Ania Solo and her friends have figured out there’s a Sith impersonating an Imperial Knight – but the impostor has caught up to them, in this week’s Star Wars comic: Legacy #4.
“You’ve pushed it too far. We’ve pushed it too far…”
Showdown with a Sith, as the cover text advertises! Showdown delivered! And just because you outnumber and outgun a Sith doesn’t mean it’s your advantage. Ania Solo and her allies are in for a smackdown when they take on the Sith impostor masquerading as Yalta Val in Star Wars: Legacy Vol. 2 #4 by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman (DarkHorse.com profile). Spoilers ahead in this action-packed issue, continuing the ‘Prisoner of the Floating World’ story!
Summary: Ania Solo, Sauk, AG-37 and Jao Assam have been caught in the tractor beam of a Shifalan patrol craft. Forced into the hangar, they are captured, and the Sith infiltrator orders Assam’s transfer to the communications array and the death of the rest. Governor Biala, tired of the behavior of “Yalta Val”, speaks against the Knight’s order, but is Force choked. Inside the array’s detention area, Sauk realizes why their attempt to find the real Val’s location failed, and a mysterious probe. While secretly monitoring “Val” interrogating Assam and sway his beliefs toward the Dark Side, Biala recognizes that she has been dealing with an imposter, and later springs Assam from his stasis chamber to help rid her of the Sith threat. Releasing Ania, Sauk and reactivating AG, Jao Assam hopes to rescue his master before confronting the imposter, but Ania decides that they can take him out now, before his objective with the array is achieved. Charging into battle in the hangar, the quartet get hammered by the Sith Lord’s use of the Force and his lightsaber, and the fake escapes. But something else has also slipped out of the hangar, earlier – a comm droid.
Review: Pow! This issue’s a gut punch. Once again, our team of heroes runs into trouble because Ania’s impulse is to strike first and hope that luck in on your side. And in this case, it isn’t. Once again, Bechko and Hardman deliver an action-packed story: we get the tiny drones invading AG’s ship as they get boarded by the Shifalans, and the team tries unsuccessfully to fend them off, and then of course, the big showdown with the Sith. Make that smackdown by the Sith. But we also get some more pieces of the puzzle – once again, Sauk has some time to think, and comes up with the next step in the larger search… and Ania drives them off course into harm’s way. Jao tries to opt for a more cautious course, and AG sees the rationale behind both options. But once Ania blows their cover and starts shooting, the decision has been made. Plus some cool dialogue – there is a bit of snark between two random bored guards that cracked me up.
The artwork continues in the Gabriel Hardman’s style of dark and dirty, with Rachelle Rosenberg’s colors to liven the mood. I’m now a bit curious to see what this comic would look like in black and white. I love the use of giant lettering for the sounds, with the big KA-THOOM appearing behind our heroes as their ship is being breached. Is that from letterer Michael Heisler? Some favorite panels: the impostor force choking Biala uses some interesting shading to give a sense of bloody menace to the whole scene, several of the battle scenes at the end (the impostor and AG, and Jao getting a hit on the Sith), and for setting the mood, the Shifalan cruiser reeling in AG’s ship with the tractor beam – nice use of light and dark contrast and color. Plus that one above. Although I do wish we got to see the actual menace caused by the tiny drones.
Overall, this issue delivered some cool action, gave all the characters some good screentime, and brought us some fine art. Another thumbs up! Am I a broken record about Legacy? Maybe – but Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman are crafting a good tale. Can’t wait for the next issue!