"Star Wars: Skywalker Strikes"

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Star Wars: Skywalker Strikes” as presented in Modern Era Epic Collection format. It is not a review of any of the films, television series, video games, or prose novels.

            A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, it is a period of renewed hope for the Rebellion. The evil Galactic Empire’s greatest weapon, the Death Star, has been destroyed by the young Rebel pilot, Luke Skywalker. With the Imperial Forces in disarray, the Rebels look to press their advantage by unleashing a daring offensive throughout the far reaches of space, hoping to defeat the Empire finally and at last restore freedom to the galaxy.

            The Rebellion dispatched Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia Organa, Chewbacca, R2D2 and C3PO to Cymoon 1 to destroy the Empire’s Weapons Factory Alpha. The plan was to go in with Han pretending to be an emissary of Jabba the Hutt, then they would get to the power core, set explosive charges, and escape to Han’s ship the Millenium Falcon. After the charges were placed, Luke found a group of slaves whom he refused to leave behind. The Rebels were getting ready to return to the Falcon when the negotiator arrived: Darth Vader. Chewbacca attempted to take Vader out, but Vader blocked his shot and alerted all the Stormtroopers to the presence of the Rebels of Cymoon 1. Meanwhile, the Falcon was being dismantled by native scavengers in its hiding place. Han, Leia, and the slaves attempted to retreat to the Falcon in an Imperial Walker, while Luke ran off to confront Vader himself. Luke almost lost his life, but the Imperial Walker arrived just in time to save him. C3PO attempted to intimidate the scavengers, but proved far from intimidating and was taken by them and dismantled. Chewbacca was able to rescue him. The Empire mechanics discovered the explosives and disabled them. Leia, Han, Chewbacca, the slaves, and the droids made it to the Falcon, while Luke flew a speeder to the power core and blew it up himself. The Rebellion were able to jump to lightspeed and escape a blockade of Star Destroyers. Vader then vowed that he and he alone would be the one to train Luke in the ways of the Force and turn him to the Dark Side. Vader turned to Jabba the Hutt to learn more about the boy who destroyed the Death Star, hoping to learn his name. Jabba revealed the boy was connected to “Ben” Kenobi and sent out bounty hunter Boba Fett to gather information. Luke, however, was unsure of himself and thought the best place to find answers would be his home planet Tatooine. A mysterious woman put out a bounty for Han. Leia and Han were scouting for a planet suitable for a new Rebel base when they were chased by Imperial Tie Fighters. They escaped to a planet covered by electrical storms Han thought would provide respite. The mysterious woman followed Han and Leia to that planet. Luke went to the house of Ben Kenobi, where he was confronted by Boba Fett, who blinded him. Luke was able to defeat Fett and escape with a box from Kenobi’s house. The mystery woman after Han revealed herself to be Sana Solo, Han’s wife. When Luke’s sight returned, he opened the box and discovered it contained the journals of Ben Kenobi. Fett was able to return to Vader with the name “Skywalker” and ended his deal with Vader.

            Kenobi’s journals revealed that Kenobi wanted to train Luke in the ways of the Force from Luke’s childhood. Kenobi trained Anakin Skywalker, Luke’s father, and wanted to train his son as well, but Luke’s Uncle Owen Lars forbade it. Still, Kenobi watched over Luke from a distance.

            Sana revealed she wanted Han back. She decided they could sell Leia to the Empire, Meanwhile, Luke traveled to Nar Shaddaa, the Smuggler’s Moon, hoping to learn more information about the Jedi. The Imperials attacked Han, Leia, and Sana, who were all turning against each other. Luke was beaten in a fight and abducted by Grakkus the Hutt, a Hutt who collected Jedi memorabilia. He tested Luke, asking him to open a Jedi Holocron, a device only a Jedi could unlock. Luke was successful, and Grakkus realized he now had the last Jedi in his custody. He decided to train Luke for the arena. The Rebellion received a distress call from R2D2, alerting them that Luke was being held hostage on Nar Shaddaa, and dispatched Chewbacca and C3PO to rescue him. Leia, Han, and Sana were able to escape the Imperials, and Leia received learned of Luke’s distress. Luke was trained to fight in the arena, where Grakkus planned to host the viewing of the death of the last Jedi to make a fortune. Chewbacca and C3PO were attacked by a bounty hunter named Dengar. They were losing until Han and Leia arrived. The Imperials arrived on Nar Shaddaa, alerted by Grakkus’ Gamemaster, who was secretly an Imperial agent. Chewbacca, Han, and Leia took up Lightsabers and fought to rescue Luke. Leia then learned that Han and Sana’s marriage was a fraud. The Rebellion was able to rescue Luke, and they escaped from Nar Shaddaa.

