Star Wars #1 Review: Like Comfort Food In Comic Book Form

For people of a certain age, there’s an affection for all things Star Wars that’s always going to be there. Nothing, not disappointing prequel movies or concerns about Disney taking over the future of the brand, is going to take it away completely.

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I’m firmly in the demographic I just described, so take my possible bias into account. But there’s something about Star Wars #1, the franchise’s much-publicized return to Marvel Comics, that reminds you of exactly why you fell in love with this space opera in the first place.

The small details are all there. The issue starts with a print version of that famous crawl, and it’s easy to hear the John Williams theme in your head while reading it. Han Solo is the first familiar character we see, running a con on the Empire that goes pretty well … until it doesn’t.

Jason Aaron ensures there’s a story here worthy of the hype, as we get all of the main Star Wars cast — Luke Skywalker, Leia, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3Po — with dialogue that recalls the snappiest banter from the original trilogy. Naturally, things for our heroes don’t go entirely according to plan, setting up multiple cliffhangers for the next installment and teasing a showdown that could (but probably won’t) occur much sooner than it did on film. Enough foreshadowing and references are included to satisfy even the most hardcore fans.

As you might expect, John Cassaday is stellar on art, bringing serious style to action scenes and character bits alike. My personal favorites in both categories both involve Leia, as we see she can deliver a mean left cross and fluster Han with equal effectiveness.

With all due respect to the work that Dark Horse did with the license during a relatively down time for Star Wars as a whole, this just feels right. I mean Star Wars #1 on its own and the return of the Star Wars comics to Marvel in general. Fans are going to eat this up, and my guess is they’re going to come away satisfied.

SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT!

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away ….

The Rebels are trying to take advantage of the general disarray that settled in after the destruction of the Death Star. In this case, that means capturing an emissary from Jabba the Hutt and replacing him with Han Solo before visiting the Empire’s main weapons factory for negotiations, one we’re told is fully automated and runs day and night. Though the Imperial Overseer tries playing hardball with Solo, Han’s got a few aces up his sleeve. His “bodyguards” are Luke and Leia, Chewie is waiting in sniper position, and C-3PO is back on the Millennium Falcon.

Our heroes are forced to take the more direct approach pretty quickly, and they get to work setting the main power core to blow. Luke discovers the Empire is using slave labor, and he has to turn to his lightsaber to disarm (literally) a guard with some kind of energy whip. Meanwhile, Leia questions why Han would put his face out in front of the Rebel movement, and he’s interrupted before he has to explain.

Unfortunately, the Imperial negotiator has arrived, and as luck would have it, it’s Darth Vader. Han tells Chewbacca not to shoot at Vader because it will make their escape that much tougher, but Leia overrules him, saying a chance to kill Vader is worth more than their safety. Being a Sith Lord and all, Vader is able to deflect the first shot with his lightsaber and use the Force to levitate a few poor Stormtroopers to use as human shields to block the rest. Properly ruthless, I’d say.

The alert goes out, but Threepio has his own problems. The Falcon has been hiding in a giant junk pile, but there are scavenger aliens among the trash that are starting to feed on the ship. Han says there’s a blaster in the cockpit and … yeah, that’s probably not going to go well.

Han, Leia and the freed slaves find another way to get out of danger, and it’s the coolest way possible: an AT-AT. But wait, where’s Luke?

He can sense that Vader is there, and he’s looking for some payback. Luke also has Ben Kenobi on the dead Jedi dedicated telepathy line, and just as he’s about to face Darth Vader, Obi-Wan has a better idea: run!

Favorite moment: Plenty from which to choose, but it’s hard to beat that last page for goosebump potential. Vader coming down the hallway, lightsaber lit up, Luke determined to make a stand but Ben suggesting otherwise. Love it.

Final thought: It’s easy to forget this series is set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. That means Luke is really a novice, as he hasn’t trained with Yoda yet, and the Luke-Leia-Han triangle hasn’t been resolved yet. Important to keep all that in mind.

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