Creative Team:
Writer: J.W. Rinzler
Artist: Mike Mayhew
What They Say:
The Empire is poised for an attack on the peaceful world of Aquilae, and only Jedi General Luke Skywalker seems concerned. When King Kayos is killed, Jedi in training Annikin Starkiller is ordered to find Princess Leia, while Skywalker sends his only squadron against the Empire’s powerful new battle station!
The Review:
The opening installment of The Star Wars was certainly like a huge dose of culture shock as there are so many differences to take in, so many familiar things that are just so different in big and small ways, that you spent more of your time with that than taking in the story. I liked the first issue well enough and had fun in just seeing all the original draft differences and concepts, as well as knowing how various elements were reworked in future drafts, polishings and the final product itself. It’s also something, especially a bit in this issue, where we see more of things that ended up in the prequel films getting used. The way that the original draft could be spread into the two trilogies definitely becomes clearer and that in some ways only serves to muddy the waters a bit more when trying to clamp down on the story here.
This issue is focused heavily on the problems General Skywalker is having in that he knows war is coming, war is pretty much here, but he’s getting only limited support. While the king is behind him, he needs the full proof to get the approval to do what’s needed and that’s like pulling teeth in a lot of ways. Even worse is that a lot of the senate is ready to issue peace negotiations quickly rather than actually have the war and there’s a division between the king and queen, which looks like it could be a semi-civil war as the queen starts to take more control from behind the scenes, and off-panel. That just makes things harder for Skywalker since he knows the Imperial forces are going to stop at nothing, especially when the massive space fortress is revealed and shows its strength during the attack phase.
Part of the issue deals with Annikin, womanizer that he is, as he’s sent off to get the king’s daughter, Princess Leia, and protect her by bringing her back. This Leia is not the Leia we know and feels more like the one out of Spaceballs (far too accurate) which, after insisting that her luggage and handmaiden be brought, Annikin simply slugs her unconscious. That’s just a jaw dropping moment right there on so many levels. Another significant difference that gets noted in this issue is that we see that C3PO and R2D2 (not named) are in the space fortress of the Empire that’s attacking and they’re similar to how they were in A New Hope. Except that R2D2 talks and has quite the attitude that takes down his companion in a pretty big way. It’s hugely disconcerting to have the little droid with speech bubbles that have real words in it, but also to see the way he deals with things that has a strong layer of snark about it.
In Summary:
Similar to my feelings with the first issue, I really don’t know how to feel about this incarnation. It’s a huge insight into what could have been and the creative process as well. We see elements of the prequels here with the senate, trade implications that came up before and other political shenanigans that dominated the early parts of those movies. We also get some Gungan style craft showing up and a look at this incarnation of the Death Star. We also get some very different character portrayals, which is to be expected, but it goes so far in different directions that it can make you cringe at times. There’s still a very rushed feeling about the series when it comes to pacing and panel layout and the expansive dialogue at times that’s trying to cover a lot, but it’s somewhat expected for a book working off of a draft script for a movie. I find it endlessly fascinating, but more because of what it is than the story that it’s telling.
Grade: B
