Star Wars, Vol.13: Rogues and Rebels (comic) - Paul's REVIEW

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Title: Star Wars, Vol. 13: Rogues and Rebels
Writer: Greg Pek
Artist: Phil Noto
Release Date: March 17, 2020


Synopsis: It's the end of the era of hope! Rebels and rogues take center stage as this volume of Marvel's STAR WARS comes to a close! Who exactly is Dar Champion, and how far can Leia trust him when Han's life is on the line? What shocking lesson will Luke learn when Warba finally reveals her true self? When faced with his lost past, can C-3PO seize control of his destiny — and be the hero of his own story? And Chewbacca takes on Darth Vader in vicious hand-to-hand combat! Meanwhile, the Rebellion's search for a new home — a base safe from the reach of the Empire — leads them to the planet Hoth! Doctor Aphra and Beilert Valance lend a hand as the Rebellion's fate is set - and the Empire ascends!

COLLECTING: STAR WARS (2015) #73-75, STAR WARS: EMPIRE ASCENDANT (2019) #1

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Review: After 75 issues, the story of our main Rebel heroes set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back comes to a close. And it's about time. In my opinion, it's been dragging with not much interesting happening for awhile. Some of the interactions recently even seem to take away from big moments in the original trilogy. Darth Vader has a LOT of interactions with the main cast in this volume. The C-3PO and Vader scenes really confuse me. Does he not recognize the droid he created? At least they are finally at Hoth.

This volume is more of the second half of the last volume's story. A boring story. I did really enjoy the inorganic aliens though.

The rest of this volume is filled with Empire Ascendant, which serves as both a conclusion and beginning. Poe's parents on Hoth. A Darth Vader intro that seems to introduce some new and interesting Death Troopers. Bounty Hunters shows Valance working along with the Rebels. And the final Aphra story was included in the Aphra volume as well. 

I give this volume a 3/5. I wish this ongoing series learned more from the animated Clone Wars series and jumped around the focus instead of focusing on the main heroes so much. It seems like a lot of these missions are redundant and don't actually show growth of the characters. I am hesitant about whether I want to continue reading these new incarnations of the ongoing series or not.


--PAUL

Star Wars, Vol. 12: Rebels and Rogues (comic) - Paul's REVIEW

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Title: Star Wars, Vol. 12: Rebels and Rogues
Writer: Greg Pek
Artist: Phil Noto
Release Date: November 19, 2019


Synopsis: Darth Vader is on the hunt for Luke Skywalker! Thousands of remote probes are sent into the far reaches of space looking for the Rebel Alliance. But the rebels send out desperate, heroic missions to lead them astray. Chewie and C-3PO lure a drone to a planet with an unstable core but learn of a secret droid civilization. With Star Destroyers and Darth Vader approaching, they must now protect these newfound droids. Luke Skywalker undertakes a mission to lead a drone away from a rebel refueling station but runs into the Force-sensitive human Bendoh. With Luke training to be a Jedi, will Bendoh be a valuable teacher or a simple grifter? Then, Han Solo and Princess Leia plan to use a drone to take down a local crime boss, but things get complicated when they run into Leia's ex! What could possibly go wrong?!

COLLECTING: STAR WARS 68-72

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Review: This is the twelfth volume in this ongoing series and quite honestly, it's getting stale. I am absolutely ready for the jump past The Empire Strikes Back. I'm curious to see if they'll do any Shadows of the Empire plots. But in the mean time, this volume had our main heroes split up into duos. Han and Leia meet with an ex of Leia. Luke and Artoo search a desert planet and meet a force user. Chewbacca and Threepio discover some not-so-organic lifeforms.

There are some interesting ideas in this volume, but it just feels kind of boring. There's no big picture things going down It just feels like more missions that will be resolved and are just taking up the time until we get to Hoth. The stakes don't feel high. One thing I did enjoy seeing was Han and Leia's relationship starting to look like what it does in The Empire Strikes Back. 

I give this volume a 3/5. The heroes are divided and not much happens. There isn't even much resolution in this volume. 


--PAUL

Star Wars: Age of Rebellion - Heroes (comic) - Paul's REVIEW

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Title: Star Wars: Age of Rebellion - Heroes
Writers: Greg Pek & Marc Guggenheim
Artists: Chris Sprouse, Karl Story, Andrea Broccardo, & Matteo Buffagni
Recent Release Date: August 20, 2019

Age of Republic - Villains
Age of Republic - Heroes

Age of Rebellion - Villains

Synopsis: Writer Greg Pak (WEAPON H and WEAPON X) teams up with artists Chris Sprouse (BLACK PANTHER) and more to tell stunning adventures starring the greatest heroes from the original Star Wars film trilogy. What exactly did Han and Chewie do with all that reward money? What harrowing battles did Leia and Lando fight on the way to infiltrate Jabba's palace? STAR WARS: AGE OF REBELLION fills in the gaps between and complements the fan-favorite, iconic Star Wars moments, shedding new light on the films' eternal conflict between the light and the dark, good and evil.

