Comics The Screaming Citadel (One-Shot, Star Wars #31-32, Doctor Aphra #7-8) (5/5 Released)

You've just indicated your own artistic preferences here. Neither Lando nor Leia have terrible art, Dodson and Maleev are a lot of things as artists but they're not that.

As to digital software, they are, like every tool, dependent on the skill of the user. People have this notion in their head that using a computer will mean brilliant images can just be generated instantly but it's not true. Computers are only as smart as their users. They do open more doors but it doesn't follow those will all be faster and so better.

If anything it may be slower because so much more can be done raises expectations which requires more production time to meet them - Assassin's Creed has become infamous for trying to do a game a year, when it can't be done in quality terms because so much is expected. Even with all the tools and options open to them on the next-gen consoles, there's only so much things can be sped up.

 

Looking forward to post-RotJ stories about the Dominion of Ezaraa...

 

A little disappointed the queen isn't just a Force sensitive Anzati, given her power...

 

Ah. I thought the initial confusion was in the content of the post, not the content of the book. Haha. Thanks for the knowledge check.


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Well, at least we got some version of Force Drain re-canonized. Plus, Anzati are canon already so it's a win-win I guess?

 

Maybe. It's been discussed in the forum before so I shan't rehash it, but suffice it to say the reasoning used to claim Anzati are canon is...not entirely immune to criticism.

 

Great issue, loved the art, and the ending was uber-creepy. Poor Luke fallin' for pretty gals, no wonder he was truamtized and went off and hid on Mope Island, a man can only take so much!

 

Yeah, I'm not totally sold that he's an Anzat just because there are tendrils coming from his cheeks. They looks more like insect arms than tendrils, anyway.

 

Except that martin Fisher, the story's author, told me on Twitter that he did ask Bob Molesworth to draw an Anzat. I'll have to do some digging to retrieve the exact tweet.

EDIT: The addition of an Anzat was actually Bob's doing.

 

Such a shame that Chechetto only did the one shot. Back to Larocca's terrible art. 2nd issue was okay and ended on an interesting note but the art just leaves me feeling ehhh.

 

I feel the same way about Larroca's art.

 

The inconsistency of the art makes this a really difficult read. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's passable and then sometimes it's bad. And when all of these happen on the same page it's constantly breaking immersion in the story. Instead of just following along on this interesting Luke and Aphra adventure I am noticing huge shifts in the art quality and style, frowning at the hit or miss photo-realistic faces, or unable to distinguish what is going on. The colouring on the skin needs to mesh with the rest of the art too, and it's not even consistent between face and elsewhere. The last page is especially egregious, with Han's head looking out of proportion and photoshopped onto a body that is inked/coloured a completely different style.

 

I'd rather take an artist who draws characters in his own consistent way (even if it doesn't particularly resemble the actor) than one who traces faces to make said characters more "true to life." But that's just me.

 

Not just you.


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Just read SW 31 and really enjoyed the...

Spoiler

...dinner scene with the Queen. Especially the frame of Doctor Aphra woofing down the noodles. It's entertaining to see how comfortable Aphra is mingling with the most dangerous people in the universe, the Emperor, Vader, the Queen. The art of Han, Leia and Sana did throw me a bit off, especially the last page. I liked the ending, but I'm not too into the depiction of Han and Sana. Very interesting that Black Krrsantan is in quarantine...how did they get him there and what does that mean? Also, like the droids getting back into the mix at the end. Still very much hooked on this cross-over and looking forward to the Doctor Aphra issue coming out in 2 weeks.

Anybody know anything about the penciler for the next issue...Andrea Broccardo?

 

Their only Star Wars work that I can recall is Kanan #12. (Remember this drawing of Sloane?) Their DeviantArt page and Facebook page have a lot more samples of their line work. So far I'm liking their kaiju and xenomorph art a bit more than their human/oid art.

 

Before everyone goes on an art rant -- this is an age old question that has long since been solved. Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder. To each his/her own. One person's trash is another person's treasure. Art is subjective. etc etc etc

What one person loves another invariably hates. And for those who are new to all this -- the same penciller can look drastically different based on inker and/or colorist and/or printing process.

