Comics Star Wars #50-55: Hope Dies (6/6 Released)

Mandatory

 

This arc was sort of a pleasant surprise. For whatever reason this is another that went under my radar when it first came out, so I had no idea what to expect beforehand. I thought it was just going to be more minor OT character escapades, maybe some panels of Vader looking menacing, etc. But the Battle of Mako-Ta (which I keep conflating with Makem-Te, arghhhhhhh!) was pretty rad. Way bigger than most of the battles in any of these comics I've read yet. This was one step down from Endor-level, perhaps more like Jakku-level.

Some random comments:
-I didn't see the big movie character deaths coming

Spoiler

Dodonna going out on a Mon Cal ship? I kind of like it. I miss his old plot in the old EU, but this wasn't bad at all. Draven was a surprise as well, and he actually seemed like a genuine hero. I like his comment about Erso being right before the end. It was also surprising to see Willard go. This was a full Yavin IV wipe out.

-Dodonna was willing to let Mothma die. That was actually... really shocking. Almost without remorse, until Leia and Luke convinced him otherwise. I wish we had gotten more Dodonna, because I think they were going for "desperate war hero loses all hope" but it seemed more like he was in a rush and didn't care. That moment needed a little more build-up. But I guess that's a thing in comics, they often rush the emotional parts in favor of the action.

-This isn't the first comic where Leia was the last survivor of a mission. One time isn't bad, but it's starting to seem weird.

-Trios is an interesting character. She -- surprisingly -- understands how Vader works. That's something I like about the new canon, that some characters live long enough to form really offbeat professional partnerships with Vader that last more than three panels. Sure, eventually they all die or run off (like Aphra), but we've gotten some good arcs of Vader teaming up with various sorts and not always killing them at the end. It's developed Vader into a more interesting, multi-dimensional villain.

-Can somebody please change what Hobbie's wearing? Is there some rule now that he always has to have the ESB headsock, even just hanging around the halls?