Every week, Marvel releases a Star Wars book. And every week I think, "this is the week the wheels come off." This week was not that week.
Martian Manhunter #6
Rob Williams and Eddie Barrows have a plan here. Its not the plan I expected from this book, but they're really taking some interesting turns with J'onn J'onnz. Its not the Justice League Unlimited story I wanted, but its interesting enough.
By the books end, we get a singular version of J'onn back – not the split-psyche version we've spent the majority of the book with. Its refreshing, but seeing how much time Williams has spent on cultivating Pearl, Mr. Biscuits et al, there's no way they don't come back at some point.
This book's had some ups and downs lately. Sometimes I want to drop it, other times its plenty interesting enough to keep picking up. So here we are.
Star Wars #12
The entire setup for this book on the surface seems like something I would immediately shit on. Luke gets captured by a Jedi artifact collector and is forced to fight a giant monster in a sporting arena to the death. He's saved by Han and the gang (including Han's "wife"), after R2 outfits all of them with lightsabers. Sounds kooky right?
But it just keeps on working. I've read old 80s Star Wars comics and each one felt like an insane Elseworld's tale. These do too, but they're grounded enough in the Star Wars universe by Jason Aaron so it doesn't seem so batshit, even though it is.
Who knows? Maybe I have The Force Awakens fever and if I read these books a year from now they'll seem like all that old 80s trash. But for now, its working.
Captain Canuck #5
Ah, the best super hero comic on the market. Okay, maybe not THE best, but of all the super hero books I do read, its gotta be pushing the top 3. This issue focuses on Kebec, Canuck's French-Canadian sharphooter badass.
Kalman Andrasofszky takes this issue to give us a little backstory on the character we don't know much about until this point. We see flashbacks of Yvette Arsenault coming up through the army ranks while in the present, she's mounted a one-woman rescue mission to get Canuck out of Mr. Gold's stronghold.
Straightforward, well-told superhero action is what this book is all about. No wasting time redefining characters or explaining away why there are now two Spider-Mans in the same universe. Great stuff here from the Captain Canuck team.
Vader Down #1
Oversized issue time! $4.99 for the kickoff of the crossover that'll run in Darth Vader and Star Wars. Written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Mike Deodato, it'll tell us how Vader gets stranded alone on a secret rebel base.
So far Aaron and Deodato really know what they're doing. Like I said above, the plot seems kooky, but Aaron's dialog makes it all work. Aside from another unnecessary encounter between Luke and Vader (why do they insist on doing this?) everything plays pretty naturally. Han's dialog really sells it and makes it feel like its a natural part of the Star Wars mythology.
The book finishes with Vader surrounded by the entire Rebel ground forces. Its all very badass. Next issue (Darth Vader #13) I expect to see a lot of Rebels get their body parts handed to them.
Panel of the Week:
Quebec Nordiques reference? Fuck yeah, Captain Canuck.
-Gint
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