A new glimmer of hope with a high price paid.
Creative Staff:
Story: Kieron Gillen
Art: Salvador Larroca
Colors: Guru e-FX
Letters: VC’s Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
The Rebellion of Mon Cala takes flight! With the Empire on its back foot, the Rebel Alliance is poised to rise up in defiance. Could their ultimate victory be at hand?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The conclusion to this storyline in the present is one that works well but like so many things in a war that spans as long as this one does, it has its highs and lows and comes with a price. Kieron Gillen has had a strong run since taking over the book from Jason Aaron but parts of this arc didn’t work as well for me as the portion taking place in the past in the Darth Vader series. It’s been fun and interesting but it leaned into some directions that didn’t work for me. Thankfully, it looked great throughout and I really wish that the last page here with Trios would be produced as some kind of print as I’d love to have that up on display with what it represents.
The Empire’s blockade is just another step in exacting vengeance on the Mon Cala for what they’re doing and their king in particular but it also keeps all the ships that are there from fleeing. There’s little the Falcon can do at this point as even getting word out is impossible. But what we saw happen before was enough to draw in Ackbar and the portion of the existing fleet that he commands to bring the battle to the Empire. It’s a solidly executed piece with some really good scenes that lets Larroca really drive home the ships and how the battle in space unfolds, though it’s light on the impact/casualties of it all. The Empire thinks they know what they’re facing and how easy it is to deal with the Mon Cala people but the problem is that their king is able to give them that extra push to really go the distance.
The time on board the Falcon is pretty nicely handled too as we get them trying to figure out to help and to participate in the battle, particularly since there are a lot of smaller craft in the mix. The good/bad mix that happens is that we get Han sending Luke and Leia into the turrets and Luke starts to remind her how it all operates. They’ve been flying together long enough and been on enough missions together that Luke should be smart enough to know better. Leia never had to prove herself to him to begin with and he should have seen that she’s more than capable for a long time now. She shuts him down easily enough and it’s stuff like this that has me wishing that the Bloodline novel focusing on her younger days and entry into the Rebellion that forged her. Her path in this storyline overall is good and shifting it for a few months at the end with her and Trios just cements it all the more.
In Summary:
The end of this arc is welcome because parts of it just did not click for me. It ends stronger than I expected but that comes from some good battles and a lot of solid Leia material that helps. Gillen does some solid stuff in exploring how the fleet got built up after the destruction of the Death Star and to see what happened to Mon Cala years after it was subjugated as seen in the other series. Larroca delivers more great pages once again and I just enjoy the look and flow of it a lot, particularly the final pages with Leia and Trios.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: All Ages
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: June 6th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
