This week saw the release of the seventh and penultimate issue in Marvel Comics’ adaptation of Lucasfilm’s live-action Disney+ series Star Wars: Ahsoka, and below are my thoughts on this installment.
Ahsoka #7 is, naturally, an adaptation of the seventh episode of the Dave Filoni-created series, which was entitled “Dreams and Madness” and began with a New Republic council meeting at which General Hera Syndulla is being held accountable for her recent disregard for the chain of command. In the comic book version, we get some nicely drawn artistic interpretations of this scene by penciller Steven Cummings (along with talented colorist Rachelle Rosenberg and inker Wayne Faucher), while writer Rodney Barnes does an adequate job of carrying the story and dialogue over to the sequential-art page from the show. Reading through this issue I was reminded of the welcome cameo appearance of everyone’s favorite fussbudget protocol droid C-3PO, the hologram reappearance of Anakin Skywalker, and more time spent among the Noti on the surface of Peridea.
We also get to spend some more time with Mon Mothma, Sabine Wren, Ezra Bridger, and Professor Huyang as Ahsoka Tano herself finally arrives on the distant planet and is reunited with her friends from the Star Wars Rebels animated series. But before that happens, Barnes and Cummings do a good job of pacing out the tense sequences where Tano and Huyang must face off against the forces of Grand Admiral Thrawn, who schemes in the castle of the Great Mothers. I especially like the artwork here depicting the battle between the dark Jedi apprentice Shin Hati, the bandits of Peridea, Thrawn’s battalion of Imperial stormtroopers, and our three heroes, who must work with the friendly turtle-like species called the Noti to fend off their attackers.
Another moment that also transfers over well from live-action is when Thrawn begins to put the pieces together of who Ahsoka’s Jedi master was during the Clone Wars. Even in these panels you can see the gears turning in the Grand Admirals head regarding the time he spent with both Anakin Skywalker and the fearsome Sith Lord he would become, Darth Vader (see the recent, but sadly still incomplete, Marvel Comics adaptation of Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars: Thrawn – Alliances novel). Of course this being a rather straightforward adaptation of the Ahsoka episode, much like the other recent Marvel / Disney+ titles, there isn’t a whole lot else to say about it other than I’m still enjoying revisiting the narrative and characters in this different medium. The final issue of Star Wars: Ahsoka will be out next month.
Star Wars: Ahsoka #7 is available now wherever comic books are sold.