It’s time to rebel.
Creative Staff:
Story: Jody Houser
Art: Emilio Laiso
Colors: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
Jyn Erso brings the news of the Death Star plans to the Rebellion…It seems her father built a way for the superweapon to be destroyed! But when the Rebellion refuses to help, Jyn is left only with a small crew of soldiers to fight. The Star Wars story continues!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
We’ve talked a bit about some of what Jody Houser as the writer has been “trapped” by in bringing this adaptation to life as it has to stick to what the film did but flesh out a few areas here and there. Though some may not think of it on first thought there is a lot that can be expanded upon in the foundations of it, which is what the Catalyst novel did and we get a few glimpses of that here, which is what I find most tantalizing and wish that we had that greater expansion/adaptation on in order to make this more engaging. This installment brings in Emilio Laiso on the art which reinforces my distaste for swapping artists out in a miniseries all the more as the consistency disappears. I like his work in general but it just doesn’t click well for me here.
The new pieces that play out in this installment are definitely ones that I like and they do help to expand things. The opening montage showing some of the past and present colliding with the destruction of the research base on Eadu is nicely done as we see Galen working on the project, Krennic’s masterful saving of Galen and his family from when they were political prisoners in the war against the Separatists, and their time on Coruscant where Krennic built an elaborate cage to trap Galen into his work, one that Lyra figured out long before her husband. These are intriguing parts that play well to Galen’s death thanks to the Rebel attack and it does put some conflict into Jyn’s mind in regards to it. But, as we see, she’s more intent on carrying through his will and the sacrifices of others to destroy this weapon that has been created through the secret he inserted into it.
We also get some nice expansion between K2SO and Bodhi as they hunt up a new ship amid the attack and we see how similar they are, both wearing Imperial logos but throwing off the chains that have bound them through their “programming.” It’s a neat avenue to explore for both and it seems like a great bond to build upon. A lot of the book works the adaptation fairly straightforward from there for the most part with just a few abrupt shortened areas here and there, but i did appreciate the time we get between Mon Mothma and Jyn that shows us what Mothma is going through while still trying to placate the various factions and play to her role as Senator and negotiator in this framework that’s not sure they can truly stand up to the Empire yet.
In Summary:
Adaptations are tricky for the most part and I tend to avoid them. I was interested in Rogue One simply because the film went through so many changes and I was curious what they would draw from, what would get expanded upon, and what might be different. There are some neat things in here and I love the little touches that tie to Catalyst and wish there were more to give it a deeper foundation to pull from. Houser keeps things moving well as we try to get a two hour film into six issues and Laiso does some solid work even if a number of his background characters simply don’t work for me in how they’re presented. Perhaps it’ll come together when read in full in a way that I can’t quite see yet in terms of the artwork.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: July 5th, 2017
MSRP: $4.99
