Star Wars: Age of the Rebellion-Heroes was written by Greg Pak, Marc Guggenheim, and Jon Adams and illustrated by just so many different people. It was released on August 7, 2019.
Synopsis
Leia prepares for her rescue mission
Star Wars is full of heroes, some are famous, some are original; but none are more heroic than the famous, original heroes of the famous, original Original Trilogy. Princess Leia has served the Rebellion since she was a teenager, but now she prepares for a very special, and very personal, mission as she gets ready to rescue Han Solo from the clutches of Jabba T. Hutt. Before he was frozen in carbonite, Han Solo was a newly minted Rebel hero anxious to pay off said Hutt; but he can’t seem to make any headway for himself and Chewie as both the Alliance and some old smuggling friends continue to pull him in separate directions. Lando Calrissian is finding life as a respectable businessman to be severely lacking in the profit department. When he is offered a chance to make an unheard of amount of money he finds only one thing standing in his way: his conscience. Close to fulfilling his destiny as a Jedi Knight, Luke Skywalker participates in a mission to secure fuel supplies; but failure is still a very real threat, and temptation can come in different guises. Short stories include Yoda coming to terms with his past as he lives in exile on Dagobah; and Biggs and Porkins taking a much needed vacation. .
Review
Luke interrupts Han's departure
With their Age of… comics, Marvel is publishing 27 individual issues over the course of three different eras in the Star Wars timeline; but Age of Rebellion-Heroes is really the heart of the matter isn’t it? It’s the one that needs to get it right. Leia, Han, Chewie, Luke, and Lando: a lot of us have known them nearly our entire lives. These stories here don’t have to be earth shattering revelations, they just need to show us our heroes as noble, good people who may not be perfect, but come through in the end with the kind of virtue and good humor we are familiar with. These stories succeed in that. The collection starts off strong with Princess Leia as she, Chewie, and Lando prepare for the rescue of Han Solo; when Chewie gets captured by Bossk, Leia gets a chance to test her Boushh disguise while freeing him. Throughout the story you get a sense of Leia and Chewbacca’s despair at having lost Han. Although he is not in the story, his presence hangs in the air, and not just because he had left A LOT of dirty laundry on the Falcon. There are also some great exchanges between Leia and Lando about how this is all his fault anyway. Lando doesn’t deny it, but explains that he had to do what he did to protect the people of Cloud City; you realize that, for Lando, it was just another scam he thought he could pull off with nobody getting hurt. In the Han Solo (and Chewbacca) story, the two are just about to make off with their reward money when Luke cajoles Han into delivering some much needed supplies to a Rebel outpost; Han agrees and then gets pulled into helping some old smuggling friends move some spice. Throughout, Han protests that he is not really IN the Rebellion and that all he wants is to move on. In reality he is standing with one foot in two different worlds with predictable results. As much as Han talks about putting himself first he can’t resist helping his old smuggler friends when they get captured by the Empire and he can’t say no to the desperate requests of the Rebels. He ends up losing the reward money, how it happens isn’t quite as exciting as being hijacked by Crimson Jack, but it works I guess.
Lando's got the goods
In Lando’s story the baron administrator of Cloud City is basically running out of money. He can’t pay his creditors, he can’t pay his employees. Maybe not the same stress as having Darth Vader towering over you, but maintaining good credit is very important, let’s be honest. The thing about this story is that it shows Lando becoming more and more responsible and taking the welfare of others into account. It’s a good follow up to Charles Soule’s Lando mini-series. Lando gets an offer to make A LOT of money by running a business for someone else, but when he sees what the cost of this business really is (deportation of a native species and the implied harvesting of their organs; so, yeah, pretty bad) he does some very unprofitable things to help the oppressed. When Lando uses the rest of his private stash to pay his people, we see that he really is committed to the people of Cloud City as mentioned in the Leia story. And then there’s the Luke Skywalker story. More than any issue in this collection, Luke’s story is open to much analysis and speculation. It takes place shortly before ROTJ and features a green bladed lightsaber wielding Luke as he accompanies a Rebel raid on an Imperial mining platform. It shows us Luke in his prime and also gives us some invaluable glimpses into what the average Rebel soldier thinks of this already larger than life hero. The real depth of the story is displayed when the Emperor, having grown tired of Vader’s fruitless search for the boy, reaches out to tempt Luke through the Force. He offers two temptations: the first to give up the fight, the second to fight only for his own glory. Luke’s third temptation will of course occur in ROTJ; and one could argue that the last temptation of Luke transpires in TLJ.
Notes
Age of Repulic Special includes a nice little Yoda story about how he gets some meat for that disgusting stew he makes. It’s funny because I always assumed Yoda was a vegetarian, even before his exile. It also shows him coming to terms with the failure that led to his exile if you think that’s more interesting than the stew. Special also has the story with Biggs and Porkins going on vacation. It starts off with a lot of feeling and potential, then takes a hard turn toward stupid, and then kind of goes back to serious. I don’t know what to tell you.
The Han issue takes place immediately after the book Smuggler’s Run, and references the fact that Leia is off on the mission depicted in the Princess Leia mini-series.
The Leia story references the events on Ord Mantell as depicted in the Forces of Destiny short “Bounty Hunted”.
Why does Jabba the Hutt have a bounty on Lando (as mentioned in the Leia issue)? Did I miss something?
Comic Pack Wish List:
Biggs and Porkins in their vacation outfits
Score:
It left me satisfied; but not like after the risotto. I feel full after the risotto. 4 Skulls.
