This week saw the release of the first issue in Marvel Comics’ Star Wars: The Battle of Jakku – Last Stand miniseries, which is itself the third and final chapter in the larger The Battle of Jakku macro-series. Below are my brief recap and thoughts on this installment.
The Battle of Jakku – Last Stand #1 begins on the planet Chandrila, where Princess Leia Organa meets with New Republic field agent Timra Ariz (newly introduced here), who has been called in to replace Calder Behrens, who was assassinated at the end of The Battle of Jakku – Republic Under Siege. Suddenly there’s a big explosion nearby, and the two women quickly deduce that the Acolytes of the Beyond are responsible. In the scramble to arrest the hooded fanatics, Ariz is shot dead, leaving Leia to wonder how the New Republic has “fallen so far.” Meanwhile in orbit around a planet called Galowyss, Luke Skywalker and rebel pilot Rynn Zenat search for any indication that Grand Moff Ubrik Adelhard may have survived their recently concluded battle. They land on the surface of the planet, where indeed not very far away Adelhard is recuperating from the crash of his escape pod along with Commander Bragh and a handful of stormtroopers.
Here’s where things start to get frustrating for me– Ubrik continues to repeat over and over again how he got passed over by Darth Vader and the Galactic Empire basically forgot about him, which is what has given him the major chip on his shoulder. He also vows revenge on Reyna Oskure and the other Imperial remnant officers who plotted to depose him, but I’m starting to feel like we’ve heard all of this before. Aboard the Star Destroyer Scepter, Oskure has taken control while the fearsome Trandoshan bounty hunter Kranor leads the rebel spy Kith Alaytia to the brig. She tries to bargain with him, but he’s not having it, and Alaytia worries that Reyna will bring Adelhard’s remaining forces to Jakku without the New Republic being clued in first. On the surface of Gallowyss, Luke and Rynn take out some stormtroopers while others are called away toward an Imperial shuttle that has landed to rescue Adelhard thanks to a fellow officer named Crathmore. Our heroes race back to their ship to try and stop Adelhard from leaving the planet’s orbit, but as they’re doing so Luke gets an urgent holo-message from his twin sister Leia about the attack on Chandrila.
The last few pages has writer Alex Segura checking in with Lando Calrissian, the other rebel pilot (and Rynn’s girlfriend) Preeti, and lastly Han Solo, who has been off liberating Kashyyyk with Chewbacca if my sequencing of the post-Return of the Jedi timeline is sound. There’s also another fill-in short story at the back that’s basically just a recap of Adelhard’s narrative so far, culminating in him retaking command of the Scepter, but these comics are already so repetitive that it hardly seems necessary. I dunno, it just feels like Segura is going around in circles, wheels spinning aimlessly until we finally, finally arrive at Jakku on the very last page here.
That’s three issues left to go out of a dozen total installments of The Battle of Jakku where we will (hopefully) actually spend time on or around the titular world that will become so important in setting up the Star Wars sequel trilogy. I guess now the difference is that the dynamic will definitively be Adelhard vs. everyone (including the Imperial remnant) instead of just Adelhard vs. the New Republic? I dunno. I do like that the writer has clearly worked with the Lucasfilm Story Group to make sure all the pieces fit with Chuck Wendig’s Star Wars: Aftermath trilogy of novels, though I do sometimes wish that the editors at Marvel Comics would cite other works in footnotes more often like they used to. Regardless, Segura is going to have to do a lot of work to win me over in those upcoming final few issues, because right now I’m wondering if this story would have been better handled by a different writer. That said, I’m absolutely rooting for him to prove me wrong.
Star Wars: The Battle of Jakku – Last Stand #1 is available now wherever comic books are sold.