Leia’s big wedding day gets some unwelcome fireworks as the Imperial fleet shows up on Arrochar, and the Rebels realize they’ve been double-crossed. But this bride is packing a blaster – will it be enough to survive the onslaught of the Empire’s troops? Spoilers ahead.
Star Wars #18 (DarkHorse.com profile) concludes the storyline on Arrochar – Leia was to marry Prince Kaspar as a way to secure an alliance with the world of Arrochar as a home for a Rebel Base. But Luke gets sent off with their mountain rangers on a symbolic mission, which ends with Luke realizing Arrocharian treachery with Obi-Wan’s help – they’ve called the Empire on Leia’s wedding day, and a bomb has ripped through the royal palace. Caught by this deception, will our heroes elude capture?
Review: It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed the ongoing Star Wars series by Brian Wood. Some of that was real life and some of that was a bit of fatigue with the series. But I’m back for the ending and we have X-Wings flying over a Disneyesque castle. And the Rebels triumph, at least enough to escape. And the traitors are made to pay. And yay, Mon Mothma and Leia take on squads of soldiers. boo – it’s mostly offscreen. So what’s not to like? Their salvation (Mon Mothma’s secret project) is a bit deus ex machina to me. We do get some setup for Hoth here, with Vader vowing to be there in person to make sure things don’t get screwed up again, and the use of the Rebel’s secret project: planetary ion cannons. Most of the surface and fighter battles feels like we see the beginning, then we just skip to the end, and miss out on the action, but I suppose they are saving the main action for the big fireworks at the end, in space, against the Imperial fleet. Some lovely panels there of the ship battle.
While I like the look and feel of the Arrochar world (slightly archaic), the art didn’t really catch me – I think part of it was catching the likenesses of the movie characters. Sometimes an artist focuses on slightly different features I’m used to, and then I get stuck by it, and so most of the movie characters just seemed off to me, from the Emperor down to Wedge. But the new characters like Prince Kaspar and the general and the Arrochar soldiers all look fine, as pencilled by Stéphane Créty, inked by Julien Hugonnard-Bert and colored by Gabe Eltaeb. Their real strength though is the ships and backgrounds. Some great shots of X-Wings in flight, the palace under attack, and the Rebel and Imperial fleets in action.
And there’s the cover art by Víctor Manuel Leza – there’s some great ‘ready for action’ poses that remind of the iconic movie posters but the likenesses of Han and Luke don’t quite feel right – and I’ve always been mystified by Wookiee fingers since they are always nearly covered over with long hair in other shots, but are are clearly seen here. But props for getting Wedge in there with a blaster, and slightly disheveled Leia still looking regal. But Han’s blaster (and his hand) just seem huge, like this is one of those Galactic Hero overproportioned figures.
Star Wars #18 delivers a decent ending to this story arc with some close calls and good action, but doesn’t quite hit all the marks. It just didn’t wow me that way that some other recent Star Wars comics have.