Welcome to Tales From A Galaxy Far, Far Away! This right here will be your monthly hub, looking in depth at Marvel’s Star Wars comics each month! Now, you may be thinking: “Alice, don’t you already have a podcast where you talk about Star Wars every month?” And you’d be right! But, this way, I get to delve deep into Marvel’s comics and I get to talk about Star Wars even more.
As the wait for The Last Jedi expands before us like the longest two months in existence, we’re ready to get stuck into the first (and only?) comic in the Journey To The Last Jedi publishing initiative: “Captain Phasma.” While we dive into the first two issues of that, “Darth Vader” and “Poe Dameron” both wrap up story arcs while “Star Wars” sets up for Jason Aaron’s last issue next month!
So, what are we waiting for? Let’s punch it, Chewie!
“Journey To The Last Jedi: Captain Phasma: #1
Written by Kelly ThompsonCover by Paul Renaud
Illustrated by Marco Checchetto
Coloured by Andres Mossa
Lettered by Clayton Cowles
As the excitement ramps up for this December’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, come back with us to the final moments of The Force Awakens and the destruction of Starkiller Base to learn the fate of Captain Phasma! Captured by the Resistance and thrown into a garbage masher, we follow the chrome-adorned warrior from the site of the First Order’s biggest defeat to the doorstep of this holiday season’s biggest blockbuster!
So Much For That Trash Compactor
I think it’s safe to say that Captain Phasma was something of a divisive character upon the release of The Force Awakens. Despite looking like the coolest shit we’ve ever seen in the trailers and fan theories on the importance of her role abound, her role in the movie proper was rather slight with let’s call it a rather unceremonious exit. It sparked some debate as whether or not she was worth including, being derisively called the female Boba Fett.
Now, we finally get to see how Phasma escaped that trash compactor in Starkiller Base and the answer is… incredibly easy. So easy that on the first page of her comic, she’s already blown open the wall. What, then, is the comic even about? Let’s find out.
Hang About… Who Did What?
Well, to answer that question… I don’t know. I read the first issue of “Captain Phasma” a number of times and this panel confused the hell out of me. As we’ll get into in a bit, it’s explained in a much clearer way in just the opening crawl of the second issue, but this is some of the least clear writing I’ve read in a while.
Reading this, that text box makes me think that Phasma is after Rivas because he… lowered the shields at the same time as she did? The second issue gives a different account, but this was almost impossible for me to parse.
Captain Phasma: Back To The Future 2
Unfortunately, not a whole lot actually happened in the first issue of “Captain Phasma.” At least, not a whole lot worth pointing out in an annotations column outside of “hey, look at how cool Phasma looks riding on a zipline like Star Wars Batman.” This panel shows why. Because we didn’t see anything of Phasma after her run-in with the trash compactor, she didn’t have any interaction with the important events of the evacuation of Starkiller Base.
Therefore, Thompson and Checchetto have to pull a Back To The Future 2 and insert Phasma into the background of important events of the film. Here we see Phasma’s closest interaction with Rey we’ve seen as she spots a lightsaber battles in the distance and thinks “Ah, I’m sure Ren can handle that.”
BB-8’s Goth GF
BB-8 was the hottest shit this time two years ago. You couldn’t get away from them. BB-8 art, toys, merchandise and the like was everywhere. Kind of like what Porgs are up to this year, funnily enough. Well, now that BB-8 isn’t this year’s hottest toys and has been relegated to only one scene in the latest trailer, we’ve got a reskin to get people excited about rolly droids again.
Continued belowWhile this likely isn’t BB-9E that we’ve seen in marketing, I found it funny that we’re starting to see First Order BB units show up in other media. Hype those toys early.
Well, That Was Quick
Aaaaand that’s all, folks! One of my questions going into this series was “How can they get five issue of Phasma getting off of Starkiller Base?” which was answered by them wrapping it up in just the first issue and setting up this chase with Rivas that, as I’ve mentioned, had a pretty unintelligible set up in this issue. I’m glad the second issue of this series was much tighter and much more clear because this first issue was a strange read.
