Star Wars Volume 8: Mutiny at Mon Cala collects issues 44-49 of Star Wars. It was written by Kieron “get off of my cloud” Gillen with art by Salvador “let’s dance” Larroca.
Synopsis
I see Cosmo the Spacedog and Constable Zuvio with a sippy cup. Am I crazy?
Leia, Han, Luke, the droids, and Adm. Ackbar are on an isolated island on Mon Cala to meet with Grand Admiral Urtya of the Mon Cala Mercantile fleet, the regent of the planet due to the exile of King Lee-Char. They request the defection of the mercantile fleet to the Rebellion where the ships will be refitted for combat and used to strike the Empire. Urtya refuses, unwilling to bring down the wrath of the Empire on his planet. Leia concocts a plan to break the exiled king out of his Imperial prison, confident that he will be willing and able to inspire his people to rebel. She gets security codes from Queen Trios and recruits the Clawdite actor Tunga Arpagion to impersonate Mon Cala’s Imperial Moff so that they can kidnap him and uses his bio-signature to gain access. After successfully infiltrating the base, our heroes find the King nearly dead, on life support. He is, however, able to muster the strength to record a final message to his people. He encourages his people to break the yoke of the Empire, to not let themselves be complicit in its evil. As he finishes his message, Moff Hubi trips an alarm and Stormtroopers rush into the room. Hubi and Lee-Char are both killed in the crossfire, but Leia and the others escape with the recording.
Look at the sign on the bathroom door. Priceless!!
Meanwhile, 3PO, R2, and Tunga must make a hasty exit from the Mon Cala opera when their ruse (their clever attempt to trick someone) is discovered. Returning to Mon Cala, Leia and the gang are confronted by Urtya and he confiscates the recording. Thinking their mission a failure, they sulk back to the Falcon and head off planet; but Urtya has a patented Star Wars change of heart and does indeed broadcast the king’s message to the fleet. Emboldened by Lee-Char’s message and his sacrifice, they overthrow their Imperial overseers. As they attempt to escape orbit, an Imperial fleet arrives to blockade them. Fortunately, Ackbar and a Rebel Squadron arrive to help. The escape is made with the loss of but one Mon Cal ship. Months later, after the fleet has been outfitted with weapons and is about to have its launch party, Leia thanks Trios for her invaluable help. All is not well, however, as we see Trios contact Vader once she is alone.
Review
This is a scene that deserves to be in a movie.
Mutiny on Mon Cala continues Kieron Gillen’s strong start to the Star Wars series. The writing, the pacing, the overall story; it’s all good. This series started off under Jason Aaron with the Rebels fresh off their monumental Death Star victory and looking to capitalize on that in order to keep the Empire on the ropes. Sure, they have some setbacks throughout, like the destruction of their outpost by SCAR squad, but overall we have seen our heroes holding on to hope and making steady gains. It all seems to culminate here, on Mon Cala, where our ragtag Rebellion acquires its fleet and is able to outfit it with armaments courtesy of Queen Trios. Throughout this storyline, we know that Gillen is building toward something, and right up to the very end you think that something is a victory for the Alliance; a chance for them to have more than just hope, maybe even assurance that they will eventually triumph over the Empire. There is a lot to like in this story. Tunga the Clawdite was a great addition; he brings some humor and plays really well off 3PO. I sincerely hope we haven’t seen the last of him. Speaking of humor, there is quite a bit of it here. Now, the story itself is pretty serious and high stakes, and the humor is never really over the top or annoying. It complements the serious parts and keeps the story from getting too dark. When I tell you there is a part where Han poses as a bathroom attendant with Chewie acting as some sort of novelty hand dryer, you’re going to say “What is this crap?”; trust me, it works. Fans of The Clone Wars should enjoy seeing Lee Char again. The condition in which the crew discover him and his subsequent demise are very sad. Lee Char, the idealistic young king that we met in The Clone Wars is now an imprisoned exile, barely clinging to life. He shows us that the outcome of rebelling against the Empire isn’t always a shiny medal or drunken Ewok party, sometimes it is defeat and death; and yet, like a lot of deaths in Star Wars, his serves to keep the fires of hope burning.
The final moments of King Lee-Char
Even though I enjoyed this story, and as genuinely good as it is, I need to complain about the art. Salvador Larroca is a solid comic book artist (as far as his SW stuff, I know nothing of his other work). What I mean by that is that while his work is not particularly daring or innovative it easily accomplishes what it needs to as funny book pictures: it brings the script to life visually, it is clear in conveying the action on the page, the layouts/panel placements are coherent, and it succeeds as sequential art. Almost never have I been reading a book drawn by Larroca and thought “huh, wtf am I looking at?” The problem here is one that I have discussed before, and that other reviews on his work have mentioned. I don’t bring it up every time, but sometimes I feel the need to revisit it because it is a continuing problem. Many times, but not every time, when drawing the face of a character (usually one of the main cast or another human character) Larroca will take a still image from a film and photo reference it onto the page. This is compounded by the fact that the colorist will then give it a much more photorealistic finish than the surrounding art. It’s distracting and it takes you out of the story. You look at Han and you see him with the exact same expression that he has in a scene from The Empire Strikes Back and all of a sudden that’s what you’re thinking about and not the story you’re reading. The rest of the page can look like normally drawn, normally colored comic art and then there’s the sore thumb sticking out. Remember that episode of South Park where Mr. Garrison gets a nose job? Of course you do. He comes out of Tom’s Rhinoplasty and in place of his normally animated face it’s a real picture of David Hasselhoff? It was hilarious, and I love it; but I shouldn’t be thinking about it every time I read a Star Wars comic.
Notes
Queen Trios drops a dime.
It is remarked in this story that Mon Cala has the greatest merchant fleet in the galaxy. When Ackbar arrives at the end, he devises a plan for them to escape by having one of the ships, which is full of coaxium (the stuff from the movie!), ram a Star Destroyer.
When Leia, Han and Luke return to the fleet in the middle of the story, we see a number of cameos. Hera and Zeb appear at a briefing. Draven has a speaking part and Bob Hudsol is seen. Luke meets up with Wedge in the mess hall and raises a toast to Red Squadron; he speaks the following names in memoriam: Dreis, Branon, Porkins, Rue, Dinnes, Naytaan, Nett, Surrel, Naeco, and Biggs. Wedge later participates in the battle above Mon Cala.
When Wedge appears in the mess hall he is accompanied by Hobbie and Zev Senesca.
At the same time that this story was being published, the Darth Vader comic (the second series written by Charles Soule) was doing a story called Burning Seas. It depicts a revolt on Mon Cala that takes place a few years into the Emperor’s reign and shows how Lee-Char came to exiled and imprisoned. It was not an official crossover, but the two stories complement each other quite well. Lee-Char first appeared in the Clone Wars episode “Water War”.
I’m pretty sure Cosmo the Space Dog, a non-Star Wars Marvel character, has a cameo in the mess hall.
Comic Pack Wish List:
I would love to see Grand Admiral Urtya. Tunga in his normal Clawdite appearance would be good too.
Score:
4 Skulls. This is good stuff, and it sets up a great follow-up.
