Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Star Wars: Shattered Empire #3 Recap/Review (Spoilers!): Spectacular Art & Story



Wish I could come up with a clever title for this Shattered Empire recap, but spectacular is all I got, because that is what it is. I admittingly was a little underwhelmed with the first issue because it didn’t advance much past the battle of Endor, but the next two issues have been fantastic.  The story has been exciting and the art in the book is stunning. Can’t wait for the final installment to be released next week.
Every time I have opened up an issue of Shattered Empire the artwork is breathtaking. I’m no comic book connoisseur. I’ve only been reading comics since Marvel has been releasing new Star Wars issues at the start of the year. I love the art in these books, and it’s the first comic I can really say that about. The book opens up at an Imperial base and Rebel commandos are about to attack. Kes Dameron is helping lead the attack. Some great action panels are done here and we then get to see Han and Chewie. Threepio is with the team and the banter between him and Han is standard from the movies. I’m not sure I enjoyed that aspect, but it didn’t bother me either. I’m just indifferent. I’ve seen Han hate on Threepio, it doesn’t excite or bother me. They take the base and are able to determine the Empire has launched an offensive and is attacking Naboo. There is a great panel of an Imperial commander surrendering. His facial expression are drawn so well, his dejection and humiliation leap off the page.
On Naboo Princess Leia, Bey and the Queen are trying to figure out how to defeat the Imperial attack. The Queen has an idea to go to a sealed off hanger to try and use old Naboo Starfighters. This is the only small nitpick I had with the issue. It seems a bit unrealistic that the people of Naboo would have sealed off this part of the palace and left the fighters alone. On top of this advanced machinery like this wouldn’t have worked. Only a small gripe, and I think they could have used some other reason for why the palace had a few starfighters. The queen could have had a reserve always available for her protection and escort for example. This sequence did produce one of my favorite parts of the issue. When Leia walks into the hanger she feels cold, and the panel has background image of Darth Maul. Just great use of history and lore for the comic.
The girls launch the fighters and go to disrupt the Imperial attack. They need to take out the weather satellites that are causing the storms on the surface of Naboo. The space battle that follows leaps off the page. It was almost like watching a television show or movie rather than reading. Bae is able to keep Tie Fighters busy while the other two ladies take out the satellites. The rest of the New Republic fleet shows up just in the nick of time and is able to save all three heroines before they are overtaken by Tie Fighters.  Lando’s line was perfect when they show up to help and defeat the Imperials.
The book ends with a reunion of Kes and Bae. In the next issue it looks like we are finally going to get to see Luke. It will be one of the first times he has appeared in the journey to The Force Awakens. I’m hoping he plays a major role, and am stoked the issue comes out on 10/21/15. It is too bad this run of comics is only going to be four issues. Even though I was a little disappointed with the first issue, it was more because of what I was expecting. The story and characters has been great throughout.  These are some of the best of the star wars comics and are well worth your money if you haven’t checked them out yet.  

Comment and let me know what you think of Shattered Empire. Are you excited to see Luke in the final installment? 

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