“Journey To The Last Jedi: Captain Phasma: #2
Written by Kelly ThompsonCover by Paul Renaud
Illustrated by Marco Checchetto
Coloured by Andres Mossa
Lettered by Clayton Cowles
As the excitement ramps up for this December’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, come back with us to the final moments of The Force Awakens and the destruction of Starkiller Base to learn the fate of Captain Phasma! Captured by the Resistance and thrown into a garbage masher, we follow the chrome-adorned warrior from the site of the First Order’s biggest defeat to the doorstep of this holiday season’s biggest blockbuster!
Crawl Retcon
Now, that’s not what you said happened last time. The first issue’s set up of this plot seemed to communicate that Rivas had also deactivated the Starkiller Base shields at the same time as Phasma which is where my confusion came from. Here, though, the crawl states that Phasma is hunting down Rivas because he took the data showing that Phasma was the one who deactivated the shields.
Now, that’s a plot I can get behind. Phasma hunting down the evidence that could show her potential betrayal of the First Order is a hook I’m into. I just wish it had been set up clearer in the first issue.
Under Armour, Sponsored By The First Order
Something I find odd about Phasma is how her appearance behind the mask is kept hidden. Now, I don’t know if the reasoning behind that is explained in her novel by Delilah S. Dawson (because I haven’t read it yet), but it’s something I find odd because… shouldn’t she just look like Brienne of Tarth? Like, I know what Gwendoline Christie looks like so unless hiding her face is hiding some scarring or something, I don’t really know why they’re going to such lengths to hide her.
Unless they’re pulling a Darth Vader and having us go three movies expecting her to look like one actor one to switch that actor with someone completely different when the helmet comes off.
Captain Phasma’s Goth GF
On the other hand, while Phasma gets changed from her chromium armour into a more discrete smuggler look without showing any flesh to the audience, we finally get to see her companion, TN-3465, out of her TIE Pilot armour. This was an interesting moment because it shows how the use of faceless, non-descript armour and indentifiers dehumanises the soldiers of the First Order. The markers that we use to define ourselves as human, like race and gender, are stripped by the First Order. It’s what makes them so callously efficient; by removing their sense of humanity, they remove their empathy for their fellow beings.
On The Hunt
Two issues in and there’s not a whole lot for me to touch on in “Captain Phasma,” to be honest. To fill in the gaps of where we last saw her in The Force Awakens to where we’ll see her when The Last Jedi picks up means that these issues will likely follow this chase for Rivas to allow Phasma to reaffirm her dedication to the First Order and erase all evidence of her misdeeds. That leaves me without much to talk about because when these Marvel series end of following fairly simply plots, the ability to delve into the connective tissue of the franchise is diminished.
Continued belowStill, at least they’re good comics.
“Darth Vader” #5
Written by Charles SouleCover by X
Pencilled by Giuseppe Camuncoli
Inked by Cam Smith
Coloured by David Curiel
Lettered by Joe Caramagna
He began his journey as a Jedi with wonder and hope. Now it is time to put away childish things. Vader’s first and most vital test as a Sith concludes.
Returning To Mustafar
Now, this is the moment I was hoping I would see in this comic. Vader’s castle in Rogue One was one of the hypest reveals in the entire film (and that’s saying something) and is a reference as far back as Ralph MacQuarrie’s original concept art for The Empire Strikes Back and Leigh Brackett’s first draft of the film’s screenplay. Here we get to see some in-universe backstory, not just the moment Vader is sent back to Mustafar, but the why.
The twisting of the cruel, tragic irony that Palpatine uses to send Vader back to not just a world seeped in the dark side, but also the source of his greatest pain and tragedy. Pain that has bled into the very world. It’s an amazingly evil move and brings a very interesting extra layer to Vader’s story.
Extremely Rolling Stones Voice: Let It Bleed
We’ve touched on this before, but I love how this series is exploring the Sith arts and in particularly the question of why all Sith lightsabers are red. The obvious, real world answer is that George Lucas loves the colour coding of blue-as-good and red-as-evil, but in a franchise where every question raised against the series must have a concrete, in-universe answer we have to go deeper than that.
And what has been presented as the answer is incredibly cool to me. Kyber crystals are alive, the Force flows through them more readily than other inanimate objects. They channel the living Force and it’s that channel that allows the engineering of a lightsaber to pass energy through the crystal and create a blade of light. Because Kyber crystals are alive, they can choose their wielders. They present themselves to young Jedi to be used in lightsaber construction.
