Comic Corner: One too many reboots

‘Star Wars: Issue 001’ review

By Brittney MacDonald, Life & Style Editor

2/5

Star Wars is at it again, creating yet another reboot of the franchise, this time in a comic series set around the time of the original Star Wars trilogy. A regular edition has been put out by Marvel, with a variant cover edition exclusive to Loot Crate, but I’m not totally convinced it’s worth picking up.

I’m going to avoid talking much about plot because the comic book is a little bit of a patchwork of various scenarios. On one hand you have the classic plot of the 1977 film, on the other you have this random battle scene with a focus on Princess Leia’s perspective instead of Luke’s. I’m not saying it’s bad, it just feels incomplete.

Since this is in single issue comic form, that’s pretty much all you get before the writer and artist run out of pages. The adaptation, done by writer Jason Aaron, could have been handled better. The plot itself just feels way too rushed. Instead of seeing the classic quartet of Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and Luke Skywalker kicking some Empire booty, they just seem to win randomly and, before you know it, Darth Vader is having his iconic meeting with Jabba the Hutt, planning revenge.

However, the art, done by John Cassaday, is pretty spectacular. Stylistically, it’s a mix between the modern North American aesthetic of digital painting and a more traditionalist approach with heavy inks and bold lines. What makes it so good is the attention to detail and anatomy, and Cassaday’s use of hard light sources throughout the comic book.

I definitely had some issues with this. Despite being a massive Star Wars fan, I can’t imagine myself picking up the next issue, so therefore I can’t recommend it.