Comics Star Wars #44-49: Mutiny at Mon Cala (6/6 Released)

Spoiler

The Rebel Base is a floating piece of metal near a large orange star surrounded by asteroids.

We do get one page of the Mon Cala Imperial Trade Fleet with three ships, one that is kind of "off screen", one that looks a little Klingon-bird-of-prey-esque but with bulbous nodes, and one very large ship that looks very similar to Home-1.

 

Pictures for you

Spoiler

 

I actually enjoyed both the story and visuals of this issue much more than the previous issues. I liked the last page twist and am looking forward to the next issue!

 

Spoiler

The first issue was great.
Loved seeing Mon Cala and learning more about the condition of the Planet during the time of the Empire.
More Ackbar is always good, I was sad when he died so early in TLJ, I'm looking forward to read his point of view in the novelization.
Some good humor with Han going for a drink and Luke going to drink some milk.
The comic is starting to get interesting again after the good arc in Jedha, we're getting a big momment for the Rebel Alliance right here.

 

Yeah it looks like this is the point where we are really going to start seeing Gillen's storytelling prowess put into action. Seems like this is the point where the Rebellion is going to start planning out their push into the mid rim. Then they will have their mid rim retreat and afterward will be when Hoth takes place (least I think that is the order of things).

 

Since reading Twilight Company I've been itching for more details on the Mid-Rim push. So I'm excited for the possibilities that the series is going for a detailed look on the rebels campaign into the Mid-Rim and then the retreat itself .

 

I ran to my LCS on lunch yesterday to grab my backlog of comics, which included this one. While the art isn't still my cup of tea... I like where the story is going. I love how Leia mentions that the Rebels have secret shipyards to refit warships, that seems to be a direct reference to Telaris.

I'm hoping Ackbar does more in this arc... flippers crossed!

--Adm. Nick

 

You haven't read Twilight Company, Jammin? You really ought to.

 

Yep. Already read it. Good novel. Had trouble getting invested in the characters at times but it was definitely an interesting story and different from most novels we get.

 

Gooood, good.

 

Kieron Gillen interview with some unlettered preview images from Star Wars #45.
https://www.cbr.com/star-wars-kieron-gillen-interview-rebel-alliance-admiral-ackbar/

Spoiler

CBR: Your initial Star Wars arc took the cast to the devastated world of Jedha. It had some pretty dark moments, but it ended with the Rebels celebrating a major victory. What did it mean for your cast to win the day on Jedha? How will that have impacted them when you pick up with them in issue #44?

Kieron Gillen: One of the aims of the first arc was to show the cast responding to what happened to Jedha because that seems like a key thing. They would have known about it. What on Earth does someone like Luke make of the events of Rogue One? The other part was I wanted to introduce my take on all the characters. This is where I see Leia, this is where I see Luke, and this is where I see Han. That’s kind of where we are.

Now, the second thing that I’m interested in is what the Rebellion is trying to do. This is me as the uber writer coming in and going, “The Rebellion? What does that even mean? What are your tactics to try and stop the Empire?” On one level Star Wars is a heroic space fantasy, but it’s like, “What are you actually doing to rebel?”

We got half of the basic primer of resistance in Jedha on the smallest level. Now we’re showing things on a larger level. For the first arc, it’s partialy “Whatever the Empire is trying to do we’re going to make that as hard and expensive as possible. So it’s likely that they may collapse from over extension.” Those are classic insurgency tactics.

So this next arc is kind of the bigger plan. It’s the Rebellion asking, “If something like the Death Star happens again what do we do?” The story starts with a diplomatic mission. They’re basically trying to ferment a rebellion on Mon Cala. They want a load of Mon Cala cruisers. They can refit them and have a great fleet, and as we know when they get to the Battle of Endor there’s a load of Mon Cala cruisers there. So on some level I’m explaining where some of them came from. That’s kind of what this arc is about, but it’s also about a lot more than that.

Who are some of the cast members that will get extra focus in this new arc?

Leia is probably the lead in this story. Han also has a big role, but Luke is probably more of a supporting player than usual. He gets some really big beats in the third arc though, and he’s still active here. Leia has a mission. She. She wants to give Ackbar a whole new Rebel fleet to use. So we start with a diplomatic mission and go into something much bigger. The arc is called “Mutiny on Mon Cala.”

What’s the situation on that planet when you kick off the arc?

The way I conceive Mon Cala is there’s an Imperial Moff of the Sector, but there is actually a Regent who is a Mon Cal and kind of has the job of keeping the place running. He’s not an unsympathetic character. He makes a point early on of, “I was a big fan of Raddus and Ackbar, but you left. And I stayed.” He feels like he’s protecting the people.