They will not present themselves to wielders of the dark side. Vader had to steal a Kyber crystal from a Jedi, to own it in victory, and now must make the crystal bleed so its power can become his.
Muffled Curb Your Enthusiasm Theme Plays In The Distance
My favourite thing when it comes to Vader stories that have been told post-Revenge Of The Sith, now that the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker has been written in full, are these moments in which Vader is confronted with the evil he has put into the world. It’s my interpretation that, much like Kylo Ren near the end of The Force Awakens, Vader is continually in a state of pushing his rage to its utmost limits, of continually reminding himself of his pain, of pounding himself in an open wound, in order to draw his power from the dark side.
These moments of lucidity, in which Anakin much consciously be aware of the pain he has caused and likely will cause, are some of my favourite moments because it brings a genuine sense of humanity to Vader. I know, I know, y’all loved Vader in 1977 because he was stoic and imposing. But I don’t know how much that flies 40 years later without adding some nuance to that.
Regrets, I Have A Few
Expanding from that moment of clarity, we see visions of what could happen. Of a world in which Vader manages to renounce the dark side, turn on Palpatine and retire to whatever world Obi-Wan has secluded himself on to surrender himself to Kenobi’s mercy. It’s one of the few times I’ve been shocked by one of these bait and switches because, in many ways, Vader is at a point where rebelling against Palpatine is kind of his whole thing. It was until Vader managed to kill Palpatine that I clicked to what was going on and then the full, depressing horror of what Vader was going through hit me.
Continued belowIt’s temptation. Not temptation towards the dark side, but temptation towards the light. This is the repentance he could get, an honourable death if he wanted it. But it’s too late for him. He won’t see that repentance for another 20 years.
The Other Rogue One Reference
Hey, have you read James Luceno’s Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel? It’s a really interesting look at the changing political structure of the galaxy during the end of the Clone Wars and the beginning of the Empire as told by Galen Erso who is strong-armed into using his research in Kyber crystals to help build a superweapon. It’s a great read for Clone Wars fans who wanted to see what the landscape of Coruscant was like after the end of the war as well as Rogue One fans who wanted more backstory on Galen and Krennic.
Vader Arisen
Well, that was quick. Truth be told, I wasn’t quite expecting Vader to have his lightsaber constructed by the end of the first arc. Maybe I’m so used to “Poe Dameron” drawing that kind of story point out to almost twenty issues now, but I was half expecting three arcs of lightsaber-less Vader fighting his way through various rogue Jedi before managing to find the right Kyber crystal.
Now, though, Vader is home free. I have no idea where this series could go now and that’s pretty damn exciting.
“Star Wars” #36
Written by Jason AaronCover by Mike Mayhew
Illustrated by Salvador Larroca
Coloured by Edgar Delgado
Lettered by Clayton Cowles
The Empire has held Threepio captive for far too long. There’s no way they are prepared to deal with this rescue. That’s right — Artoo is ready to take action!
R2 Is The Best Droid
I love my droid son. R2-D2 is probably my favourite droid in all of Star Wars because of course he is, I’m not a monster. Even BB-8 couldn’t knock him off that top spot. I was so into this issue being all about R2 rescuing C-3PO (at long last, more on that in a second), but then Jason Aaron had to go in and add an element so heartbreaking that I had to put down this issue multiple times before finishing it.
The narrative framing of this issue is a series of captions designed to read like an owner’s manual for an R2 unit that repeatedly contradict R2-D2’s actions. It shows what a unique personality Artoo has in terms of the grander scheme of the galaxy and is a highlight of why I love him so much.
References Galore
You know me, I love me a good trash compactor joke. One of the things I love about this page is the layers of references. Artoo is turning on the Star Destroyer’s defence systems so it would have been easy enough to just drop in a panel of Stormtroopers being sucked out the airlock, but to take the time to include a trash compactor reference and then compound that by having a reference to K-2SO in the form of Stormtroopers cornering a security droid thinking he’s behind Artoo’s actions? That’s what makes “Star Wars” such a fun read.
