Monday, July 11, 2016

Star Wars: The Force Awakens #1

Many years ago, back when I was in college, I used to get my comics at Comics For Collectors on the Ithaca Commons in Ithaca NY. I finally got back to visit Ithaca during our current trip back to the US, and managed to stop in at Comics For Collectors at their current location, still right near the Commons in downtown Ithaca. I had the Kiddo with me, and he picked out a couple of Star Wars comics.

Title: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: August 2016
Writer: Chuck Wendig
Artist: Luke Ross
Colorist: Frank Martin
Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles
Editor: Heather Antos

Adaptations always present their own set of unique problems. A comic adaptation of a film is working with limited space, and so there are cuts and other adjustments that must be made. There is also the issue that the adaptation writers are usually working from some version of a script an not necessarily the finished cut of the film.

This series adapts the new Star Wars film, covering the beginning of the movie, through most of the action that occurs on the desert planet Jakku. Most of the film's new characters get introduced, while the cast who appeared in the original trilogy will appear in later issues of the adaptation.

The comic uses caption introductions for the characters, which comes off a bit clunky, but does give the advantage of getting everyone's name out immediately.

The art is good, and the characters as draw look like they appear on film (which can be hard to do well in film-to-comic adaptations). I felt like a really iconic visual toward the beginning was unfortunately cut, but the ending full-page panel is a perfect shot of another one of the movie's iconic moments.

As an overall story, I liked this better than any of the prequel films, and I found it to be at least as good as Return of the Jedi, probably better (I'll have to see how it holds up to multiple viewings), so I felt like the plot is solid. The adaptation looks good visually, and its pacing feels right.

Rating: 7/10

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