Betrayal abounds.
Creative Staff:
Story: Ethan Sacks
Art: Luke Ross
Colors: Lee Roughridge
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
BEFORE THE EXCITING EVENTS OF STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER! Hounded by the FIRST ORDER across the galaxy, the RESISTANCE is in dire need of ships, weapons and recruits to make a final stand against KYLO REN’S forces. Desperation drives a delegation led by GENERAL LEIA ORGANA and REY to entreat the Rebel veteran’s one-time allies, THE MON CALAMARI, to join the fight.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Allegiance series got off to a decent start the last time around as we got a feel for things post-The Last Jedi in seeing how the Resistance is attempting to come back. This installment provides some insights into how things we’ve seen in the trailers for Rise of Skywalker will play out and I like that we get it here, something that will likely be a throwaway line in the film but is fleshed out more for the readers. Ethan Sacks juggles a few storylines here but it continues to feel like Leia’s is the central one, which I’ve got no issues with. Luke Ross, as I’ve been lucky enough to say in a great many reviews, continues to turn in some strong looking Star Wars work once again, especially as we take these characters to the next level in their story.
Leia’s tale of being on Mon Cala in order to secure help with ships and pilots makes sense as she has a longtime connection here, was involved in saving their world, and served long with one of their most respected heroes. The problem is that (as written in the books) since her being outed during her time in the Senate as the daughter of Vader, she has far less pull than she used to across the galaxy. And the Mon Cala are wary after what Vader did there and the Quarren are practically ready to keelhaul her on the spot. Leia does get some decent time working with Ackbar’s son for help in meeting with the King and getting a feel for things while making her plea. Sadly, the story shifts to the Quarren staging an attack on Rey and the others that escorted here because they’re making the big play to align with Hux and the First Order.
We don’t get a lot of time with the First Order but they have arrived at the shipyards of Fondor where they’re taking firm control of it in order to expand their fleet – something that even the Empire didn’t as the shipyards usually remain neutral and serve any who buy. But that being a theme in TLJ means it gets worked over here as Kylo takes control of it to show they’ve learned from the mistakes of the Empire. Which makes Poe and Finn’s storyline kind of comical as they’re on Avedot, eventually dealing with bounty hunters, but first finding the weapons cache. Initially, it looks like Republic-era stuff such as snowspeeders and the like but we get a small glimpse of some other New Republic era stuff, but not enough to really say it’s worthwhile.
In Summary:
There’s a good bit of material going on here that moves us through different phases of what’s serving as setup for the final film in the trilogy and the Skywalker saga itself. It’s a great way to expand on Leia’s story and it ties back to events from the novels in a good way as well. Poe and Finn’s story is the weaker piece for me here but I’m hoping it’ll gain in importance as it progresses. And I do like what we see of Kylo and Hux as it hints as to the reason why things turn around as much as they do from the bits we’ve seen in the trailers. Two more installments to go!
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 9+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: October 16th, 2019
MSRP: $4.99
