You may wish you were the one being shot at while reading this.
Introduction
Star Wars Volume 6: Out Among the Stars collects Star Wars Annual 3 and Star Wars issues 33-37. Annual 3 was written by Jason Latour with art by Matt Walsh. Issues 33-37 were written by Jason Aaron with art by Salvador Larroca. Issue 37 contains a back up story co-written by Dash Aaron with art by Andrea Sorrentino. This volume does not contain one complete storyline; rather, it is composed of stand-alone stories.
Synopsis
Apparently you can take out an AT-AT by lighting a fire around it.
Annual 3: Han and Leia scout a potential Rebellion staging ground on the harsh world of Odona, but Han’s past catches up with him when an old partner in crime comes back for revenge on the man who left him behind.
SW 33: When a supply run goes wrong, Luke and Leia find themselves stranded on an island in the midst of a water world. When they realize that their presence there has endangered the planet’s native inhabitants, they force a show-down with the Empire.
SW 34: Sana Starros teams up with old acquaintance Lando Calrissian for some good ol’ fashioned lying, stealing, smuggling, double crossing and quick-draw action. When the smoke clears, you’ll see why the Rebels are lucky to have this lady on their side.
SW 35: Grakkus the Hutt has been stolen from Imperial custody by Rebel forces; Han Solo is tasked with smuggling him to an Alliance facility for interrogation. Hutts have always got something up their sleeve and to outsmart this one, Solo will need brains as big as his ba….uh, blasters.
SW 36: R2-D2 takes the lead as his mission to rescue C-3PO comes to a bloodthirsty conclusion. One astromech against a Star Destroyer? The Empire doesn’t stand a chance!
SW 37: The brutality and cost of war with the Empire are laid bare when SCAR Squadron tracks down the Rebel outpost on Horox III. Our heroes return to find their comrades slaughtered and must confront the fact that, despite their victories, their fight against the Empire is far from over.
In a back-up story from the Journal’s of Old Ben Kenobi, we get some insight into the lives of Sand People.
Review
Sana and the Krawgs (band name?)
Jason Aaron closes out his run on Star Wars with a series of stories rather than a final storyline. I read these as individual issues when they were first published, reading them again back to back for the review did present a somewhat disjointed experience as I’m sure it would for someone buying and reading the TPB. That said, most of them are not bad stories; and they are certainly an improvement over their predecessors The Screaming Citadel and Yoda’s Secret War. Let’s start with Annual 3, not written by Aaron. It is, without a doubt, the weakest of the bunch. For a story about Han, he doesn’t really take much of an active role in it; and at this point there is nothing particularly appealing about another story where Han and Leia bicker at each other the whole time while we reflect on how they are actually falling in love with each other. Also, the art is not particularly great. Issue 33 isn’t bad, but I’d say it’s the weakest of the regular issues in this volume. It’s redeemed by some great quality time between Luke and Leia as they discuss their respective childhoods; the subtext that these two people with wildly different backgrounds are actually twin siblings is pretty keenly felt. The downfall is when they confront an AT-AT and how they take it out; it detracts from, but doesn’t ruin, the story. On the plus side, we see lots of Shoretroopers! The Sana story in 34 was quite enjoyable. It’s a great heist story, fun and well paced. Even though Lando is in it, Sana takes the lead and carries the story quite well. There’s some classic double crossing and misdirection and we see an alien species called the Krawg that look pretty cool, unless you’re allergic to shellfish.
Why didn't they just put him in the cargo hold?
Issue 35 is certainly a much better Han story than the one in Annual 3. Grakkus was an interesting character when he was introduced previously in the series and is well utilized here matching wits with Han. My only real complaint in this issue is Han’s interaction with Mon Mothma at the beginning. I understand that Han is supposed to be flippant and kind of irreverent, especially at this point in the story; but he just comes off as too much of a jerk. That said, once the story gets moving and Han, Chewie, and Grakkus are on the Falcon, it’s pretty good. Issue 36 brings to a close a story thread opened in The Last Flight of The Harbinger and is pretty much just page after page of pure fun. It’s a little bit over the top, but I think there’s a smartness and restraint to it that keep it from veering into ridiculousness. Finally, there is issue 37, closing out Jason Aaron’s Star Wars run. It think it’s quite fitting. The series premiere saw the Rebels riding high after the destruction of the Death Star and pulling off a daring mission against the Empire; but this issue shows the relentless brutality of war with the Empire and shows that, despite some major victories, the Alliance is far from a certain or final victory. It was also nice to see SCAR Squadron take the fore in this issue as they are one of the better and more memorable creations of this series.
Notes
R2 wreaks havoc on board a Star Destroyer
Issue 37 actually ends with another (and thus far final) entry from the Journals of Old Ben Kenobi. It’s really about a young Tusken Raider who gets separated from his people and is aided by Kenobi.
It’s revealed that Grakkus has a safe house full of weapons and supplies on Teth, a planet previously seen in The Clone Wars movie. Han is supposed to be taking him to Akiva, the homeworld of Snap and Norra Wexley as established in the Aftermath novels.
Gen. Draven, from Rogue One, is heard but not seen in issue 35.
R2 mentions to 3PO that Chewbacca upgraded his weapons systems.
Mykapo is mentioned in issue 34. It’s the home of Iron Squadron from Rebels; as if we needed to be reminded of Iron Squadron.
It may have been mentioned in a previous story, but per issue 34, Sana was born and raised on Nar Shaddaa.
Comic Pack Wish List:
A Krawg pirate from the Sana story would be cool. I’ve said this before, but any and all members of SCAR Squadron would be more than welcome in the action figure collection.
Score:
In order to give a score to this volume, I ranked each issue individually and then used the average for the collection. Long story short: 3 Skulls. A solid collection with some good and some not so good.
