Darth Vader is dead! The New Republic lives! Moff Adelhard (you all remember him, right?) is defeated! For the first time, Marvel’s second run of Star Wars comics drops the Star Warriors into an ongoing series set in the post-Original Trilogy era in Star Wars #1, written by Alex Segura, drawn by Phil Noto and lettered by Clayton Cowles.
Austin Gorton: Welcome, friends, to the latest new era of Star Wars comics! And welcome, Tony and Scott! Are you excited to plunge into the post-Return of the Jedi, pre-Force Awakens gap?
Tony Thornley: I fell in love with Star Wars in a big part thanks to the old Expanded Universe. Almost all of it took place in the Reconstruction/New Republic era. So this is exactly my shit.
Scott Redmond: Similarly, a giant chunk of my Star Wars fandom was born from the myriad of formerly Expanded Universe novels that I devoured endlessly. Disney has (understandably) tiptoed around playing in this particular space. After falling off the Marvel Star Wars books during the last relaunch, Iām intrigued to see how this all plays out.
Austin: Alright, so we’re all recovering Expanded Universe heads. Which should, theoretically, mean this series lands right in our wheelhouses. Let’s dive in and see if that holds true!
I am a Nagai, like my father before me
Austin: One of the things I always have to be careful of with Star Wars stories is calibrating my expectations. To wit, for me, Luke’s post-RotJ story is all Jedi focused. Which, to be fair, is somewhat supported by stuff like Shattered Empire, the few appearances by Deepfake Luke on Disney+ and Sequel Trilogy flashbacks. All of which is to say, I was a little surprised when this issue opened with Luke leading a squad of X-Wings in a space battle. It felt like something that would be more at home in the first modern Marvel series, set right after A New Hope; the Luke of this era should be in full Jedi robes/exploring the mysteries of the Force mode.
But that doesn’t mean what we got was bad just because it was different from my expectations. This is definitely a slow-burn setup issue, with each of the main trio of Luke, Han and Leia off in their own plotlines that all turn out to be linked in the end.
Tony: So I say that Iām a big fan of the old EU. This issue reminded me so much of that. Very specifically, it reminded me of the vibe (not so much the plot) of Truce of Bakura. Here we have Luke Skywalker in the action plot. Thereās some starfighter stuff, a little bit of Jedi action, but mostly heās setting up the action plot line for the story arc. Thereās these pirates and thereās more to them than you might think. Itās clear that Segura grew up with this stuff as well.
Itās a very good start in that regard.
Scott: I can definitely say I was not expecting a burn this slow to kick things off. As noted before, I missed all but the start of the previous volume (as well as a chunk of the first oneās tail end). Therefore Iām not certain if this mirrors the way that was paced out or not. Most of it was fine, mirroring a lot of the EU stuff as was pointed out, fitting for the characters for the most part. At the same time, as well written as things were, it felt like I was coming into the middle of an already in progress story rather than a first issue.
Austin: This definitely feels a bit more languidly paced than earlier volumes of the series, especially for it being the start.
Scott: Now to be fair, it technically is an ongoing story since it takes place after the third film and two prior volumes of comics. Despite that though, I kind of thought this might set things up a bit more with explanation. Overall, itās easy to follow because three of the leads are very well known, iconic characters. In some respects though, there is an inkling of a feeling that some pre-reading needed to be done to fully put the pieces together. Chiefly the aftermath miniseries that set up this seriesā debut.
Iāll second Austinās sentiment though, I was expecting more of Luke the Jedi over Luke the X-Wing pilot. Not that he canāt have dualities and do both, but it was kind of what I figured was on the way.
Tony: Hereās my biggest problem with a lot of this. I think the Battle of Jakku maxiseries should have actually been the beginning of this volume. Itās referenced so much here, and I totally skipped it. It was not properly billed enough for me to have given it the time and weight I needed to.
Austin: I agree. This leads on so directly from Battle of Jakku, including featuring original characters introduced there, that it reads more like issue #13 of that series instead of issue #1 of a new arc. I’m sure this is all marketing-driven, but still.
