Comics Star Wars (Marvel) #2: Skywalker Strikes, part 2 (of 6)

Another epic issue. Gotta love the narrative economy Aaron is using here.

And I think dp4m will be happy to know that one of his old pet peeves has finally been explained.

 

Great issue, Vader got a pretty good feat with the walker, it sets some of the later stuff without feeling forced which is nice.

 

I have no more pet peeves. Those were wiped away with all of the canon.

Which one, incidentally?

Not that I'm ever going to read it.

 

This has nothing to do with the EU; it's a movie (and RPG) one. And I'm not going to say any more: I woudln't want you to read any NEU.

 

That pattern apparently also appeared in the classic Marvel series so, er, tribute?

 

I'd say more than Solid. I pretty much figured this was my last issue. Even though the first issue was good, how much new can you do with these character in this timeline? Saga and other sy-fy comics have a lead against a Star Wars comic because they can do whatever they want to. Even so, even if it was familiar, Aaron has proven(so far to be fair) that he as mastery over these character.

With in 2 pages I was hooked with this issue. Why? VADER. If I was a guy who had never read a Star Wars comic before, only perhaps watched the movies, without a doubt it's the writing of Vader here that would hook me. If the good guys are to good, you need a great villain, and Vader delivers.

Spoiler

Sum#$^@# is snapping necks, force throwing Lightsabers all over the place. Those two scenes alone are great. Luke saying everything is gonna be alright only to have his lightsaber swing past him and slice some dudes throat. Clear acknowledgement that he's in way over his head. Who cares if Vader and Luke clashed ONE TIME with their sabers. The writing saves it all. Instead of feeling like I had seen this before, that scene with Vader and Luke felt REAL. The exchange between the two hit the mark, and in earnest if felt like it was all before ESB when Vader was just the guy who killed Lukes father. I mean just that scene where Luke is like," You killed by father," and Vader's like, "So. I've killed lots of daddies. @#$^ You." I was smiling ear to ear. This is the guy I want to read. This is the Vader I want to read.

The Han and Leia stuff with the AT-AT, the 3P0 scene are all great, and all Star Wars.

True none of it's groundbreaking. Probably none of it ever will, but it's fun. It has that old Marvel adventure feel(so far). If Aaron can keep this up, and give us Vader at this Bad Ass best, then he has a series worth reading.

I'm saying it right here, agree or not, I think the Vader written here was better than what DH did with him over 20 years.

 

This is going to be a freakin' great series.

 

T'was good. I've said before that I don't want this to be a thing, but after this issue I have to say: I still don't want Luke vs Vader to become a thing. Also, Vader being super powerful makes him look cool, but it does beg the question of how Luke holds his own in ESB or why he is so surprised that Yoda can lift his X-wing.

 

yep, i think this is bordering on sacrilige... eu much, Disney?

 

I was still annoyed by a ton of stuff in this issue. However, the last few pages were absolutely brilliant.

 

Luke does not hold his own in ESB. Vader is just screwing around with him the whole fight because he doesn't want to kill him, he wants to turn him. That's obvious just from watching ESB alone.

Now, this issue is excellent (though I'm sure there's going to be infinite complaining about how ESB is ruined forever because Luke and Vader looked at each other or something like that), but there is one problem I have. It was also a problem with the last issue. According to the Wook, this is supposed to be a Togruta:


Has this artist ever even seen a picture of Shaak Ti or what? That looks like some kind or Togruta/Twi'lek hybrid or something. Just, what even?

 

He screwing around, but that costs him, and when Luke hits him with the gas, he actually has to try. You can tell by how he had to cut off Luke's arm and he couldn't just disarm him like he does here. Plus even if you still disagree, there is no question about Luke holding his own in ROTJ and that is only 1 year away.


edit -- Also, that pic is hilarious, clearly Togutras have evolved, or that is a branch species.

 

Kablob I like to think that Jordan White handed Cassaday a picture of Ahsoka and said "If you really have to draw a Togruta make sure that it can't be construed as this Togruta in any possible way."

 

The Wook also insisted the Imperial protocol droid in the first issue was 4-LOM.

Salt. Grain.

 

I loved this issue. Funny thing, I always though luke would wear the yellow outfit after ANH.

 

True. But what are they supposed to be, then? It just doesn't make any sense. They don't really look like Togruta, they don't really look like Twi'leks. They look like a weird mash-up of both.

 

I don't know. A Togruta race? A subspecies? Hybrids? Near-Togruta? A case of convergent evolution? Ugly individuals? A stylization? The wrong art reference?

 

Trudged through snow and slush to pick up this issue. Absolutely worth it.

Vader had such a grand time with his old lightsaber. That was awesome. The level of badassery from Vader was badass. I even loved how while Luke is having a minor breakdown about how hopeless everything is, Luke / Anakin's lightsaber flies into panel and chops up the poor chump of a slave and Luke has that horrified reaction to it.

I think Luke is going to realize that he has to listen to Obi-Wan's advice and "Run" every damn time he sees Vader. This is him learning. ESB is him finally standing up.

The "punchline" to the Threepio scene did seem a bit too similar to ESB, however I did like the build up to it when Threepio tried to scare the scavengers off and then promptly surrendered. Even just a few panels of Han and Leia banter were worthwhile. And I kinda dug how Han is pretty much refusing to believe in The Force even while Vader is crushing the AT-AT they're currently residing in.

Loved the action and dynamic way that Cassaday drew the issue. Yes, that doesn't look much like a Torunga but did you see the freakin' panels where Luke is jumping on the speeder, using his blaster, Vader almost pulling a Count Dooku mark II on him? I'll take a few off model characters thank you very much for the big punch of awesome. This is some "widescreen" action comic booking, and I'm having a hellova fun time reading it.

 

Luke gets his ass handed to him in 2 seconds in this one, its not a real fight. He never witnesses Vader performing any sort of drastic levitation besides chucking the lightsaber around, which actually ties in PERFECTLY with Heir to the Jedi coming out next month, because after getting his ass handed to him by Vader Luke becomes fascinated with learning how to do the same trick (a big part of the book is Luke taking the first step to learning how to force train and he specifically talks about how he wants to learn how to use levitation).

If the series maintains this level of high quality in pretty much every department, it'll be a GREAT start to the new comic line.