Star Wars: Chewbacca

Second of two gifts I bought for the Kiddo at Boocup, Kerry Place, Jingan, Shanghai, China.

Title: Star Wars: Chewbacca
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: January  2016
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Phil Noto
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Jordan D. White, Heather Antos
Cover: Phil Noto

Classic spaghetti-Western stranger-comes-to-town story with Chewbacca crash-landing on a planet (between the events of A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back) and meeting up with a girl who has just escaped imprisonment in a gangster's mining operation.

Writing Chewbacca is an interesting challenge, as his dialogue is restricted to wookie growls and roars, which leaves much of the storytelling in the hands of Zarro the escaped mine-worker. Fortunately, Zarro is a lot of fun, a nice mix of youthful idealism and brash snark.

The villains are less interesting, particularly Jaum, the rather generic gangster boss, who never really feels like he has a chance against the good guys.

There is a bit of backstory and character development for Chewie, but the focus is mostly placed squarely on Zarro, with Chewie as the strong and (not always) silent type.

A couple of other characters who come in later in the story felt a bit underused: Sevox, a blind tinkerer who sees through the eyes of a protocol droid, and the Imperial star destroyer captain Commander Kai both felt like they had a ton of unrealized potential, and it would be great to see either or both of them get more of a spotlight in another series.

Phil Noto's artwork is lovely. He does a great job with Chewbacca's expressions and body language, and I love the look of Zarro. His supporting characters all have excellent and distinctive designs as well.

Rating: 7.5/10

Star Wars: Han Solo

This was a Christmas present I bought for the Kiddo at Boocup, Kerry Place, Jingan, Shanghai, China.

Title: Star Wars: Han Solo
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: January  2017
Writer: Marjorie Liu
Penciler: Mark Brooks
Inker: Mark Brooks, Dexter Vines
Colorist: Sonia Oback, Matt Milla
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Jordan D. White, Heather Antos

This exceeded all expectations, in spite of the story being a tiny bit contrived.

Trade paperback collection of a limited series. Taking place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, this has Han recruited by Leia to infiltrate a high-stakes spacecraft race while smuggling several rebel spies, at least one of whom may be a traitor.

What made this great were the original characters introduced for this series, something that can often be a weak spot in these adaptations. In this case the supporting cast was excellent, especially the mysterious space-racing veteran Loo Re Anno, who absolutely steals the show. Several other rival racers are fun characters, and there's also some good interactions with the various rebel spies and operatives that Han encounters.

There's good consistent character development for Han, as well. Nothing shocking, but a lot of little insights in his internal monologue that runs through much of the story.

Chewie and Leia get good moments as well, and the artwork is excellent, with some clever page layouts especially in some of the racing sequences.

This is a fun adventure perfectly suited to Han's character.

Rating: 8.5/10

Infinity Countdown: Black Widow #1

I got this in June at Merrymac Comics and Games in Merrimack NH.

Title: Infinity Countdown: Black Widow
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: August, 2018
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Nik Virella, Brent Schoonover
Colorist: Chris Peter
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Cover:Yasmine Putri
Editor: Annalise Bissa, Jordan D. White

Black Widow has somehow ended up with the Space Stone, and she's found herself in "some kind of profoundly British nonsense" with Jamie Braddock on her trail in London. The infinity stone has given her teleportation powers, but that may not be enough to match Braddock's magical abilities, not to mention a legion of hooded cultists and some magically-controlled children. Natasha ends up getting help from a rather unlikely ally before all is said and done.

This was fun start to finish. I don't want to spoil, but the special guest star was completely unexpected and a very clever rendition of the character.

Although this is part of a crossover, the immediate story wraps up to a satisfying conclusion.

Black Widow dealing with magical foes is something I hadn't seem much of and it worked here way better than I would have expected.

Rating: 8.5/10

Darth Vader #1

The Kiddo picked this one out last summer at one of the Newbury Comics stores.

Title: Darth Vader
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: July 2016
Writer: Charles Soule
Penciler: Giuseppe Camuncoli
Inker: Cam Smith
Colorist: David Curiel
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover: Jim Cheung, Matthew Wilson
Editor: Jordan D. White, Heather Antos

This picks up directly from where Revenge of the Sith left off, showing us a newly-armored Vader who is still very much the young, angry man who was brought over to the dark side by Emperor Palpatine.

His initial quest is to gain a lightsaber of his own, and this apparently has to be done to old-fashioned way: by killing someone for it. Of course, with Order 66 already in the books, finding a Jedi may be harder than actually defeating one. As is usual at this stage in the saga, it's all pretty much a win/win for Palpatine.

There was a fun little callback (call-forward, really) to the climactic moment of Return of the Jedi, and the characters and setting look excellent. I didn't find myself all that invested in Vader as a lead character. He's still the whiny Annakin of the prequels here, and it looks like it's going to be a bit of a tall order for this solo (see what I did there?) series to make much of a change in that.

Rating: 5.5/10

Star Wars #33

Our travels in the US continue. We spent last weekend in Annapolis MD, where we attended my cousin's wedding. In addition to wedding-based activities, we toured the US Naval Academy, saw Spider-Man: Homecoming (loved it!), and stopped by Capital Comics, where the Kiddo picked out this recent Star Wars issue.