That’s kind of the set up. They’re a demilitarized culture. The reference I used with my classical filled head was sort of Carthage between the Second and Third Punic Wars. Carthage was demilitarized, but they were allowed to trade. And the thing that arguably kicked off the Third Punic War was that they traded so well and paid off their debt so quickly the Romans started getting worried again. The Mon Cal haven’t quite done that, but they do have this big fleet. And I would say, being a Mon Cal loyalist, [Laughs] that it’s the best trading fleet in the galaxy. When we kick things off it’s a device that earns money for the Empire.

So the people who stayed on Mon Cala were subjugated very hard beneath the Imperial yoke.

You mentioned Ackbar. What kind of role does the fan favorite character play in this story? And what’s it like writing him?

He’s not the lead of our story but he’s quite important early on, and at the end.

It’s very dangerous to actually write for Ackbar because there are a lot of ambushes in Star Wars. And I can’t have Ackbar say anything because everybody will presume it’s a joke because of his most famous line. “We appear to be out maneuvered by our enemies.” “You mean it’s a trap, Ackbar?” “Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.” [Laughs] So you have to be careful there.

He’s a lot of fun to write though, and him and Han going against each other was especially fun. I’ve never properly watched Brooklyn 99 before, but there’s kind of a Captain Holt like aspect to Ackbar. He’s quite serious and intense. So just imagine how he rubs up against Han. That’s quite fun.

Earlier you mentioned the Regent of Mon Cala. What else can you tell us about him? Are there any other new characters you’re introducing in this arc? Anything else you can tell us about the supporting cast of the arc?

The Regent is kind of like a more stable Denethor from The Simarillion. He’s very driven by duty. We have another character who is a shapeshifter named Tunga. He’s an agent the Rebels recruit to help with the mission. As I mentioned, the story starts as a diplomatic mission with the idea of, “How can we get the leverage we need to get this new thing to happen?” That leads to an incredibly complicated caper. Not quite Oceans’ 11, but there is a big scheme going down.

This is also weirdly a very big arc for Threepio. He’s left in charge of an important part of the plan and somehow has to power through. I described it to the Story Group as, “It’s kind of Threepio as Gary from Veep; sort of the bagman for the president. I appear to be referencing a lot of Sitcoms in this interview.

Threepio has got a lot of experience when it comes to diplomatic missions. That’s the thing and with the original Star Wars trilogy there’s really three main characters you have to play to. The supporting cast often end up in a smaller role, especially in my first arc where I wanted to lay out my takes on Han, Luke, and Leia. Threepio, R2, and Chewbacca were kind of tangential in that story. They were in very much supporting roles, but with this arc Threepio is much further in the mix and he’s funny. His interactions with Tunga are especially funny.

What can you tell us about the Imperial presence in this arc? Will we see any new servants of the Empire? Or the return of Commander Kanchar from the previous arc?

Kanchar is fun. He’s a scenery chewing, British, Sargent-Major character. He’s not in this arc, but Queen Trios is. There are a variety of Imperial parties in the story and Trios is one of them. So she carries on her supporting role from last arc by building on the relationships she set up in it.

Some of the other Imperial characters include the Moff I mentioned earlier. He’s quite an important figure. The rest of them though? I should probably keep quiet.

This is an action packed and big story. The penultimate cover is amazing. You’ll never look at the Mon Calamari the same way.

We’ve talked in the past about how great Salvador Larroca is with things like likenesses and technology. He’s also fantastic at bringing to life the many different alien worlds that are part of the Star Wars universe. What’s it like watching him work on the settings in this arc?

It’s awesome. A lot of Star Wars is essentially A) archetypal and B) doing a spin on that archetype to make it fresh. For me one of the joys of The Last Jedi was the salt planet, Crait. It looked a bit like Hoth, but then you got the salt being kicked up and that was a really cool idea and visual. So I’m always looking for things like that.

It’s like, “We have a desert planet, but why is this desert planet not Tatooine?” So with this arc it kind of helped that I came to it after watching the amazing documentary series, Blue Planet. It features all manner of deep sea life. I kept asking Salva, “Can we have a mantis shrimp here?” [Laughs]

When you go back and look at the cannon on Mon Cala there are all these underwater areas, but what else is there? So I’m actually doing quite a bit on the surface of the planet. I had these archipelagos of coal bursting out of the water. There’s a nature preserve in the first area because surface animals have to be pretty protected on Mon Cala. Then you also have these places they’ve designed specifically for people from other planets to come to

There’s another water planet we visit in the arc as well. Whereas Mon Cala is a sophisticated place with many climates this is a really awful place to be. The seas are constantly permafrost or slush. It’s really dark. There are violent lightning storms. So it’s a water planet, but very clearly not Mon Cala. That’s kind of the fun of designing new worlds in Star Wars. How can you put that spin on things?