Reunited At Last
You know what? I thought they’d forgotten about you too, 3PO. C-3PO has been captured by the Empire for going on ten issues now. In that time, Luke’s had a foray into Ben’s past and even encountered the Screaming Citadel. It’s been so long since 3PO was captured by Task Force 99 that I almost forgot he was missing.
Now, the downside is that 3PO’s kidnapping is resolved in this issue incredibly quickly. After a number of solo adventures, 3PO is just found, broken out and brought back to the Rebels in one issue with little to no build up. This is only a problem in that it felt like Aaron was setting up something major at the end of ‘Last Flight Of The Harbinger’ only to delay getting back around to resolving it and then having to wrap it up almost immediately. It makes the whole affair seem a bit… pointless.
Continued belowLearning From The Best
Remember how I said Vader stories that confront him with the pain of what he has caused are my favourite Vader stories? Well, my second favourite Vader stories look at the legacy left by Anakin Skywalker years after his death. Vader commenting that R2 learned to pilot well from someone without realising that it was from himself as Anakin during the Clone Wars and then later from his own son, Luke, is an incredibly subtle but incredibly well constructed reference to the lives these characters have lead and the interwoven web of connectivity the galaxy exists in.
“Doctor Aphra” #12
Written by Kieron GillenCover by Kamome Shirahama
Pencilled by Kev Walker
Inked by Marc Deering
Coloured by Antonio Fabela
Lettered by Joe Caramagna
VADER IS BACK.
Now That’s An Entrance
It’s only been like three issues, but Vader’s finally showed up in a panel after being teased for what feels like half the arc. Sure, he’s not actually up to much in this issue and is only shown here and in the very last page, but that’s an entrance so cool that I can’t really complain about that.
Droids For Labour Rights
And here we finally get the reveal behind who’s been masterminding this whole thing: Triple-Zero. He’s the one who put Rur in the body of the deactivated security droid, he’s the one who called Vader, he’s the one behind ruining Aphra’s auction. Why? Oh, because he’s sick of Aphra being his master and he wants to be a free droid and because of course he couldn’t just be like “Hey, this whole master/slave thing we have going on sucks” because the ethics of droid ownership are completely out of whack in Star Wars, he’s turned to this.
Though, to be fair, this is par for the course for Aphra. Using those closest to her without a care for their feelings until they eventually lash out at her and dump her to move on with their lives. As she tells herself, “Learn a lesson, Aphra.”
That’s Cold, Aphra
Aphra’s an interesting, kind of weird character. She’s the protagonist of the series so clearly there’s an assumption of some kind of emotional connection between audience and character, but she’s also a self-centered, manipulative character who isolates herself from her feelings so she doesn’t have to feel guilty about using people. And then, somehow, manages to escape without learning a lesson or realising the damage she’s caused.
Here we see her watch a woman who could have brought her everything she wanted in life die right before her because of the situation she caused without an ounce of empathy. It’s these moments that make “Doctor Aphra” such an off-kilter series.
Vader Vs. Rur
Like I said, Vader only gets a little play in this issue, being in the beginning and the end, but with the aforementioned entrance being so cool and his last lines being this cool, I kind of have to forgive them for it. But I better get a good Vader vs. Rur lightsaber battle in the next issue, though.
“Star Wars” Annual #3
Written by Jason LatourCover by Michael Walsh
Illustrated by Michael Walsh
Lettered by Clayton Cowles
The Rebel Alliance is on the lookout for a new secret base! Rebellion leader Princess Leia goes with Han Solo to scope out a secret hideout only he knows…as well as the group of killers who want him dead!
Indiana Solo
C’mon, of course I had to bring this up. It’s 100% a reference to the beginning of Raiders Of The Lost Ark in a comic about Han Solo and Leia Organa being trapped on an ice planet. This is why I love Jason Latour and Michael Walsh, because they pull this shit in a Star Wars comic.
Continued belowI don’t actually have much else to mention here, just that crossing over references between Indiana Jones and Star Wars is the best.
Solo’s Sordid Past
As much as I love Vader stories that confront him with the pain of his past misdeeds, I love Han Solo stories that confront him with the consequences of his past misdeeds even more. Sure, they’re a little overplayed now and each new one needs to bring some new twist to the story that either makes Han Solo look even more horribly and makes his eventual change of heart a little harder to swallow or it adds yet another smuggler slash bounty hunter slash crime lord to the list of people after Han Solo’s head.
