”I don’t want to see your face… I don’t want to hear your voice.”
Creative Staff
Original Story: Claudia Grey
Art & Adaptation: Yusaku Komiyama
Lettering: Abigail Blackman
What They Say
As the empire and the rebellion clash, the galaxy trembles!
In the wake of the obliteration of Alderaan, Thane’s faith in the Empire is shaken, while the destruction of the Death Star that soon follows gives Ciena a reason to rededicate herself to the side she’s chosen.
As their paths diverge, is love strong enough to overcome the distance growing between them?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Star Wars lore is so disgustingly vast and far-reaching that finding a side-story that resonates with you can be “stuck scrolling through Netflix suggestions” levels of frustrating. Not only is there an endless supply of stories, but there’s also an endless supply of medium to tell said stories through. So as someone relatively new to the expanded universe outside of the movies (I read a handful of the semi-recent Darth Vader comics and caught a couple Clone Wars episodes), Star Wars: Lost Stars is able to offer something definitive in that it’s a very focused story that’s able to tell its own thing while still giving a fair amount of nods to the source material without having said nods bog down the story any.
Based on the original novel of the same name, Lost Stars is a manga focusing on young upstarts Thane and Ciena. While both come from the same planet of Jelucan, the two had very different upbringings– Thane growing up in luxury, while Ciena among the lower class. But thanks to a chance encounter with a deceptively kind Tarkin, the two are encouraged to make something of themselves, and end up growing up to join the empire. The two’s shared experiences over the course of so many years is covered beautifully as we’re able to grow up with the two over such a short period of time. Seeing their upbringing, and tracking it through their time with the empire, you begin to truly see their reasoning behind joining what the original Star Wars has framed as such an irredeemably evil force of the galaxy. So many tiny moments of setup, building Thane and Ciena’s trust in the empire until it culminates in a key moment in both their lives: witnessing firsthand the Death Star’s destructive powers when it blows up the planet of Alderaan.
Beginning right from volume 1’s cliffhanger, it’s interesting to see Alderaan’s destruction in the manga for a number of reasons. What makes throwback moments to the source material work in side-stories like this is that instead of working as simple fan-service, it’s able to recontextualizes the event entirely. When Thane and Ciena see the Death Star utterly destroy Alderaan, we’re able to get a more firsthand experience of the event. Specifically, we get an emotional attachment to those on Alderaan because Thane’s former roommate Nash was originally from that planet. It’s a small wrinkle to a plot point fans are familiar with, but enough to dig deep into your psyche. Through the previous volume, you learn of the possibilities for progress that the Empire is able to provide. But through volume two’s opening chapter, you see how it’s equally capable of such unforgivable atrocities.
The only thing holding back this manga is how choppy its pacing can get at times, eager to get from point A to B without the use of much transition. The jump from the Death Star’s first attack to its destruction is lacking, and further makes Thane’s desertion from the empire feel that much more rushed. And yet, such pacing does suggest that the Empire is able to keep their people in line because of how constantly hectic their workload is. Whereas most under the Empire are so preoccupied from working from one task to the next, Thane is framed as the silent and thoughtful type. He hasn’t forgotten about Alderaan that quickly and thus ends up spending that much more time seeing if he’s able to justify any further actions aiding the Empire.
Meanwhile, Ciena takes an almost opposite approach emotionally when she realizes the Death Star was destroyed. Like Nash with Alderaan, Ciena’s old roommate Jude was a worker on the Death Star when it exploded, again recontextualizing a key series event to good effect. Upon learning of her close friend’s death, she vows to use her status in the Empire to find and destroy all signs of rebellion in the galaxy. Coming from a poorer upbringing than Ciena, it makes more sense for her to pride herself in her work in comparison to Thane, so even when you as the reader hate to see her further herself from Thane, it’s a change that works so well for the story itself.
Ciena’s character feels very nuanced in that it’s clear that she’s complicit with acts of extreme violence, yet each following act clearly begins to take its toll on her. She’s loyal to the Empire, but her loyalty continually gets challenged to greater extremes until it breaks her own family apart. Komiyama’s art in particular really brings Ciena’s internal struggles to light, as beautiful panel layouts and extreme closeups and overlapping text depict without words exactly what Ciena is going through mentally. Her beliefs are slowly wavering, and yet she refuses to decry the Empire because doing so would mean being in support of the rebels. There is no gray area for Ciena, and it’s this definitive approach to her ideals that makes her that much more interesting.
In Summary:
Star Wars: Lost Stars Volume 2 continues to weave a beautiful tale of a couple divided by the horrors of war. And while the pacing is jumbled a bit due to time skips here and there, the characters themselves are enough to support those shortcomings, making for a truly emotional story that I can’t wait to continue to its end.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A+
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: September 3, 2019
MSRP: $13.00