In our first issue we’re at a Rebel base where they plan to refit the Mon Cal cruisers. I believe I called it Mako-Ta. It’s at a point between two binary stars. That’s part of the reason it’s quite hard to find. So I looked at things like singularities and thought, “Can I put a Rebel base there? It would look awesome.” That’s another fun thing about Star Wars comics you have an unlimited budget in terms of visuals and you just go for it.

Finally, in the next few weeks and months it feels like you’ll have a number of new elements available to you in your Star Wars books with the end of the Star Wars Rebels animated series and the release of the Solo feature film. Do you have plans to pick up with characters and revelations from those stories soon or perhaps further down the line? I saw that Hera Syndulla is appearing over in your Doctor Aphra book.

Any time we have a new piece of Star Wars media whether it’s a book, film, comic, or, a TV show I think, “How can we be part of the same universe?” I had the same approach when Jason Aaron and I were writing the X-Men books for Marvel. The idea was that the connections are a reward rather than the point. Each story is an individual one, but if we can include something more it’s great. It’s like we’re giving people a bigger picture. That’s how I think about this stuff.

With regards to Hera I believe it was my co-writer Si Spurrier who suggested that. I also believe she’s at least name checked in the second issue of this arc where Luke hangs out with Wedge. They end up talking about what she’s doing over in Aphra. We bring it up because it’s relevant to our plot. That’s the kind of soft connection I’m talking about.

My first Star Wars arc was small and concentrated. With the second one we have a big, diplomatic mission. That may not sound all that interesting, but remember it’s a Star Wars style diplomatic mission. [Laughs] So there’s a lot of running around, shooting, and hiding. This arc is also funnier than I thought it would be, which surprised me.

Like you said, the first one got really dark. This one goes really dark in places, but some of the characters really do have fun. At the same time there’s some huge speeches and an element of Shakespearean tragedy to it. It definitely gets big, and this is all building towards the story in issue #50. So our first arc was Rebellion on a small scale. This second one is the Rebellion’s plans on a big scale, and issue #50 is everything coming together and basically exploding. That arc is the biggest thing I’ve done in Star Wars.

 

please tell me that art is a work in progress?

 

Of course Hobbie's wearing that thing on his head he was in ESB, because Larocca had to trace it from the film.

 

There were actually some panels that I really liked in the first issue like that panel of the rebel fleet which was absolutely gorgeous. Still can't stand those tracing from the films, unfortunately. Too distracting, imo. I also love that Trios has a role in this arc, hopefully she doesn't turn up to be a traitor to save her own skin.

 

Do I see Zuvio in the second panel of the first page?

 

Could this arc happen before Doctor Aphra #18 then?

 

The interview with Gillen is interesting. The fact that Marvel is doing an arc to help explain how the Rebels got the Mon Cala to donate their navy and how the world rebelled is just awesome. I wish the art was better... but I'm on board with the story at least!

--Adm. Nick

 

Is that Hera in the background on one of those panel?!

 

Star Wars #45 preview.

Spoiler

 

It's so hard for me... cause the story IS good. However, as comics are a visual medium first, bad art can ruin a great story.

Ackbar. Mon Cala. Star Cruisers. Rebellion. All my buzz words. But the art, good Lord....

--Adm. Nick

 

They're sure are milking that Luke Skywalker joke for all its worth.

 

Draven is fine, I guess, but I sure wish Cracken was there instead.

 

I just realized that Han is happy that Ackbar, commander of the Alliance Navy, secured a container of alcohol for the Rebellion. If there is a story I know need more than anything, it's the mission where Ackbar goes on a booze run for his pilots.

--Adm. Nick

 

the true reason Imperial Defects and farmboys from across the outer rim became pilots for the Rebellion was for the free booze.

 

Star Wars #49 solicit.

Spoiler

STAR WARS #49
KIERON GILLEN (W) • SALVADOR LARROCA (A)
Cover by DAVID MARQUEZ
Action Figure Variant Cover by JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER
Galactic Icon Variant Cover by ROD REIS
The Rebellion of Mon Cala takes flight! With the Empire on its back foot, the Rebel Alliance is poised to rise up in defiance. Could their ultimate victory be at hand?
32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99
Star Wars © Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All rights reserved. Used under authorization. Text and illustrations for Star Wars are © 2018 Lucasfilm Ltd.