He’s Luke Skywalker, and he’s here to rescue the Meltons in Star Wars #28, written by Charles Soule, art by Andrés Genolet, colored by Rachelle Rosenberg and lettered by Clayton Cowles.
There is an argument to be made that the use of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars #28 is too easy, too deus ex machina-y, that it robs the story of its drama. With the Meltons having crashed on Coruscant and drawing Imperial attention, Luke enters the narrative at the seeming urging of the Force. Working with General Hera Syndulla and Commodore Grek, he is able to use the various messages for help the Meltons sent the Alliance (and which the Alliance promptly ignored…) to figure out their location.
Before long, Luke is donning an Imperial uniform (as seen on the lush cover from E.M. Gist), showing up on Coruscant despite the inherent risk of the galaxy’s most wanted Jedi strolling around the center of galactic life, and (quietly) using his Jedi powers to save the Meltons and ferret them to the Alliance for a full debrief, before sharing the news of “Death Star II: Death Star-ier!” with Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar.
It is an abrupt end, if not to the story (the issue still wraps with “to be continued”) then to the immediate narrative of the Meltons’ escape from the Empire. We never see the means Luke uses to get on or off Coruscant, and while writer Charles Soule is careful to establish that both the Emperor and Darth Vader are offworld when Luke goes there (and that once there, he hands over his lightsaber so as to not be tempted to use it and out himself), it probably should be a more difficult place for Luke to visit. Once he’s on Coruscant, his method of locating the Meltons amongst the city planet’s multiple levels and trillions of people is to Jedi mind trick some Stormtroopers (off-panel), and he fights off the Imperial forces targeting them by using the Force to turn a pack of feral “corridor ghoul” animals lurking in the sewer against the soldiers. It’s all a bit too easy, too simple, and it seemingly centers Luke in a narrative that had previously belonged to the Meltons.
Yet for all that, the relative ease with which Luke saves the day in Star Wars #28 is arguably the point. Even though Luke is seemingly at the center of the story (and the issue spends pages depicting him on his own, away from the Meltons), in the end, this is all about how Luke appears to the Meltons, as this easygoing grinning savior who sweeps in at the last minute and brings them to safety. If it seems like an easy win to us, well, that’s the point: from the Meltons’ perspective, Luke is a deus ex machina, a figure who arrives from out of nowhere to save them. Luke’s heroics are presented not in the objective view of the reader, but from the subjective perspective of the people he’s saving. In that manner, the story still remains about them, and the specifics of the whys and wherefores of how Luke does it all don’t really matter. Because what really matters to the Meltons is that he saved them.
There’s been several stories in this volume of the series as well as previous ones which work to portray Luke’s inner life, his struggles with becoming a Jedi, and his efforts to reconcile his status as a hero of the Rebellion with his “aw, shucks” farmboy mentality. Star Wars #28 isn’t one of those stories. Instead, it’s about portraying Luke Skywalker as the superhero of the Rebellion, the one person who heard the Meltons’ cry for help for what it was and then used his not-inconsiderable abilities to get them to safety, and what that looks like from the perspective of the people he’s saving. Given that this iteration of the series is set during a time when Luke is rebuilding himself from arguably his lowest ebb in The Empire Strikes Back, it’s a refreshing change for the character, and a smart way to conclude the Meltons’ adventure.
Force Facts
- When Luke talks about how the Force led him to believe the Meltons’ calls for help and claims of possessing valuable intelligence were legitimate, Hera compares him to Kanan Jarrus, her former partner/lover from Rebels who was also a Jedi.
- The Coruscant security forces aren’t Stormtroopers, and look kinda like Cobra Troopers crossed with B.A.T.s.
- After donning the black Imperial uniform, Luke is told he looks good in black, a pretty obvious wink to his future sartorial choices as seen in Return of the Jedi.
- When Luke reports to Alliance high command about the second Death Star, he’s told Leia is in another sector with another division of the fleet. Ackbar says it’s to prevent too much of the Rebel leadership from being concentrated in one place, but it reads a lot like the actress playing Leia was busy doing Saturday Night Live during the filming of this episode so they wrote her out, except, you know, it’s a comic book.
- When told that the Meltons are agents of Crimson Dawn, Ackbar notes that Qi’ra likely has agents inside the Rebellion as well, which is a smart observation on his part and possibly the setup for a later story on Soule’s part.
- Mon Mothma’s reaction to the news of the second Death Star is wonderful.
Austin Gorton also reviews older issues of X-Men at the Real Gentlemen of Leisure website, co-hosts the A Very Special episode podcast, and likes Star Wars. He lives outside Minneapolis, where sometimes, it is not cold. Follow him on Twitter @AustinGorton
