Published: April 13, 2022
Rating: Rated T
Writer: Charles Soule
Penciler: Ramon Rosanas
Colourist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Cover Artist: Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz, Lee Loughridge
The synopsis;
THE DAWN ALLIANCE – PART 1 OF 3
“The Last Division”
The time has come for THE REBEL ALLIANCE fleet to bring its final lost division home… but to do it, LEIA ORGANA, MON MOTHMA and the other Alliance leaders will need to rely on intelligence provided by the notoriously untrustworthy criminal organization CRIMSON DAWN. Meanwhile, Starlight Squadron and a group of rogue PATHFINDERS led by KES DAMERON head out on an unauthorized rescue mission to save one of their own!
The review;
Last issue of Star Wars was a breath of fresh air. Not that the series needed it, But Charles Soule took a very different approach to the issue, slowing it down and giving us what felt like an entire issue of character moments. As a piece of art, of writing, it was simply beautiful, something to help catch new readers up but equally something for ongoing fans to bask it is simple brilliance. However, it was certainly the calm before the story, as the issue set up the foundations for the chaos that is going to ensue in this comic. Crimson Dawn, renegade Rebellion fighters and who knows what else, this issue promises to ramp the pace right up.
There is a lot of politics in this issue, a lot of issues of trust and emotional chinks in armour that get shown in this comic. Crimson Dawn want to ally with the Alliance. It makes a lot of sense. Leia realises that the war helps Crimson Dawn, the chaos allows them to achieve their goals, so helping either side to achieve this is good for them. It reminds me of George Orwell’s 1984, the permeant war to keep production and demand up. Crimson Dawn are using the same principal. It means their goals and the Alliances are in the same direction. Leia can see the benefits for her and the Rebels, but then there is the question of Qi’ra. Leia knows this is someone she cannot trust. She needs someone she can completely trust and so appears Holdo. With little nods to Claudia Gray’s book, there are wonderful moments between the two.
It always comes back to the core of this issue though, can Qi’ra be trusted? Qi’ra is extremely confident, perhaps too confident like the Emperor but she knows what she can do, how far her power extends and where all the pieces on the galactic board are. She is a formidable enemy (or friend), that acts similarly to Thrawn but with that huge emotional side to her. Her words usually show that the Rebellion can trust her, but she is always leaving pieces out, not telling the full story. When anything happens, when anything goes wrong, is it mere coincidence or is Qi’ra behind it. Soule has orchestrated the Crimson Reign storyline, and it shows. The fact that readers have the same issues as the characters in the story, that we are continually doubting what is been shown is a credit to Soule and his writing.
Although trust is a huge question in this issue there is another, more subtle theme running through this story, emotion. All the characters in this issue are strong, very strong. But through the course of the issue, Soule starts to point out the vulnerability in almost everyone. Qi’ra has a soft spot for Chewbacca, she’d like to see him, see how he is doing. She considers him a friend. For someone who puts such effort into showing how powerful she is, it’s a strange thing to see. And when we do see Chewie? We see his more obvious emotional side, his constant training to try and rescue Han single handedly. His friend is constantly on his mind, he can’t let him go or ignore the fact that something needs to be done. Although this makes complete sense, I love that we get to see it, that Chewie isn’t stopping. Shara, who has had to make it all by herself, who is completely part of the Rebellion, has her son as a weak spot that is able to be exploited and change her mind in a second.
Finally, we have Leia, who is more even more subtle, admiring Kes for doing what she hasn’t been able to do for Han several story arcs ago. The pain that this must cause, is it the thing that will finally push her to do the same thing and rescue Han? On that point, I can’t also help think, how these events with Crimson Dawn might have been very different if Han were there, how would Qi’ra act, would she still be so strong, or would he be an even greater gap in her armour?
On the other side of all of this, we have Shara, Zahra and Kes. Zahra is still an enemy that I really like. She is very calculating and knows more than she lets on. Like Qi’ra she is driven by her emotions, even though she tries to keep them in check most of the time. She’s almost the image of how Qi’ra might be if manipulated the right way and I wonder if that is why she is here. Equally, Kes, as mentioned, is doing what Leia didn’t. He has gone after his love because he is fed up of waiting, waiting while his wife is tortured by the exact type of machine that tortured Han. All these decisions in terms of art are there to show us, to compare how similar these situations are to others in the story. Will they be successful or mess things up, will they teach the other characters what not to do when it is their time to act?
As always, the artwork by Ramon Rosanas is superb. The ships in space look fantastic, the illustrations of Jabba’s palace stunning and the Bespin torture room part two incredible. Rosanas is all to set the pace of the story perfectly, but it is his use of those familiar sights from the Original Trilogy, amalgamated with the new things that he needs to tell the story that really bring in that nostalgic feeling to each issue; the familiar with the new. It is a joy to behold.
The start of this arc is wonderful. There is a lot here, a lot of questioning of motives and who is exactly behind what. This constant ‘looking over your shoulder’ trying to understand who is moving what game piece makes this an incredibly interesting read. Not only that but we are seeing everyone’s weaknesses and how they might (at some point) be exploited within the story. This is really bringing together Soule’s work together and it’s really paying off. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Availability;
Star Wars (2020) is an ongoing series available from Marvel. This issue retails at $3.99 and is available via the Marvel App, ComiXology and all good comic book stores.