Everyone wants to do their own version of the Solo/Jabba story and, honestly, this is one of the few times I’d say it works out purely because of how cold-hearted (heh) Frax is left by Han’s betrayal.
Rebel Rescue
Something that really interested me about this page is how it contextualised something we see in the real world through fiction. There’s been a lot of talk about political and social revolutions in the wake of a certain President and the events of the past year and one of the things you see from certain groups on the left are pretty radical notions of reconstruction without a sense of consequence for how that would affect lives.
Here we see a pretty destructive Rebel attack on a mining facility that “intelligence” told them would be nothing but droids and rocks. But there were people there and they had lives, such as they were, and this attack has disrupted the social order Frax found himself in and to have the Rebel pilot so dismiss that shows a certain disconnect from the people they claim to want to save.
Sacrificial Solo
This was a moment that took me by surprise. Stories set before Empire Strikes Back, but after A New Hope like to play up Han’s aloof callousness. The kind of playful lack of social empathy we see him employ throughout Empire Strikes Back, but the reason it works there is that you get the resolution that it’s all a put upon show to hide his vulnerability over expressing his feelings for Leia.
We get a lot of the former in this annual and only a hint of the latter as Han is ready to sacrifice his own life to save Leia. It’s a moment of lucidity behind has facade of bravado that made me worry that the resolution of this annual would feel like it’s putting the cart before the horse. That in knowing how Han and Leia’s story would end, we’re seeing the same beats played out in advance of Empire to the point that it would neuter their effectiveness in Empire.
Thankfully…
Same Old Solo
The actual resolution of the annual has Han slip back into his full facade now that he’s not on the verge of freezing to death. What I love about this, though, is how Han uses this facade of blustering anger at some perceived slight by Leia as an excuse not to ditch the Rebellion and go live a life on the run again, but to stay with her. Honestly, if it weren’t for the context of Empire, this move would probably be incredibly creepy, but we’ve had 40 years of normalising Han Solo’s borderline emotional abuse as his broken way of expressing his feelings, so…
“Poe Dameron” #19
Written by Charles SouleCover by Phil Noto
Illustrated by Angel Unzueta
Coloured by Arif Prianto
Lettered by Joe Caramagna
Black Squadron is reunited once again…and together they share a common goal…The First Order must be stopped! But at what cost?
It All Comes Together
For most of this arc, Black Squadron has been split up. While Suralinda, Jess and Kare have been on their mission to expose the horrors of the First Order, Snap and Poe have been on the hunt for Oddy Muva to bring him to justice for betraying the Squadron and, ultimately, leading to L’ulo’s death.
Continued belowWell, now we see the Black Squadron brought together in the clutches of the First Order. It’s like that old saying: you wait four issues for the team to come together and then they all get kidnapped at once.
Suralinda’s Reasoning
Last issue, Suralinda seemingly gave over Jess and Kare to the First Order, revealing them to be members of Black Squadron and, in the process, apparently proving right all the misgivings the rest of the team had about her. She’s a journalist, not a pilot or a soldier. She’s in it for the story instead of the cause and will happily sell her teammates down the river to save herself.
Except obviously none of that is true and Suralinda used that information to keep Jess and Kare alive, albeit in chains, because she knew the First Order would execute
Jess’s Past Revisited
One day we’ll get a Jessika Pava comic that will do her backstory justice. Until that day, I can only subsist on these snippets that we’ve been getting these past couple of issues. Jessika is one of the characters from the new era that has fascinated me most since her introduction in Weapon Of A Jedi where she seemed genuinely interested in hearing about Luke not as a great Jedi Master, but as a farmboy pilot. Since reading that introduction and seeing her in The Force Awakens and now “Poe Dameron,” I’ve wanted to know more about where she came from.
Obviously, the story Soule and Unzueta are hinting at is that her family was captured, perhaps by slavers. But only seeing this much is a little frustrating because I just want a story about her instead of seeing her backstory sandwiched in Poe’s comic.
