Prisoner of the Floating World Part Three
It is a time of fragile peace in the galaxy. A fledgling power-sharing government has risen from the defeat of the One Sith and forged an uneasy triumvirate of the Jedi Council, the Imperial Court, and the remnant Galactic Alliance.
While on a mission to the isolated Carreras System to prove the Triumvirate’s good intentions, Imperial Knight Yalta Val was waylaid by the Sith. Now an imposter has taken Val’s place and is manipulating the system’s governor to suit his own nefarious plans.
When Ania Solo accidentally finds Master Val’s lost lightsaber, she starts a chain reaction that could upset all of the imposter’s plans—making Ania and her friends targets for elimination. But a third party is about to enter the fray…
That’s how scripters Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, artist Gabriel Hardman, colourist Rachelle Rosenberg, letterer Michael Heisler and cover artist Dave Wilkins set up the third issue of the latest Legacy title.
The Review
Legacy #3 shines the spotlight on Imperial Knight Jao Assam as he links up with Ania Solo and her rag tag company for some unexpected action. Much like the previous issue, there’s a lot of time spent on chases and escapes. While the plot does move ahead a little further, this issue definitely feels like a bridge between story points. Still, there is a lot of action, more AG-37 and an interesting little monster interlude. As the cover says, “Here be monsters!”
A lot of the focus of this issue is on Imperial Knight Jao Assam. In issue #2, Jao was ordered not to go chasing after his master even though he had a feeling that something was wrong. This issue kicks off with Jao plunging into the Surd Nebula in search of his master. There he encounters the blockade where he’s not only refused entry but is almost arrested. Warning flags start going off in Jao’s mind as he realizes that his bad feelings were on the mark. This also leads to a chase scene and a slick escape.
Meanwhile Ania Solo, Sauk and AG-37 are still trying to throw off their pursuit after being attacked at Ania’s junkyard. After a chase scene through an ice cavern, they land on Carreras Minor to make repairs. This is where that monster on the cover comes in. It’s big, green, has a lot of arms and doesn’t really look like any Star Wars monster we’ve seen before. The appearance of the monster is a bit of a nostalgic nod to the asteroid worm in The Empire Strike Back. In both cases, the heroes make a stop with their spaceship only to be surprised by a very large creature. It certainly provides more action for the issue, though I think the battle with it could have been a little bit longer. The abrupt attack followed by the convenient arrival of Jao all came pretty fast. An extra panel or two might have helped create a little bit more suspense. Regardless, I did like Ania and AG-37’s quick bit of banter as they both rushed out to save the ship.
AG-37: “Ania! Get in the pilot seat and hit the bossters on my order. I’m going outside.”
Ania: “Sauk! Grab the controls and hit the boosters on our order. We’re going outside!”
Sauk: “But..”
Yep, I can definitely see that Ania is a Solo.
Although there is a lot of action, I can’t help but feel the story is a little weak. There isn’t much in the way of new information. As a reader, the only new thing I learned in this issue was that AG-37 is indeed an assassin droid model. Other than that, there were no reveals. The plot did move forward, but in ways that were not all that exciting. Jao Assam is now joined up with Ania, Sauk and AG-37, which will probably lead up to an encounter with the Sith masquerading as an Imperial Knight, but all the anticipation for that encounter is left for future issues. Even the brief scene of the Sith causing damage to the communications array didn’t reveal much information. As a reader, I have no idea if he’s trying to sabotage it or if he’s merely in a rush to get it working and is being careless. At the end of the issue, I just couldn’t help but feel that the story missed some good opportunities to make me care more about what was going on. Instead, it felt like a bridge between stories with pieces being moved about so we could get from point A to B rather than being a story in itself.
That said, there was some nice artwork in issue #3. There are a lot of good shots of the spaceships, be it AG-37’s freighter or Jao’s starfighter. The monster got a nice panel showing off its maw and tentacle like arms as its attack AG-37’s ship. Plus I liked how Ania looked in her breath mask, again tying back to The Empire Strikes Back and the asteroid scene where Han, Leia and Chewbacca all dawn breath masks. My favorite panels are definitely the space scenes, though. I especially liked the artwork for the nebula. The space backgrounds in the nebula had a lot of color and texture which was really neat looking. It stands out on the last couple pages as the ships are floating through these murky, green clouds.
Even though the story didn’t move into new territory, it still packed in a lot of action, good dialog and was backed by some nice artwork. Hopefully with this issue out of the way, the next one can dive into some real fun. As is, I give Legacy #3 a three out of five. It was good, but not as great as the previous two issues in the series.
Next Issue: Loyalties and Secrets!
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