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

I'm hoping Leia goes easy on Surinda and Surinda is able to redeem herself, but let's be honest, she played Poe like a fiddle and if i was him, I would be pissed. so she's going to have work damn hard to regain his true.

 

I really enjoyed this one. It was a lot of fun. Definitely the best issue in terms of making Poe an entertaining character that can stand up on his own instead of playing like a best of version of his character from The Force Awakens.

Unzueta's art was amazing and very lifelike, particularly with the Poe character.

 

The art is amazing. Very interesting story and new character that I don't trust for a minute.

 

I did not like this issue very much. I am glad we got a one and done certainly however I really want to spend more time with the Black Squadron. Also the whole "I didn't bring a blaster cause this is a civilized world" line felt like on the nose real world politics on Soule's part and/or a cheap way to get Poe without a blaster. Also some of the humor was hit or miss. As much as I like Soule I am really wanting Rucka on this book cause I think he has a better voice for Poe.

 

I feel like some of the concerns I've been seeing (here and in the general Marvel thread) about this series getting stuck in a pre-TFA rut are a little premature. I can understand why it's a concern, but I feel like the "Gathering Storm" arc title implies that we're going to start seeing some buildup soon.

 

A species-related observation:

Spoiler

Apparently, the Drovians are back into canon, although the hands are all wrong. (The one in this issue has human-like hands instead of pincers.

And there's a Rakatan! And the one with pointed ears rings a bell too, but I can't remember the name right now.

 

Regarding species seen in that strip:

Spoiler

While Rakata Prime exists in the newcanon, the Bivall are similar enough:


http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Bivall


that the character might be one of them instead.

 

Spoiler

Nope, it's clearly a Rakata. I posted this on Twitter, and Charles Soule liked the tweet. Besides, Bivall have no nostril, and their head bears a crest. Moreover, Leland Chee did say that, if a Legends species appears unnamed in a canon source, it is "fair to assume species names are the same unless you hear otherwise."

 

Fair enough. Which raises the question of whether history's changed a little for that species to be around in the present-day, or if existing media (Unknown Regions splatbook) already supported it - thus it's not actually a retcon.

 

Well, whatever happened to them in Legends is irrelevant to canon, anyway.

 

Sure - but it's handy to be able to point out whether something's a retcon, or an unmodified recanonization. Presumably the Wookieepedia page on that species will get a canon tab?

 

It's done already. Though there's no much to say about 'em right now.

 

Loved the issues. I found Suralinda (Did I spell that right?) to be really interesting, and the snake person angle was cool too. I'm still not getting the criticisms of this book. Are people actually expecting this to get to TFA so soon? You do realize they aren't going to go past that until Ep 8 gets close right?

 

Just hoping that it doesn't get into a TCW or old EU ANH to ESB overflow of stories situation.
Too many stories in a short amount of time.
Hope they look at the past of some of the other pilots.

 

"The Rakata were an alien species."

 

"... with a tall cranium and eyes on short horizontal stalks. One of them belong to a group of thugs which Suralinda Javos hired to..."

 

The only criticism I had with this issue was that the generic first order baddie was from the first order security bereau like Terex. I would have liked him to be from some other organisation such as the First Order naval intelligence or something- helps make the first order seem bigger

 

Minor Episode VIII spoiler in the spoiler tag!

Spoiler

I'm not sure that's a Drovian. I think it's supposed to be this alien species that appeared in the Dubrovnik sets. They have human-like hands.

 

Spoiler

Did anyone else notice that Poe was exhausted after the chase scene, could barely speak and had to rest while Suralinda went to get drinks? It reminded me a little of how Greer Sonnel felt in the short story Scorched.

I hope they don't end up giving Poe bloodburn. I'll be so mad!!!!

 

Oh yeah Larry. Can't wait to see him in the film.

 

Or maybe we're both right and

Spoiler

Episode VIII will feature a slightly redesigned Drovian.

 

That's certainly a possibiltiy

Spoiler

It would be really nice if LFL/Marvel would tell us the name of a new alien species when it appears for the first time in a comic or when a Legends species is brought to canon. The latter case applies especially for something as confusing with the potential Drovian in this issue of Poe Dameron. A similarly unanswered question that I have is from Darth Vader #11. Is this a Togorian, a Trianii or something else? To my knowledge no one said what species this is, and Wookieepedia doesn't have an answer either...

 

This was an... okay issue. I didn't find Suralinda or her motivations and their apparent change to be very compelling. Part of it I think is that this felt like they took the plot for two issues and condensed it into one. There were several very jarring transitions - the one when Poe goes from piloting into the storm, and then immediately after they're out, made me initially think I was missing a page.

I did like that the stormtroopers in cloaks were presumably a reference to the cut ROTS scene where the clone troopers disguise themselves as Jedi under cloaks.

 

Spoiler

As much as I'd like it to be, I don't think it's a Rakatan. Here's the alien from another angle:

 

I think it's just THAT angle that's odd. Remember that Charles Soules liked my tweet.