Skywalker Strikes

Here are my notes and observations of the first several issues of Marvel's relaunch of the Star Wars main title. The entails Book I of the series entitled, "Skywalker Strikes".

Jason Aaron - Writer
John Cassaday - Artist
Laura Martin - Colorist

001

HIGHLIGHTS - Han, Luke, Leia, Chewie, and Artoo conduct a raid on the Imperial Weapons Factory Alpha on Cymoon I of the Corellian Industrial Cluster. The missions gets complicated when Luke discovers a group of slaves that were being used to run the factory. Luke cuts off the hand of the slave master as he was attacking him with a laser whip. It seems he was following Obi-Wan's precedent there. Chewbacca tried to take a sniper shot at Vader, but Vader reacts by destroying the platform Chewie was on. Threepio is hiding out in a junk pile with the Falcon when a bunch of alien scavengers show up. The issue ends with Luke poised to confront Vader and Obi-Wan's ghost voice telling him to run.

OPINION - I really liked this issue. It definitely felt like Star Wars and did not seem derivative. It is not surprising that this was the best selling comic book of the last twenty years!

002

HIGHLIGHTS - Vader is practically disgusted by the skill level of his opponent (Luke). Luke tells Vader that he killed Master Kenobi. Vader pulls Luke's lightsaber from his hands and demands Luke take him to the Rebel pilot that destroyed the Death Star. Luke refuses and is about to be killed by Vader until two things happen: (1) Vader recognizes Luke's lightsaber, and (2) the foot of an Imperial Walker hijacked by Han comes crashing down through the ceiling. In the ensuing battle, many slaves are killed by Vader and Stormtroopers. Luke escapes being pinned down by using a speeder bike and Vader starts to think a little more of Luke and wonders what Obi-Wan had been up to. The battle turns in the Rebels favor when Han's AT-AT unleashes a fury of laser bolts at Vader and company. It is enough to disable Vader and make him drop Luke's (Anakin's) lightsaber. Luke spins back around and picks it up. But Vader isn't finished and regroups his forces.

OPINION - A great second issue. It continues the intensity from the first issue well. I think it is a little goofy of Han hijacking an AT-AT, but I've come around to accepting it.

003

HIGHLIGHTS - Chewbacca comes to the aid of Threepio, who was blasted to bits in 002. Vader takes out the AT-AT by using his lightsaber at critical points of the AT-AT. Han, Leia, Artoo, and the surviving slaves escape the wreckage of the walker. Luke turns back to make sure the weapons station is destroyed even though Vader and the Imps are there. Vader hops into some cool single-seater gunship and is determined to kill Luke this time. Luke blasts the reactor, setting off a destructive meltdown. The explosion of the facility is all that saves Luke from being killed. Vader walks away from the destruction. Vader concludes that this boy was Obi-Wan's last great hope. But with no one left to train him but Vader himself, he decides to make the boy *his* weapon and not Obi-Wan's. Luke is filled with self-doubt knowing he is no match of Vader, that he is no Jedi, and that there is no one left to train him. But the issue ends with a silent four panel showing a box in Kenobi's hovel with the inscription "For Luke".

OPINION - I loved this issue. I enjoy how it is diving into the story of how Luke developed the skills we see in ESB without a teacher. What is in the box???

004

CONTINUITY - I believe Vader 001 takes place before this issue. The Emperor has sent Vader to negotiate supplies from Jabba the Hutt.

HIGHLIGHTS - Vader secures resources for the Empire from Jabba. Leia discusses strategy with Ackbar, Mothma, and Dodonna. The Rebels have bombed shipyards at Kuat and the supply base at Imdaar. But they have had to consume many resources by having a mobile base of operations. Leia talks about having her own team, which Mothma questions whether they are united. Luke goes off on his own to search for some way to become a Jedi. Meanwhile on Tatooine, a mysterious person is on the trail for Han Solo. Vader joins Jabba in watching the kill Banthas and asks for information about Kenobi. We get a tie-in with Vader 001 when he mentions the two bounty hunters he hired: Boba Fett to find the boy and Black Krrsantan to find the mysterious man the Emperor is working with. Luke decides to go to Tatooine and return to Obi-Wan's home to search for answers.

OPINION - I always wondered if in his transformation from Anakin to Vader if he had forgotten his former self, like Luke said. Apparently that does not mean the facts of the memories, since Vader slaughtered another village of Tusken Raiders. Perhaps his memories are filtered through the dark side, so his view will be more slanted to that way rather than thinking of Mos Espa, pod racing, or other more positive locales. Tatooine is sure getting a lot of visitors lately!

