Star Wars: Skywalker Strikes

by Jason Aaron, John Cassaday, Laura Martin
collects Star Wars #1-6
volume one | two | three | four

Happy Holidays, everyone! The long-awaited Episode VIII: The Last Jedi is finally in theaters, and while I’m not going to write a full review on my blog – not yet, anyway, the Internet is completely saturated with them – but all I’ll say is, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Which was not, “I loved every single moment,” but rather, it was a very enjoyable Star Wars film that wasn’t afraid to tell a new story and push characters and the universe in a new direction.

With this spirit we come to the not-so-new Star Wars series, published by Marvel, with a powerhouse duo Jason Aaron (whose work in Marvel includes the new The Mighty Thor, Doctor Strange, and Wolverine, and also notably Southern Bastards for Image) and John Cassaday (whose art defines my all-time favorite X-Men run, Astonishing X-Men with Joss Whedon). Its 2015 release date was clearly meant to overlap with Episode VII‘s release, but this is certainly a great place to start for anyone wanting to get more from the original Star Wars gang. (And for new characters, I’ve heard Captain Phasma‘s series is phenomenal. That’s next on my list.)

Skywalker Strikes takes place right after Episode IV, with the Rebellion fresh off their biggest victory yet – the destruction of the Death Star. Leia, Luke, Han, Chewie and the droids head to a remote planet housing a large weapons factory under the guise of negotiating an arms deal as Jabba the Hut’s diplomats. But things go awry when the Empire sends a certain asthmatic as their own negotiator.

In an SDCC 2014 interview, Aaron said he and Cassaday wanted the story to feel like the movies, and a “team” book including all the main characters rather than focusing on one specifically. That was their intention and at the same time a very tall order. The fervor before and after the release of The Last Jedi only proves the intense fandom around Star Wars, and doing anything new beyond 4-6 – especially with the stamp of Marvel and Star Wars’ parent company, Disney – can come under immense pressure and scrutiny. Moreover, trying to balance 8-10 characters in one book is never an easy task.

In large part the Aaron and Cassaday team very much succeed. Luke, Han and Leia are the heart of Star Wars and Aaron fully captures not only each of their voices (good luck not reading their lines in the voices of Hamil, Ford and Fisher), but the banter between them. Of the three, Luke is the only one who appears most vulnerable – still mourning Ben’s death and insecure about embracing his status as fledgling Jedi (don’t forget, he hasn’t met Yoda yet). Even though Leia has a lot more to mourn – her parents and entire planet – she is completely focused on following up the Rebellion’s victory with another one. That and Gilmore-Girl “I am disgusted with you but actually not really” bantering with Han, which at some point feels a little one note. I’m not necessarily hoping for an actual romance (okay, fine, I am), but I hope Aaron explores their characters beyond their banter. The introduction of a new character at the end makes me think that is not likely, at least for volume two.

Even though Aaron does a great job building up their romantic tension with a very surprising twist at the end (more on that later), I would hope to see the characters fleshed out a little more in unexpected ways (even if Leia has her own series, to be reviewed soon). Vader rounds out the main characters, hell bent on finding and exacting revenge on the pilot who destroyed the Death Star – which gives us a rather fun secondary storyline as Vader hires Boba Fett (a rather talkative Boba Fett, I might add), to find the person responsible.

And herein lies the fun of a story just after Episode IV. Frankly, everyone is still alive, characters who were introduced in later movies can make surprise appearances, and there are enough loose ends and open histories with the un-canonization of the Expanded Universe – that gives Aaron and Cassaday a huge playground to play with. Just in this issue, we are treated to a surprise from Han’s past, a gift Ben Kenobi left for Luke, and more.

But a comic book can’t just read like Star Wars, it also has to look like it, and Cassaday’s realistic style lends itself beautifully to reconstructing the Star Wars universe. It feels like a comic book, but the characters rarely look too cartoonish (except maybe a few minor panels). I might not be an expert on the visual style of Star Wars, but the angles and perspectives also have a very Star Wars feel, as does Lauren Martin’s color palette.

Aaron and Cassaday’s debut issue embraces fans with a warm “welcome home,” but is not afraid to inject new story elements, character developments and surprises. And this is absolutely necessary – anyone who has seen past Episode IV knows far too much about these characters’ futures and events to follow. We know when Luke flies back into the exploding weapons factory, for example, we know he can’t die — and so a Star Wars story in between episodes must have some sort of “new” in order to have value of reading it. (Unless if you like your heroes to go through meaningless adventure after adventure without any sort of change or growth. That’s not much of a story, though.)

Like The Last Jedi, however, one must be open to those surprises and changes in order to fully enjoy it. (And if you wanted my review there it is in one sentence.) According to the Star Wars wiki, this run is considered canon, along with other comics released in and after 2015, after Disney’s acquisition of Star Wars. I would be curious to know what details are Aaron’s creation and what needed to be approved by Lucasfilm.

Skywalker Strikes deserves its hugely successful debut as a highly enjoyable and easily accessible continuation of a film that changed everything – film, storytelling, pop culture, and so many of us. Anticipating the next volume.

In a GIF: