Comics Star Wars (Marvel) #3: Skywalker Strikes, part 3 (of 6)

"Luuuuke, if you are finding this I am dead. Find an A&R being to mix in a bass line and release it to mess with Vader's head. He'll be like;; "Who is spitting on this dope holotape?", and then he'll realize it's me. It worked for Tupac, Luke, perhaps I should look into this appearing after death hologram force power. DJ-D2...DROP THE BEAT!"

 

There was no continuity error, guys. Vader didn't kill the guy, just made him mentally retarded and pinned the blame on him. That's why we see him mumbling incoherently when being tortured by Palpatine.

 

This may have been my favourite of the series so far. Loved the urgency of it and Vader attacking the AT-AT was great. The red glow on his mask was a great callback to McQuarrie's art.

 

Yeah, Overseer Agadeen didn't exactly look all that "healthy" in his one panel appearance in Darth Vader #1. The "he'll have my head for this" gag (which is an awesome gag, to be fair) totally works if you only read "Star Wars" but if you read "Darth Vader" as well he still could be pretty damn messed up.

 

It's obvious whats in the Box, a warning from Obi-Wan to Luke telling him not to fall in love with Leia.

 

This may connect the dots. I'm going to have to go back and look at the Vader issue...

 

hey, I got a better idea, you know what is in the box? Marvel's secret formula for selling over 2 million star wars comics already. We only have had three issues of star wars, two issues of Darth Vader and one issue of Princess Leia. Over 2 million, yep, Obi-Wan had got Marvel formula. How about that

 

(A brief recap)
The best thing about this issue was that we saw an actual big Imperial factory and furious Vader in action.
(enhanced,imperial AAT's,AT-ST's,Tie Fighters,mention of a Tie Bomber,ITT,speeder bikes,combat speeder bikes,AT-AT's)
The Cymoon 1 Trilogy (Skywallker Strikes) has been a nice start to launch this series with only few callbacks and cool Easter Eggs.
The art is well done although sometimes looks off.
Luke's spectacles in this issue I might get slide .(He was guided by the Force)
Darth Vader vs AT-AT reminded of the Dark Empire and the mention of Adjudicator was nice.

Jo

 

This was another good issue. Everyone was in character; the dialogue fit perfectly based on what we know from ANH. The issue felt very much like a part of the saga. The conclusion to the mission was handled well, the action was engaging. I loved the end; I cannot wait to see how the next issue continues the story.

I do have one fear, but it isn't related to the content of the issue. I worry that the hype for the ST will cause this series to be cancelled too soon. I want them to have adequate tine to lead into ESB and hopefully even connect to ROTJ, but that's only 6 months and can be handled with books and maybe a miniseries. I feel that the gap between ANH and ESB is important and needs to be filled.

 

That's the same thing I fear that will happen to Star Wars : Rebels.

 

Jason Aaron's said on Twitter that he's in it for the 'long haul' on Star Wars so I think it's safe to assume it'll be carrying on in this time period for a while yet.

 

But the art style about to change with Jon Cassaday being replaced by Stuart Immonen.

 

It's a very common occurrence with comics these days though. Then again, look at the Walking Dead. Over 140 issues and it's only had two artists in the entire run.

 

Maybe, to continue a trend, they'll call it Shadows of the Alliance.

 

You need not worry, the title has sold 6-7 figures a time! Marvel are all about the monthly sales, they're far more likely to re-launch and play with the numbering than cancel it.

 

I'm just wondering if a book Marvel publishes named "Star Wars" will always just be the OT cast? Surely to heck by some point in 2016 there will be an ST-era ongoing book.

 

Easy, there'll be another title, characters will get moved around - you know how the game works Al!

 

If the do that I hope it's later than 2016, maybe 2017 or 2018. I just can't see Marvel dking four ongoings at once. If they did another, I'd expect a series to get cancelled. I don't know what to expect from Kanan, but I guess that one would probably be easier to cancel. Darth Vader and Star Wars need a lot of time to build up to ESB. I know they are selling well, but I'm worried about the hype for the ST causing them to either cancel them or jump ahead on the timeline. What I'd rather see with the ST, is a large number of mini series tying close to the ST films, ROTJ, or sitting in the middle of the 30 year gap, and/or in the middle of the 30 year gap and tying the era together. Once EP8 comes out then they cam do an ongoing in that era. At least this is my hope.

 

You're thinking of DHC, Marvel have the resources to do 10 SW books if they wanted and they thought they'd sell. And so far, the evidence is yes, they would!

All bets really are off.

 

Awesome! If they can do 4 ongoings thethat's great. And that wouldn't cause them to have to focus less on other series? I'm loving what Marvel is doing, and I definitely want more. Would they really? I guess I thought the story group gave them a limit on series or that they are doing three because that's all they planned to do at once.

 

True but Quest we're talking of the company that puts out at least 6 Avengers and 10 X-Men books and has decided to support its Secret Wars event with 20-40 books depending on how you count them! Add to this that the SW titles they have done have sold on a scale not seen in decades and I wouldn't blame Marvel for thinking yes, the market is there as is the consumer demand.

DHC has always been a much smaller company that punches way above their weight so the idea they couldn't do more than 4 always seemed logical. The idea that LFL decides to limit the number of books is interesting though, wasn't aware of that. That said I don't think DHC would have done more if they could, they tend to be more about quality than quantity.

 

I'm gonna assume Aaron is telling the truth when he's in for the long haul, he probably has it mapped out to ESB at least, just wondering how many issues it'll get there. Personally, in my head, I would like to see the main "Star Wars" book do 24 issues of ANH to ESB, 24 issues of ESB to ROTJ, 24 issues post ROTJ. (I'm sure Aaron can get 2 years in between each movie easily, especially since he does long form "widescreen" comic booking)