A long-range plan finally shifts into motion.
Creative Staff:
Story: Kieron Gillen
Art: Salvador Larroca, Giuseppe Camuncoli
Colors: Guru e-FX
Letters: VC’s Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
IN THIS ISSUE…HOPE DIES. The REBEL FLEET is completed. It’s magnificent. It’s beautiful. It’s secret. But no secret is kept for long from DARTH VADER. The most epic story yet done in a STAR WARS comic begins here. Prepare to witness the Empire TRULY strike back.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While other Star Wars ongoings have reset along the way, this series has now hit its fiftieth installment and Kieron Gillen is going big with it as we launch the Hope Dies arc. Gillen has definitely breathed some new and different life into the series since taking over and his work with Salvador Larroca continues to be great as we get something of a movie aesthetic at times combined with a lot of neat details that ties everything together. This installment also features a backup story of sorts with Giuseppe Camuncoli handling the art that kind of explains away the obvious. It’s something that’s not bad in itself but I’m not sure it was quite necessary. But if you’re going to expand things for a 50th issue, that’s one good way to do it.
The celebratory side of the issue plays well with the Rebellion now having a decent sized fleet to work with. Having a party may seem a little odd to a degree but it’s some useful politics that Leia picked up from her father during the very early days of the Rebellion in order to bring people to your side. As she notes here, more and more are coming on board since the Death Star reveal with what it did – though many more don’t believe the stories about it and are just treating it as Rebel propaganda. Here, Leia’s got many that are on their side and reaffirming that they are capable of fighting back by showing off the fleet made up of all sorts of people and races from across the galaxy. While a good chunk are refitted Mon Cala ships, there’s a good sense that the Rebellion is in it to push back with targeted strikes to do damage and win over more to the cause. That makes it easier to back them, even in private.
Of course, there has to be a hook. While we get some fun in seeing Han working a deal elsewhere in the galaxy that results in him being chased by some bounty hunters and we see look at the celebration doing some fun X-Wing maneuvers in order to add to the spectacle, Leia’s laying out how involved Trios was in orchestrating the functionality of the fleet is way, way, too heavy of foreshadowing. So much so that I have to hope that even Leia can see it and planned for it. So when the fleet gets ready to show what it can do we end up with none of the ships working in terms of flight, weapons, docking bay doors, or light speed. And just as Vader and a significant chunk of at least one of the fleets arrives in order to take them down – when they’re full of enough fear to really make it worthwhile. It’s beautiful in execution but the obviousness of it just leaves me cringing a bit.
In Summary:
The main story sets up a strong enough foundation for the craziness ahead in this arc that I don’t know that the backup story was really needed to show how Vader seeded this situation. It’s a fun little bit and I just love seeing more of Trios and Vader interact, and the simple casual brutality of both of them, but it was all pretty much implied. The main book is fun and I’m hopeful that Han will have a good run in this arc to help out and that we get some neat twists and turns as more of the recent past is brought into it. Gillen and Larroca have been nailing this book for some time so I have a lot of faith overall and can’t wait to see what the rest of this arc reveals.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: All Ages
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: July 4th, 2018
MSRP: $5.99
