Comics Poe Dameron #26-31: The Awakening (6/6 released)

With this arc starting next week I figured its time for it have it's own thread. I'm really excited that this series is finally catching up to the movie!

#26-28 Cover gallery:

Spoiler

Preview for #26:

Spoiler

 

I am ready for this arc to be over. I couldn’t care less how Poe got from Jakku to Takodonna. I don’t care what happened to Back Squadron during The Last Jedi. What I really want to know is what is going on with Poe and Black Squadron post TLJ.


Sent from my Ornithopter using The Force

 

Bit hard when we have to wait for Ep9. Most likely we'll get one or two arcs covering what Black Squadron is up to till the end of TLJ then the series will end. The only way to deal with Ep9 stuff is if it leaks and then the movie is spoiled.

 

We know that Poe and Black Squadron are not dead post Last Jedi. So I don’t really care if it ties into Episode 9, I just want to see something new. This series has been treading water for two freaking years to get to Lor San.

I don’t need any Finn/Rey action either. Just Poe learning to be a leader and recruiting more systems so when 9 is ready to start, the Resistance/Rebellion is ready to fight back against the First Order.


Sent from my Ornithopter using The Force

 

That's an Ep9 thing we have to wait for.

 

If that's the story of IX. And even if it is, the series obviously can't reveal it yet. I'd rather have fun Poe Dameron diversions than no Poe Dameron at all.

 

I hope not. There better be a time jump with a built up Resistance when 9 starts. If they still need to recruit and fight the First Order, that will be like 63.8% of the movie.


Sent from my Ornithopter using The Force

 

Can't you just be patient?

 

It would be weird if the Poe Dameron book gets only, lets say, 12 issues max out of the events of Force Awakens and Last Jedi and have it end only, what, 6 months before Episode IX comes out? Just because avoiding Ep IX spoilers? Where's the sense in that? LFL would want the book on the shelves to promo Ep IX. that's why I'm also in the camp that it'll have more stuff after the TFA/TLJ arcs set to Ep IX, it just seems odd to end it right after that.

 

??

For another JJ mystery box. No, not too thrilled for that. I want a satisfying conclusion, and recruiting...does not a satisfying conclusion make.


Sent from my Ornithopter using The Force

 

I'm fine with this Poe arc and would like to know how he gets off Jakku and what the other members of Black Squadron are doing during the events of TLJ. That's the whole point of Star Wars comics, to fill in gaps and show stories of things that can't fit into the movies.

 

Its funny that the first time we've seen our "new Big Three" together is in a comic.But it also shows that they are basically total strangers to each other. Rey and Finn know each other for what, couple of days max? Poe and Finn been together for maybe few hours at most and Poe and Rey only just met. The only thing they have in common is that they
all worked with BB-8.

Compare it to Luke, Leia and Han where you really believed they were best friends and spent together years fighting the Empire. Rey, Poe and Finn have none of that charisma as a group, at least for now. I'm expecting IX to be set at least couple of months after TLJ, so they can publish plenty of books and comics (maybe even a video game) that will build up their friendship, cause I don't think we'll have time for that in IX. In IX they'll be probably already acting as best friends.

The question is, does that make Rose the Chewbacca of the new group?

 

Can't you compare that situation to ANH-ESB though? After all, by the end of ANH, the original trio have known each other for only a couple of hours, maybe a day tops - yet by the start of ESB we buy that they are now best buddies. Obviously they get to spend more time bonding in ANH than Rey/Finn/Poe have in TFA and TLJ, but I don't think it will be too huge of a leap. I hope you're right about them building that out with books and comics in the interim.

 

I'd argue Luke and Han had already spent some time together, enough that Han changed his mind and came back, not to mention their prison escape from the Death Star served as a bonding exercise, as it were. In the sequels, after two movies, this is literally the first time all three have been within five feet of each other (not counting the end of TFA since Finn was in a coma by then). The sequels have been such a rushed ride, there hasn't been much time for character development (and TLJ had them apart for most of the movie anyway).

Oh great, here's the TFA flashback arc. I'm not sure what's the point of a time jump to post-TLJ, unless its just a cheap publicity stunt- "Look! Post-TLJ content! Buy this comic! Ha ha, only three pages of post-TLJ, then six issues of flashback, sucker!" Last I heard they were almost done with the Lor San Tekka hunt, then suddenly its post-TLJ? Although I'm not surprised, I was actually expecting Poe to have his flashback while stuck on the Raddus, since not like anyone onboard was doing anything important for most of the movie. I wonder if the Poe series will just continue on with flashbacks until December 2019.

