Star Wars: Allegiance

Bought at Boocup, Kerry Parkside, Shanghai, China.

Title: Star Wars: Allegiance
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2019
Writer: Ethan Sacks
Artist: Luke Ross
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles
Editor: Mark Paniccia, Tom Groneman
Cover: Marco Checchetto

This was really odd. It's a prequel to Rise of Skywalker, but it's very clear that the writer of this story had been given no information on the plot of Rise of Skywalker, and so in hindsight, it reads like the prequel to what everyone expected Rise of Skywalker to be, rather than the prequel to what we actually got.

No mention of Palpatine, of course, because, well, that would have been a spoiler at the time this was released.

The result is a rather uneven mixing of two separate plots. Finn and Poe (with BB8) try to retrieve some weaponry for the Resistance and end up hunted by bounty hunters. And Leia visits Mon Cala with Chewie, Rey, 3PO, R2, and Rose on a diplomatic mission.

Complications of the usual sort arise in both scenarios, and there are a few good moments for some of the characters, along with a fair amount of wasted potential. I'm always here for Rose getting to be part of the action, and was happy to see her shine in a few places, but much like in Rise of Skywalker itself, she still spent too much time standing around with nothing to do. I also thought there was a bit too much playing into the hothead side of Rey's persona. Leia came off as a good diplomat, but we expect brilliance out of Leia.

The story also leaned a bit heavily into tired cliches. Trial by combat? Really?

The crew of bounty hunters introduced in the Poe/Finn subplot were the most interesting people in the story, although that was due in some respect to novelty.

Rating: 4/10

Star Wars: Han Solo: Imperial Cadet #1

A Christmas gift to the Kiddo, bought at Merrymac Games and Comics in Merrimack NH.

Title: Star Wars: Han Solo: Imperial Cadet
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: January  2019
Writer: Robbie Thompson
Artist: Leonard Kirk
Colorist: Arif Prianto
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover: David Nakayama
Editor: Mark Paniccia, Tom Groneman

This series fills in the gap in Solo: A Star Wars Story where Han is in the Imperial military. Actually, the first nine pages just adapt early scenes from the film, which I found a bit frustrating, since Marvel already has a separate series adapting the film.

From there, Han gets the bootcamp experience, complete with a lot of silliness in which everyone insists on calling recruits by their number, rather than their name, and then no one seems to be able to stick to it.

We get glimpses of a few character that seem like they have some potential, but the interactions are hurried in order to fit in an action scene where Han tries to steal a TIE fighter.

I get that young Han is supposed to be foolish, desperate, and impulsive, but the whole scene makes very little sense, and the punchline it sets up is not a particularly satisfying one.

This was a glimpse into a chapter in Han Solo's life that I really didn't need.

Rating: 4/10

Star Wars: The Last Jedi #3

The Kiddo picked this one out over the summer. I don't recall which store we got it at.

Title: Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Issue: 3
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: August 2018
Writer: Gary Whitta
Artist: Michael Walsh
Colorist: Mike Spicer
Letterer: VC's Travis Lanham
Cover: Phil Noto
Editor: Mark Paniccia, Tom Groneman

I love Phil Noto's cover featuring Finn, Rose, and DJ.

This chapter of the film adaptation is focused primarily on Rey's interactions with Kylo Ren, and Finn and Rose's mission to Cantonica. This includes my some of my favorite Rose scenes.

As with the first issue (reviewed here), the adaptation looks good and gets the visuals right on the important moments. It helps that the scenes in this issue are very character-focused.

Rating: 6/10

Marvel Adventures: Free Comic Book Day 2008

Kiddo picked this one out for me to read from the stack of random unread comics. It's another 2008 FCBD book, this time from Marvel.

Title: Marvel Adventures: Free Comic Book Day 2008
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: May, 2008
Writer: Jeff Parker, Paul Tobin
Penciler: Alvin Lee
Inker: Terry Pallot
Colorist:Wilfredo Quintana
Letterer: Nate Piekos
Editor: Nathan Cosby, Mark Paniccia

This is from Marvel's all-ages line, and features Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, and Ant-Man battling the Mandarin in Peru. The fight eventually ends up in Machu Pichu (of course!), and there is an encounter with a sentient giant ant. Oddly, Ant-Man has been somewhat awkwardly dropped from the story at this point, possibly because he might have been just a bit too useful in giant-ant-based scenarios.