 

Just read the issue. I found it very funny that Luke is almost always shown from the side or back to prevent having to draw his face.

The story is interesting.

Spoiler

I love that they are setting up Black K. For a big payoff.

Aphra is top of her game. I like take charge and curt Aphra more than I like sympathetic Aphra from the interactions with her father.

The Queen is interesting, but her minions took a couple steps down for me this issue.

Spoiler

I liked that they seemed to have the potential for more personality in the one-shot. The way they were depicted here seemed too much like hired muscle. And little else. I hope we find out a little more about them before they meet with Wookiee rage.

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The art is is not for me. The pencils or the coloring. The Queen looked so elegant in the one shot, and I couldn't help but think she looked like a backwoods country bumpkin in some of the front facing shots she was put in here.

I almost wish we hadn't of gotten the one shot with the gorgeous art, because that's what the rest of the series will now be compared to.


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Really disappointed by the Queen's visual appearance in SW31. She doesn't look vampiric or evil at all, and a couple of times looked more like Leia had stolen the Queen's clothes and makeup. I loved the black and red diamonds (bats) that surrounded her in the first SC comic, and that has completely gone now too
Vespinax was rather meh too.
At least Bombinax was awesome.

 

It's funny that I really didn't notice the art until I saw the Queen's eyes in SW #31. I thought to myself, "she didn't look like that last issue, did she? Maybe she was wearing a mask or something and she decided to take it off during dinner." After I finished the story, I flipped through my copy of the one-shot and it's, of course, super obvious.

I guess for me I'm used to the art and I found like I care about story first and art second. Therefore it was the story that first stood out as lacking in this issue.

Spoiler

For our heroes on the temporary Rebel base, it was a lot of walking and talking and really no new information that we didn't already know save for the fact that the people on Ktath'atn hate Wookiees and the no **** moment is that we were told that one shouldn't trust the Queen. I guess we also learn is that the Queen is a collector of people and gets compared to the Hutt that collected Jedi artifacts and recapped what happened to Luke in the arena arc. I guess the Star Wars universe is full of collectors. It might be subliminal advertising for those of us in the real world to continue to collect SW merchandise, right?

Anyway, Aphra avoids the Queen's trap and her and Luke attempt to escape. Meanwhile, her droids have our heroes captured. So this issue ultimately sets up what will hopefully be an action packed next issue.

 

So does Han know who Aphra is or not. At the beginning of the issue he asks Sana who she is?

Yet in Vader down he seems to already know she's big trouble? Who else got the feeling from Sana's dialogue at the front that maybe her and Aphra weren't lovers after all?

 

SilentGuy66 I think Han is asking Sana how well Sana knows Aphra...as in what history has Sana had with Aphra. The one-shot pretty much confirms to me that the Sana-Aphra relationship was a romantic, intimate relationship as Sana is still entranced (in love?) with Aphra and Aphra uses that to her advantage to track down Luke. Solo definitely demonstrated in Vader Down that he knew who Doctor Aphra was (Aphra must have had quite a reputation among smugglers and scoundrels), but what he really wants to know is how Sana knows Aphra and just how well does Sana know her. Sana all but confirmed to Leia that Sana-Aphra were a thing at the end of the Rebel Jail arc. I thought the part in Vader Down focusing on Han Solo being a nobody that Doctor Aphra had never heard of was quite entertaining. Han Solo knew of Aphra before Vader Down, but Aphra had never heard of Solo.

 

I read it that Han knows how bad Aphra is, and that he wants to know what kind of trouble they are going to be getting in with the situation between Aphra and Sana. He can read the room and deduces there is some unfinished business between Sana and Aphra, but he thinks it is more along the lines of a deal gone bad.

Also, from Leia's dialogue, it is clear that she is trying to be protective of Sana's personal space and that Sana and Aphra were once romantically linked.

Han is just being dense and pushing right past both women's clear interpersonal roadblocks.


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