Welcome back, True Believers, to this week’s edition of the Marvel Rundown! This week we take a look at the finale of the sprawling Star Wars event, The Battle of Jakku, from Alex Segura and Jethro Morales. Additionally, the Rapid Rundown looks at what’s happening in Ultimate Spider-Man, Uncanny X-Men, and X-Men: Xavier’s Secrets.
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Star Wars: The Battle of Jakku: Last Stand #4
Writer: Alex Segura
Artist: Jethro Morales
Colorist: Jim Campbell
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover: E.M. Gist
The Rundown team hasn’t spent much time with Marvel’s Star Wars comics, in part because they’ve been in such a strange stasis for the last few years, stretching out the relatively short gap between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. It’s a period that’s inherently limiting in both narrative and characters. With The Battle of Jakku, a weekly series confusingly spread out over three individual titles, Marvel is ready to step into the Post-Original-Trilogy period, which opens a wider set of storytelling opportunities and lets us spend time with the full cast of beloved characters again. Written by Alex Segura (just announced to be the next writer of the new Star Wars ongoing), The Battle of Jakku has been an exciting, if flawed, read. When it has the chance to tell its own character focused stories it is at its best. But there are too many moments when it must work within the constraints of various other tie-in media from a decade ago.
Amidst the nonstop action from the 12 issues of The Battle of Jakku, it is forced to dance through the raindrops of continuity and canon instead of forging its own cohesive story. In that way, the franchise is like the Empire, a massive behemoth unwilling to let go of its grip over the comic as it marches forward without a clearly defined purpose. This final issue finally reveals what it was all about: clearing the decks of all of the existing multimedia to do something new. Not thematically satisfying but heartening nonetheless.
The Last Stand #4 is a culmination of the series’ strengths and weaknesses. Segura has a wonderful grasp on the iconic characters, and makes compelling cases for what makes the new ones worth investing in. The quiet individual moments are the highlight throughout all 12 issues. But this ending also exposes the series’ biggest flaw: it is a side story to existing stories. Fully understanding and enjoying all of these machinations relies on you having read the Aftermath novels. Instead of weaving those events to create a single cohesive narrative, Segura must work around and tie into them. In the end, the main villain of the piece is reduced to a pawn and a madman, out for mindless and petty vengeance to lay the Empire and the New Republic low. This, I actually like, as I spent most of this series wondering why we should take this nobody seriously. His hubris coming to roost is extremely satisfying. But I feel shortchanged by not having seen the real plots surrounding the eponymous Battle of Jakku unfold. The whole thing is built around this climax but the characters we followed have very little to do with it at all until this finale, which is jam packed with spaceships and laser blasts. It looks great but it feels like an incomplete story that doesn’t deliver what was sold. New characters appearing for the first time get big moments, with the main cast of heroes around the edges. It’s not the job of the critic to write what we would rather have read, but I can’t help but wish this did more to integrate those Aftermath and Battlefield game plots. Instead it leaves us to wonder where Han Solo was this whole time, or do a double take when Princess Leia is pregnant halfway through with no mention. There’s no pleasing every audience, of course. People who consume every bit of Star Wars don’t want to reread what they’ve already read but folks who only follow the comics are left with a story that, while enjoyable, feels only half told.
But there’s still plenty to like throughout this series, and it’s worth the time. Its portrayal of Luke Skywalker’s attempts to walk the path of the Jedi and forge a way of peace in a violent galaxy is particularly compelling, especially in the context of his eventual failures we know are to come. The scenes in the first two issues with Luke and Leia discussing the legacy of Vader are some of my favorite Star Wars moments since Revenge of the Sith.
Jethro Morales does the lineart for this issue after drawing a large portion of the previous 11 alongside a rotating stable of artists. Kudos to him for his ability to keep things legible and clean despite all of the action, spaceships, and characters packed into every page. It’s a pleasure to look at, and never falls into incoherence. The character work is expressive and dynamic, balancing likenesses and cartooning so that individuals are recognizable without being uncanny or off putting. Jim Campbell’s colors help with keeping the visuals organized with tight color scripting and subtle layering that leads and focuses the eye.
The charm and promise of the Battle of Jakku faded a little bit as it got to this final four-part “Last Stand” but the end product is entertaining even if it is not as thematically rich as I originally hoped. That said, I am excited to see where the Star Wars comics go next without the need to tiptoe through a multimedia onslaught. When Segura has the opportunity to tell a story about characters amidst the spectacle, this book is at its best and I am optimistic about where he will take things from here, especially teamed up with artist Phil Noto.
