The fourth and fifth issues of Marvel’s Star Wars: Sana Starros comic-book miniseries by Justina Ireland have both been released over the past couple weeks, and with them came the conclusion to the hijinx that introduced us to the extended Starros clan and their complex entanglements with the Empire.
Sana Starros #4 began with the title character working with her Aunt Mevera and their adopted cousin Deva Lompop to race to the rescue of other members of their family aboard an Imperial capital ship. Sana’s cousin Aryssha is preparing to give birth to her babies, who have been fathered by a not-so-nice Imperial officer, while Sana’s brother Phel has also allied himself with the Empire– we get the backstory as to how that happened in this issue, as well. On the snowy planet of Hynestia, Deva challenges Sana to let some of her aggression out in a sparring match, as Mevera collects supplies for their plan to infiltrate the enemy vessel. But before that mission is enacted, they also need to rescue Sana’s grandmother from a bounty hunter– a task that soon turns out to be more connected to their larger goal than they’d realized. Then, in issue #5, Mevera and Grammy help Aryssha get ready for her big moment while covert operatives (including a surprise appearance by a certain pirate named Hondo Ohnaka) help to deactivate the Imperial ship and rescue the Starroses aboard.
These two plots overlap in a particularly satisfying way, and we get some juicy intrafamilial drama as Sana must finally confront Phel about the dark path he has chosen. The whole thing ends with Aryssha successfully and safely giving birth to her twins, of course, and we get a semi-happy ending, with Sana even deciding to smash the holorecording of her ancestor Avon Starros to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. There’s also a tease that we may see more adventures with the Starros family sometime down the line, not to mention their prodigal son Phel and would-be son-in-law Cerasus, who both vow revenge on our heroines. But now that this story has otherwise been wrapped up in a tidy little bow, I’d say the most impressive thing that Ireland and her collaborators have accomplished here is introduce an array of mostly entirely new characters (with just a couple familiar faces scattered among them) and got us to really care about them over the span of just a handful of issues. Personally I hope we do see more of the Starroses at some point– I’m crossing my fingers Marvel and Lucasfilm give Ireland the opportunity to continue the clan’s story in an ongoing title– but even if we don’t, it was an awful lot of fun getting to know them here.
Star Wars: Sana Starros #4 and #5 are available now wherever comic books are sold.
