Share this
Hello there! Padawan J here, the resident Star Wars expert from the ODPH! And this week I’m going to be reviewing the first issue of the new Star Wars comic from Alex Segura & Marvel!
It’s a brand new series featuring a time period that is very popular these days. Between The Mandalorian, Ahsoka & the Book of Boba Fett it’s a heavily traveled path. This series is going to focus on The Battle of Jakku. It took place not long after the destruction of the second Death Star.
It was the battle that officially ended the war between the Rebel Alliance & the Empire. The battle has only been shown four times. The first one is in the 2015 novel Lost Stars by Claudia Gray(which is AMAZING). It’s followed by 2017’s Aftermath: Empire’s End by Chuck Wendig, the 2017 video game Battlefront II & the 2021 novel Victory’s Price by Alexandar Freed. So will this new story forge a new, amazing story or will it be a rehash of what we know? Time will tell, but for now let’s jump into it!
Star Wars: The Battle of Jakku: Insurgency Rising #1 by Alex Segura (writer), Leonard Kirk (artist, Last Resort), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist, Last resort), Stefano Raffaele (artist, The Rising), Alex Sinclair (color artist, The Rising) has been hyped online. It’s been in the pages between other comics on the Marvel line the last few months. Starting it off, it’s an interesting one. It starts off a little slow, but given the end result of the battle. It’s sure to build to an explosive climax.
The first story, Last Resort, features what happens to our heroes of the original trilogy after the end credits start rolling in Return of the Jedi. It also shows what was going on with other Imperial forces that were not at Endor. The Rebels are celebrating still, and there’s a general sense of disbelief over what happened among the Empire.
MORE STAR WARS!
The standout moment from this story is when Leia goes to the smoldering funeral pyre for Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. As viewers we see Leia go through a LOT in three films and she never really has time to process everything that goes on. So to see her have a moment to herself and involving what she’s learned about her own family history is very powerful.
The second story, The Rising, features the introduction of what’s probably going to be the main villain for this series in Moff Ubrik Adelhard. He feels like a mix of Darth Vader & Tarkin in that he rules through fear and will not tolerate any insubordination. He even goes so far as to say that rumors of Palpatine’s death are treason, and if you spread such information you’ll be killed. The story also features some of the exploits of Adelhard and it’s clear from the start that he is a force to be reckoned with.
FINAL POINT: While there isn’t much action-wise for this issue but it is a promising start. We’re going to see fan favorite characters in Luke, Han & Leia and a villain that it appears might be on a level of Grand Admiral Thrawn. Segura has big shoes to fill when it comes to Star Wars comic storytelling, but if he keeps this up he might be able to be among Charles Soule and Cavan Scott as great story tellers in Star Wars. So far, it’s a great start and I’m very excited to see where this goes.
SCORE: 7.7 out of 10
Thanks for checking out my review on Nerd Initiative. For more of my content, check out ODPHpodcast.com, follow me on Twitter, and check out more of my reviews here on Nerd Initiative: https://nerdinitiative.com/author/padawanj/!
