writer: Jason Aaron / artist: John Cassady / Marvel Comics
Marvel’s Star Wars books are all making a pretty damn good “second” first impression. A-List talent is bringing A-list game to take the universe back to basics and reignite that old feeling from the original trilogy. And HOT DAMN IT WORKS!!!
Book One, “Skywalker Strikes” powers forward as the rebel assault on Cymoon 1, continues. Luke and the gang are trying to make their flight from the sabotaged weapons factory, but are met with just about every obstacle imaginable from Darth Vader and the Empire horde. Jason Aaron figured out the perfect way to reintroduce this generation to classic Star Wars: three issues of relentless, fast paced mayhem. Basically, there were a few pages of set up and then the action jumped off from there and didn’t stop. This is totally fine with me. The great thing about it is that Aaron still manages to give us appropriate character development and exposition even as the shit repeatedly hits the fan. This is the sort of thing fans want to see from their Star Wars. And Vader is delightfully ominous and badass minus any of those emo feelings we know and loathe (I’m looking at you, Hayden Christensen). On the artwork side of things, John Cassaday is just plain showing off at this point. This is easily the best looking book of Marvel’s SW line so far.
The best scenes, by far, are easily the speeder chase and…. Well, basically ANY scene with Darth Vader in it. ANY scene. I’m not even joking, guys. Everytime, you see the Villain Formerly Known As Anakin Skywalker, he’s either standing there looking absolutely terrifying or doing something absolutely terrifying. Not to give anything away, but I feel pretty bad for the Stormtroopers throughout these first few issues. Aaron might be trying to make them the new (or old, depending on your perspective) “red shirts” of sci-fi lore.
Bottom Line: What a fantastic way to finish off three issues of non stop action. This is going to be the one I can’t wait to read in trade paperback. Excellent outing for Marvel’s flagship SW book. 9.5 out of 10
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