After the last couple issues of this series, I’ve been left wondering how this series has taken such a steep nosedive in terms of quality. Star Wars came out of the gate extremely strong, and only grew in terms of quality for its first year of existence. However, in recent issues, it has been completely derailed by what is essentially a retelling of the Courtship of Princess Leia, one of the worst novels in the entire Expanded Universe. Brian Wood has taken a bad book and turned it into a bad comic book, replacing a few of the characters and changing the scenario in a few small ways. Frankly – and I hate to say this – this entire arc has just been stupid. Failed attempts at character development and plot progression have been the name of the game, and it seems to be Wood’s goal to undo the positive character work that he had done with the main cast, especially Leia, in the early days of the series.
Now, this arc is done, and that’s definitely a good thing. That being said, the finale is only marginally better than the rest of the story, and that’s mostly because it has some cool action scenes. The Imperials bearing down upon Arrochar at the start of the book, and then switching to a full scale attack by the end, was awesome. However, I can’t help but wonder how much better it could have been if the art wasn’t so atrociously bad. The artist for this issue is a fill in artist for the usually stellar Carlos D’Anda, who has a great handle on the Star Wars universe. However, the fill in, Stepahne Crety, seems incapable of drawing faces, or making thins look good. A lot of scenes that should be taken seriously often end up looking downright hilarious because of some of the facial expressions, and that does absolutely nothing to help the already floundering story.
This is especially noticeable during scenes when the book is actually not a challenge to read. At points where mediocrity is prevalent in the writing, the art matches it, and I think that that makes it a little bit more tolerable. In contrast, the parts of this book that are readable seem to suffer far more from the mediocre art. Which is a shame, because there is actually some good character work with Darth Vader in this issue, who is still being made to watch from the sidelines by the Emperor. Of course, Vader wants to be in on the action, and so this leads to some actual character development for him, as he’s forced to watch others do work that he feels he should be doing. So, whether the Imperials succeed or fail in annihilating the Rebellion on Arrochar, he will not be a part of it. By the end of this issue, he’s brought himself to the conclusion that he will no longer sit and watch, despite the wishes of the Emperor.
At the same time, Leia is going through a somewhat similar character arc, in which she’s taking actions that wouldn’t necessarily be her first choice. However, in her case, it actually hurts her character, because she is, in some ways, being objectified. Despite the fact that she remains a badass, the strong, independent female character seems to be gone, replaced instead by a prize to be sought after by the male characters withing the comic. Not to mention that, at this point, it’s unlikely that Han would have taken some of the actions that he did just to protect Leia. All of that comes later. Luke may be a different story, however, it’s still odd that he seems to be interested in Leia romantically. I know that he doesn’t know that they’re twins yet, but the borderline incest is still a little bit creepy, and reminiscent of Splinter of the Mind’s Eye.
Ok, so, to recap: Star Wars #18 contains elements of possibly the worst two Star Wars novels ever written: Splinter of the Mind’s Eye and The Courtship of Princess Leia. I’m not quite sure why Brian Wood thought that this would be a good idea, but guess what? It wasn’t. This issue, and the story line as a whole, was a complete misfire with very few, if any redeeming qualities.
