Star Wars Adventures: Destroyer Down #3 Review

by Kaasen Koy on January 09, 2019

Destroyer Down #3 Cover

Writer: Scott Beatty

Artists: Derek Charm, Jon Sommariva, Sean Parsons & Matt Herms

Letterer: Tom B. Long

Publisher: IDW

 

IDW’s Star Wars Adventures: Destroyer Down #3 concludes Rey’s treasure hunting adventure on the Spectral. The secondary story wraps the tale of how it came to be buried in the sands of Jakku.

 

We’ve reached the end of the miniseries and it sends us off with an uneven comic. It’s the worst and least cohesive issue of the three, but it still entertains. The poetic legends of Jakku that framed the beginning so effectively are all but gone by this issue — just a few short lines that feel forced and convenient. Without that, the additional history of Jakku that drew my interest is gone. Many threads or characters introduced in the first and second issue are forgotten or left unresolved. With only three issues in the run, that’s no great surprise, but it underscores the rushed pace and the failure of the conclusion.

 

Rey’s tale takes her from the danger and action of Destroyer Down #2’s conclusion to a safe and happy ending in about fifteen pages. It’s clean and swift and it pushes aside the intricacies of the two interwoven stories as it barrels toward the finish line. I suppose the droid commander plays Rey’s link to the past in this issue, but perhaps because it’s an Imperial and not a Rebel artifact, the connection doesn’t really land. Gone too are the forensic flashbacks and the fun of the hunt.

 

The secondary story, The Ghost Ship, carries the comic again (and is the better tale altogether). The biggest redeeming factor for this issue is the humor of the stormtroopers on the Spectral as they argue over details and possibilities during a standoff. Still imperfect, this story has stakes the first did not and it does a lot to overshadow the fizzling finale of Rey’s adventure.

 

Derek Charm’s art hasn’t bested his work in the first issue, but it’s still cleaner here than in the other issue. Meanwhile, Matt Herms seems to have adopted Charm’s color palette here, providing the most vivid, but least grounded (and most cluttered) of the Ghost Ship’s panels. Like the stories, the artwork in this comic is uneven and a bit out of step with the issues that came before.

 

The conclusion of Destroyer Down is the weakest issue of a short series that had so much potential. It ditches the lyrical legends and the dovetailing storylines in favor of a quick, clean ending that doesn’t live up to the intrigue of the tale. Some humor and a stronger secondary story manage to keep the comic entertaining, but it fails to make an ending worthy of a beautiful beginning.

Our Score:

4/10

A Look Inside