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

Spoiler

This issue was pretty good, with nice looking artwork like usual. I did find some of the story choices odd at times, like why would Leia promote Poe just a few days after demoting him, when he is once again recklessly charging into a fight. It was pretty strange that Poe shows up out of nowhere to save Black Squadron with a brief explanation of how he got a ship from Grakkus. One of my biggest issues with this series was how each story arc was just a random, isolated adventure with little connective tissue between the stories. Unfortunately a brief mention of Grakkus is not enough to solve that problem.

 

See TLJ's time works even better than I though, thanks for the info. Good point on the luke thing, he could only have been there for a couple of years so the time thing makes the exile feel longer for him easily

 

In regards to the Annual 2, one EU reference I didn't see mentioned here: the flashback conversation with L'ulo has a nod to the old EU fact of the Duros being one of the first spaceflight civilizations in the galaxy. I liked Han and Chewie's involvement, too, especially the one-panel flashback to Ben's birth.

In terms of #31, not much to add.

Spoiler

I have to say that the character of Suralinda never really clicked for me, so not really that invested either way that she lived. I thought for sure that Kare Kun was going to die, though, so glad to be wrong on that. I also didn't really expect Terex to show up, but would have been glad to be proven wrong - I think it would have been fitting if he ended up showing up to help Black Squadron at the end, now that he's split with the FO. (Interestingly, in the letters at the back, Charles Soule mentions that Terex was originally supposed to have an all-white uniform, but Lucasfilm nixed it due to Krennic's outfit already having been settled on, unbeknownst to Soule.)

We also got a few tidbits on the wider state of the galaxy post-TLJ: the official line in the First Order is that the Resistance was completely wiped out at D'Qar and Poe & Co were killed there, and the rest of the First Order still thinks that Snoke is alive and calling the shots (I did think it was kind of funny that Poe gives the Resistance credit for killing Snoke). I wonder if the First Order officially having destroyed the Resistance will be a factor in IX - seems like it could fit into the general theme of legends and myths that have been in TFA and TLJ.

Leia also says that the Resistance numbers only about the "dozen" still alive on the Falcon, and Poe says that Holdo destroyed twenty Star Destroyers along with Snoke's ship - do these numbers add up to the movie? The first seems low (not to mention the absence of Black and Inferno Squads, the former of which at least is acknowledged) and the latter seems high. Also interesting that Poe seems to indicate that Grakkus is one of the few (semi) friends the Resistance has left. I hope we see something involving him in future post-TLJ/pre-IX stories.

For the ending arc in general, I agree a bit with @iPodwithnomusic that it felt a bit scattered, and in that it was a bit emblematic of the entire series - a lot of very interesting single points, but didn't quite cohere into a strong whole. I actually think the first three issues of this arc (the TFA-set ones) were better than the TLJ ones, which was the opposite of what I expected.

That being said, this final arc was still the second-strongest of the overall series, with only the prior one topping it. It's a shame that the comic didn't really feel like it hit its full potential - not only with the storyline, but with creative narrative stuff like the flashbacks and the issue with R2 and BB talking - until its final two storylines, but they were definitely very strong heights to end on. Overall Poe Dameron never was able to live up to Rogue Squadron, the comic it had the most similarities to, but it's still the only of the nu-Marvel ongoings I've stuck with from start to finish and I give it credit for that, and for helping to build up the pre-TFA era, especially early on in the run when the era needed it the most.

 

Speculating on Ep IX:

Spoiler

That's really interesting if they take these ideas to Ep IX -- the part about the FO thinking Snoke is alive almost begs for a "Snoke impersonator" plot, although I doubt Kylo would stand for that since he wants to be recognized as top dog. But... would there be a reason he might want to propagate the idea that Snoke is still alive? That seems odd, but it also seems very old EU (fake Palpatine, fake Kadann, fake Thrawn). I know it's too earlier to guess what Ep IX will do, but I hadn't considered Kylo starting a "Snoke Lives!" campaign before now, since he seemed clear about wanting the Supreme Leader title.

 

I couldn't agree more with you on this. Poe Dameron really had it tough living up to Rogue Sqaudron. The series really did a nice job of filling in the pre-TFA period. One can only hope that Resistance is decent as it will feature some Poe and BB-8 in there.

 

I went more on the it could be hux sending out the story that snoke is still alive so he can set up for a coup against kylo. see how the one guy thinks its hux that replaced snoke after poe exposes the lie seems like a lot of them members could see hux as supreme leader if thats their first name outta there mouth

 

Also, everyone's new favorite movie, Rogue One, has the Alliance fleet go from standby to in-action over Scarif in the time it took the R1 team to land and sneak inside the base. That's travel PLUS fueling, arming, launch, and assembly time. Cassian's U-Wing also travels across the galaxy in mere minutes (after jumping to hyperspace in-atmosphere, no less!), with Blue Squadron making similar time between Yavin 4 and Eadu.

What I'm saying is that, sadly, hyperspace will always and has always moved at the speed of plot in the films (though I'd wish they'd be a little more discreet about it).

 

Always figured that hyperlight travel is different from centuries or millennia ago. Class 1 hyperdrive of yester-millennia might be the Class 10 or 12 of today.

 

Bit lacklustre ending for the series for me. After all the buildup and cliffhangers, its just another Black Squadron story with happy ending and 100% success rate.

Really like the art in this issue and also in previous several issues though.

 

Solid ending to a good series, I loved the look of the ship Poe arrived in. Possible glimpse at an Ep IX ship maybe? Oh and the look of those hooded bad guys were very freaky, made them seem like zealots. While I kind of wanted more Poe/Rey/Finn to save the day, honestly, it's Poe Dameron's book and it's Black Squadron so it should end with them. Bit surprised they didn't bump anyone from Black Squad off but it would be a downer for a final issue. Good inspirational speech at the end to leave you wanting more. And I love how Poe acknowledged that he basically had his heroism streak burned out of him.