Star Wars: Poe Dameron Volume 1-Black Squadron collects issues 1-6 of Star Wars: Poe Dameron written by Charles Soule with art by Phil Noto. It was released on December 7, 2016.
Synopsis
The Creche
Thirty-three years after the Battle of Yavin, Leia Organa has recruited Poe Dameron, the son of Rebel heroes Kes Dameron and Shara Bey, into the Resistance. Having recently obtained intelligence indicating the First Order is searching for Luke Skywalker, Leia understands that the Resistance must locate him first. She dispatches Poe and the rest of Black Squadron to the last known whereabouts of Lor San Tekka, the planet Ovanis. She believes he can help them discover Luke. The First Order has assigned Agent Terex of their Security Bureau to track down Lor San Tekka. A tracking device placed on Poe’s ship leads him to Ovanis as well. On Ovanis, Poe meets a group of people worshipping a giant, blue egg called the Creche (that’s the name of the people, not the egg; I don’t know what the egg’s name is). For generations they have guarded and worshipped the egg, believing that inside is a savior. Terex arrives and his troops threaten to destroy the egg. It hatches; and a giant, blue winged creature emerges and begins to wreak havoc on everyone, worshippers included. A similar creature, this one black, follows and begins fighting with its blue counterpart. In the confusion, Poe manages to get the drop on Terex. The Creche acknowledge the black creature as their long awaited savior (it does seem to be a lot nicer than the blue one) and tell Poe where Lor San Tekka went after he left Ovanis. Terex, having had his diabolical scheme foiled, swears eternal vengeance against Poe, as one does. It turns out Lor’s next stop was to the privately operated prison Megalox Beta to visit Grakkus the Hutt, famous collector of Jedi and Force related memorabilia. After a sizable bribe to the prison’s highly bribable warden, Poe and his squad-mates are allowed to enter the prison, a small area of a large, high gravity planet that is protected by a shield from a facility in orbit. There are no guards or staff permanently stationed on the planet; the prisoners are left to their own devices with occasional deliveries of food and supplies. So, it’s pretty much “Escape From New York”. Anyway, Poe and the gang arrive at Grakkus’s stronghold only to find that Terex and his John Waters inspired mustache have gotten there first. Grakkus says that he will provide the coveted information to whoever can bust him out of the prison. Terex, angry that the Hutt is giving this do-gooder scrub Dameron a chance, goes and allies himself with the other most powerful crime-lords in the prison. His plan is to have their army break into Grakkus’s stronghold, kill the Resistance pilots, and then he (Terex) will force the information out of the Hutt before killing him. You see, the beauty of this plan is in its simplicity. Fortunately, Poe has prepared himself for such possibilities. He has BB-8 and the other droids, who are still in the orbiting facility, disable the gravity shield. Everybody but our heroes is down for the count. Black Squadron extracts Grakkus; Terex calls in his ship to pick him up. Grakkus gives Poe some possible leads for Lor San Tekka, but before he can pursue them, Leia tells him he must learn who in the Resistance has been giving information to the First Order.
Review
General Organa confers with Poe
In a just world we would have gotten a comic series set immediately after ROTJ; or one set several years before TFA, showing Leia building up the Resistance and further exploring the workings of the First Order and Kylo Ren’s descent into darkness. Instead, we get this; a series focusing on Poe Dameron, taking place about a year before TFA. However, if one accepts the limited scope; and assuming one has an at least mildly favorable view of the Sequel Trilogy, I think there is a lot of enjoyment to be found here. Poe Dameron comes across as one of the more charismatic and likable characters of The Force Awakens. He’s confident, cool, and friendly. All of that comes through pretty clearly in the comic. We are also introduced to our main antagonist for the series, Terex. I like Terex. He is a delight. He works for the First Order, holding a position in their hierarchy; however he is clearly not a “company man”. He seems to be taking up this work for his own gratification, as well as wanting to see the First Order rise to the legend of the Empire that he used to serve. In all honesty, if you are reading this series for the first time, Terex is the character to watch. He’s not another cookie cutter villain, and he brings a sense of humor into the mix.
Agent Terex
The stories in this volume lay a good groundwork for the rest of the series by establishing the threat from Terex, and showing us Poe’s relationship with his Black Squadron team-mates as well as their relationships with each other. Leia’s appearances in this volume are few, but she serves her purpose well as an anchor for Poe without taking the spotlight off of our titular hero (whether we like that fact or not, that is why she is there). Poe’s encounter with the Creche is a nice look into some of the more off the wall areas of the Galaxy; it’s weird, but it’s also nice that it wasn’t just another Jedi or Sith related cult. The fight between the two creatures hatched from the egg is like something out a Japanese kaiju film. The trip to the prison is really where the story takes off, though. Poe finds himself in an “enemies on all sides” situation. With Grakkus, Soule continues to re-use characters previously established in the comics; in this case, one that he did not create. We also see Papa Toren and his little demon-fairies, previously seen in the Lando mini-series. Phil Noto’s art is, as usual, spectacular.
Notes
Black Squadron in battle at Megalox Beta
Timeline: the series begins about one year before events depicted in The Force Awakens.
Chronologically, Grakkus the Hutt (who, by the way, has really let himself go) was last seen in Star Wars #35 (though that issue was released after this one).
Black Squadron consists of Poe Dameron, Temmin “Snap” Wexley, Kare Kun, Jessika Pava, L’ulo L’ampar and technician Oddy Muva. L’ulo was a member of the Rebel Alliance and flew with Poe’s mother Shara Bey as part of Green Squadron.
Comic Pack Wish List:
Terex’s personal ship is the Carrion Spike, formerly the property of Grand Moff Tarkin.
Score:
A solid start to the series; the introduction of Terex and the pretty faithful recreation of Oscar Isaac’s easygoing charm are the highlights. 3 Skulls.
