Published: September 06, 2017
Rating: Rated T+
Writer: Kelly Thompson
Penciler: Marco Checchetto
Cover Artist: Paul Renaud
As the excitement ramps up for this December’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, come back with us to the final moments of The Force Awakens and the destruction of Starkiller Base to learn the fate of Captain Phasma! Captured by the Resistance and thrown into a garbage masher, we follow the chrome-adorned warrior from the site of the First Order’s biggest defeat to the doorstep of this holiday season’s biggest blockbuster!
The Story:
Time: 15:31.
Phasma is recording her version of events during the downfall of Starkiller Base.
Time: 15:21. Starkiller Base. Exterior wall of trash compactor, Level Six.
Phasma stands in the maw that was a wall of the trash compactor.
T-Minus six minutes until weapon fully charged. She exits into the corridor as Stormtroopers rush round in the heat of the battle. Phasma needs to find a computer access terminal and quickly. The damage is significant and is making her journey slow progress and full of hazards.
The Resistance are strafing the base with bombing runs seeking a weakness.
Time: 15:22. T-Minus Five Minutes Until Weapon Fully Charged.
She finds the terminal and accesses all activity between 15:10 & 15:12.
The computer reports the action she was seeking was made at 15:11 with level one clearance and asks for it to be deleted. Her instructions at blaster point now erased, there is now no trace of what she did, but maybe there was someone else who could have accessed the system and knows her secret.
Time: 15:23. T-Minus Four Minutes Until Weapon Fully Charged.
At 15:18, Lieutenant Sol Rivas had accessed the records and had discovered that she had shut down the shield and she needs to find him.
She proceeds to the South Platform Level 2 and sights Rivas. She takes aim, but he disappears into an access tunnel as her blaster fire strikes the ground where he had been standing.
Time: 15:24. T-Minus Three Minutes Until Weapon Fully Charged.
Explosions rip through the platform. Phasma waits for a lull in the explosions and uses her harpoon on her left wrist and rappels down the wire towards the hangar exit.
Stormtroopers inform her that General Hux has evacuated the base and they ask if they should do the same. They are told to man their posts and remain and she heads for the exit.
Time: 15:25. T-Minus Two Minutes Until Weapon Fully Charged.
She can see Rivas in the distance and it looks like he is heading for a ship to escape the base. Through the trees she can see Kylo Ren and an unknown opponent fighting with lightsabers. The floor beneath starts to shake and it breaks open to reveal a chasm. She falls in, towards the flowing lava river below, but manages to grab a hold on to the side of the ravine and clambers up to safety.
Rivas is fast approaching the hangar and she takes aim, the shot seems have hit Rivas, but it hasn’t stopped him. Phasma leaps across the ravine and lands on the other side. She must reach that hangar and Rivas.
Time: 15:27. Weapon Fully Charged. Starkiller Base Destruction Imminent.
Phasma reaches the hangar as a TIE fighter takes off from it. On entering the hangar she finds a lone TIE fighter remaining with its pilot. She calls to TN-3465 and asks if he knows Rivas’s TIE’s number and if he knows how to track it. He says he can and they board the last TIE.
Time: 15:28.
On board the TIE they prepare for immediate take off. In the cabin is a black BB unit which had been performing a data update meaning that TN-3465 could not have joined the battle. They take off and head for the skies above Starkiller Base.
Time: 15:31.
As Starkiller Base explodes, in the escaping TIE fighter, Phasma starts to record her version of events and how the shield was shut down.
The Review:
The covers are great. 6 variants to get hold of with some very differing artwork. My favourite is the cartoon style Starkiller Base, it’s a bit ‘Where’s the Wookiee’, but it’s great to sit down and see all the things going on.
The artwork throughout is very strong and the colouring is also well done. On what is a predominantly ice planet and a very dark polished environment of a First Order enclave, some really nice colour choices were made.
The dialogue is minimal except for Phasma’s inner thoughts. It shows that although she is among the First Order elite, she is concerned that she will be revealed to be the instigator of the shield shut down.
The story itself is a solid concept. Phasma using her skills to frame someone else for her enforced subterfuge, but the timescales given to achieve this and the imminent destruction of Starkiller Base make this issue a bit of a farce. I don’t think Usain Bolt could have got round the base that quick and been witness to so many things. I couldn’t get ’20 seconds to Comply’ by Silver Bullet out of my head while reading it. Oh yes, did I mention the forearm mounted harpoon? Where did that come from?
But as I say, the story is clever and it would hold up much better if a more realistic timescale had been used.
Ravis has escaped and is the only person who knows what she has done, so I expect to see the secret die with him in the coming issues, but could that be the twist? Do Hux and Snoke find out and if they do, does that have a bearing on Phasma’s standing within the First Order in The Last Jedi?
Issue 2 will reveal more.
Availability:
This issue was released on 6th September 2017 and is available via the Marvel App and all good comic book stores. This issue retails at $3.99.