The art's not bad, at least its not obvious tracing (seriously, blank pages might be preferable compared to the garbage the main comic has). Has any other story detailed Poe's actual return to the Resistance after Jakku yet? Might be nice to get a closer look at the Resistance during the TFA-TLJ timeframe. Like seeing what happened to Black Squadron, maybe even give Holdo and Tallie more appearances. I doubt nu-EU could match the Darklight arc from the old EU, but, well, you never know.

 

Its mentioned in the TFA novelization and there's a level with Poe on Jakku in the LEGO: The Force Awakens video game as well.

 

Because TLJ picks up immediately after TFA, consider it the post-ANH sequel we never got that focused on the Yavin evacuations; the Big Three would still be getting to know each other then, or else all on different missions (as canon material like Princess Leia, Heir to the Jedi, and Smuggler's Run shows). It's the sort of in-between character development we've not seen in a film so far, but all the characters develop separately before their reunion at the end (which, still, is largely following ESB. Luke and Han only really have two short scenes together in that).

Well, yes. That's what it's going to be doing. It won't just be recapping the film (because Poe's largely absent for big portions of it). We'll be seeing what the pilots are up to off-frame, and presumably we'll see why they aren't in TLJ.

 

Funny, I can't imagine the events of TFA/TLJ taking up a full year in the comic, especially since the previews so far seem like the TFA flashback stuff will be just a couple issues at most.

I think they made a bit of a misstep calling this series Poe Dameron as it's limited the scope to be at least generally focus around him. Otherwise they could tread the water until IX by having Rey, Finn, even some of the other Resistance people basically give their own flashback stories.

That being said, I can't really imagine this series going on after IX and Lucasfilm be willing to have the post-ST era be shaped by a comic that seems to be a tiny bit directionless even at the best of times.

 

I think Poe Dameron will end after at least another arc. We'll get to this point in the timeline (a few minutes after TLJ) and then it will end.

The whole point of the series was Poe's journey to find Luke Skywalker (with a few bumps along the way) that started in Before the Awakening and ends in TFA. My guess is that this has happened for close to eight months of story-making done over three years and now we have reached the conclusion.

 

I think after this arc there WILL be a post TLJ story however it will no doubt be inconsequential and probably won't ever be referenced again- won't stop Marvel promoting the hell out of it though

"Read the VERY FIRST post TLJ Story!"

 

Assuming this current arc is six issues long, that means it will end in September. By then IX will already be filming, so maybe they will at least know what they can and can't do in terms of where the characters are at the start of the movie. Even so, September is still 15 months before the movie comes out - that's a lot of time for dancing around without giving anything away for the next movie.

 

But if there is a few years in bet movies, they could do a couple arcs pretty easily without giving anything away. It's safe to assume the early part of the gap will be gathering allies. So they could maybe do a couple arcs about that. Or even some small strikes against to FO to build credibility. This would allow them to tell a post TLJ story without giving anything away. It would only take two arcs to get us to EPIX, and I'm sure making those ultimately inconsequential wouldn't be too hard. The conflict is already set so a small mission with the characters is doable.

 

All true, except we know their track record on this by now.

And it's Abrams.

To me, the lesson of TLJ is we really can't assume anything.

 

Yah that's what I'm thinking, something like the Falcon lands ... somewhere and we get a proper story with Poe, Finn and Rey, but basically just real time after Crait. "Hey, the Falcon landed on a planet and stuff happened!" Or maybe have the Falcon hook up with wherever Black Squardron was.

I just sez it would be weird to end the Poe Dameron comic right after the TFA/TLJ recap stuff while there's still over a year to Episode IX. And, to be fair, Marvel did get us some genuine post TFA pre TLJ content with the Captain Phasma miniseries that was done and dusted before TLJ was released.

 

Some issues with the art aside, I thought that the issue was pretty strong. I didn't expect them to stick to the flashback structure for the whole issue but I think it worked quite well, and it was really nice to get little touches like Rey already knowing the scavenger who Poe ran into, as well as the interaction between the trio. I was also glad to see it sticking with the same basic story as the TFA novelisation and Poe's Flight Log for how he survived. (The jacket bit was a nice touch)

I will say that I am quite surprised by how fast the issue moved. Not a bad thing by any means, but in this one issue alone we covered the entire swathe of TFA in which Poe was unseen! Hard to see how we get two more issues out of 'TFA from Poe's point of view', given he's onscreen for a lot of the important stuff after this. I guess we could get some of what he's doing on D'Qar after the Takodana attack, which would be cool enough...and then maybe the third issue will be covering the brief gap between D'Qar and Poe on the Raddus?

 

I really enjoyed this issue. Good continuity, nice use of flashbacks, plus the banter between the New Three is perfect. I'm excited to see more of the events of TFA from Poe's viewpoint, plus anything that give these three a chance to chat is good in my book.

--Adm. Nick