SPOILER Kyle's Review: Star Wars #24

It was an alright issue. I was just not that happy about the 'reveal' on the last page. We have seen enough Vader interacting with Luke. I do not mind seeing more Vader, but not him interacting with Luke, Leia and Han.

 

So far I enjoyed this issue. I'm still complaining about the art though - talking about the physical resemblance of the characters, though as you mention certain scenes are pretty much bad-a** lol. This arc is not as good as Rebel Jail but it is alright. I don't really mind having more adventures of the Big Three between ANH and ESB, I don't really think they spent their time just jumping from one potential base to another.

Agree to disagree on the portrayal of Han and Leia. Regarding Han piloting this piece of junk I have no complaints.

Yep, we learned that the Gamemaster was an undercover Imperial by the end of the Showdown on the Smugglers' Moon and then by the end of the Rebel Jail arc a Stormtrooper showed with a green lightsaber. Of course Kreel was going to be the Gamemaster

Since he was the enforcer of the Emperor during the Galactic Empire times, I do not think having more of him will dilute any mystique at all. But hey, that's my opinion. Certainly he deserves more to be learn about him during the times in between the movies.

 

If they don't overkill Vader, he does give some mystique. It's exciting to see him show up.

 

Excellent review Kyle! I definitely thought that this one was an improvement over the last issue(my least favorite comic issue since the Chewbacca series). I also agree that this arc has been a bit underwhelming overall. Having read a number of other comic book series by Jason Aaron, I feel that he is an excellent writer overall, however his series sometimes have a tendency to become a little to by the numbers and frankly, overly comic booky. Weird thing to say, I know.

What I mean is this. While the comics medium has potential to tell some really amazing and impactful stories, it's reputation as a lowbrow expendable art form isn't entirely unearned. A lot of comics are full of "exciting" story developments, however as time goes on, things tend to get predictable and ho-hum. The events that were once exciting become mundane. For every amazing comic book run by a creator/group of creators, there are a dozen forgettable ones by others. That doesn't even include the runs that started out great but ran out of steam over time.

Oftentimes, as a series goes on for a while, we see the comic booky weirdness start to creep in. Stories about clones, evil twins, time travel, alternate dimensions and so on, the soap opera kind of stuff. Usually that stuff just further derails a story. However, one of Jason Aaron's notable strengths is oftentimes embracing that stuff in an entertaining fashion. The word zany is often a good descriptor of a lot of his stories. However, as some of his series go on, they sometimes lose their appeal over time, as every single issue has some sort of "exciting" or "crazy" development. I think Christian Harloff puts it well when he says that the comics sometimes start to feed like a "Saturday morning cartoon".

From my personal experiences with reading Jason Aaron's work, I often feel that he does better with shorter runs. This most recent story arc feels a bit too much like a "Saturday morning cartoon" in some respects. It's just boom, boom, boom, one "exciting" event after another. Even though all this crazy stuff is happening during this arc, I can't help but feel like it all lacks weight in some respects. The exciting things are starting to become mundane. Additionally, the heroes from the OT are starting to feel like cartoonish versions of themselves at times. Whether it's Han and Leia's interactions in the previous issue, or Luke pulling an Anakin Skywalker maneuver inside the Star Destroyer at the start of the arc.

Interestingly enough, Jason Aaron's strongest issues by far have been the single issue Obi-Wan stories. While they certainly aren't devoid of excitement, things are scaled back, allowing more room to breath and focus on the characterization of Obi-Wan. In turn, when the exciting things do happen, they seem to have more weight, due to their balance with the rest of the story elements. In turn, Obi-Wan's interactions with the criminal elements on Tattooine are actually more exciting than the "bigger" stuff going on in the main storyline.

I certainly don't hate this arc, but I'm not gonna lie, it kinda feels like Jason Aaron is reaching the point where he is getting a little too comfortable and by the numbers with his writing. Hopefully he'll turn it around with the finale of this arc, as well as his next one.

As for the art, while it certainly isn't photo realistic, I didn't mind it so much this issue. That could be based on the fact that I'm used to seeing a variety of styles pop up over the course of comic book runs though. There was certainly nothing as bad as the bizarre version of Wedge Antilles that we got at the beginning of the arc anyway.

