Return of the Jedi – Ewoks #1
EWOKS!
On the FOREST MOON OF ENDOR, a village of EWOKS gather around a fire to share tales of adventure and wonder.
No place is safe from the war tearing the galaxy apart, not even the Ewoks’ home.
But for one night, their stories of courage, fear and determination will unite them—and bring them hope….
Writer: Alyssa Wong
Artists: Lee Garbett, Caspar Wijngaard, Kyle Hotz, Paulina Ganucheau
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Colorists: Java Tartaglia, Rachelle Rosenberg
Cover artist: Ryan Brown
Editor: Danny Khazem
Publication date: April 12, 2023
We open in the familiar location of the Ewok Village, as Logray calls all around towards the fire to hear tales of heroic ewoks, and we open proceedings with ‘The Woklings Tale‘, drawn by Paulina Ganucheau. Charmingly, as is the entire issue, it’s wordless, the artwork and action telling the story as we open with a young ewok packing for an adventure as their parents stare disapprovingly. They claim they are off to feed the ponies, while the parents fear of attacks by duloks, but either way the young ewok swings down to the forest floor, feeding its pony and riding into the dark where they encounter a friendly young dulok and together they feed on the picnic the ewok bought. We see them play and frolic, the dulok warning about poisonous mushrooms as its parent disapprove, just as the ewok parents do. All is well until both sets of parents find them playing together and start to argue, only for the youngsters to break up the fight, and embarrased they agree to break bread together and we end the first tale as they all warmly share a meal.
Our bridging story, beautifully crafted by Lee Bargett and Java Tartaglia, sees Logray and Paploo lead us into ‘Paploo’s Tale’, drawn by Kyle Hotz and Rachelle Rosenberg. This is a far different tale, black, white and red and drawn in a far more serious tone as we see Paploo rigid still as another ewok approaches. We quickly realise Paploo is remaining still to avoid a towering gorax, but the new arrival isn’t so savy and soon draws its attention. he flees, and as he runs we begin to see more and more skeletons of slain ewoks and stormtroopers until the ewoks luck runs out and the gorax grabs him, pausing before lifting him to his mouth….and yes, chomping down and eating him. We’re snapped back to reality as Logray whacks Paploo over the head with his staff – these are campfire tales for Woklings, not horror stories, and we remember the brave slain ewok as we move to the next story, ‘Peekpa’s Tale‘.
Here we see Peekpa (first seen in Return of the Jedi and best known for Daniel Jose Older’s Last Shot) setting up a trap, a thick wire stretched and wrapped between two trees, the tension checked as a speeder bike roars by, the rope sending the Biker Scout tumbling as his speeder explodes. He’s lost his helmet, and as he reaches out Peekpa smashes him over the head with a club, knocking him into unconsciousness. Then one of the coolest moments for Mini-Rig fans after the appearance of the MTV-7 in The Spy Dancer episode of Star Wars: Visions. Here we see an INT-4, and watch the ewok as she continues work on the vessel, her eyes clearly on the skies and a life away from Endor. The following morning she tests the ship, lifting off for its first flight and as her fellow ewoks wave she rattles off into the skies.
We end the issue with a return to the Stories Around The Campfire sequence as a young ewok wakes, taking a spear and jumping at shadows as they play with a small, ewok made X-Wing model and falls asleep, the end to a charming issue that wisely avoids the animated Ewoks style of having the ewoks talk and instead choses to let their actions tell the tales. it’s a perfect mix, the younger style of the first tale juxtaposed against the more mature (and frankly brutal) style of the second and the whistful hopefulness of the third. Alyssa Wong does a great job of bridging these styles while the art team are perfectly chosen for their tales. Another very worthy entry in the Jedi 40th celebration issues.
