Star Wars (2020) #9 Review

by NumidianPrime on December 12, 2020

Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Jan Bazaldua
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Marvel

This month's issue of the mainline Star Wars comic starts the next chapter in Charles Soule's run on the series, focusing on the Rebellion's struggle to reunite and overcome to new obstacles put in their place by the Empire. Lando, Kes Dameron, and some of the other Pathfinders are put under the spotlight as they undertake a heist in the heart of the Imperial Center. 

The biggest thought I had coming out of this issue is how fast it moved, to the point of feeling almost jarring. The cast and premise are both promising but when I learned what this arc was going to be about, I assumed this part of the story would be stretched over at least a couple issues. There's one point in the story where it just cuts straight from planning to them on Coruscant already, immediately starting the heist. The supposed character death towards the end of the issue also felt very abrupt, unless that's because the character isn't dead and we'll see them again later. 

It's still a good issue overall. Jan Bazaldua's art has a softer quality to it than the previous artists on the series, which brings to mind parts of Jason Aaron's run on the series in a good way. The dialogue and general story are well executed, and I'm glad to see Lando and Lobot get more focus again because Soule writes the two of them and their arc well. I just think I could have liked it more if it had a little more breathing room in order for me to get more invested in the story. 

Hopefully the fast pace of this issue was because this arc has enough other interesting ideas Soule wanted to faster. Some of my feelings towards it will probably be determined by seeing how the rest of this story plays out, especially considering this ended on a big cliffhanger. This definitely wasn't my favorite issue of the series so far, but I still have a lot of faith in Soule as a storyteller and I'm looking forward to seeing what he doe next with the series.

Our Score:

6/10

A Look Inside