COLLECTING: STAR WARS: AGE OF REBELLION - HAN SOLO 1, STAR WARS: AGE OF REBELLION - LANDO CALRISSIAN 1, STAR WARS: AGE OF REBELLION - LUKE SKYWALKER 1, STAR WARS: AGE OF REBELLION - PRINCESS LEIA 1 

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Review: This was the volume I was least looking forward to of these collections. The heroes from the original trilogy era have gotten plenty of stories, especially in the ongoing Star Wars comic taking place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Thankfully these stories are mostly outside of that specific time frame. 

Leia is the focus of the first story, which takes place after The Empire Strikes Back. Boushh is featured and some details of how Leia, Chewie, & Lando's plan for Return of the Jedi came to be are shown. Bossk also shows up. 3/5

Han's story takes place shortly after A New Hope before he has actually committed to being a part of the Rebellion. 3/5

Lando's story shows him trying to be a good leader for his people of Cloud City. He has some business problems and has to figure out his priorities. Lando shows some moral high ground while he also tries his luck. 4/5

Luke's story is the most unique (other than the final story) story, showing how the Emperor was trying to get into Luke's head. This story takes place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. 4/5

Yoda's story is a fun one. It shows the old jedi master living his life on Dagobah before Luke arrives, remembering the downfall of the jedi. 4/5

This final story is weird. Like really strange. Porkins and Biggs are the focus and the vibe of the story is different than most Marvel Star Wars comic books. It's all about self care and going on vacation, while being haunted by the extreme things that one does during war like killing people. This story pretty much brings the hypocrisy of war and especially the war in the stars to the forefront. This story is either a 1/5 or a 5/5. I seriously can't decide; it's such a strange Star Wars story. I would be intrigued to see more stories from this perspective.

Overall, this book gets a 4/5 from me. I liked seeing the stories that don't take place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. I do wish other minor heroes would have been featured instead of the main trio. They get so many stories already.


--PAUL

Star Wars: Age of Rebellion - Villains (comic) - Paul's REVIEW

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Title: Star Wars: Age of Rebellion - Villains
Writers: Greg Pek & Simon Spurrier
Artists: Marc Laming, Emilio Laiso, Roland Boschi, Marco Turini, Ramon Bachs, & Caspar Wijngaard
Recent Release Date: August 27, 2019

Age of Republic - Villains
Age of Republic - Heroes

Synopsis: Writer Greg Pak (WEAPON H and WEAPON X) teams up with artists Chris Sprouse (BLACK PANTHER) and more to tell stunning adventures starring the most dangerous villains from the original Star Wars film trilogy. What other schemes did Grand Moff Tarkin hatch aboard the Death Star? STAR WARS: AGE OF REBELLION fills-in the gaps between and complements the fan favorite, iconic Star Wars moments, shedding new light on the films' eternal conflict between the light and the dark, good and evil.

COLLECTING: STAR WARS: AGE OF REBELLION - BOBA FETT 1, STAR WARS: AGE OF REBELLION - DARTH VADER 1, STAR WARS: AGE OF REBELLION - JABBA THE HUTT 1, STAR WARS: AGE OF REBELLION - WILHUFF TARKIN 1, STAR WARS: AGE OF REBELLION SPECIAL 1

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Review: This collection of stories focuses on the villains during the original trilogy era. I like that some of these characters aren't always featured as the point-of-view. 

The first story follows Tarkin during the events of A New Hope. He is absolutely ruthless. The past that made him is shown. 4/5

The next story is my favorite from this volume. Boba Fett! The colorful artwork beautifully captures the mostly mute bounty hunter. I especially liked the art style in this story. This story most feels like Boba Fett. This short comic story is the perfect medium for this story. 5/5

Jabba the Hutt is well known as a villain, but this story shows how crafty he can be. On Tatooine, there are many different factions. Jawas. Tuskens. Other Scoundrels. I also liked the Canto Bight reference, bringing the sequel trilogy era to the original trilogy era. 5/5

Darth Vader has probably had the most comics about him since the new canon comics began. I thought this story was probably unnecessary, but it portrayed how much of an outsider Vader was even within the Empire. 4/5

IG-88 is the focus of the last story featured in this volume. This is a story about bounties and how unusual of a droid IG-88 really is. 3/5

Overall, I give this volume a 4/5. I enjoyed the stories from lesser known characters more. The Boba Fett story was excellent.  


--PAUL