“The Calculus of Loss”
Creative Staff:
Story: Charles Soule
Art: Andres Genolet
Colors: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
The calculus of loss! The price of freedom is examined, as the Rebel Alliance comes to understand the true scope of the threat against it. Threepio enters into aggressive negotiations, and Luke Skywalker embarks upon a desperate mission that will test his growing Jedi skills to the limit.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The series has done some solid work in playing with its sizable cast in engaging ways but this one takes us back to the core cast with a focus on Luke. With it getting closer to the shift to the Return of the Jedi film, things are falling into place more and it’s almost kind of amusing how they’re trying to provide nods to certain elements. Charles Soule does a solid job as always but it’s definitely interesting going into this after watching the first half of Andor and wanting to feel more of that kind of property than the kind of lighter touch here. This issue has Andres Genolet on board for the artwork again, and his presence overall works well with it. There’s usually some solid consistency in the Star Wars artists overall for the “house” style that we get and.Genolet gets that easily while still keeping their own particular take on things mixed into it, giving it an appealing look overall.
With the Crimson Dawn agents having gotten out a signal, we’re seeing how that’s being handled by the fleet. It’s interesting in a kind of basic way as some are rightly dismissive of it because of how many of those they get while Luke thinks it should be followed up. Hera certainly understands the ways of the Jedi just based on Kanan so she’ll lean into his side a bit but does the right thing by asking questions instead of just outright trust. And Mon Mothma certainly is playing things as she needs to for the fleet as a whole. I really don’t like the idea of Luke on Coruscant as they opt to go with here as he claims he can do things that others can’t, which is true, but this requires a whole other level of delicacy that we’re going to gloss over. Which is how this side of Star Wars plays, which is fine, but Andor is leaving me with that taste of finally wanting things to mature up a bit more.
With Melton, Bevelyn, and the kids, we see how they’re able to buy some time after the crash but it sets Imperials on them pretty quickly with him blowing up the ship and being seen by some. That sets a decent chase in the non-descript lower levels, essentially tunnels, and we see some of what lives down there as well. Luke’s arrival is the game-changer and I am amused that his wearing of the Imperial officer uniform and the compliments he gets for how he looks explains his shift to wearing black in Return of the Jedi. His lightness here again betrays a naive aspect of the character that’s both charming and off-putting considering the work he’s doing and viewing that with how he becomes decades later resonates all the more. There’s still that glint of adventure in his eye as he works to save this family and bring them back for the information they have but it also highlights a difference between those in the harder part of the fight to the way he’s able to practically breeze in.
In Summary:
I know I’m going to have to re-shift my perceptions going back into a number of the comics and such with how Andor is giving me something that I consider magical, but I can definitely enjoy this as there are a lot of fun things to it and it moves well and has a breezy script that delivers all the right things. I’m not sure if the comic fans want something that would be more serious and executed in such a way or if they just want to stick to the adventurous spirit that populates the film narrative. I do like the nod to the uniform and there is something darkly amusing about him adopting the look of the Empire to end the Empire, but that feeds into the whole idea that we either die the hero or live long enough to become the villain trope.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 9+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: October 12th, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