Title: Star Wars
Issue: 33
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: September, 2017
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Colorist: Edgar Delgado
Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles
Editor: Jordan D. White, Heather Antos
Cover: Mike Mayhew

This takes place between episodes 4 and 5, with Luke and Leia are stranded together on an uninhabited island located on a mostly-ocean planet.

Making the wise decision to completely ignore any potential awkwardness resulting from this scenario, the story focuses on Leia, whose narration adds some depth to her character while at the same time explaining how the Princess ended up with some wilderness skills.

This is a nice interlude without a lot of major plot implications. The visuals are good and the insights into Luke and Leia are interesting. There are enough twists to make a decent self-contained story.

Rating: 6/10


 

Darth Vader #21

Back to the random stack of unread comics. This is a fairly recent one that I got this past summer.

Title: Darth Vader
Issue: 21
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: August, 2016
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Colorist: Edgar Delgado
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Jordan D. White, Heather Antos

I am not ashamed to admit that the variant cover with the awesome action figure packaging design totally sold me on this comic. I love this cover theme! So much childhood nostalgia!

That being said, I knew nothing about the Darth Vader series going into this. Apparently it takes place between Episode IV and Episode V, and Vader is trying to get back into the good graces of Emperor Palpatine following the destruction of the Death Star. He is tasked with capturing Cylo, a mad scientist type who turned against the Empire (not to the rebel side, mind you, this guy appears to just be out for himself).

Meanwhile, there's a second plot involving Vader sending a pair of droids who are essentially heel versions of C3PO and R2D2 to retrieve a former ally of his who has gone into hiding.

The bad-guy droids are a little goofy, and it was odd to see Vader in a sort of solo-adventurer heroic role (although it's really no different than things he did all the time as Anakin).

There is also an issue of flavor that can be a problem for me with some Star Wars comics. Cylo's organic-mechanical ships didn't feel authentically Star Wars to me, for reasons I can't pin down to more than just "vibe". To be fair, I think that keeping the flavor of a tie-in when you're being asked to expand on the universe is really difficult. But the stuff involving Cylo still didn't feel to me like it fit.

That being said, the action was good, the dialogue was good, and the ending cliffhanger at least looked entertaining.

Rating: 5.5/10

True Believers: Star Wars #1

Picked this issue up at Comics for Collectors in Ithaca NY USA during our 2016 Father/Son Road Trip.

Title: True Believers: Star Wars
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: July 2016
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: John Cassaday
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Cover: John Cassaday, Laura Martin
Editor: Jordan D. White, Charles Beacham

This takes place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, with the regular crew of heroes attempting to infiltrate and take out an Imperial weapons factory.

Having read a lot of Star Wars comics, with many of them just feeling a bit "off", this was a pleasant surprise. Artist John Cassaday did a great job with the look of the characters, and writer Jason Aaron just nailed the character interactions and the overall flavor.

Cassaday also had some great-looking work on the action scenes, particularly on Chewbacca leaping to escape a collapsing platform and Leia punching out an Imperial officer.

A confrontation between Luke and Vader feels like a bit of a tease given the restrictions of continuity, but if you can put that aside, this is a really fun bit of space adventure that fits the Star Wars universe perfectly.

Rating: 8/10

Poe Dameron #1

I stopped in at Newbury Comics in Manchester NH during our wanderings on our summer US visit, and got the first two issues of this series for the Kiddo, who continues to be a big Star Wars fan.

Title: Poe Dameron
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: June 2016
Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Phil Noto
Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles
Editor: Heather Antos, Jordan D. White

In this Star Wars: The Force Awakens preview, Poe Dameron is searching for clues to Luke Skywalker's whereabouts, along with BB-8 and a new "Black Squadron" team of Resistance pilots.

After flying through a maze of caves, Poe finds himself in a tense standoff with a group that stands guard over a mysterious egg.

I liked the handling of the negotiations between Poe and the cave-dwellers. Neither side really wants to fight, but it's still a tense situation.

The new characters in Poe's squadron only get brief introductions, but it's enough to make them interesting. The hints of a possible traitor among them are a little heavyhanded, but I did like the snippets of history that added to the backstory for The Force Awakens.

This was a good start to a nice original story that fits in well with the new film.

Rating: 7.5/10

Ultimate Spider-Man Premier Comic #1

Random freebie book from the backlog.

Title: Ultimate Spider-Man Premier Comic
Issue: 1
Date: May, 2012
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Chris Eliopoulis, Paul Dini
Editor: Jordan D. White

This is a freebie-edition comic adaptation of the first episode of the Ultimate Spider-Man animated TV Show, which runs on the Disney Channel.

This is primarily a reboot. It doesn't cover the traditional origin story, although it does mention those events in several places. Instead, it is set about a year into Peter Parker's career as Spider-Man, and the main plot point is an offer for Spider-Man to join SHIELD.

This is very much set in Marvel's cinematic universe, and there are plenty of references dropped throughout the story.

I liked most of the characters in this. Flash Thompson comes off as a bit one-dimensional (though no more so than in his early appearances in The Amazing Spider-Man). But otherwise, the characters were fleshed out nicely. Even Aunt May was given some good details to work with.

The villains were the Frightful Four, and they were not particularly effective. Fortunately there were some bigger threats lurking in the background.

The book is illustrated with cells directly from the episode, and it's a bit hit-or-miss, especially in the fight scenes. There were a few moments in the climactic fight that really needed a big panel, and a few moments where it was hard to tell what was going on.

Rating 5/10