Star Wars #1 – Review

I can’t express how ready I am for this series. This is the first Star Wars comic published by Marvel since Disney acquired the franchise back in 2012. It’s written by Jason Aaron with the artwork done by John Cassaday.

Star Wars #1 opens up with the classic opening word crawl. As soon as I turned to that page it was as if the original theme song by John Williams began to play in my head. This issue takes place between A New Hope & Empire Strikes Back.

The likeness of these characters are of the actors who portrayed the original characters in the original films. So Han Solo looks just like Harrison Ford, Leia looks like Carrie Fisher but only sometimes I was able to see Mark Hamill in Skywalker.

Spoilers ahead!:

The story begins with the rebels infiltrating an imperial weapons facility in disguise. The first of our heroes we are greeted to is Han Solo, and in classic Han Solo fashion. He introduces himself as a special envoy to Illustrious Jabba the Hutt. The imperials confirm his identity and the group move into the base as Chewbacca watches from a distance, sniper in hand.

Their cover is shortly blown as the rebels unleash their trap on the unsuspecting Stormtroopers. Luke and Leia remove their disguises as they patrol through the Imperial factory.

Throughout the mission, Luke appears to be communicating with Ben Kenobi through the force. Luke finds a cage full of slaves and quickly discovers that it is guarded. Let’s just say that it only took one issue for someone to lose an arm.

Another ship flies in, Chewbacca informs the rest of the gang that Vader has landed.

(Cue the Imperial March theme)

Darth Vader makes his appearance while Chewbacca has him in his crosshairs from afar. Chewy attempts to assassinate the dark lord but fails as Vader uses his force powers to use his Stormtroopers as a shield.

Vader sends the troopers to find the Wookiee and Vader proceeds further into the base. Leia, Han and the newly freed slaves make their way towards the AT-AT’s, attempting to flee. Luke is separated from the rest of the group and continues to communicate to Ben through the force. Luke informs Ben that Vader has arrived to which Kenobi responds with one simple instruction.

End of Spoilers

This issue is very reminiscent of the original films and stays true to the characters of the trilogy, mixing the entire time I’m reading this, it is as if I am reading it in the characters voices. Luke, Leia, Chewy, C3PO, R2, Vader, and even Kenobi (sorta) make appearances in this issue. It was great seeing all the original characters interacting with one another again. No telling what Marvel has in store for these characters but I’m sure it will be grand.