Comic Review - Our Heroes Seek a Droidsmith on Kijimi in Marvel's "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" Adaptation #2
Today saw the release of the second issue of Marvel Comics’ adaptation of Lucasfilm’s 2019 movie Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and below are my thoughts on this installment.
Last month I complimented the first issue of this The Rise of Skywalker comic-book adaptation from Marvel for taking a different approach from other recent adaptations by actually adding new material and giving readers further insight into the thoughts of these characters. That trend continues in issue #2, although it’s not as pronounced or as plentiful as it was last time around. This chapter picks up on the planet Pasaana, where Rey is skillfully dodging Kylo Ren’s TIE Whisper using her Force abilities, while Finn alerts her that the First Order has taken Chewbacca prisoner. Here’s where we get to one of my least favorite things about The Rise of Skywalker the movie– the fake-out deaths of main characters. In this issue alone we are fooled into thinking that Chewie has been killed and that C-3PO has permanently lost his memory.
The good news is that the artwork by Will Sliney is still worth the price of admission (namely $4 bucks), and writer Jody Houser does continue to give us more mindscreen thought bubbles from Kylo, Rey, and company. There’s also a very striking image of this Force Dyad perched upon Palpatine’s throne that I don’t believe we’ve seen elsewhere, so that’s definitely something. Anyway we follow our heroes to Kijimi in search of the lovable droidsmith Babu Frik, meet Zorii Bliss, and discover that Poe Dameron was once a spice runner (see author Alex Segura’s fun 2020 young-adult novel Star Wars: Poe Dameron - Free Fall for more on that) before joining the Resistance. Plus there’s a rather touching extended scene between General Leia Organa and Maz Kanata on Ajan Kloss that we couldn’t have had in the movie because actress Carrie Fisher was sadly not around to record new dialogue.
The final third of this issue sees Rey, Finn, and Poe boarding Kylo Ren’s star destroyer to rescue Chewbacca (yep, that loyal Wookiee is still alive) and to retrieve the dagger that will help them find the Sith planet of Exegol. I really like how Sliney continues the use of his theme of mirror images here, but I did feel like the choice of where to put the cliffhanger at the end of this chapter was an awkward and abrupt one, almost as though Houser and her creative collaborators ran out of pages and panels. I will say that even though I wasn’t as excited overall about the second issue as I was coming out of the first one back in February– I think maybe this has to do with this chunk of the film being the least compelling part for me– I’m still on board for this adaptation and excited to see what Houser and (especially) Sliney are cooking up for the remaining three issues.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker #2 is available now wherever comic books are sold.