An eclectic cast of characters.
Creative Staff:
Story: Jon Adams, Marc Guggenheim, Simon Spurrier
Art: Jon Adams, Andrea Broccardo, Caspar Wingard
Colors: Lee Roughridge, Dono Sanchez-Almara, Chris O’Halloran
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
What They Say:
Move over, Boba Fett. The most dangerous bounty hunter in the galaxy isn’t who you think. The cold, calculating assassin droid IG-88 had a deadly reputation. Wanted criminals should tremble in fear because IG-88 will stop at nothing to get the job done. But where did it come from? What does it want? Perfection might be a good place to start.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With two solid issues out so far for the Age of Rebellion run of the property, Marvel switches gears to bring us the special. This lets a trio of different creative teams get involved with characters that, in some cases, wouldn’t quite merit a full on story. Yoda’s the odd one out in this mix, I think, especially after getting some solid side story material for him in one of the previous series. The special has a pretty good group of people involved so we’ll cover each of the stories individually.
“The Long Game” comes from Simon Spurrier and Caspar Wingard as it tells a tale of IG-88. The droid has had stories before in comics but I like that we get to see him executing a larger long-game plan here that fits in. Spurrier presents him as a patient perfectionist that will bide his time and enjoys that the kill is often the reward itself. This allows him to hold information that others don’t have and there are moments where it comes in handy with ruses being played. It’s a solid story that gives us some fun action and a look at how that curious droid from Empire Strikes Back operates, especially with that group of bounty hunters that coalesced some during the Clone Wars period. Wingard handles the artwork well, which isn’t exactly easy as IG-88 isn’t the most dynamic or engaging character visually.
“The Trial of Dagobah” comes from Marc Guggenheim and Andrea Broccardo gives us a Yoda tale that serves up a small event just prior to Luke’s arrival on Dagobah. It’s a simple story that has Yoda leaving his hut in search of some food as his stocks are low and it’s done mostly through exposition. The reason why he doesn’t use a lightsaber anymore, the choices he made in the past, and how resourceful he is while waiting for an opportunity to make amends of some sort for his hubris. It’s a well-illustrated story and I like how well the colors capture this little swamp and seeing more of the land, but it’s thin in terms of story. It’s more character examination than anything else and it has a nice little “just before” moment overall as it sets up for events in the film.
“Stolen Valor” comes from Jon Adams for both writing and art and it’s the only story that doesn’t work for me. It’s an attempt at something lighter mixed in with far heavier material and that combined with Adams’ style just doesn’t click for me. Putting its focus on Porkins after a battle where he gets a glimpse of who the TIE pilot he just killed was, he only sees dark times ahead for himself in how he’s going to be changed by the war. Biggs, on the other hand, comes across poorly as an almost goofy pro-war kid excited by everything with no real grounding. There’s not a ton on the character in the original or with what was cut in the film, but this feels wildly out of character. To help Porkins, Biggs brings him to a ridiculous pleasure planet where they spend two weeks of downtime with all kinds of silliness that really did nothing for me. It does try to mix in a little Imperial problem along the way but Adams manages to continually undercut everything that happens.
In Summary:
Specials like this are always a mixed bag but I like them because you do get these smaller pieces told with characters that may not always get enough space, or any space, to have their tales told. IG-88 has a good story here that has me wanting more while Yoda is one that I wish we’d get something more detailed on going back to his younger days. I really wanted to like the final story as I like both Biggs and Porkins but they’re not served well here and a character like Biggs could do well to get a solid standalone serious story since there’s so much open potential with him. That last story just feels like a missed opportunity combined with a concept that belongs in some other series.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: April 17th, 2019
MSRP: $4.99
