Star Wars #25

Star Wars #25

Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Jorge Molina
Colorist: Matt Milla
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Cover Artist: Mike Deodato and Rain Beredo

Star Wars #25 takes some odd twist and turns as they stretch the boundaries of believability in this somewhat over the top issue. Scar Squadron goes from the verge of victory to almost absolute failure as each team is defeated by the heroes. Luke manages to defeat Kreel, escape the Harbinger, and make a crucial strike on the moon bases in a rapid series of panels. Everyone forgets R2, though he manages to save himself. But the one thing that really pushes the issue over the top is when Han and Leia go for a space walk with just some breath masks. Since these comics are canon now, I guess vacuum in the Star Wars galaxy isn’t all that dangerous.

Throughout the issue, there are a bunch of team up matches as the heroes face off against different members of Scar Squadron. Sana takes on knife guy and in a duel of corny dialog, shows she’s not just a smuggler but a ninja too. The hulking tank stormtrooper headbutts Chewbacca which just seems to make the Wookiee mad as he throws the stormtrooper into a generator, electrocuting him…but not to death as he shows up later on alive and well…and simultaneous fixes the reactor. It’s just one of several overly convenient plot points. Elsewhere, Luke fights Kreel, which is probably the best of the matchups as it plays out realistically. Kreel out matches Luke in combat, but Luke draws on the Force and takes out Kreel. Wrapping things up, Han and Leia get outgunned on the bridge by two more members of Scar Squadron and Han has his dumbest idea yet. To escape, he throws a thermal detonator, blows a hole in the side of the bridge, and he and Leia float out into space with just some simple breath masks that don’t even protect their eyes. They’re picked up by the Falcon, but not before they have a little yelling match in space as if the cold reality of vacuum is non-existent. From what we can gather in this issue, vacuum isn’t that deadly. I have to admit that at that point, I was about ready to write this issue off as a dud. Seriously, Jason Aaron almost blew the whole issue with that stupid scene but the last panel earned him a few points as I’m really curious how far they’re going to take it. Will we see a reunion? I can only hope.

My two favorite panels from the comic. If the rest were on par with these two, I’d be onboard with Jorge.

That said, the story takes a lot of dips with its casual flagrance of reality. The artwork doesn’t help much. Jorge Molina’s style continues to push the cartoony envelope in some panels, while others are a bit better. Overall it’s okay, but nothing outstanding. It’s not the worst Star Wars comic art I’ve seen but I wouldn’t ask to see Jorge handle any future comics.

With okay artwork and a story that pushes you to accept it, it’s hard to give this one a pass. There’s so much that they did wrong. But…well, that last panel, that hook, it has me anxious to see what they’ll do with it. Jason Aaron gave himself the potential to do something awesome in a later issue. Sadly, he didn’t do too much of anything awesome in this one. For the most part, it’s silly, and I give it a two and half out of five metal bikinis.

As a bonus, Chris Eliopoulos has another little mini-comic at the end of this issue. Done with Jordie Bellaire, the mini-comic is entitled “Droid Dilemma” and is dedicated to Kenny Baker. It’s got a newspaper comic strip vibe to it, and has about as much humor as you get from the newspaper comics. Eh, I guess some people might like it but it didn’t do much for me.

Reviewed By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.