In last month’s issue, Luke Skywalker began feeling some Jamie Lannister-sized rage over Leia marrying some random prince from a world the Rebel Alliance hoped to bring into their ranks. As it turned out, her husband-to-be might actually have some real feelings to go along with his people’s very real ulterior (and poorly hidden) motives for joining up with the good guys.
In this issue, we uh… keep going with all that. Is it good?
Star Wars #16 (Dark Horse Comics)
The story begins with Wedge trying to train Arrochar’s local pilots how to be awesome. Unfortunately, they’re not too keen on listening, mostly due to the fact that their ships suck pretty hard compared to the ones in the Alliance’s fleet.
Meanwhile, the Prince of Arrochar is angry that his future wife (and planetary royalty) is doing common work like fighter maintenance while looking like a garage girl pin up model. In the background, Arrochar’s head of military operations stands in the shadows with a sinister smile on his face, providing cue #207 that something evil is afoot with the Rebel’s supposed allies.
Later, the same general requests that Luke accompany some of his rangers into a treacherous mountain range on a routine mission (which we can be absolutely sure will go off without a hitch and not involve any forms of assassination or subterfuge).
Back in outer space, an unmanned Imperial Super Hauler randomly drops out of light speed right next to the planet. Han and Leia go up to investigate and find that miraculously, there is no way the ship can detect the Rebel’s presence. When it later randomly takes off and leaves, our heroes head back to Arrochar, blissfully ignorant of the gigantic/obvious plot device they missed right under their noses.
Is It Good?
One of the most impressive things that Brian Wood has done during his run on this series is put characters who we know the fate of in thrilling and tense situations.
Unfortunately, that ability has yet to show itself during this current story arc. We know that Leia isn’t going to marry the Prince of Arrochar, but the real source of tension provided by a possible ulterior motive has been so blatantly (and repeatedly) telegraphed that any chance for drama within the story appears to have evaporated.
The issue’s lone poignant moment was when Luke and the Arrochar Rangers commiserated over a shared disdain for their current political landscape. Past that, however, Stephane Crety’s gorgeous pencils (particularly the way she draws Leia) have been the only thing keeping this one from being a complete clunker.
Hopefully, the promise of an impending space battle and some Luke Skywalker badassery will make the next issue a bit more enjoyable (and one step closer to being done with this whole plot line once and for all).
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