On the wild jungle planet Yavin, Princess Leia was captured by slave trappers and turned over to the Empire. Enlisting the aid of the savage Wookiees that Jedi-in-training Annikin Starkiller had befriended, Jedi General Luke Skywalker and Han Solo ambushed Imperial tanks and used them to attack the Imperials’ own fort.
Determined to rescue the princess Starkiller loves, he and the droid Artwo fly an Imperial starfighter to Darth Vader’s Space Fortress—while Skywalker and Solo train the Wookiee warriors in the basics of piloting starfighters. Both aspects of the plan are desperate—and dangerous.
Arriving in orbit above Aquilae, the disguised Starkiller successfully infiltrates the Space Fortress, but is soon discovered. Now, every stormtrooper on the station is on the alert, searching for him…
Join scripter J.W. Rinzler, artist Mike Mayhew, colourist Rain Beredo, letterer Michael Heisler and cover artist Nick Rudge as we conclude the story of The Star Wars.
The Review
Finally this weird journey comes to an end and The Star Wars #8 packs in plenty of strangeness. There are scenes familiar to the movies and their elements we have never seen before. As can be expected, the Space Fortress must come to an end, but in this story it’s not by the hand of young farmboy who used to bullseye womprats in his T-16.
Fair warning, I’m going to delve into some spoilers for this issue. Things start off with Annikin wandering the halls of the Space Fortress as he tries to crack wise about his head being too big for stormtrooper helmets and how anyone can fight in their armor. Darth Vader makes short work of him, though, with the simple use of gas, much to the Sith’s displeasure. This leads to an odd turning point in the story where the Sith actually turns on the Empire and sides with Annikin to help him free the princess. On one hand, it’s a very novel idea as it’s never really been done well anywhere in Star Wars. The Sith have always been portrayed as evil and there’s been very little room for redemption. Sure, Vader redeemed himself, but this case has a very different feel to it. It’s much more akin to Han Solo coming back to help Luke rather than Vader being redeemed by his son.
However, the Sith’s change in allegiance is very abrupt. There’s some stiff dialog that sort of paves the way for the change, but none of it makes a whole lot of sense. It feels kind of clumsy and forced. I’d have to say that’s my biggest complaint with this issue and the series as a whole. The dialog and the plot isn’t the best. It certainly feels like it needs to be polished off and tweaked to make it better. Yet I can understand why they did what they did with this series. It’s a piece of history preserving what George Lucas originally came up with it and bringing it to life. It’s not the greatest thing ever, but it’s interesting.
And speaking of interesting, in this conclusion to the story, we get to see Chewbacca and a bunch of Wookiee pilots flying starfighters in an attack on the giant Space Fortress. Yes, Chewbacca gets to play Luke Skywalker, Jedi farmboy. Other nods include the trash compactor scene, Annikin rescuing Leia from her prison cell, and the medal ceremony, only this time Chewbacca gets a medal. On an odd note, the issue ends with a final story crawl that hints at the next story, “Saga of the Ophuchi”. I have not idea what Ophuchi is, but it’s weird to think about another story crawl at the end. Of course, it’s no more weird than Annikin and Leia getting a huge panel of them making out while the Space Fortress explodes, a beautiful shot by the way, one of my favorite scenes in this entire issue which has some nice artwork throughout.
The Star Wars #8 brings us what could have been if George Lucas hadn’t rewritten the script. I’m glad he did rewrite it, but for what it’s worth, it’s neat seeing what could have been. Diehard fans of Star Wars will want to check this comic out, but for casual fans it might be just a tad too weird. It’s an odd mix of stiff, confusing dialog, familiar scenes done in a different way, and things that are just completely bizarre. Ihas it’s moments and it’s worth experiencing.
Reviewed by Skuldren from Roqoo Depot. For more Jedi News comic reviews click here.
