Luke Skywalker has a major revelation while Leia watches a cool fight in Star Wars #16 written by Charles Soule, art by Ramon Rosanas, colored by Rachelle Rosenberg and lettered by Clayton Cowles
In terms of plot, not a lot happens in this issue: Luke spends most of it flying to Jekara, while the contingent of Leia, Lando and Chewbacca, already on Jekara, spend most of it watching Darth Vader fight Qi’ra and making phone calls to Luke. But by not encumbering the issue with the need to, you know, depict stuff happening, Charles Soule and Ramon Rosanas are able to instead craft a brief but searing character study, built around the idea that Luke, in the wake of his encounter with Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back, is afraid to face him again.
The issue opens with Luke in hyperspace, flying from the events of the previous issue to the Han Solo auction on Jekara. He is using the opportunity to have a bit of a therapy session with Artoo (sidebar: making Artoo, essentially, the co-pilot of Luke’s X-wing was a smart move on George Lucas’ part for many reasons, but one of them is on display here, as it gives Luke an automatic partner with which to have discussions in scenarios like this). Through Luke’s soliloquy to Artoo, set against the backdrop of depictions of his duel with Vader in Empire, Soule takes advantage of the nature of written narratives to put us inside Luke’s head as he recounts how he felt during that duel: the sensation that fighting Vader was like fighting a force of nature, as Vader attacked him on several levels at once, and that it took everything Luke had to hold his own and survive. Then, Soule takes a page out of Greg Pak’s book, using a technique Pak deployed in Darth Vader to take the familiar beats of the Empire duel and twist them into something new: as Luke expresses confidence that he’s learned so much since that duel, we see him gain an edge on Vader, cutting off Vader’s hand before pausing moments before delivering a killing blow to apologize, at which point Vader turns the tables and still defeats Luke, killing him with his own saber.
Whereas the alt-scenarios in Darth Vader served as a way to, ultimately, confirm Vader’s commitment to the Emperor, here they help Luke realize what is holding him back on his quest to become a full-fledged Jedi: his fear. It’s a powerful moment, one which reverberates throughout the entire saga, while also impacting the series on both a macro and micro level: it sets up the cliffhanger ending to this issue, with Luke fighting past an Imperial blockade of Jekara by cleverly drawing one of the orbiting pirate ships into the conflict only to find himself paralyzed by fear after Vader challenges Luke to face him. More broadly, it furthers the character arc of Luke in this iteration of the series, making the stakes of his journey to become the near-Jedi audiences see at the opening of Return of the Jedi higher and more personal: it’s not just about learning improved lightsaber techniques or strengthening his connection to the Force. In order to become a Jedi, in order to later have the wherewithal to turn himself over to Vader and commit to pulling his father back from the dark side, he must first conquer his own fear.
Meanwhile, Leia, Lando and Chewbacca are almost literally sidelined in the issue, as they continue to make references to events from Solo, but otherwise do very little besides watch and wait. Though even here, Leia’s ill-advised determination to rescue Han at all costs, established in issue #14, continues to shine through, as she refuses to give up on Han while being so close to him, despite the significant odds stacked against them. Once again, readers’ knowledge, to some extent, of what is going to happen heightens the tension rather than lessens it: we know Leia is going to fail here (just as we know that Luke isn’t quite the ace in the hole Leia thinks he is at this point), but we don’t know exactly how, what price will come with that failure, nor how Leia will react to and learn from that failure, all of which makes for compelling drama even as we know that, eventually, Han will be rescued and reunited with Leia.
But it is the Luke stuff that is the real meat of the story here, and Soule clearly knows it. Between the Empire flashbacks and Luke’s revelation of what is impeding his development as a Jedi, the issue single-handedly brings new dimension to both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi while also furthering the immediate plot of the “War of the Bounty Hunters” narrative and deepening Luke’s character. It’s hard to ask an issue of a series like this to do more.
Force Facts
- Vader says he recognizes the “lineage of [Qi’ra’s] instruction” while fighting her; this is presumably a reference to Maul and his role as the shadow leader of Crimson Dawn.
- Luke’s lightsaber blade in the Empire flashbacks/visions is consistently colored yellow, which is either a reference to the original action figure coming with a yellow saber (and/or the original Marvel comic book, which often colored it the same way), or simply a mistake.
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
