It’s really not about revenge. Really. Honest.
Creative Staff:
Story: Kieron Gillen
Art: Andrea Broccardo
Colors: Guru e-FX
Letters: VC’s Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
THE SCOURGING OF SHU-TORUN: ROAD TO REVENGE! How is LEIA going to scourge SHU-TORUN? She’ll need an all-star team…and a plan they won’t see coming!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Kieron Gillen gets his final arc underway here and it’s one that ties back to some of his earliest work in the Star Wars universe with a focus on Sho-Torun. I’ve enjoyed Gillen’s work overall, though I think his Vader time was the strongest, but bringing characters like Aphra into existence and the exploration of a post-Rogue One Jedha has been incredibly worthwhile in nudging up the property as a whole. Andrea Broccardo is handling the art duties on this installment as they did in the previous one and it’s again a bit of a mixed bag. There’s a lot I like in some of the more unique elements of the series with backgrounds and alien designs and the like, but the character designs are so hit or miss. One panel has a decent looking Luke or Leia, the next they look like they’re a few years younger and rounder in the face. It’s distracting enough to take me out of the book, which isn’t good.
Leia’s made her play with the higher-ups about dealing with Sho-Torun after what happened to the fleet and made it clear it’s not about revenge, but rather an economic strike against the Empire. It can be two things. She spends a good deal of this book reinforcing that it’s about the strike to those she’s recruiting and it does get a little comical along the way, but she is appealing to a lot of self-interest as she deals with a range of players that have come mostly during Gillen’s run so far. I do like that right from the start she makes it clear to the core group that it can’t be just about them because it requires a lot of different pieces that she put together while they were all in limbo for a while and it has a kind of Rogue One feeling about it as this odd team comes together for the mission – a mission which is not fully defined yet. All she really says is that it will strike at what Sho-Torun is but it won’t hurt any of the people, it won’t make her a Vader, in one of the more amusing lines of the book.
The book does have its fun as they need a shapeshifter, which means Tunga is among the first to be recruited. He’s actually putting on a play regarding the events on Mon Cala, which of course is going to get shut down by the Empire, which is timed nicely to Luke’s rescue. We also get some amusement in seeing Meorti brought on as the slicer as she’s working on the Falcon and talks a bit about how she left that life behind because of the terrible stories. So it’s no surprise she gets caught up in it. My favorite elements, however, involve the core group heading to Jedha. Leia’s there to recruit the Partisans, to give them a new way of channeling their desire to hurt the Empire as there is no point in protecting Jedha any longer. That’s strong in itself but we also get Luke off to see his “death cult” only to discover they’re not there anymore. I do like his explanations to Han as to why he fell in with them and what he gained from it, but you also know this cult is going to show up as a really bad omen elsewhere sooner rather than later.
In Summary:
I’ve loved the expansions to the Star Wars universe that Kieron Gillen has brought to it and I’m excited to see where his final arc in the mainline book will take it. There’s a lot of ties that can be bound up here from across the run of a few books while also setting the stage for how the Rebellion bounces back and evolves after recent events. Leia’s in full take charge mode here and everyone is on board with the motley crew she’s assembled that I’d love to see done in an actual film. There’s a lot to like here with the story and some good bits and pieces with the visual design of it, though that’s at the moment the weak link in things as it’s still trying to deal with really capturing the look of the actors more than being fully on-model.
Grade: B
Age Rating: All Ages
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: March 6th, 2019
MSRP: $3.99