            Through the underworld sources of his secret ally, Dr. Aphra, Vader received word of Luke’s location- the former Jedi temple on the planet Vrogas Vas. The Rebellion and Vader had a battle over Vrogas Vas, where the Rebellion took heavy casualties, until Luke rammed Vader’s enhanced Tie Fighter with his ship, and the two adversaries crash landed on the planet Vrogas Vas, where the Rebels had a secret refueling base. Aphra, feeling like she led Vader into a trap and wanting to stay in his good graces, landed on Vrogas Vas, with her droids. The incapacitated Luke, and she attempted to bring him to Vader, but Chewbacca came to Luke’s rescue. Han and Aphra had a showdown, which ended with both being assaulted by wasp-worms. Leia directly confronted Vader, who allowed her to escape. The Wookie Black Krrsantan was hired by Jabba to bring Han back, and Chewbacca and Krrsantan battled. Sith Lord Commander Karbin decided to take an opportunity to win favor with the Emperor and defeat Vader and take Vader’s place at the Emperor’s side. Luke, Han, Chewbacca and C3PO were taken down, Vader was engaged in battle with Karbin, Aphra was on the loose with her droids, and Leia had a choice of either taking down Vader or saving her fellow Rebels.

            Okay, now it’s time to talk about what I thought of this book. I love “Star Wars,” especially the original trilogy, so I was super excited when Marvel announced they were doing Star Wars Modern Era Epic Collections. As my regular readers know, I get every Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection, but Star Wars was something I have really been looking forward to for months, and I’m glad it’s finally here. And I have to say, I was not disappointed. This book was exactly as good as I was hoping it would be, even better. Right off the bat, I started on the first page, and it started exactly how the movies started, with the title crawl. I included it at the start of this review, it’s the first paragraph. Then I got to the art. John Cassaday is an amazing artist, I loved his work on Astonishing X-Men, so seeing his penciling was super exciting for me. I knew exactly who each character was supposed to be, they looked exactly as how they did in the movies, which was great. Some comic books, you read and aren’t 100% sure who each character is every time because they artists make them look different, but that was not the case in this book. I was slightly disappointed that Cassaday was not the only artist in this book, and I am not a fan of the work of Simone Bianchi, so the one issue he did was a minor letdown for me, but the other artists did fantastic jobs, particularly Salvador Larroca, who I am a major fan of. As far as the stories go, they were so good. They were true to the source material, they did not deviate from canon, even the Obi-Wan Kenobi flashback issue didn’t clash with the “Obi-Wan Kenobi” series on Disney+ which came out several years later, so I was incredibly happy about that. And it felt like Star Wars. The characters were written properly, their essences were true to the source material. And to me it didn’t feel forced, it didn’t feel superfluous, it didn’t feel like a waste of time. I found it to be highly enjoyable. And I loved the new characters Sana Starros and Dr. Aphra, I find them to be great additions to the Star Wars universe and wish that Disney would do something to bring them to the screen, I feel like they deserve it. I would totally love to see a “Dr. Aphra” series on Disney+. As it is, her popularity grew in the comics and she has had several her own series, which I have found enjoyable. I just found this book to be all around enjoyable, I thought Jason Aaron and Kieron Gillen did a brilliant job with this book, I can’t wait for the next Star Wars Modern Era Epic Collection which incidentally is not scheduled to come out until July 2025, so that’s almost a year from the point of my writing this, but there is a Star Wars: Darth Vader Modern Era Epic Collection coming out November 2024, so you can expect it in less than four months from the point of my writing this review.

            Anyway, let’s talk about accessibility. This is a slightly different situation that normal. Usually, I talk about how easy it is for a new comic book reader to get into reading a series that follows the Marvel Universe, which has been in existence since the 1940s, but this is a different universe than we normally talk about. This is the “Star Wars” universe. So, if you want to read this book and understand it, I feel that honestly all you really need to have seen before reading this book is “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.” However, there is reference to Darth Vader’s history, so seeing “Episodes I-III” are also advised, but I think all you really need to have seen is “A New Hope.” If you haven’t seen it, then you won’t be able to fully follow this book, but if you’ve seen “Episode IV,” I think you’ll have no problem reading and understanding the contents of this book.

            Okay, now we’re getting to the important part of the review, my numeric score. I score on a scale of one to ten. One is the lowest score, which means that this book is awful and should not be read, ten is the highest score, which means if you’re a fan of Star Wars you better go read this book the second you’re done reading this review. Getting a ten from me is extremely difficult, especially from a graphic novel. That means it needs to have sheer perfection. A graphic novel is a symbiosis or story and art, and both must be considered when I review a graphic novel. In every honesty, I really would like to give this book a ten, I do think it deserves it, BUT I can’t because of that one issue drawn by Simone Bianchi, I just must nitpick from that. It’s just the hiccup that takes away from perfection, so I just can’t give this book that ten. If any of the other artists in this book had drawn that issue, I could have given it a ten, but because of that, I must settle on scoring this book at a nine.

            Now let’s talk about my recommendation. I always talk about if I recommend the book and if so, to whom I recommend the book. Honestly, I feel like if you are a fan of the original “Star Wars” trilogy, you should make every effort to read this book. If you’ve ever seen “Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope” and enjoyed it, totally go out there and pick up this book and read it. I think you will not be disappointed.

            Well, we’re now at the point where we’re wrapping this up. As many of you know, I’ve done over a hundred posts on this blog, I’ve done dozens of reviews like this, and I’m not kidding when I say that. I’ve got another review coming up within the next few days, so keep an eye out for that, it will be very soon, I promise you that. I also have written several short stories; I’ve written poetry as well. I’ve done editorials, I’ve done essays. I’ve done all kinds of posts. I have a degree in English with a minor in journalism, so this blog is me using that degree. And with that, we are done, so I will leave you with just a few more words: Tim Cubbin… out!