Comic Review: Star Wars (2020) #25

Star Wars (2020) #25

A long time ago, in a galaxy that really does seem pretty far away from the one we’re in now, I got a phone call from Jordan D. White, the editor running the Star Wars comic line for Marvel at the time, asking me to pitch some ideas for a five-issue miniseries. That ended up becoming Lando, a book I made with Alex Maleev, Paul Mounts, Joe Caramagna, Heather Antos and Jordan, plus many amazing folks behind the scenes at Marvel and Lucasfilm.

That first conversation happened in 2014, and now, almost eight years later, it’s been a rare month that hasn’t seen at least one Star Wars comic published with my name on it. The comic you’re about to read is the one hundredth script I wrote set in this galaxy far, far away. (I’ve had more than a hundred published at this point, but because of the way comics publishing works, this was script #100.) I’ve written stories set in every era of Star Wars, about characters and locations we’ve all known for decades as well as new ones my collaborators and I created.

Even better, I’ve gotten to work with brilliant artists who rose to the occasion no matter what craziness I dreamed up (I’m sorry!). Many of them have become close friends of mine — people like Giuseppe Camuncoli, Will Sliney, Alex Maleev, Steve McNiven, Phil Noto, Ramon Rosanas, Jesús Saiz, Luke Ross, Steven Cummings, Marco Checchetto, Angel Unzueta and many more — these folks are legends, and it’s been a true honor.

The editorial side is just as crucial — no comic just happens. It has to be dragged into existence by a legion of dedicated and insightful and hugely talented people who are not always celebrated to the degree they should be! With that in mind, I want to also spotlight the current editors on the Star Wars line: Mark Paniccia, Danny Khazem and Mikey J. Basso, plus the ones who shepherded so many books through before them — Tom Groneman, Heather Antos and Jordan D. White (and let’s not forget C.B. Cebulski and Axel Alonso, the Marvel Editors in Chief while I’ve been doing Star Wars comics, or Michael Siglain, who steers the entire Lucasfilm publishing ship). So many wonderful people are involved in bringing you these stories.

It’s been a spectacular ride, and the fact that I’ve gotten to tell so many tales is really down to you and people like you who gave my work a try and kept trying it and talked it up. Thank you, sincerely.

To commemorate the landmark, I’m revisiting some of the titles that comprised those hundred issues and reuniting with many of the creative teams that helped me make them. These are stories that either didn’t make sense to tell in the runs I did then or have occurred to me in the years since.
And so I hope you’ll enjoy these new tales of Anakin & Obi-Wan, Darth Vader, Kylo Ren and Poe Dameron & Black Squadron. I loved going back to these stories — what a wonderful opportunity — and I’m grateful to Marvel, Lucasfilm and of course, all the incredibly busy artists who came back to help make this issue.

Here’s to all the stories we told.
Here’s to all the stories to come.

Charles Soule
New York, May 2022

Writer: Charles Soule
Pencillers: Will Sliney, Phil Noto, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Ramon Rosanas
Inkers: Ramon Rosanas, Daniele Orlandini, Will Sliney, Phil Noto
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Colorists: Arif Prianto, Phil Noto
Cover artist: Carlo Pagulayan
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: July 20, 2022

First things first, while the issue represents the 25th issue of the main Star Wars title – always a landmark issue – it’s also the 100th Star Wars issue written by Charles Soule. Across the pages of this bumper issue we revisit the titles Soule has written as we focus on Darth Vader, Poe Dameron, Kylo Ren and Anakin and Obi-Wan who kick off this bumper bonanza with The Lesson which sees Obi-Wan explain to Anakin precisely why the lightsaber is the perfect weapon for the Jedi, rather than other weapons that could potentially use kaiburr crystals. It’s an interesting exploration of the weapon, why the Jedi use them and how that weapon is perceived by the galaxy.

Next up it’s Darth Vader’s turn to feature in a story called The Lesson, as Vader meets his master Emperor Palpatine in The Works on Coruscant – familiar to watchers of Attack of the Clones, where Palpatine met Count Dooku at the end of the film – and battles the Emperor in lightsaber combat, only to be defeated and told he fights like a Jedi. Here, we learn the Siths opinion of the blade, how it isn’t a Siths only weapon but merely a symbol. The dark side, that is the weapon, one Vader submits to.

‘See You Around, Kid‘ steps us forward in the saga to the time of Kylo Ren and his brief reign as Supreme Leader of the First Order. He heads to Crait, where he battled the Force Skype spirit of his uncle Luke Skywalker from across the galaxy, then to Elphrona where Luke, Lor San Tekka and Kylo first encountered the Knights of Ren. In his anger at the disappearance of Luke, he orders the site destroyed, a telling example of his frustration and lack of understanding of the Force, a lesson Luke would have revelled in teaching him had life been different.

We end with ‘A Eulogy For Snap‘ as we step into the final moments of The Rise of Skywalker and the memorial for Temmin ‘Snap’ Wexley. We see his final flight into the hull of a Sith Eternal Star Destroyer above Exegol and watch as the remaining members of Black Squadron assemble to remember him while their comrades celebrate below. Each of them has a memory, some personal, some professional but all clearly hurting from the loss of a pilot and friend who meant so much to them.

While it’s only the first two stories that are closely linked, there’s a thread that runs between them all. Each adds a significant flourish to the tales they touch on. Explaining the lightsaber, Vader’s ever-evolving descent into the lore and lessons of the Sith, Kylo’s undercurrent of rage at his choices and betrayals, Black Squadron’s sorrow at losing a brother. If we get more Black Squadron – and hopefully we will one day – this only adds depth, and to Soule’s immense credit each story does the same. Hats off to the excellent art team on issue 25, and to Charles Soule for crafting stories across the timeline that share one key thing in common – they only add to the Star Wars experience when it would be so easy to make a misstep in the minefield of continuity and take things away. Hats off.

 

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