REVIEW: Star Wars, #1

[bkart1978]

I'm ridiculously excited to pick this up tomorrow, and I'm not even a huge Star Wars fan. I don't suppose, for such an important project, that Marvel will break out some better paper quality? I'll be seriously bummed if I get this one home and half the ink has come off the cover, even though I'm getting used to it from everything else they put out.

[DIVINITY]

I'm way more excited for Gillen's Darth Vader.

+1

10char

[ian0delond]

I had the chance to read it earlier today.
I never read a Star Wars comics before. The art is fine, nice coloring, but story... gnié... it is just too easy to put it in ten words.

[JKtheMac]

i liked it. Not 4.5 Stars level of like, but it was good. The art was good, and deals well with the character art, which is always a trade off between photo reference and interpretation. I like the way JA rushes into the plot without too much preamble, it feels like a pre-credit sequence for much of the comic, until the underwhelming cliffhanger suggests otherwise. But you can't claim that nothing much happens.

It feels very short for an extended issue. I get that the double page splash title and the two pages of roundup instead of one don't actually reduce the page count as such but they don't add value either. I don't want multiple pages of preview art for future comics either. But page count aside there is an overuse of "widescreen" panels and two single splash pages which makes the total panel count very low. That makes for less story than the page count might suggest.

The story is weaving in elements from the trilogy that don't feel right situated after A New Hope, that leaves me concerned for how the longer story will go, because we could end up with a recombination of scenes and plot threads from the existing films rather than a new story.

The character voices also feel a little off, especially Threepio, not enough to spoil anything but I expected more from the numerous great reviews online suggesting that the tone was spot on.

I would give a tentative 3.5 out of 5 but that could swing up or down depending on how representative the issue is.

[matthew]

I sadly have zero desire for this book. At first I was excited and while I think, based on the creative team, it'll be a pretty good series, I just have no interest in rehashing this particular time period, especially after having just done it with Dark Horse's very fun final series. But even with that, the constant "oh no, will Leia/Luke/Han escape or will character no one's ever heard of stand triumphant" cliffhangers fall flat in a property where we already know the outcome and the suspense is pretty much limited in that, unlike books like say Batman or Superman or whatever, the future here IS set in stone already since this is a canonical title relative to the films and the like. Yes, I know Batman's not REALLY going to die after the Riddler drops an avalanche on him, but there's potential for some long lasting changes. Here, set in the brief period (again) between New Hope and Empire, there's just not and that, for me, kills a lot of the excitement. I totally understand why they'd go for the most recognizable names and characters. I mean, it just makes sense from so many standpoints. But I'd rather see something new, some sort of timeline or something I don't know so much about rather than yet another retelling of the same period with the same characters I read in Marvel's last foray and Dark Horse's as well. I feel too much of a been there, done that with it. I wish it luck and hope all involved have a blast and that the fans who want are able to continue to do so for a long time. But, personally, I'm out.

Is "they might die" really critical to telling a good story?

[Prof. Warren]

This was definitely a very solid read. Top-notch stuff.

[banky]

Quote Originally Posted by Charles J. Baserap View Post
I sadly have zero desire for this book. At first I was excited and while I think, based on the creative team, it'll be a pretty good series, I just have no interest in rehashing this particular time period, especially after having just done it with Dark Horse's very fun final series. But even with that, the constant "oh no, will Leia/Luke/Han escape or will character no one's ever heard of stand triumphant" cliffhangers fall flat in a property where we already know the outcome and the suspense is pretty much limited in that, unlike books like say Batman or Superman or whatever, the future here IS set in stone already since this is a canonical title relative to the films and the like. Yes, I know Batman's not REALLY going to die after the Riddler drops an avalanche on him, but there's potential for some long lasting changes. Here, set in the brief period (again) between New Hope and Empire, there's just not and that, for me, kills a lot of the excitement. I totally understand why they'd go for the most recognizable names and characters. I mean, it just makes sense from so many standpoints. But I'd rather see something new, some sort of timeline or something I don't know so much about rather than yet another retelling of the same period with the same characters I read in Marvel's last foray and Dark Horse's as well. I feel too much of a been there, done that with it. I wish it luck and hope all involved have a blast and that the fans who want are able to continue to do so for a long time. But, personally, I'm out.

Is "they might die" really critical to telling a good story?

Exactly. Modern comic readers have been so corrupted by the 'big event' mentality that it's become part of what they expect from a good story. This book has beloved characters set in a time period with tremendous potential for great stories. Maybe it doesn't register with some younger readers who weren't as entranced by the original trilogy and their characters but if you'd rather read about the transformation and/or 'death' of some obscure B-level SW universe character there are plenty of those (some of quality) in the Dark Horse catalog.

This is a good start to what looks to be a great run if the creative team sticks around.

[quinnzel]

I've got to say... I've never been a huge Star Wars fan, and I picked this up mostly out of curiosity, but I'm so glad I did. I absolutely loved this. It wasn't anything particularly mind-blowing or amazing, but I loved every page and found myself reading through it really fast because I just really enjoyed it. The dialogue is great and the art is solid (love the way Vader and Chewey look... Threepio also looks pretty awesome). Will definitely be picking up issue 2 when it hits and I can't wait for the Darth Vader mini.

[ultimate jezebel]

It's gotten to the point where Spider-man is now a universe-hopping 'chosen one'--

Maybe there'll be a Superior Spider-Man & Luke Skywalker team-up sometime.

[Useless_Goatee]

great post.

What is the point of this series?

To enjoy the ride! Sure we know where this rollercoaster is headed but it could still be fun.

[suss2it]

I've got to say... I've never been a huge Star Wars fan, and I picked this up mostly out of curiosity, but I'm so glad I did. I absolutely loved this. It wasn't anything particularly mind-blowing or amazing, but I loved every page and found myself reading through it really fast because I just really enjoyed it. The dialogue is great and the art is solid (love the way Vader and Chewey look... Threepio also looks pretty awesome). Will definitely be picking up issue 2 when it hits and I can't wait for the Darth Vader mini.

Vader's book is an ongoing. Leia's is the mini.

[Sighphi]

Is "they might die" really critical to telling a good story?

If the store is "they might die" it is.... and if that is the story we all already know where this ends.
So lets hope they dont do any "they might die" stories because that's a waste of paper.

[quinnzel]

Vader's book is an ongoing. Leia's is the mini.

Whoops, my mistake. Then I'm really excited for the Vader book

[Eisenhorn]

For those looking for all the covers, Bleeding Cool collected all the covers (that it could find) and posted them over the course of a couple of posts. You can visit that site and look them up.

EDIT: Here's the post: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/01/...out-next-week/

Apparently there are 100 covers. That could be a coffee table book by itself. I don't know how that winds up in a trade unless it's in one of those thumbnail-style galleries that Marvel does for its long-running books.

[zeonchar]

I'm not a fan of the art. The art for the Dark Horse titles was much better as well as the coloring being more crisp and bright. Seems like a fun story though so we'll see where it goes. One plus is that the characters look like the actors.