Friday, May 13, 2016

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope Volume 2 (Hardcover Library Edition)

Another volume from my school library's extensive Star Wars graphic novel collection, brought home by the Kiddo.

Title: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Issue: Volume 2
Publisher: Lucas Books, Dark Horse Comics, Spotlight
Date: 2010
Writer: George Lucas, Bruce Jones
Penciler: Eduardo Barreto
Inker: Al Williamson, Carlos Garzon
Colorist: Cary Porter
Letterer: Steve Dutro
Cover: Dave Dorman
Additional Art: Adam Hughes, Matthew Hollingsworth

This volume, adapting the original Star Wars film, begins with the Death Star's arrival at Alderaan, and covers all of the subsequent action that takes place aboard the Death Star, up to the Millennium Falcon's escape into space.

With the addition of Princess Leia to the combination of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, the snappy dialogue gets upped a notch, as Han finally has someone who can match his snark. The comic script is hit-and-miss with this, keeping some of the best lines, but noticeably cutting others for space. It's effective in terms of keeping the pacing of the action, but serious fans are going to want to read every good line.

The action feels a bit choppy within the limitations of the graphic novel. The Stormtroopers never seem like a major threat to the heroes, although that's really the case in the movie too.

This volume makes better use of occasional bigger panels than some others in this series, but still suffers from the limitations of trying to get all of the action into a limited page count.

Eduardo Barreto and Al Williamson do a nice job with the look of the characters, and their work of the setting and scenery of the Death Star is spot-on. Dave Dorman's cover is fantastic, and the extra pin-up art by Adam Hughes and Matthew Hollingsworth is a nice bonus.

Rating: 6/10


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