Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Star Wars Rebellion #13
Dark Horse Comics
Barlow, Wilson & Glass
Small Victories continues and things move along at a slow pace with the rescue mission. However, the lead character, Deena, finally gets some guts and helps the overall cause. This comic is a decent story, but given the time period and the characters in this issue I find it to be a bit of a letdown.
The issue opens with Leia and Able planning their escape. This is an interesting scene in that Luke is on the panels, but only in the background. He is a prop basically. Leia’s lines still feel very bland and not something you can stamp on it that only Leia would come up with.
Deena is then seen getting roughed up by the Imperial Officer who found her last issue. She manages to blow up the room and get away.
The Rebels back at the fleet are aware of the capture of Luke and Leia and are planning a jailbreak. The plan is to send in a squad of the new B-Wing prototype planes. Some of the crazier pilots volunteer for the mission. Han Solo is mentioned here, but not seen which begs the question: where is he?
Deena finally grows her onions and gets a detonator to hit the fuel line. She risks her life to at least buy some time. She doesn’t die in the process, but the explosion allows Leia and Able to start their own escape.
Sounds like an exciting issue, right? Well it does move at a nice pace. It has action, scheming and some decent character development. The major problem is that we know Luke and Leia survive this. They aren’t in any credible danger. They become devices to move other characters into heroic positions to save them. It’s okay, but it doesn’t make the story terribly interesting. Throw in that Luke doesn’t get any camera time and we find a comic that is wasting a couple of its best assets in its own pages.
Next issue sets up a nice space battle and an escape with lots of explosions.
The art had some highs and lows. Some of the characters, like Admiral Ackbar, appeared to be photoshopped onto the background. While other characters and sets, like those with Deena in the fueling station look fantastic.
Overall, this issue is good but not great. I expect a Star Wars comic set in the original trilogy time period to be great. You have all the main characters at the apex of their popularity and they are barely used. This arc has an interesting plot but might be using the cast in a poor manner. I look forward to next issue’s dogfight.
3 out of 5 geek goggles.
 Star Wars: Rebellion #13--Small Victories part 3 |
