The mission is above all else.
Creative Staff:
Story: Jody Houser
Art: Roge Antonio, Josh Cassara
Colors: Arif Prianto, Neeraj Menon
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
BETRAYAL AMONG THE RANKS! The TIE Fighter pilots of SHADOW WING come under fire from what appear to be their fellow IMPERIALS! Has the influence of THE REBELLION stretched further than anticipated? Or is there something more sinister at work?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The opening installment of TIE Fighter worked nicely in giving us something different to chew on and something that was connected back to the Han Solo: Imperial Cadet series a bit with some of the characters involved. Jody Houser has quickly become my favorite of the Star Wars writers with the sheer volume of engaging books she’s been involved with and TIE Fighter works some nicely complicated material. This issue has two stories in it with Roge Antonio handling the artwork for the main one while Josh Cassara handles the backup story that’s kind of a one-off that connects to the past. Both present some good looking pages here but the use of a backup is just jarring at first because you feel like you read the main book way too fast and wondered if you missed something.
The main thrust of the book involves the Shadow Wing unit dealing with an attack on their ship by the Star Destroyer they were sent to deal with. It’s a complex situation in how they’re attacked and overwhelmed with superior numbers so quickly that Teso is able to grasp quickly that they’re outmatched here completely. With the belief that Rebels have taken over the ship, it’s better to surrender and try something else in order to come out on top. Of course, Teso’s actual commander back on the base ship is more intent on getting away in one piece and basically sacrifices all of his TIEs in the fight to do so – even while being warned there’s almost no chance of a successful getaway. It’s the kind of cowardly moment that you know would happen as there’s always that level of “management” that makes it into command positions and are unable to do the hard thing in fighting when fleeing seems like it might save their neck.
For Teso, that has the team surrendering even if you know that he has something else in mind. The reality of the situation as they head to the mining colony world below reveals something far different in that this group of Imperials have opted to follow an admiral that’s essentially creating his own fiefdom and claiming it as his own because of his years of service. It’s an amusing bit of semantics that plays out at times but I really enjoy how everyone goes along with Teso, hoping he has a plan. It makes sense to try and play at converting sides but knowing how this group feels about loyalty, what happened to their last command, and the way they’re basically molded to follow through on a mission means they’ll be fighting. Teso really does come across well here as he frames everything as doing what they have to in order to survive and complete the mission as the primary goal that it’s pretty believable.
In Summary:
The backup story is a simple piece focusing on Lyttan and his twin brother which provides a nice callback to the Solo series where we even get to see Han from it. But the main story here is what’s driving things and it’s a solidly fun one. The misdirection that’s employed by the pilots is handled pretty well and it fits in with the elite status, which means the admiral shouldn’t be trusting them in the slightest. The battle sequence is pretty solid and I like the way the Shadow Wing group composes themselves, falling in line behind Teso and having a lot of options on hand that others won’t realize. I do think that this will be a series that will read better in full with twists like this but it’s genuinely fun and engaging month to month that I’m eager to see what’s next and don’t want to wait. But that’s where I am with most of Jody Houser’s books these days.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: May 15th, 2019
MSRP: $3.99
