Star Wars #1-2
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by John Cassaday
Published by Marvel Comics
My first real movie memory as a kid was watching the original Star Wars and one of the first comic books I remember owning was an early issue of the Marvel Star Wars comics! It was #7 if I remember correctly.
I collected issues here and there over the years and was even reading the title pretty regularly at the end of the Marvel run, which was pretty awful at its finish. It was kinda sad really that a universe that was so rich in environments and character ideas ended up being so bad in terms of story and art. I never really got into the Dark Horse era of things. And now it's back at Marvel, where it started all those years ago.
The new Marvel series picks up shortly after Episode 4 ended. The characters are even pretty much wearing the same wardrobe that they had on at the end of that movie! I guess it would have been too much to expect that Han or Luke owned more than one set of clothes? Even Leia's outfit is only a slightly modified cross version of the stuff she word in Episodes 4&5. To me, that's a bit of a bummer, because it says that the writer and artist are really lacking in imagination and are reluctant to change anything up. Perhaps I could be wrong, but if the three stars are wearing the same clothes by issue 20, I'd say the series is going nowhere.
The first two issue's storyline is centered around a botched attempt by Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewie to infiltrate and destroy an Imperial weapons factory. Of course, C3P0 and R2 are there as well.Their cover story was that they were representatives from Jabba the Hut, sent to negotiate a deal to supply resources to the Empire. When Darth Vader shows up as the Imperial negotiator and Chewie tries to take him out, things go south in a hurry!
I didn't know if I was going to be able to get into Cassaday's uncanny valley photo realistic art at first, and it still gives me a bit of the creeps. It seems like in some panels, he is trying SO hard to make the art look like the actors, that the art becomes WAY too static, especially in the first issue. You almost get the sense you're looking at statues. When the artist does draw the characters in action, the poses seem really awkward and out of proportion. The art does get better in issue #2, so maybe Cassaday's discomfort lessened as he fully got rolling on the project. Hopefully, it will just continue to improve.
I would say Aaron's writing has the same problems as the art in that the story seems a bit forced at first. I mean, ALL beginnings are difficult, and I'm sure there was a lot of pressure for this first issue to be really good. What really sealed the deal for me and where I started enjoying the book was when Luke and Darth Vader meet for the first time and Vader recognizes his old lightsaber! It was moments like these that were missing from the old Marvel comics which had to really tread lightly in terms of plot and character so they wouldn't step on the toes of the ongoing movies.
By the end of the second issue I was enjoying the title and settling into the new canonical universe. I'm definitely going to buy the next issue!
My Grade: B+
(There are also short previews of the new Darth Vader and Princess Leia titles. Vader looks good. Leia's art looks HORRIBLE)
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