Mandarin shows up, and in one of the most unexpected moments I've experienced in a comic in a while, Spider-Man demands that everyone "take the fight outside" so as not to damage the precious archaeological site... And Mandarin is totally cool with that idea! Ha! I love it!

When the battle does resume, it's actually a pretty good fight. Mandarin is set up as a very even match, even against three Avengers, and the battle is fun with a good logical flow.

All of the giant ant stuff felt silly, and there were random ancient magical artifacts that were only marginally important to the story, but this was still an entertaining book.

Rating: 6.5/10

Captain Universe / X-23 #1

Title: Captain Universe / X-23
Issue: #1
Date: January, 2006
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Jay Faerber
Penciler: Francis Portelle
Inker: Raul Fernandez
Colorist: Impact Studios
Letterer: VC's Rus Wooton
Editor: Nathan Crosby, Mark Paniccia

Okay, so there's this cosmic power, the "Uni-Power" that grants superpowers to those in need. It's the power that made Spider-Man cosmic-powered back in the '90s. Anyway, when it possesses a person, they become (no, I'm not making this up)... CAPTAIN UNIVERSE!

("Universe Man, Universe Man/Size of the entire universe, man/He's got a watch with a minute hand/A millenium hand, and an eon hand/And when they meet it's a happy land/Powerful man, Universe Man" -TMBG. Sorry. Okay, I'll stop now.)

Anyway, the Uni-Power has malfunctioned, and it's wandering the Marvel Universe in its own crossover series. All of this is explained in a text introduction.

And then, a villain proceeds to give the exact same introduction in a dialogue infodump prompted by the lame excuse that another villain didn't pay attention to the briefing (this gal is the Scorpion, but not the Scorpion from Spider-Man; this is some green-haired chick who basically seems to be Madame Hydra/Viper, except with a shorter attention span).

But this book isn't about that. It's about X-23, who's basically Wolverine, except that she's prettier, wears less, and has less personality. So she starts fighting with some invisible commando-types, and seems to be doing just fine, but gets Uni-Powered anyway.

She ends up teamed up with Scorpion, who explains that she's the GOOD Scorpion and not the Spider-Man villain. In order to make the point that X-23 is the strong silent type, writer Jay Faerber has Scorpion chatter incessantly while saying pretty much nothing.

Eventually they find themselves in a house that is set to self-destruct in 3 minutes. They know this because a random bad guy tells them that the house is set to self-destruct in 3 minutes.

Scorpion has a hard decision to make and ends up showing some heart, and the ending is actually considerably better than all of the silliness that led up to it. A text feature on the history of the Captain Universe character is more interesting than most of the story was, and we get a last-page teaser showing the next "exciting" guest star (Gladiator? Really? THAT is supposed to sell comics?).

You know how some comics are harmless fun? This was harmless and really bad.

Rating: 3/10

The Avengers: Halloween Ashcan 2006

Title: The Avengers: Halloween Ashcan 2006
Date: 2006
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Jeff Parker
Penciler: Manuel Garcia
Inker: Scott Koblish
Colorist: Val Staples
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Cover Art: Aaron Lopresti and Guru eFX
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Assistant Editor: Nathan Cosby

Giant Girl? Really? The rest of the team is pretty familiar: Cap, Storm, Hulk, Spidey, Iron Man, and Wolverine. This is an alternate (and all-ages friendly) origin story for Ultron, and it's played mostly for laughs. The military decides to fire the Avengers in favor of its new Ultron artificial intelligence, which turns heel within seconds of being activated. This would normally be pretty lame, but at least they have Spidey breaking the fourth wall and commenting on how Ultron has just set some kind of everything-went-wrong speed record. The silly continues from there. Banner: "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry." Logan: "I don't like you that much now." Ha! None of the danger ever feels all that threatening, but the jokes keep coming and the action is fast-paced, harmless fun. Not really sure what any of this had to do with Halloween, but it's a decent little freebie (26-page full-color ashcan-sized). I still have no idea who the heck Giant Girl is, but I suppose that the concept, at least, is fairly obvious.

Rating: 7/10