Star Wars #56 Review

by NumidianPrime on November 07, 2018

Writer: Kieron Gillen

Artist: Andrea Broccardo

Letterer: Clayton Cowles

Publisher: Marvel


The flagship Star Wars series hasn’t been my favorite series for a while now. I thought it had a strong start for the first couple of arcs and then gradually got less interesting over time. Kieron Gillen taking over for Jason Aaron was a welcome change and it brought some needed change to the series, Gillen’s first few arcs have been solid. I have thought that all three of them were much better when read all together in a trade than individually over months, especially Hope Dies.
 

This issue picks up from the end of Hope Dies after what seems to be a short timeskip. Luke, Han, and Leia are on the run from the Empire after a devastating attack on the Rebel fleet, separated from Chewbacca and the Millennium Falcon. They’ve hired Sana Starros to help them try to reconnect with the Rebellion by talking with different contacts.


It’s a pretty interesting set up for an arc. I’m curious how long their separation from the greater Rebellion will last, I’m guessing they’ll reconnect at the end of this arc but it could be longer. The series feels like it’s reconnected with Aaron-esque roots, bringing back Sana, who we haven’t seen since the end of Aaron’s run, and setting the Rebellion back from the steadily improving place they had been in. The solicitations for January also reveal that we’ll be seeing SCAR Squadron again, another Aaron creation that we haven’t seen since his run.


The issue itself is pretty fun if nothing that notable, it’s primarily setup for the rest of the arc. The main characters are well written with good interactions and jokes. I think Aaron had a problem with making Sana a bit too perfect and I think Gillen, since he didn’t create her, will have an easier time avoiding falling into that trap. 3PO being forced to stay strapped to R2’s back after being damaged in Hope Dies is great, though I do wonder how long they’ll keep him that way.


The art is a massive improvement. The last nearly thirty issues were done by Salvador Larroca, whose art I am not a big fan of. It especially took me out of the last few arcs and hindered my enjoyment of the writing. Andrea Broccardo did the art for this issue and did a pretty solid job with it but will be replaced with Angel Unzueta for the rest of the arc. Unzueta did most of the art for the Poe Dameron series, I thought he did a great job with it so I’m looking forward to seeing what he does here.


Overall it’s a solid issue that sets up a promising arc. I’m looking forward to seeing SCAR some more and the end of the issue sets up some pretty interesting ideas that seem like will be sticking around for at least most of the arc. I can’t wait to see where Gillen takes the series after this because we know he has a grander story mapped out. I’ve been enjoying the series but I’m starting to get more and more excited about new issues releasing

Our Score:

7/10

A Look Inside