CYBERFORCE: I read the original Cyberforce during Image Comics’ Shiny Age and have been very curious about this reboot, available free thanks to a Kickstarter. This is a much grittier story where the heroes aren’t as obvious, nor is their fate. The “team” is still comprised of genetically altered former Cyber Data shock troopers, but I really like the emphasis on the different models of augmentations. Some are weaker, obsolete models and all require Serum to prevent their bodies from rejecting the technological grafts.

There is a big political plot going on involving Carin Taylor, whose parents are both political powers and are hunting her down after she runs away. She has learned of the great big apocalypse plot that also fuels the story and requires the aid of the missing and presumed dead Morgan Stryker.

Other than a few cringe moments of dialogue trying a bit too hard to be trendy and/or crude, I definitely approve of the new, more mature Cyberforce.

BATMAN & SUPERMAN: I’m a big fan of Jae Lee’s art. I love the sharp edges he uses and I love the way those edges are muted and the colours flow like they are being brushed by the wind in this particular book. I also like Greg Pak, after reading his Phoenix: Endsong that finally let Jean Grey rest in peace. But this book is about, obviously, Batman and Superman. Their relationship has always been an interesting blend of loyalty and contempt for each other because of their completely differing views and upbringings, but ultimately similar goals. I don’t much care for Superman as a character, and I think I would have written him off completely if not for having a counterpoint in Batman and Lex Luthor. Here, the story quickly grabbed me during the opening scene where Clark and Bruce first meet. Their personalities and the conflicts of their relationship are spelled out in pithy perfection through their reactions to a brawl between some kids, and again when they meet as Batman and Superman.

I’m not entirely certain about the plot, though. Or rather, the time difference aspect of it. I’m fine with the strange creature possession, but I got a bit lost when first-time-meeting Superman and Batman suddenly turned into well-established-relationship Batman and Superman. I guess that just means I’ll have to read on to find out more!

GIRLS: The first issue of this was free and the covers for the series caught my eye and the mystery within has definitely gotten my interest.  The main character, a young man in a small town, ends up meeting and eventually calling out and offending every possible female stereotype that appears in the book – from brow beating wife to cocktease.

Then this naked girl from the cover shows up in front of him on the road…

DEMETER: This is the third and final book in a trilogy by Becky Cloonan. A self-published labour of love that depicts three different stories that share the similar themes of love and loss.

Black and white comics can be so haunting and Cloonan uses the art and minimal words well to shape her stories. I can see the influence of familiar fairy tales woven into each tale, but the stories are still unique, emotional, beautiful, painful and memorable all on their own.

An all female cast for X-Men #1

The much hyped new X-Men #1 is out today! Be sure to grab a copy! No, we're not going to review it just yet because frankly, while the art was fantastic and we're loving seeing our favourite ladies doing their thang, the story isn't quite there yet. No matter, we'll definitely be back for the next issue to find out what happens!