Written by Jason Aaron
Art by John Cassaday
Colors by Laura Martin
Published by Marvel Comics
For obvious reasons, both the original Marvel series and Dark Horse’s various Star Wars titles generally tended to shy away from direct confrontations between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Such encounters were the province of the films, and even after the cinematic saga had (seemingly) ended, there was, presumably, a desire to not water down their existing interactions too much by writing in a ton of off-screen battles. Both characters were staples of the Expanded Universe, but rarely interacted with one another directly.
Thus it was somewhat surprising that Jason Aaron and John Cassaday ended their mostly well-received first issue of Marvel’s new Star Wars series with Luke and Vader face-to-face, lightsabers drawn, a strong finish to a strong debut. With their second issue, the pair manage to effectively pay off that initial cliffhanger and maintain the level of quality that characterized their first issue. The Vader/Luke confrontation goes down about how it logically should, but is no less thrilling as a result. There’s simply a visceral charge in seeing these two characters interact with each other at this point in their history.
After that, Aaron keeps the energy up as the small band of Rebel heroes attempt to escape the weapons factory they were sent to destroy last issue, a factory now being defended by the seething force of nature that is Darth Vader, tossing in at least a few more exciting, fist-pumping moments (such as Vader battling an AT-AT walker using the Force) along the way. Cassaday’s art continues to excel, effectively maintaining the flow of what is a very chaotic action sequence as Han drives his purloined walker through the Imperial factory in the course of the issue (though in a few panels the characters’ faces look less photo-realistic than they did in the previous issue; whether this is down to the specific angles of those panels or a concerted effort on the artist’s part to gradually move the characters to a more comic-friendly style remains to be seen), and Aaron continues to display a strong grasp of the individual character’s voices.
The overall story here is still ridiculously decompressed (all of maybe twenty minutes pass, story-time, in the course of the issue, and in terms of plot progression, all that really happens is the protagonists go from inside the factory to outside it), but in and amongst all the action and cool moments, Aaron begins developing a character arc for Luke, as he struggles to reconcile his past as a farm boy with his present as a Rebel hero and defender of the downtrodden. He’s the son of a Jedi and the destroyer of the Death Star, a ridiculously-large notch in his belt, but not that long ago he was just a kid bristling to grow up already. The transition from wide-eyed youth to collected Jedi warrior is fertile ground to explore, especially given the setting in which Aaron and Cassaday are working, and they’re wise to use it to add some heft to the otherwise fun, big screen action.
Spoilery Notes
- The Luke/Vader confrontation is perhaps not as epic as was teased by the end of the previous issue, but it is realistic given their relative strengths, which is appreciated. Certainly a far cry better than their Splinter of the Mind’s Eye battle.
- Vader learns Luke acquired his lightsaber from Obi-Wan. At first, he doesn’t recognize it, but his dawning realization that he does indeed know the weapon is interrupted by Han’s walker attack.
- It’s also noted that at this point, Vader does not know who Luke is, nor does he know the identity of the pilot who blew up the Death Star. Dark Horse’s Vader Quest limited series told the story of Vader’s search for the identity of that pilot, but that story has, of course, been rebranded as a “Star Wars Legend”. It remains to be seen how Vader “officially” learned that information, and whether it’s a plot point Aaron & Cassaday are planning on covering in this series.
- Vader attacking the AT-AT with the Force was a great “only in comics” moment, and the end of that contest was cheer-worthy, while the image of Luke racing out on a speeder bike, lightsaber drawn, is the kind of genre mash-up that makes Star Wars so much fun.