Without a doubt, the most engaging thing for me in this issue is the pale-faced, knife-wielding pirate Luke encounters. He bears a striking resemblance to Knife, one of the Nagai from Jo Duffy and Cynthia Martin’s Tof-Nagai War storyline that closed out the original run of Marvel’s Star Wars comic (which, at that time, was also set after Return of the Jedi). Sort of a proto-Yuuzhan Vong, the Tof and Nagai were alien races from the Unknown Region who supported the Imperial remnant before triggering an open war with the Alliance of Free Planets. That plotline was an attempt to give the heroes a new threat to battle that wasn’t the Empire, and that seems to be what writer Alex Segura is setting up throughout this issue.
Tony: Yeah, but it seems like Segura is trying to seed the First Order (to make āsomehow Palpatine returnedā more palatable) just a little at the same time. Like, we know that the First Order came from an Imperial remnant, and itād be great to see seeds of that in this volume without going all in on this being like so much of the old EU ā hereās yet another secret Imperial _____ that we didnāt know about until now!
Hands shot first
Austin: Perhaps no Legends character has gotten a bigger lift in modern Star Wars than Valance the Hunter, and that continues here, with Valance essentially functioning as the fourth lead in this issue. Heck, he does more than Han does.
Which is a shame, because as much as I enjoy Valance, after an entire volume in which Han was off the table (since it was set while he was in carbonite after The Empire Strikes Back), I was hoping he’d have a bigger impact out of the gate.
In fact, it would have been nice to see more of the main trio together here, after a volume apart instead of scattered into their own little plot threads. Also, where’s Lando?
Tony: I kind of dug Valance getting this little plot line here to the point that I think Han showing up ruined it a touch. Thatās not to say they couldnāt have intersected later, but itās a side story clearly linked to the Luke A-plot that could have used more development before any of our main heroes got dragged into it.
I did like the former Imp armor of these bad guys.
Scott: This is my lack of previous reading speaking perhaps, but I shrug when I see Valance for some reason. White guy bounty hunter with cybernetics. Doesnāt help that he and Han look so very similar and have very similar personalities and traits. This is probably blasphemous, but Han isnāt even in my top five favorite Star Wars characters. Hell, actually now that I think about it, he might not even be in the top ten.
So doubling him up in a sense just kind of leaves me a bit cold.
Austin: Valance was one of my favorite characters from the original Star Wars comic, and I’m glad he’s been canonized and brought into the modern era. That said, he was a character who did more with less, and while I know he has a vibrant fanbase out there, he feels almost overexposed at this point. Dropping him into a plotline with Han, whose vibe, as you say, Scott, is basically the same, just waters them both down. It makes Valance feel like Dash Rendar.
Also, I’m with you, Scott; I’m not a big Han guy either. He’s basically the Wolverine of Star Wars, so he doesn’t do as much for me, a Cyclops guy, as Luke (aka Star Wars’ Cyclops).
Scott: Luke/Cyclops people unite!
Building up mystery is key to stories in many cases. Yet, the pirate stuff and these new guys, who are all clearly connected, arenāt hitting quite yet for me. It could be that we bounce back and forth so much that there isnāt enough given to really grab onto. There is at least a kernel of intrigue – it is Star Wars after all – so Iāll definitely give it a chance to build out and tell me more.
Tony: As a big Han Solo fan (probably a little bit more to do with Harrison Ford than Han himself, honestly), Iām all in on having him be a scoundrel. Do it, please. But what this series needed to launch, more than anything, was this found family (that actually was a literal family all along) back together after the time they were split apart following Empire. Return of the Jedi was such a whirlwind that they didnāt have a chance to walk away from all of it and say, āHey, everyone good? Nice to see you, Han!ā
Now, like I said before, Iām sure this plotline will collide directly with Lukeās, if not Leiaās too, but it really would have been good to get a little more connection between our heroes to start.
Austin: Especially since we never really got that in the Battle of the Jakku series either. If not now, when?
Aggressive negotiations
Austin: Phil Noto draws an especially good Leia, but she unfortunately gets saddled with the more thankless third of the issue. While Luke’s plot gets to do the “mounting mystery” thing and both his and Han’s plots contribute the action quotient, Leia mostly gets stuck doing exposition and tying the different threads together through her negotiations with the Fenril Sector.
