After a vision of impending doom, Imperial Knight Jao Assam and Ania Solo parted company with the Empire—despite the disapproval of Master Yalta Val—in pursuit of the Sith Darth Wredd.
After discovering their flight, Empress Fel set orders for Ania to be captured and for Jao to be penalized for desertion. On Coruscant, the Triumvirate government chose to ignore Darth Wredd’s killing of other Sith throughout the galaxy, as well as new rumors of lawlessness on the dead world of Dac.
Ania and Jao traveled to the planet Nalyd following their one lead to Wredd—a Nalydian named Dieben, who had been in Wredd’s employ. But Dieben was killed before they could gather any information…
The Review
Legacy #8 dives into some new territory as it explores the wreckage of war torn Dac. Poisoned and abandoned, the homeworld of the Mon Calamari and Quarren has become a refuge for a sinister crime syndicate. Ania and Jao embrace their usual recklessness and find themselves in fast trouble. But as this issue goes on, trouble just gets worse and worse.
Before diving into the story, I’d like to take a moment with the cover art. The cover for this issue is by Agustin Alessio who was the interior artist for the Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison series. That particular series had some phenomenal art, and I think this cover reflects that. It features Ania Solo front and center in a dynamic pose that nicely avoids the stereotypical, sexualized portrayals superhero comics so often utilize. The two Grans on the cover are depicted with a serious level of detail to the point that they defying the 2D barrier of the medium. The end result is an image that leaps of the page. While the colors are a little subdued, the lighting is pretty good, and works perfectly on the Gran, adding to the depth of their appearance. It’s a very nice cover in my opinion, and I’m glad Agustin will be doing the covers for Legacy #9 and #10.
Jumping into the story of Legacy #8, things pick up right where they left off. Ania and Jao have chased down Dieben only to have him die and now they’re caught by the local Nalydians and have a lot to answer for. However, the action jumps forward pretty fast and almost too conveniently takes them out of trouble. For a wild goose chase, I’m not sure there was a lot of payoff in what happened with the trial interruption and the pursuit of Dieben. Still, it does keep the plot moving forward and, surprise surprise, their next destination is Dac.
When Ania and Jao arrive around Dac, they get ambushed in the wrecked shipyards circling the planet. The scene presents some nice opportunities to show off the planet and the wreckage around it. However it also plays out for roughly five pages. This is a big contrast to the rushed events in the opening of the issue. Regardless, the story picks up the pace after that. Ania and Jao evade capture, infiltrate what turns out to be a crime syndicate base, and in turn find out that there’s a lot more going on than what they expected. Without spoiling anything, they run into an interesting crime boss who has some fun dialog. There’s also some nostalgic moments that reminded me of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as well as the end of The Empire Strikes Back on Cloud City. The final page of the issue sets a grim tone for the story and presents an even bigger question: how will Ania and Jao get out of this one?
Once again, Brian Thies is handling the interior art of this issue alongside colorist Rachelle Rosenberg. Like Legacy #7, I’m finding myself enjoying some of the artwork and not liking the rest in almost even parts. There is a lot of roughness to Thies’ style and the human characters suffer the worse for it. The aliens, on the other hand, generally look pretty good. The space scenes above Dac have some really nice background elements. Plus the composition of the panels work well. They present a nice focus on the characters and the action and it is very easy to follow along with what is happening visually. But there is definitely an inconsistency in the panels.
The best example I can point out in this issue is Luft, the ‘crime boss’ in the Dac shipyard. His first appearance is pretty good. He looks imposing and has that classic, square jawed, thuggish look. The four follow up panels are all fine, though his look changes to a more narrow, streamlined face (the third panel is my favorite, really nice straight-on shot of his face). But then there’s the fifth panel which almost looks sloppy. His head goes back to the square shape with a very square looking chin that doesn’t match that head-on shot he had three panels previously. There’s also some odd dot textures on the ceiling that blend in with his lekku and just looks weird. It’s hard not to notice the issue because Luft’s face is a central focus for almost six consecutive panels and it makes three distinct changes in appearance. Nitpicking aside, the art works but it doesn’t quite measure up to the level of quality I’ve seen from other Star Wars comic artists. People’s opinions may vary on this, though, so if you really enjoyed the artwork in issue #7, you’ll certainly get more of that in this issue.
Legacy #8 does a pretty good job of moving the plot forward, tossing some action in and tying-in to previous story setups. While the opening did skip a few beats in its rush to move things along, I liked how there was a nice tie-in later in the story that wrapped up a dangling plot point from an early issue (the lady who petitioned to Gar Stazi to get help for Dac). The artwork is a mix of good and bad in my opinion, but it evens out okay. Even though I’d like to see Agustin Alessio take over for the interior art, I’m okay with Thies finishing off this arc as long as someone else does the next one. In the end, I have to give Legacy #8 a three out of five. It’s good, but it can be better as previous issues have shown. That said, there’s some cool stuff in this issue, so it’s still worth checking out.
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