A devastating attack by the Empire’s Space Fortress has left the planet Aquilae defenseless. Imperial General Darth Vader sends troops to capture Princess Leia, who is Aquilae’s monarch now that her father, the king, has been killed in the bombardment.
Jedi General Luke Skywalker, Padawan Annikin Starkiller, and Agent Whitsun hastily arrange to spirit Leia and her two young brothers to the safety of the Ophuchi system. Learning of their escape, Vader enlists a new ally—Prince Valorum, a Knight of the Sith and sworn enemy of the Jedi.
After a battle with a platoon of stormtroopers in the desert, Skywalker’s group races with even more urgency to the spaceport at Gordon, where he must rendezvous with Ureallian smuggler Han Solo to find a way off planet…
Join scripter J.W. Rinzler, artist Mike Mayhew, colourist Rain Beredo, letterer Michael Heisler and cover artist Nick Runge as we continue the story of The Star Wars.
The Review
There’s not a lot of action in The Star Wars #4, but the story does move on and pack a few punches. In this issue, we get our first look at the green Han Solo. There’s some skirmishes with stormtroopers, but for the most part, it’s a movement of the characters from point A to point B. They manage to cross a desert, get to the spaceport, and put together a plan for their escape to Ophuchi.
First things first, lets discuss the cover. Nick Runge presents us with two Jedi armed with crimson bladed lightsabers, the iconic weapons that have been ingrained in our heads as the symbols of the Sith. Yet that’s avoiding the elephant in the room: a freaking battle ostrich! Yes, Luke Skywalker is riding a giant battle ostrich. Look at the teeth on that thing. Take away it’s goofy looking body, and you have a intimidating creature. Alas, the body of an ostrich is just too comical to be intimidating. Interestingly enough, General Skywalker isn’t happy with just riding into battle on a vicious looking ostrich, he also has to stand up in the saddle to further impose his advantage of the high ground. Silly though it may be, it’s still a nice looking cover.
There are so many captions, but this picture really speaks for itself. For the most part, the story really is just a big setup for getting everyone offworld. In escaping the desert, Luke and Annikin fight some stormtroopers riding ostriches and carrying silver bladed lightsabers. When they arrive in the spaceport, there’s the classic cantina scene that starts off word-for-word just like A New Hope. However the story breaks away and leaves four dead or wounded aliens in Skywalker’s wake. Furthermore, the iconic meeting with Han Solo takes place outside the bar.
Now let’s talk about Han Solo. We’ve been prepared to expect a green alien. When he was unveiled in this issue, my first thought was Swamp Thing. Sure, they’re both green and have red eyes, but it goes deeper than that. They’re face structure is very similar. I can’t help but wonder if George initially describe the alien Han as Swamp Thing. And it is possible since Swamp Thing was created back in 1971.
Visually, the issue looks really good. While not every scene is dripping with details, there are a lot of good close-ups with significant facial detail. There’s a good range of emotion and expression, and some neat visual cues to more familiar imagery. That said, there’s some things that are just off putting. Battle ostriches don’t work. My imagination just can’t take them seriously at all. They would have worked great for comedy, yet in the context of this story, they needed something serious. I also thought the first panel of the cantina scene was disappointing. There’s only a few aliens shown in any degree of detail and it lacks the impact that other artists have been able to capture with that classic setup.
Not to be all down in the dumps, there are some great scenes in this comic. From Luke and Whitsun pulling blasters, to Luke staring down two charging ostriches (it sounds silly, but it was actually really cool). I also liked the imagery of Valorum with his Mortal Kombat/Bane mask. It has a very Japanese feel to it. And while Han Solo is Swamp Thing, I actually like the look.
The story in this issue is a little weak, though. There are a few cool moments like when Luke stares down those two charging ostriches, or a familiar scene overlooking a spaceport in the distant valley. The cantina didn’t do much for me as it was odd hearing the same lines from the movie. The dialog got a little dull as the issue went on and could definitely have used a little help. However I thought the twins were done really well. Between them singing and their perpetual, smiling faces, they felt genuine and believable as two little real world kids. Yet the most emotional part of the issue didn’t work well for me. Starkiller’s actions should have been more emotional, but for some reason I didn’t really care. It could have been the dialog or the jarring way he likes to reveal his naked robot innards, but the end result was a disconnect with the character and the scene.
As is, The Star Wars #4 is a strange journey. In a world where the stormtroopers ride ostriches and carry lightsabers, it’s full of the unexpected. Star Wars is such an ingrained experience for most fans, that it can be hard to see such jarring imagery. In the same way, it’s hard to hear familiar dialog and not be jarred out of the comic scene by thinking about the movie scene those lines were in. By mixing the familiar and the unfamiliar, you get something that’s both weird and neat. It’s definitely an experience. I give The Star Wars #4 a three and a half metal bikinis out of five. While the art is good and the story isn’t awful, it isn’t a great standalone issue. As part of the eight part series, it’s not too bad and it is moving things along while delivering some fun experiences.
For more Jedi News comic reviews click here.
