A reunion of chaos.
Creative Staff:
Story: Jody Houser
Art: Paolo Villanelli
Colors: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
Jyn Erso continues her quest with Cassian Andor to help the Rebellion fight the Galactic Empire. The team has located Jyn’s father, Galen Erso – a Death Star scientist! But the evil Director Krennic gets their first…and he’s out for blood! The Star Wars story continues!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Reading the Rogue One adaptation while also having the film on and being in the process of reading the Catalyst prequel novel this spring as well has been an interesting experience. Houser’s adaptation is hitting the right points but the flow from the film, even with all its location cuts, doesn’t go as it should. The new additions are too minimal for my tastes where we need some expansion to help it along and it also doesn’t help that we get a new artist with this issue with Paolo Villanelli stepping in. The artwork is solid and it’s fairly close to what we had before but it can be a little jarring as the differences in character design are noticeable enough. What we get does capture the look and feel of the cast and keeps it all moving along but it lacks the kind of connection that it needs.
The events of this issue are good ones but they really do largely require knowledge from the past in order to really make it click. The escape from Jedha after the weapons test isn’t as tense as it could be but we get the bonding moments here and later with how Baze and Chirrut are following Jyn now, especailly with Chirrut’s nod that she shines in a way that he can sense. What I like about the Jedha test is that we get Tarkin realizing that there truly is potential here after twenty years of working on this project, one where he let Krennic take the heat over production schedules and more, and is now taking full control of it. It’s this point where Krennic loses it and lashes out, and justifiably so if you’ve read Catalyst and understand just what he put into this – particularly all that time living on or above Geonosis with all that problems that come from dealing with that species and their betrayals.
This installment does place us on Edeau as well and this is one of the few small expansions we get where we see Galen and his team inside the facility briefly as they learn that Krennic is coming for an unscheduled visit. There’s some natural worry from the others but Houser and Villanelli make it clear through Galen that he knows this is because of him and what he’s done. While the focus is on what Jyn experiences and what Cassian struggles with in terms of what he’s been ordered to do and what’s right, there’s a lot with Galen that works here even if it’s kept slim. His past is one that’s intriguing and seeing him try to defend his team all while knowing he’s the guilty one is a critical piece in exploring who he is. Knowing that past through Catalyst and just how long of a plan he’s had in motion to try and provide a way to stop this monstrosity from occupying a key place in the galaxy speaks so much, even if the true story really is that piece about Jyn trying to find herself and reconnecting with lost pasts in order to find it.
In Summary:
Rogue One as an adaptation continues to be kind of middle of the road and some of that comes down to the way that the film works well but is problematic in bringing into this form. The expansions are weak even if interesting because they don’t really flesh out enough in the way that a lot of people might want from this kind of work. I do find that it works better if you’ve read the Catalyst novel as there are so many things that just up their level of importance in how some charcters act but the adaptation has to survive on its own. Houser does a solid enough job and Villanelli’s artwork is pretty good even if I don’t care for an artist change mid-series of an adaptation as consistency is important in the visual design of a title like this.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: June 7th, 2017
MSRP: $4.99
