Star Wars #1 (Comic Review)

Star Wars #1 
Written by Charles Soule
Art by Jesus Saiz 
Published by Marvel Comics
Price: $4.99

I haven't really been following the Marvel Star Wars line. I think I bought the initial issues of Star Wars and Darth Vader when Marvel got back the publishing rights from Dark Horse 5 years ago. While I found them interesting, I'm really bad at commitment. When I saw a flyer about the launch of this comic I felt like maybe it was time to delve back into it.

This first issue picks up right where The Empire Strikes Back ended with Luke, Leia, Chewie, R2, and 3PO on the Millennium Falcon hyperspacing to the Rebel fleet. Luke dealing with learning Darth Vader is his father and the loss of his hand in their lightsaber duel. Leia and Chewie are still suspicious of which side Lando is on, theirs or HIS.

Meanwhile the rebel fleet our heroes are trying to reach are being attacked by the Empire, led by Commander Zahra (I assume she's a character from the recent Marvel line, but I've never heard of her). Among the forces fighting the Imperials are Poe Dameron's parents.

Out of all the Star Wars movies, Empire is my favorite. I could watch it over and over. It was just the greatest mix of tragedy, action, humor, and chemistry that hasn't been topped by any of the other films and probably never will.

This comic was a good start. Not great by any means, but enough to make me buy the second issue, which is coming out in about 2 weeks. It's really to cool because in a sense, the movie can go on. Everyone is still young and alive and can remain that way forever as long as there are still artists to draw them. I always regretted that Han, Luke, and Leia never got a chance to be together on screen in the new trilogy. Here they can be, and continue to have adventures.

The writing was decent. It's really too early to tell the quality of it. As for the art, I could take it or leave it. I've noticed that Marvel doesn't really put a lot of priority towards the best artists on their Star Wars books. I've picked up some real stinkers over the years when I've glanced at them. Jesus Saiz can at times get too photo realistic with Carrie Fisher especially and she can get uncanny valley really quickly. Another minor complaint about Saiz's art is that sometimes he makes Chewie look INSANE, like he's screaming and yelling. I just have never seen Chewie looking THAT crazy in the eyes, like a lunatic.

I found it interesting that Luke is exhibiting some overpowered Force abilities akin to Rey in this issue. A part of me feels that might be related to all the complaining over her Mary Sue abilities after the fact. Because one of the complaints was that Luke wasn't as powerful as she was at their respective levels. But here, we can show Luke doing some stuff and say, hey, this is canon, see he COULD do stuff like Rey. You just didn't see it in the movies.

Story and Art Grade: B