Star Wars: TIE Fighter collects the 5 issue miniseries written by Jody Houser with art by Roge Antonio. It was released on Oct. 15, 2019.
Synopsis
The 204th Imperial Fighter Wing aka Shadow Wing are the best of the best. Squadron Five of Shadow Wing faces whatever threats to which they are dispatched; but a threat that comes from within may not be something they are prepared for. Can they resist the temptation offered by a rogue Imperial? Later, how will they fare against the Rebellion while coming to grips with the possibility of a traitor in their ranks?
Review
The Empire is the bad guys. That’s just the way it is. So if you are doing a story where your protagonist is an Imperial you have to do it a certain way. You can’t just do a story where they’re slaughtering Rebels and oppressing the good people of the Galaxy. Nobody is gonna root for that guy. Nobody is going to worry that he or she isn’t going to make it to the end of the story alive. Sure, you can do that, to some extent, with Darth Vader; but that’s because we already know how his story ends. No; the way you do a good Imperial story is, of course, by giving us sympathetic Imperial characters. Characters who, while they work for an evil organization, are not evil people themselves. They may even be willing to admit that the Empire does some bad or even evil things but maintain that they are done for the greater good of the Galaxy; to give it the order and stability that are essential for the safety and security of the greatest number of people. When you do that you not only give us an Imperial character we can maybe like, you also illustrate the kind of psychology that allows so much of the kind of evil we see in the real world to flourish. The idea that it’s not necessarily the individual’s place to decide what the best course of action is, but rather those institutions and authority figures that have been in place for so long.
TIE Fighter succeeds by showing us the humans behind those black helmets and by making the story about the relationships between the pilots rather than killing Rebels. The Rebels remain nameless, faceless; never seen outside a star-fighter. The focus, and sympathy, is squarely on the TIE pilots. The first threat they face is a rogue Imperial commander, a man who looks out for his own interests. Then comes the discovery that one of their own, recently killed in battle, may have been in the process of defecting to the Rebels. Throughout, their fight against the Alliance is, from their perspective, a fight against disorder, and those who put themselves above the greater good as embodied by the Empire. The pilots of Shadow Wing fight for each other, and for the protection of all the citizens of the Empire. A case of honorable people in a corrupt and evil organization; of people doing the wrong thing for the right reason. The characters we meet in TIE Fighter are multi-dimensional; more than just hot-shot pilots who are the best of the best at killin’ Rebels. They don’t seem to revel in the death and destruction they inflict; they’re cool professionals on the battlefield and caring comrades off of it. So, the character work is pretty tight here.
The story itself, which is basically divided into two main sections--dealing with the rogue Imperial commander and then tracking down the Rebellion’s mobile base from which they recruit Imperial defectors--is very well paced and has plenty of action. Interspersed throughout are short vignettes that give us some insight into the individual members. The art is pretty good as well; the space battles, which always have the potential to be confusing for me, are presented coherently. The artist depicts the pilots helmets as if they were “see through” when they are in the cockpit so as to be able to convey facial expressions. TIE Fighter also serves as a very effective tie-in to the novel Alphabet Squadron. Yrica Quell and her commanding officer Soran Keize both appear in brief flashback segments; and Shakara “Grandmother” Nuress figures prominently. The story ends with the squadron learning that the second Death Star has been destroyed and the Emperor is presumed dead. I really hope these characters return, if not in a follow up series, then at least in the upcoming Alphabet Squadron sequel novel. This series, in conjunction with Alphabet Squadron, is a great example of cross-promotion that really adds depth to the characters and narratives rather than just being “easter eggs”.
Notes
Squadron Five is: Teso Broosh, Ganem Kahi, Zin Graw, Jeela Brebtin, Lyttan Dree (on of Han’s old Imperial Academy friends), Rac Syrmo, and Bansu Ro. The last two are cadet replacements for members KIA
Comic Pack Wish List: Anybody from Shadow Wing.
Score:
A must for just about everybody, but especially Imperial aficionados. 4 Skulls.
