Continuing from last issue, our heroes are trying to shut down a major Imperial weapons factory on Cymoon 1.  Naturally, nothing is ever simple for Luke, Han, Leia and company.  They have been split up and found more than enough problems to keep everyone busy and then some.  Malfunctioning Walkers are bad enough, but when a certain Sith Lord comes calling, you know it’s not going to make anything better. 

This is early in the Star Wars time-line, just after the first movie (Star Wars: A New Hope).  Luke is far from the Master he becomes later in the Expanded Universe.  The heroes’ relative inexperience explains some of the rather obvious mistakes they make.  Personally, I’d think more than five minutes with him would persuade anyone not to rely on C3P0, but that’s me.

Jason Aaron, who’s been doing a lot of great writing for Marvel lately, has a great feel for Star Wars.  Aaron has done a stellar job on Thor over the last several years, and his sweeping style works for the Star Wars world as well.  I’m really enjoying this new addition to the Star Wars mythos.

Plot: This is a good adventure that really has the Star Wars tone and feel.  It’s earlier than many of the stories I enjoyed from the EU, but it’s quite well done.  I’ll give it a 3.5 out of 5 for plot.

Art: John Cassaday draws the Rebels quite well.  I enjoy his work, and it fits here.  I’ll go a good 4 out of 5 for the art.

Positives: Just about all of it.  It feels right, it’s fun to read, the characters are true to themselves, and it hits all the right notes for Star Wars fans.

Negatives: Few.  The mistakes the characters make are actually in character.  The coincidence of Vader showing up when he does is a bit steep, but hey, he’s guided by the Force.

This is a great story fix for those of us that really like Star Wars.  Marvel is handling the property very well, and I’m fast becoming a general fan of Jason Aaron.

Star Wars 2

Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: John Cassaday
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Cover: Cassaday & Martin