Star Wars: Poe Dameron Volume 2-The Gathering Storm collects issues 8-13 of Star Wars: Poe Dameron. It was written by Charles Soule with art by Phil Noto.
Synopsis
Agent Terex in his Ranc armor, modified from his original Imperial issue armor
There is a traitor in the midst of Poe Dameron’s Black Squadron; and before he can continue his search for Lor San Tekka, Poe must root out this turncoat. However, Poe must put that on hold as well when C-3PO comes to him with a special mission. One of the droids in Threepio’s spy network may have information regarding the location of Supreme Leader Snoke. The droid’s transmission was cut off prematurely and now Threepio needs an escort to the planet Kaddak to find and retrieve it. Meanwhile, Agent Terex, fresh off his stunning defeat by Dameron, disregards Capt. Phasma’s command to return to the First Order for debriefing. Recollecting his participation in the Battle of Jakku, and how he went from being a loyal Stormtrooper to the head of a criminal organization prior to throwing in with the First Order, Terex also sets course for Kaddak; the headquarters of his old gang, the Rancs. Travelling in an old freighter, Threepio, Poe, and Oddy Muva, Black Squadron’s mechanic and the only person Poe feels he can trust, arrive on Kaddak only to learn that C-3PO’s spy droid has been taken by none other than the Rancs. The group successfully retrieves the droid, N1-ZX (Nunzix), but he refuses to release the intelligence until he is safely returned to the Resistance base on D’Qar. At the same time Terex, still held in fear and awe by the local populace, takes back control of the Rancs and he vows to use them to hand the entire Resistance over to the First Order. He tells the people of Kaddak to hunt Poe down for him, but actually allows him to escape in his X-Wing (it was stowed in the freighter) with BB-8, Nunzix, and Threepio (he has the latter two in containers and strapped to the hull like he’s taking a road-trip in the station wagon). Terex pulls the old Imperial trick of letting him think he’s gotten away, but he’s tracking him. He deploys his old but sizable fleet of patched together ships and waits for Poe to drop out of hyperspace somewhere. While all this has been happening, Oddy Muva has sneaked on board the Carrion Spike and located his wife, who has been a prisoner of Terex this whole time. At the same time, Poe starts piecing things together and realizes that Oddy is, in fact, the traitor. Poe, suspecting he is being tracked, comes out of hyperspace at an unknown location. Terex and his fleet appear. Poe crashes on a planet and he and the droids take refuge in a cave. Black Squadron arrives and engages Terex’s ships, while Terex hunts Poe and the droids down in the caves. With the help of Threepio, BB-8, and an “old friend” of Snap Wexley’s, Poe manages to subdue Terex. He hands him over to First Order Commander Malarus. In space, Oddy has helped all of Terex’s prisoners escape the Carrion Spike; unfortunately L’ulo is killed while protecting the escape pods.
Review
Poe and Nunzix
Volume 1 of Poe Dameron is pretty good; but volume 2 is better. The story is tighter and more focused. For most of the story the rest of Black Squadron and the First Order are put aside and the focus is almost squarely on Poe and Terex. That’s where the strength of this series lies. Poe is obviously the central character, but a hero is nothing without a villain; and Terex is a great villain. The back-story developed for him here is fantastic. There’s a great little twist when his origin sequence begins that really makes it feel special. Terex starts out as a zealous, but sincere Imperial Stormtrooper. His only goal in the aftermath of the Battle of Jakku is to regroup with what’s left of the Empire and continue fighting the Rebellion. His fellow survivor, Corlac, uses this desire to manipulate Terex into helping him and his criminal associates break in to an Imperial shipyard in order to build up their pirate fleet. There’s a scene where Terex overhears Corlac deriding his attachment to the Empire and plotting to kill him. Terex kills his former comrade and takes control of the gang; but he also relinquishes his desire to keep the Empire going. In that moment, he goes from being an Imperial zealot to a criminal: “The Empire fell. With it fell order…law.” Seeing that he can no longer find security in the Empire, he looks only to himself and the criminals under his sway. I am reminded of the recently reviewed Kanan series, where he is forced to walk away from his old life and make himself something different. That’s what Terex does. However, like Kanan, Terex never completely lets go of his old life. When one of his underlings brings him the confiscated armor of a FO stormtrooper, we see something re-awaken in him. That’s the last flashback we see, but the implication is that he then seeks out this heretofore unknown First Order and makes his services available to them; services that become invaluable due to his deep connections with the underworld and the constant flow of intelligence running through it.
Terex at the Battle of Jakku
I talk a lot about Terex, because I think he’s a great character; but Poe has a good storyline here as well. We see him without his squad-mates, his trust shaken by the fact that someone has been betraying him and the Resistance. He thinks Oddy, the mechanic and aspiring pilot, is the only one he can rule out; then it turns out Oddy is the traitor. Between that, and the death of veteran pilot L’ulo in the final battle, Poe takes some hard hits here. In the end, he tells Terex that they both lost. The difference he says is that Terex’s fight is over, and his is just beginning. “I lost a friend”, he says, “but you pretty much lost everything”. He hands him over to the First Order, who will take from him all that he has left. Pairing the laid back Poe with the prim C-3PO was a great move here. Threepio really gets a chance to shine here in a way he hasn’t had in the latest films. Making him the Resistance’s spymaster, with his network of droid operatives, is a stroke of brilliance that gives a real purpose to a character that sometimes seems to be around just to translate and worry. All I can really say about N1-ZX (Nunzix) is that he is a delight. He’s a Clone Wars era BX commando driod; however, because of his role as a spy, he has been updated with programming that makes survival and safety his main priority. He’s not a fighter as long as there is someone else to fight for him. His personality and interactions with Poe are priceless; and I was reminded of HK-47 as he constantly referred to Poe as “meat”. Phil Noto’s art continues to be fairly solid here, but there are some places where it was a little awkward; especially when you see Poe in profile. The pastel colors that seem to be a hallmark of his work are beautiful, but kind of take away from the realism when he is depicting cities and building interiors like the ones on Kaddak.
Notes
Terex contemplates his former life
Black Squadron member, and former Rebel Alliance pilot, L’ulo L’ampar is killed and his A-Wing destroyed in this volume.
Terex’s stormtrooper designation was TK-603. His gang is called the Rancs, which I assume is short for Rancors. No, there was not an actual rancor in the gang. Yes, it would have been cool if there had been.
Terex, Corlac, and their associates break in to the Imperial shipyards at Rothana (previously mentioned in the novel Tarkin). It is here that Terex acquires Tarkin’s ship The Carrion Spike. Presumably, it had been stored there since the Grand Moff’s death. The ship is destroyed by the First Order at the end of this story.
While Poe and the droids are on the run from Terex and his gang in the caves and Black Squadron is in space above the planet, Snap Wexley transmits the personality template of his childhood droid friend/bodyguard Mr. Bones (from the Aftermath books) to Poe so that he can input it into Nunzix. The droid then gleefully takes out several people before being destroyed.
Bala-Tik and Tasu Leech are seen on Kaddak.
Comic Pack Wish List:
Nunzix, Terex in his Ranc gang armor.
Score:
Volume 1 is good, but volume 2 notches it up a notch: 4 Skulls.
