Star Wars: Age Of Rebellion – Grand Moff Tarkin (2019) No. 1 review

Grand Moff Tarkin supervises the Death Star’s first massive operation in the second issue of Star Wars: Age Of Rebellion.

Star Wars: Age Of Rebellion – Grand Moff Tarkin (2019) No. 1

Writer: Greg Pak

Artist: Marc Laming

Star Wars: Age Of Rebellion – Grand Moff Tarkin cover (Credit: Marvel Comics)

Wilhuff Tarkin grew up on Eriadu among a ruthless family. It’s what made him into the hardened leader who was able to go toe-to-toe with Darth Vader. In Star Wars: Age Of Rebellion – Grand Moff Tarkin No. 1, the Grand Moff oversees the first large-scale operation by the Death Star. Having just taken over the battle station from Orson Krennic, the Grand Moff is intent on displaying the full might of his and the Death Star’s power. If only all his soldiers would fall in line.

Releasing two chapters of the same series in one day may have been a mistake by Marvel, since Star Wars: Age Of Rebellion – Grand Moff Tarkin No. 1 pales in comparison to Star Wars: Age Of Rebellion – Princess Leia No. 1. This issue felt disjointed and poorly structured. The middle act is ostensibly a dream sequence, which does neither the writer nor the character any credit. Had it been a single panel that depicted Tarkin’s anger, the scene would have made sense. But for a dream scene to take up so many pages without lending itself to any real character growth is a waste of space.

The most insightful part of this comic was the final act – it brought Tarkin to life and gave readers the arc that we had been waiting for. The entire comic should have been about Tarkin’s willful misuse of power, not a silly dream sequence.

To compound the many problems of this issue, a massive part of it is the recreation of the destruction of Alderaan. The entire scene did not have to be rewritten for the denouement to take place. What would have worked in this installment’s favor would have been including a segment of that iconic scene from the film, while focusing on the supporting characters’ reactions.

Star Wars: Age Of Rebellion – Grand Moff Tarkin (Credit: Marvel Comics)

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From the looks of it, Star Wars: Age Of Rebellion will be portraying accurate facsimiles of the actors, which is a tough ask of the artists. In this issue, Tarkin looks so much like Peter Cushing it’s almost eerie. Where Marc Laming fails is, once again, during the dream panels. Tarkin’s head doesn’t fit the rest of his body – one could put it down to Tarkin imagining himself to be a stud under those stiff Imperial uniforms, but it’s probably down to a poor artistic choice.

The one big positive in Star Wars: Age Of Rebellion – Grand Moff Tarkin No. 1 is Jordan Boyd and Neeraj Menon’s colors. The use of black for the Death Star interiors adds a sense of the ominous atmosphere Star Wars fans have come to attribute to scenes featuring the Empire. Again, it would have been a better decision to desaturate the dream sequence as was done with the flashback scenes. Anything to make the reading experience less disorientating.

Considering how evil Cushing’s Tarkin came across in the first Star Wars film, it’s a pity that Star Wars: Age Of Rebellion – Grand Moff Tarkin No. 1 isn’t able to add the same gravitas to the character for a significant portion of the issue. There’s no real addition to the characterization of Tarkin in this book, which is disappointing. We can only assume that subsequent issues in the series will do the other characters justice.