The last mission before it all changes.
Creative Staff:
Story: Jody Houser
Art: Roge Antonio, Juan Gedeon
Colors: Arif Prianto, Dono Sanchez-Almara
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
THE EMPIRE STRIKES! The mission is to deal a devastating blow to THE REBELLION. Can the squadron come together in time to complete the mission? And will any survive the fight?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The final issue of this miniseries brings us to an interesting point in the timeline, one that not all of the miniseries manage to do in being clear where they stand sometimes – especially at the start. Jody Houser had a pretty interesting job with this series in trying to make TIE pilots likable so that you’d want to follow their story, which is a bit harder in the present-day climate. While you don’t really rally for them as time goes forward, you understand them a bit better and you see the struggles they had with the work they did and how it was presented to them. There’s a lot of propaganda and structural things that bring people to the ranks as they don’t know the bigger reality. The book continues to look good through the end, especially since so much of what makes up this book is dogfight combat. We do get a nice bonus mini story at the end that adds a little more color to things as well, which is always welcome.
With new recruits right out of the academy thrown into the ranks of an already problematic squadron, the team has been given the mission to go after a rebel recruitment base. It’s a pretty big deal since there’s a good sense of betrayal in the mix about how people could turn and that those doing so are truly evil, weakening the will of the people as seen through the eyes of an Imperial citizen – especially if they’re from the core worlds. The big rebel ship plays as a prize that’s hard to get and the battles are quite good as they play out as you get some that are almost wanting to go out killing themselves to make a difference while the newbies are struggling to keep up with the veteran pilots. It’s not filled with glory or what’s considered big wins but rather just the sense of an ongoing war against a side they view as evil.
With this tied to a book, I do like that events end here with the team back on the Pursuer, dealing with the after-battle events, only to discover that the rebels have destroyed the new Death Star and that the Emperor is dead. Watching the shell shock hit them differently, wondering what to do, and then leaning into the chain of command is something that’s definitely worth following. It’s not a surprise that the leadership will push for following the chain of command as that eases the pressure on the rank and file and even the lower-level group captains like Teso here, as they just have to let the 204th leadership figure it out. It’s an interesting way to end the series and set up for what’s next as there are a lot of stories to tell about the aftermath of the Battle of Endor, or whatever it is that it’s called from the Imperial point of view.
In Summary:
The Star Wars: TIE Fighter series did a lot of interesting things with its characters and situations, giving us a look at life on the other side while not really trying to have it both ways like some of the Clone Wars elements did. The way that everyone viewed how the galaxy works, their allegiances and loyalties, the structure and training of it all, it covered some good ground while never making it feel like it was something that should be viewed as aspirational. I liked the characters in general as they were interesting to watch and that some would lose their lives along the way gave the story a bit more edge. The book had strong artwokr throughout it even with some changes along the way on the artistic team side but it excelled as the dogfight battles which were always a big part of the original trilogy and the first film itself. I’m definitely curious to see more of the novel side of this but I thoroughly enjoyed the comic series itself.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: August 21st, 2019
MSRP: $3.99