Breaking The Programming
Terex is about to ruin the First Order’s whole deal and I cannot wait for it. While his whole turn back into the smuggler king back in the series’s third arc was a little strange at the time, I’ll admit, I think seeing the consequence rain down on him for going against the First Order has added a lot of depth to the character. He’s gone from this pretty rote, moustache-twirling First Order officer villain to someone who’s entire sense of self-determination and free will has been stripped from him by the organisation he was once loyal to.
It’s almost like this whole thing has themes and stuff, huh?
Justice For Oddy
Oddy Muva’s journey from put-upon mechanic to betrayer to compromised husband and now to heroic sacrifice has been a fascinating one. Considering this theme of self-actualisation and how important it is to forge your own destiny in a galaxy full of forces who want to control your sense of identity, Oddy Muva is a character that never strayed from who he is. At his core, he was a loving husband who needed to do anything to secure a safe life for him and his wife.
What we saw were layers of information being peeled back to paint him as friend, traitor and eventually martyr. It’s a story that explores the darker corners of the galaxy and what people do to survive and has been a fascinating aspect of “Poe Dameron.”
There’s A War On
There’s always some truth in a lie, obviously. A lie has to come from some basis of believability in order to fool the listener into thinking it’s the truth. Because that’s what the intention of a lie is; it’s to make the listener believe what you want them to.
Star Wars is a story of dreamers, of soldiers and smugglers, of princesses and pilots, of faith and farmboys. Rarely do we get to see someone twisting the truth to tell a story like we do with Suralinda. To most characters in Star Wars, truth is paramount. To Suralinda, truth is a tool. I want to know where her character goes from here.
“Jedi Of The Republic: Mace Windu” #2
Continued belowWritten by Matt OwensCover by Jesus Saiz
Pencilled by Denys Cowan
Inked by Roberto Poggi
Coloured by Guru-eFX
Lettered by Joe Caramagna
On a planet of near-perpetual darkness, the Jedi must bring light. Mace finds both his faith and skill tested. For is it truly the place of the Jedi to go to war?
Vigilance And The Jedi
There’s like three layers to why I love this sequence of panels. For one, it’s two of my favourite Prequel-era Jedi, Mace Windu and Kit Fisto, interacting which I never got to see enough of in The Clone Wars. For two, it references the dianoga which I just love. And for three, it’s an exploration of something we don’t see a lot of: Jedi who aren’t intrinsically pure.
To view being a Jedi like being a monk or a priest (a warrior priest, at that) then they’re power must not come from some intrinsic purity or strength, but instead a lifelong dedication towards said purity. That’s what fascinates me so much about the Jedi in The Clone Wars. They make mistakes. They’re braggadocious. They’ve known peace for so long they’ve become arrogant in their comfort and we’re seeing that here. Mace is much more mindful of the moment that Kit, but we see Kit as a figure not entirely trusting of a new situation or people, which is seen as something of the opposite of the Jedi way. But we also see him cover it up, to remove himself from the self-actualisation of addressing that mindset and moving away from it.
The Jedi aren’t perfect, but that’s what made the vulnerable.
New Worlds, New Life And New Civilisations
Speaking of being paranoid of new people, something I love about these sidestories like Marvel’s Star Wars comics or the novels from Del Rey or even the animated series like Rebels is how they’re able to explore these niche little corners of the galaxy that wouldn’t necessarily fit into one of the saga films. An underground cavern heated by the glowing roots of the massive trees above that draw so much energy from the sun because they’re exposed to the sunlight only one day a month isn’t exactly the most unique planet I’ve ever heard of, but it’s an interesting setting for a story. This is why I love to explore the galaxy in these side stories.
Energy As A Fuel
Remember that whole bit I had about the plants who store so much energy because they’re only exposed to the sun once day every month not being super original? Well, when you use that as a part of the plot to explore the relationship between beings and their surroundings in the context of the dehumanising Clone Wars and how the droid army uses destructive means to fuel their armies while the Republic and the Jedi seek to preserve these worlds while exploiting a serf class of clones to live and die for their war. It’s one of those things I love about the Clone Wars: there’s not a single goddamn good idea on either side.
And there we have it! A deep dive into the stories of Marvel’s Star Wars comics from the last month! Join me next month for a look into the releases of October.
And, as always, may the Force be with you…
