Past and present begin to collide.
Creative Staff:
Story: Jason Aaron
Art: Salvador Larroca
Colors: Edgar Delgado
Letters: VC’s Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
A problem, Yoda has. A big problem.Strong with the stonepower, this problem is. But judge it not by its size, will he.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This arc of the series has definitely been interesting and in a lot of ways it has reinforced my desire to get more stories from the past. We’ve had a few here and there but there’s such a richness to work with that it’s frustrating that we don’t have more books out in general. Jason Aaron’s tle is a slow moving one here to be sure but it’s delivering well in a kind of fable-like way that makes it engaging. But, truthfully, it’s Salvador Larroca’s artwork that makes it work the best because there’s just such a rich look about it amid the bleakness of it all that I’m just drawn into all the more. Particularly thanks to Edgar Delgado’s color work as that really needs to be done just right in a story like this that’s so focused on the blue’s of it all from the mountain.
Yoda and Garro’s journey took them to the literal heart of the mountain the last time around as they were sent in to discover the truth, though none have ever returned and we saw what became of many of them. Discovering that the mountain was actually a life form of some sort was no surprise nor that we’d have Yoda spending his time here communing with it to try and reach through and understand it. It’s a solid piece that explores an expected route with creatures that strode the world but were taken down by the people underneath. Seeing them retreat under the ground and become literal mountains in many ways, and this being the last one that hasn’t been fully torn down and mined, is fairly chilling and the visual design for it all really reinforces that.
Where the book goes from there is where it feels a bit odd but interesting. Yoda’s attempt at trying to just leave so that things work themselves out as they have been, with both sides simply dying off eventually, is thwarted by Garro as he works to train the Rockthrowers to help raise the mountain and conquer the world. It sets up for a pretty impressive fight with the mountain ready to stomp on Yoda but instead cuts to the present as Luke discovers where the world is. I liked the way the book has been working through it from a Luke>Obi-Wan>Yoda angle and now bringing Luke in full to discover the truth simply by going there. And admitting that he should have finished reading the book from Obi-Wan first, which is really a huge, gaping, weak point in the story. What he finds there is no surprise but it looks like a pretty interesting finish is coming up and it helps to reinforce why he viewed Yoda as a great warrior upon searching for him in Empire Strikes Back.
In Summary:
Admittedly, this arc has been all kinds of non-standard in a way compared to what else Marvel has been producing for Star Wars material, but it has been a lot of fun to read even if predictable in many ways beyond the obvious of Yoda surviving and whatnot. This issue again delivers big on the Larroca and Delgado artwork and that alone is worth the price of admission for me. Aaron’s bringing it more formally into the present with Luke and that has me interested in seeing the fallout from that and getting closer to being on track with another storyline. I want more stories like this but I also want it to be in its own separate series of miniseries or something as opposed to taking up this much space in the main book where there’s still so much to explore.
Grade: B
Age Rating: All Ages
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: March 1st, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
