Comics Poe Dameron #7-13: The Gathering Storm (7/7 released)

Yeah, I was hoping for the New Republic fostering covert war against the First Order ala the Rebel Alliance and we're seeing minor stuff instead, which is disappointing. Especially as governments fostering covert action and proxy wars is very relevant to today.

 

Ooooh, preview has the return of an interesting character!!!

 

But that character does not look the way they were described in the sources they first appeared in. :-(

 

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It's his personality downloaded into the commando droid's body, so it's only the character's "spirit", not their physical appearance.

 

I liked the latest issue better than the last few. Given its climactic nature, that tends to reinforce my feeling that the most objectionable thing about Poe is honestly the effect of the modern TPB system on comic arc structures.

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RIP L'ulo The worst thing about it was that I was sure he was safe after seeing the A-Wing in TLJ's trailer.

And apparently the character I mistook for Beck is a new character named Commander Malarus, who I now vaguely remember having been mentioned before. Weird that they look so similar.

Also, the ending to this one should make Charles happy.

 

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I was shocked that they killed off L'ulo. He was a cool character and he was like a surrogate uncle to Poe so i'm sure Poe is definitely feeling the loss.

 

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True. I'm glad though that they decided to kill off at least one of the characters from Black Squadron that we know doesn't appear in TFA. Will be interesting to see what they decide to do with Kare. Snap and Jess have to stay in the picture since they both are in Ep. VII but Kare could go bye bye as well soon.

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Also. I think this comic would be a good way to wrap up Norra Wexley's story. She'd be around 70 by the time this comic takes place so obviously wouldn't be doing much more than just having a character development scene with Snap (and some other characters potentially) but I think it would be a good way to tie up her character and let people know what she has been doing ever since the Battle of Jakku.

 

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Only like half the TFA pilots get shown in the film so Kare has a good chance of being alive.

 

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For that matter, I hope the reason why L'ulo was selected as a casualty was for how it would affect Poe (and the others), not "he's not in the film".

 

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I thought Lu'lo's death was rather sudden and abrupt which makes me belive he survived secretly somehow and will turn up in a later arc. Maybe he fakes his death in the hope of Poe, in vengeance, taking the fight TO the first order

 

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His ship exploded in space. Hard to do a fake out death with that.

 

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MR. BONES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

What's the rule on spoiler tagging in comic discussion threads?

Anyway, my thoughts:

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I've learned to never read too much into a comic's cover, but I was disappointed that Captain Phasma never showed up. It was a solid issue, but I definitely think it will read much better as a collected tpb.

 

Yeah, but why doesn't he look like himself?

 

Because he downloaded the personality matrix into a new droid

 

Oh, yes... Of course.

 

Makes you wonder why Bones hasn't been permanently downloaded into a droid?

 

Wow, this issue is one of the few in this series that is really showing development and progress. Change basically.

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First, L'ulo died, one of the biggest comic/books only characters to have appearances and now he is dead. He had the shattered empire issues and a lot of these, plus some more I guess. All in all he got a lot of content for his so appearance-standard, being a comic-only appearing character.

Second, the Carrion Spike is now destroyed. That ship had quite the history!

Loved this issue more than most. VERY curious to see more. Especially Phasma, looking forward to her upcoming comic series and her very own novel.

Oh and another thing, we also got to see more New Republic-First Order relations. I hope Lucasfilm actually remembers to clarify how their relations were. It doesen't seem like the First Order was any hidden enemy (aside from in Bloodline I guess).

 

So, anyone else think that

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this might be Captain Phasma incognito? She looks like Gwendoline Christie.

 

Doubtful. Again I think it goes back to the fact they want the films to be the first to do something. Showing what Phasma looks like without the suit on would go along with that.

 

....

She's not Darth Vader. We KNOW what she looks like.

:confusion:

But yes, I'm glad this arc is over. I'm kind of disappointed with the villain.

 

I enjoyed this arc of the series most out of all of them so far. The droids (3 very different personalities) were fun to read, with C3PO playing a functional part that wasn't centered around making fun of him. Poe seems well written, shown as rushing through emotions but with a tacit acknowledgement that they would affect him greatly later when he has time to think about it. I thought Terex was an engaging villain with a good backstory, and his relationship to the First Order provided a great twist on the usual ending, ie, it would have been easy to fall into the trap of defeating him in the usual 'good guys prevail because they're the good guys' manner. My favourite part was the meeting with Malarus.

All in all, this arc has made Poe one of the better comic series out there.

 

Do we, now? Since when?

 

I think he's just assuming that she would naturally look like Gwendoline Christie.

Which, yeah, is plausible - but she could still be a cyborg, or have a different hair color, or whatever.

 

Just like Boba Fett in ESB looks like Jeremy Bulloch