Scott: This seems to be Leiaās lot in life. While there were some exceptions here or there, a lot of what I recall from the Extended Universe years were similar. Leia is always on negotiation or diplomacy duty, whether sheās back at New Republic HQ or along for galactic adventures. Granted, sheās good at it and it makes sense that as an ambassador/royal/politician sheād be in the middle of a lot of this stuff. Itās also just kind of a hard spot for the character to kind of be stuck all the time.
Austin: One of the fun things about the “New Jedi Order”/Yuuzhan Vong arc is the way it got Leia out of the political business and into the Jedi business a bit more.
Tony: The best old EU novels balanced that stuff with giving her action storylines, but eventually she just ended up Chancellor of the New Republic and that all got lost until New Jedi Order and all the stuff with Jacen going Dark Side afterward.
Austin: The Fenril don’t really resemble the Tof (or Nagai), and they seem to be part of the existing Star Wars galaxy rather than from outside it (though their own little grouping of stars/planets, not unlike the EU’s Hapes Cluster), but Segura seems to be setting them up to play a similar role: give the New Republic a foe to fight that isn’t the Empire.
Which, whether we’re heading into a canonical riff on the Tof-Nagai War or not, is arguably a smarter move here than it was back in the ’80s. Given the villains of the Sequel Trilogy are basically the Empire Redux, giving the characters something different to fight in this series will help keep the whole post-Jedi period from feeling repetitive. It could also help underscore the idea that the New Republic missed signs of the mounting threat of the First Order because it was busy fighting another war elsewhere.
Scott: I must say, the references to the old Marvel Star Wars lore kind of intrigue me. Maybe Iāll check it out at some point.
Anyway, I agree that this is a good call for this series. The Empire and the Empire Redux have become kind of shruggable in many respects. Some pieces of Star Wars content make them terrifying and work (see Andor) while others not so much. Itās that whole overexposure thing mentioned above at work again.
Austin: Another neat element of the Tof-Nagai War was that, as villains, they were visually distinct from the Empire. The Nagai were basically Dark Elves, while the Tog dressed like extras from HMS Pinafore and their spaceships looked like old Age of Sail man o’wars. It didn’t make a ton of sense, but it gave them a unique look.
Scott: In a way this Fenril uprising is kind of a slap in the face that Iām OK with for our heroes. They fought this long, rebellious war, assumed that all would be well upon winning, and are finding out that is not the case. Just swaggering in and declaring that the old school Republic is back in a shiny new wrapper after almost three decades. Realizing but also missing that the rest of the galaxy has changed greatly in that time.
Tony: Itās sort of how the best Separatist stories were. There were more than a few spots in the Clone Wars that you realized that, hey, the Separatists had a point. The Republic ignored those worlds for whatever reason, and didnāt give them the support they needed. Itās actually good to see something similar here.
You won a war. That doesnāt mean itās easy to govern after that.
Yes, Iām paraphrasing Hamilton here, but itās an incredibly profound statement.
Force Facts
- The X-Wing pilot fighting alongside Luke on the moon is Rynn Zenat, a supporting character from the Battle of Jakku maxiseries (also by Segura). Same with Kith Alaytia, who is hanging out with Leia in her plotline.
- Han is sporting a stylish new white vest. Itās not totally dissimilar to the one Han wore in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
- The Fenril clothing designs seem just a little Imperial, donāt they? Just a bit?
- Check out Matt Lazorwitz’s interview with Segura about launching this series here.
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 @austingorton.bsky.social.
Scott Redmond
Scott Redmond is a freelance writer and educator fueled by coffee, sarcasm, his love for comic books and more "geeky" things than you can shake a lightsaber at. Probably seen around social media and remembered as "Oh yeah, that guy." An avid gamer, reader, photographer, amateur cook and solid human being. Follow him @scottredmond.bsky.social.
Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist and all around awesome guy. Heās also very humble. Follow him @brawl2099.bsky.social.
