Star Wars

• Title: Star Wars #18
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Brian Wood
• Artist: Stéphane Créty

With an Imperial blockade appearing above the planet and an explosion near the palace where Princess Leia was to wed, Arrochar‘s betrayal of the Rebellion to the Empire is revealed in the final issue of the arc. Given the amount of chaos in the midst of various characters fighting off both local and Imperial agents Star Wars #18 doesn’t have a chance to highlight much in the way of character interaction other than Leia’s sorrow over how the entire matter played out.

In the midst of the action the issue does introduce the first use of a powerful weapon of the Rebellion as they make use of the stolen Ion Canon technology for the first time to allow their ships to break through the blockade and slip through Darth Vader‘s fingers yet again.

Star Wars #18 offers a satisfactory ending to the marriage that might have been while fueling Vader’s rage and offering a nod to technology the Rebels would make later uses of on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back. Worth a look.

[Dark Horse, $3.50]

• Title: Star Wars #17
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Brian Wood
• Artist: Stéphane Créty

After teasing us over the past couple of issues with the looming betrayal of Arrochar and its monarchy, it finally arrives just hours before Leia‘s wedding which was meant to seal the alliance between the Rebels and the planet’s leaders against the Empire.

Although there is an attack in the palace just before the wedding, and an armada of Star Destroyers appears in orbit led by none other than Darth Vader himself, the majority of Star Wars #17 focuses on Luke and how quickly what started out as him tagging along with a group of soldiers to change a fuel cell on a mountain outpost soon turns deadly as the group’s true agenda of leaving Luke dead in the mountains becomes evident.

The return of Obi-Wan‘s guidance helps save Luke’s life and prepare him for the deception to come, but I wonder home much of Ben’s ghostly wisdom the comic should and/or will use going forward as Luke’s own instincts should have likely warned him of the danger (even with his only limited understanding of the Force). Worth a look.

[Dark Horse, $2.99]

• Title: Star Wars #16
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Brian Wood
• Artist: Stéphane Créty

With a grounded and disgruntled Luke heading off with some of the locals to change a fuel cell on a mountain outpost the latest issue of Star Wars shows us the farm boy from Tatooine and his friends are hardly the only ones with serious doubts about Leia‘s impending wedding and the new alliance between the Rebels and Arrochar.

As Leia fights pressure to act in a manner more befitting a princess from both her fiance and the aristocracy of the rich world which will make a powerful ally for the Rebellion, Luke spends time with the locals who are far less convinced that Arrochar should shed its isolation and get involved in a conflict which hasn’t concerned them until now.

Continuing to foreshadow the betrayal of Leia’s betrothed and Arrochar, the latest issue also gives us a glimpse at an Imperial Probe Droid making it a good bet that the Empire knows exactly where the leaders of the Rebel Alliance are to be found. Worth a look.

[Dark Horse, $2.99]