005

HIGHLIGHTS - Boba Fett mercilessly kills his way to find the location of the boy he was hired by Vader to find. Luke battles some Tusken Raiders who were going into Ben's hut, but apparently scared them away without hurting them. Han needs parts to repair the Falcon from the Cymoon I mission that happened in issues 001 - 003. But supplies are limited and Leia tells Han if he wants the parts he has to co-pilot a mission to scout locations for a new rebel base in a stolen Imperial shuttle. They meet up with two TIE-fighters and Han, in a boneheaded move, grabs the controls and makes a run for it, even though the security codes Leia fed the TIE-fighters worked. Han goes to a moon/planet he knows, the Monsua Nebula, with large electrical storms in the hope to evade the TIEs. The mysterious person has found Han and knows he likes to visit this place. Luke locates the "For Luke" box in the mess left by the Tuskens, but is suddenly blinded by a flash grenade thrown by Boba Fett.

OPINION - A good issue. I think Han acted too much like an oaf in this issue. I suppose they want to show his character growth in ROTJ when he tells Chewie to stay calm and fly casual. I also didn't like how they made Boba Fett out to be this all out killing machine. I mean we saw in 003 that people were hauling bodies out to the wild desert to avoid being questioned by Imperials or paying Jabba's murder tax. I think this issue was too much about fan service. Watch ROTJ again and tell me how you can reconcile the Boba Fett we see there versus in Star Wars 005...

006

HIGHLIGHTS - Boba Fett and Luke fight it out. Han shows Leia that the planetoid found in the Monsua Nebula is a good smuggler hide-out. We learn Chewie drinks wine...a lot of wine. Han is putting the moves of Leia, offering Corellian wine. In the battle with Boba, when Luke was about to be killed by his own lightsaber, someone (we assume Luke) Force-throws the "For Luke" box to knock out Boba. Boba reports back to Vader that the boy got away but he has a name, "Skywalker". The issue ends with Vader Force cracking the window he is looking out of.

OPINION - So Han is married?! Uh oh! What a scoundrel he is. We will have to buy the next issue to find out what happens. Nice cliff-hanger, Marvel! But for me...the best cliffhanger was seeing that inside the "For Luke" box is a book entitled "The Journals of Ben Kenobi". I can't wait to see what *that* is about!

NOTES ON FUTURE ISSUES

007 - (July 8th) This will be a one-shot on Kenobi and will feature Simone Bianchi as the artist.

008 - (July 29th) This will start a new story arc and will feature Stuart Immonen as the artist. To quote Jason Aaron's comments in Star Words at the conclusion of 006, "Who is Sana Solo? Where does Luke go next? And what is the secret of the Smuggler's Moon?"

Uprising: The First Step Beyond Jedi

Today Star Wars.com announced the upcoming release of the mobile phone game Star Wars: Uprising. This is the first official canonical story to take place after the events of Return of the Jedi. Here is the teaser snippet:

In the days following the Battle of Endor and the fall of the Emperor, the Anoat sector has been locked down by the Empire. 

With the Rebel Alliance on the other side of the Iron Blockade, it falls to the sector’s smugglers, freedom fighters, bounty hunters and gangsters to join forces and form an uprising.

Based on the trailer, it looks like the Imperial machine is still chugging along even without the Emperor and his Number One. They are going full blown containment here. Does this mean that the battle weary and depleted Rebel forces are hemmed in by the Empire? Has Admiral Ackbar fallen into another trap?

The Anoat Sector is made up of several systems. The three systems mentioned for this game so far is Hoth, Cloud City (Bespin), and a new location - Burnin Konn. This last location is a chromium mining facility (perhaps this is the source material for Captain Phasma's armor?). It is also teased that Cloud City did in fact end up with an Imperial Garrison, though that isn't really surprising.

In terms of characters, there is the new Trade Spine League for smugglers and bounty hunters. There is also the nobles faction which is a secret group trying to survive since the rise of the Empire.

There is a female assassin named Deathstick, who seems to be more protagonist than antagonist. Another character is Riley, who is a female thief and has a younger sister. Lastly, there is Commander Bragh who is the leader of the Purge Troopers that are pretty much bad news for the Rebels.

This looks really cool and I am very happy this is coming out for smart phones and tablets since I don't own a gaming console and don't have time for one either!

You can see all the details, watch the trailer, and pre-register to get in-game goodies here:

https://playstarwarsuprising.com/

UPDATE:

I wonder if this game will cause a snag in continuity. At the end of Return of the Jedi in the special edition (which is the official canonical version), after the destruction of Death Star II, we see a sequence of planets celebrating the fall of the Emperor. These worlds were Coruscant, Naboo, and Cloud City. Cloud City is located in Bespin, which is part of the Anoat Sector. So the game will have to explain why everyone on Cloud City was celebrating the death of the Emperor when that information was suppressed by Empire.