Can Luke help save Leia & Wedge from a Star Destroyer? Is the Rebel Alliance doomed from a security leak? GONK checks out Brian Wood’s Star Wars #6.
Princess Leia is injured, piloting a crippled X-Wing, with a Star Destroyer hot on her tail. But she’s not going without a fight, and she’s got Wedge Antilles on her wing. Luke Skywalker, having received a vision of danger from Obi-Wan, has jetted off to her rescue with Prithi, despite their grounded flight status. And Han Solo and Chewbacca are laying low on Coruscant, with their mission blown and Boba Fett and Bossk on their tail. And that’s where we start issue #6 of Star Wars, written by Brian Wood, and art by Carlos D’Anda (DarkHorse.com profile). Spoilers ahead!
Summary: With Wedge and Tess covering her, a bloodied Leia nudges her X-Wing on maneuvering thrusters away from the hyperspace jump coordinates, fearing the arrival of the Star Destroyer and Interdictor that ambushed them at their last location. But showing up instead, it’s Luke and Prithi, and Luke’s got an idea. Going EVA, he strips out Leia’s fusion reactors, and rigs them with a proton torpedo and his chrono as a trasmitter and lobs it toward the rendezvous spot. The Devastator arrives and Bircher launches his Interceptor squadron, only to realize that something is amiss with the X-Wings firing some torpedoes off target and then fleeing. When Luke’s IED is hit, Bircher and the Devastator jump safely away, but the Empire loses the Interdictor and several in Bircher’s wing, and the Rebels escape, with Leia barely conscious.
Back at the fleet, Leia is dropped into the bacta tank, and Mon Mothma questions Luke and Wedge. Promoting them and granting them higher security clearance, she reviews the situation about Leia, and the lack of contact from Han Solo. Wedge recognizes that the Rebel Alliance is in grave danger with their location likely blown, and starts planning for an attack. And everybody gets one last scene of their own.
Review: Brian Wood keeps the tension up throughout the issue, with Leia barely clinging to consciousness, keeping the extent of her injuries a secret shared only with her astromech, T4. Even when the Rebels manage to escape, it’s only by the skin of their teeth and a last second course adjustment prompted by the Force. Even back at the fleet, the tension stays high with the situation precarious for the heroes as well as the Alliance as a whole – Prithi, whose Force abilities gave a needed heads-up to the Devastator’s arrival, recognizes that she is the losing corner of the love triangle with Luke and Leia. I liked the focus on just the X-Wings in this issue, with Han and Chewie’s plotline barely touched (and having it play into Mon Mothma’s concern worked well to show how it all connects), and Vader even less. While having everyone everywhere can work well in longer books, it sometimes dilutes in a single issue of a comic, so keeping it all on the immediate danger for Leia, Wedge, and Luke worked well.
Some great art by the team here (Carlos D’Anda with the drawing, Gabe Eltaeb with the colors, and Michael Heisler lettering). As with the last issue, Leia’s damaged fighter is a detailed piece in deterioration – even the cockpit interior and the droid are looking like they are barely holding together. Still, I think the best panel is of the droids keeping a vigil at Leia’s bacta tank. I also liked the coloring set-up for the six-panel spread on the last set of facing pages – each panel has its own mood to remind us of where everyone is at this time, and leads into the final art of Luke asleep at Leia’s bedside, with the droids watching. Very reminiscent of the end of The Empire Strikes Back, but with a focus inward. And I’m a sucker for seeing Star Destroyers, so that full page of the Devastator‘s arrival looks awesome and fearsome.
And then there’s that cover by Rodolfo Migliari. Dang, I like it! While it does look like Vader’s going to crush Luke’s head, the art just comes out so clean, even with the Star Wars logo dropped in behind Vader in yellow outline (See it on DarkHorse.com with the title).
I’m not quite sure I buy the giant explosion that can be Macguyvered from an X-Wing engine and a proton torpedo. It just seems that if these components can nuke an Interdictor, then blowing up an X-Wing has a high percentage of setting off a similar-sized boom (other a certain A-Wing against the Executor, most starfighter explosions or impacts don’t seem to scratch capital ships).
Overall, the action-packed showdown we’ve been waiting for between Bircher and the Rebels gets deferred as the Rebels deliver a surprise knock-out punch. But it just helps build up for an even bigger showdown further down the line, now that Bircher has lost a round.