Star Wars (2015) #1

In January 2015, Marvel Comics returned to publishing Star Wars comics in a big way.  Star Wars #1 was a tremendous success, with a myriad of variant covers and multiple printings; there have been over 1 million copies printed.  What about the story inside?  Is the comic worth picking up?  Hopefully this review will help answer those questions.

Star Wars #1a - Marvel Comics, U.S. (January 2015)

Summary

The story opens with a page with the familiar "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." followed by a 2 page spread of the words Star Wars.  The subsequent page has the familiar Star Wars crawl titled Book I Skywalker Strikes and goes on to explain how the Rebels want to press their advantage against the Empire after the destruction of the Death Star.  We then see a ship approach an Imperial facility on Cymoon 1.  Han Solo, Princess Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, and R2-D2 depart the shuttle and Han Solo introduces himself as a representative of Jabba the Hutt.  Leia and Luke are in disguise and Chewbacca is hiding nearby.  We also learn that C-3PO is watching the Millenium Falcon, also located nearby.  Han talks to Imperial Overseer Aggadeen and we learn the Imperial facility is the Empire's largest weapons factory and the Rebels hijacked Jabba's real negotiator.  Han is pretending to be the negotiator sent by Jabba and the Imperial explains there will be no negotiations, but they will impose their terms on Jabba.  Once inside the base, the Rebels spring into action to destroy the weapons facility.  Han, Leia, and R2-D2 work on destroying the base while Luke standing guard discovers Imperial prisoners which he frees.  Meanwhile, outside, Chewbacca reports the arrive of an Imperial Shuttle with Darth Vader aboard.  Leia orders Chewbacca to kill Vader, but Vader repels the attack, although his cadres of Stormtroopers are not so lucky.  We learn C-3PO's job is to engage the Falcon's autopilot to help the Rebels escape, but the Falcon, hidden in a refuse field, is being dismantled by scavengers.  Han devises another plan to use an AT-AT to escape in instead.  Luke Skywalker sense Darth Vader's presence at the base and comes face to face with him on the last page.

The Good

Marvel did themselves a huge favor by using the main characters in their first story.  Dark Horse spent years trying to tell different stories with other characters and only had minor success.  To appeal to a larger audience only familiar with Star Wars from the movies, this comic is a terrific introduction.

The introduction pages are obviously inspired by the movies and are welcome.  Having every issue of the comic start off this way would be superfluous, but having every arc start this way would be terrific.

The plan setup by the Rebels feels right and the characters are used effectively in the plan.  I like that the story draws on many elements of Star Wars and does not just rely on those elements introduced in first movie.  Having our heroes start off with a confrontation with the Empire does not feel forced and Han Solo, Princess Leia, R2-D2, and Chewbacca are used well in this story.  Darth Vader showing up in the first issue is a nice surprise and the cliffhanger ending is used effectively here.

My favorite moment is when Leia orders Chewbacca to kill Vader.  After what she went through on the Death Star, this feels like a natural reaction she would have.  Additionally, having Chewbacca kill all the Imperials except for Darth Vader was a cool scene!

The Bad

There are some changes to the Star Wars story that do not resonate well with me.  Having it be generally known that the Death Star existed, let alone that is was destroyed is one.  Additionally, having Han Solo embrace his role as a Rebel this early feels off.  After the destruction of the Death Star, Han Solo and Chewbacca need to leave and should be brought back into the Rebellion organically.  Finally, having Luke Skywalker confront Darth Vader so early also feels forced.  It makes sense that Marvel wants to distance themselves from past Star Wars stories, but this story does not feel like it fits between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back seamlessly.  To get to situation as seen in The Empire Strikes Back, there is going to need to be some developments, including a Rebellion that is on its heels and not able to carry out bold attacks against the Empire.

Notice that I mentioned all the characters are used well except for Luke Skywalker.  For a story titled Skywalker Strikes, Luke has surprisingly little reason to be part of the planned attack on the weapons factory.  Luke discovers the prisoners, who presumably will have a larger role in subsequent issues, and he is instrumental in the cliffhanger ending, but both situations occur because Luke "wanders off" and not because he is engaged in the Rebel operation.  I suspect Luke's role will increase with subsequent issues in this arc, but so far it feels more like a Han Solo Strikes story.

This is more a complaint against modern comic story telling techniques, but not much happens in this story.  This is a biased based on my love of the original Marvel Star Wars comics, but the events in this comic would have occurred in 4-6 pages in an original Marvel issue.  Additionally, the lack of thought balloons and text boxes is overcome by having C-3PO speak dialogue to explain the situation.  Unfortunately, much of this dialogue does not sound like C-3PO.

Conclusion

Overall, I feel Marvel is off to a strong start with the new Star Wars title and it is understandable they want to break with the past stories from the Expanded Universe.  I am not keen on modern comic story telling because it limits the tools that a writer can use to convey the story.  Regardless, most of the characters are used effectively and I have high hopes that Luke Skywalker will have a purpose for being in this story.  The cliffhanger ending alone will draw me back just to see how Marvel will resolve this situation without trampling on a main part of The Empire Strikes Back.