Final Verdict: Worth a read for Star Wars fans, give it a Browse.
The Rapid Rundown!
- Ultimate Spider-Man #13
- SPOILER ALERT if you haven’t been reading Ultimate Spider-Man, or you read this title in a trade format because, after the amazing cliffhanger of issue 12, writer Jonathan Hickman goes harder and doesn’t pull any punches with this issue. Kraven the Hunter has captured Spider-Man and the Green Goblin and no one knew until their Wives connected and Mary Jane realized that her Husband was the advanced AI that runs his nanotech suit. In the month they’ve been captives, Peter’s son has been using the suit to swing around the city while Kraven has broken them down to hunt them in the Savage Land, which just happens to be below Staten Island, well played Sir. Hickman’s partners in crime artist Marco Checchetto and color artist Matthew Wilson do their thing with gorgeous art, full of lush menace and bright danger Peter and Harry wear explosive collars as they sit at a feast while the villains monologue around them. As a Spider-Man fan, you can’t help but feel Peter’s fear as he struggles internally with the fate of his family and can’t help but wonder how they’re getting out of this. And even if they do how will they survive since the bad guys know everything about them and their families? For the past 12 issues we’ve been raving about this book, and this issue will give readers a reason to find their local comic book shop and start a pull list right fraking now. – GC3
- Uncanny X-Men #9
- Following the events of Raid on Graymalkin, Rogue’s Louisiana X-Men return this week with Uncanny X-Men #9. This issue features another entry into the long line of sentinels with Wolfpack Sentinels, which may be the most messed up thing from the Trasks in a long time. Obviously, the wolfpack sentinels are a play on Boston Dynamics robot dogs, these monstrosities are even worse as an amalgamation of stray dogs and sentinel tech. In addition to seeing these cybernetic monsters, we get to see the Louisiana X-Men breathe for a minute following the whirlwind of the last couple arcs. Writer Gail Simone really gets to show off her strengths in this moment. We finally get time to see the characters interact and talk with each other instead of talking at one another that we saw in the previous couple arcs. There is an actual effort to build up these Outlier mutants and make them into actual characters beyond the Horse Girl. One of the best character moments is between Wolverine and Ransom as Wolverine picked Ransom to be his mentee. Simone’s captures the voices of each of the X-Men well, but this issue really shows she gets Wolverine. He is caring but gruff. Just lovely to read. This week features Andrei Bressan taking on the art duties for the arc. Bressan’s style is a contrast to the previous stories but is a nice change of pace. The line work is thick and clean with an emphasis on character body language and emotion. There is a mix of action and quiet moments in this issue and Bressan handles both deftly. My favorite scene is between Jitter and Calico dancing in the barn is astoundingly tender and sweet. We get hints that there may be something more between the two and that is through Bressan’s delicate line work. Uncanny X-Men #9 goes a long way to address my principal complaints about Uncanny X-Men. It still features plot development but not at the expense of character. This is the first issue of Uncanny that doesn’t feel like it’s in a rush to get to the next major story point, which is astonishing given that X-Manhunt looms over the X-line. I recommend checking this issue out if you are curious about the Uncanny X-Men as this is the best issue so far. –JJ
- X-Men: Xavier’s Secret
- Once again, Marvel compiles stories from their Unlimited app into another one shot a lá X-Men: Green and X-Men Unlimited: Latitude. This time readers get two stories by Alex Paknadel telling stories in the gap between the Fall of Krakoa and the current From the Ashes era. The timing of this release, six months the start of From the Ashes, should be a clue if they’re essential to the current line (spoiler; they’re not). One tries to conclude the crumbling Cyclops and Jean Grey relationship. The other wants to absolve Professor X. Neither feels that essential to understanding the current status quo nor a hidden gem of a story. What does seem intriguing is the art by Diogenes Nieves and colorist Arthur Hesli. With full in books and printed anthology titles no longer a thing, these Unlimited stories are a good showcase for talent who can’t commit to a monthly book. In these two stories, Nieves proves being a talent worthy of being used on a mainline book. They have a thick lined expressive style in their figure drawing that stands out among most artists working at Marvel today. Given that the two stories couldn’t be more distinct from each other, the one shot is an opportunity to show Nieves range. And even though both stories were originally conceived for a scrolling format, you’d have a hard time guessing that with the clever page layouts in the first story. Seriously, put this guy on a monthly, Marvel editors. – DM
Join us next week as we dive into more X-Men, more Star Wars, and more flaming skulls!
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