As for Vader's appearance, I'll withhold my judgement until we get to the next issue.

 

--- Double Post Merged, Oct 28, 2016, Original Post Date: Oct 28, 2016 ---

I don't really care for Kristian Harloff and his Saturday morning cartoon generalization because he reads so fast he misses allot of gems in the novels or comics he reads/reviews. I am more of a John Campea guy. He really delves into the meat of the story and he doesn't come off as superficial. Harloff's reviews are one note. He doesn't like the comic book because it feels like a Saturday Morning Cartoon and says he doesn't want to go into spoilers which is just a cop out, wait for Tiff's reviews on comics and she will outline why the comic or novel lacks or point out why she found it interesting. With that you can decide to spend your hard eared cash on... Kristian is too sketchy... he likes something now yet later he will say it's not good and he never said the latter, for example, the Rebels novel A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller wasn't entirely good but I liked Kanan and Hera's interactions. Which he praised then later retracted his statements and said it was ok but didn't elaborate on why. I bought that book because of his praise so I don't take his comments seriously. I watch Jedi Council every week so I don't have any kind of hate toward Harloff. BTW Great review Admiral Petty thanks for your thoughts... I grew up on Saturday Morning Cartoons and comics not all of them were bad like Harloff often states. As a comic book fan I choose wisely but I am so excited for this new era of Star Wars that we have. I remember the Dark times... Dark Horse did a great job during those times anyway the Chewbacca limited series was illustrated by one of my favorite artist Phil Noto so i enjoyed his work and yes i can agree that the story lacked a bit but the art work saved that book for me. The Princess Leia book everyone bashes, the art/story wasn't up to par but we discovered the fate of the Alderaanians and their future in the Star Wars universe which was pretty much a fitting end. Old Ben Kenobi is my favorite character so I look forward to those issues... any who my thoughts gotta get back to work...

 

I respectfully disagree my friend. Campea often seems to lack a proper grasp of a lot of Canon concepts. I also still remember when he was hating on the EU by claiming that all Wookiees could learn basic in Zahn's trilogy, not true. As a self proclaimed huge Zahn fan, that was a pretty big oversight and mistake. I still like him well enough, but I would contend that he has an inferior grasp of Star Wars in comparison to Harloff, partially due to the fact that he doesn't read every piece of Canon material like Harloff.

I kind of take what I will from each person on Jedi Council, most make good points, but all of them also miss things sometimes.

What I like about Harloff is that he is kind of a hybrid between a hardcore fan and a more casual fan. I find his reviews are nice because while he still appreciates the Canon aspects, he doesn't let that overshadow his overall opinion of how the stories are handled and written.

You mention the Princess Leia comic, which does indeed have some great Canon nuggets, but those don't make up for the lackluster story and art IMO. Sometimes it is better to read the cliff notes on Wookieepedia than spending your hard earned money and time on a lackluster story product. It's true that those of us who love Canon details can get more enjoyment even out of sub par stuff, but I don't feel that stuff like that should trump our objective judgement of the stories themselves. Chuck Wendig's first book in his Aftermath trilogy is full of great Canon details, but it is still a lackluster book IMO.

As for A New Dawn, the vibe I get from Harloff is that he was never big on it, but liked the insight on Kanan. As more books have come out, I think that he just realises that it isn't a great book for a lot of the casual fans that aren't as big on Canon. I personally enjoyed it, but it's definitely low on the list for books that I would suggest to my more casual Star Wars friends.

As for the Saturday morning cartoon analogy, I like it because it doesn't necessarily mean pure crap, but it implies a certain manufactured quality. I grew up on Saturday morning cartoons too, however the vast majority of that stuff, while enjoyable for kids, hasn't aged well from an adult perspective(which I found out the hard way by going back and watching old Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes a few years ago). There's a sense in most of it that they are just churning out stories to make more episodes and sell more toys. The stories are serviceable, but there isn't much to really dig your teeth into. That is of course just fine for kids for the most part, although there are plenty of intelligently written kids stories(Star Wars anyone), which does shine a spotlight on the laziness of that approach. That's why I think the Saturday morning cartoon analogy applies perfectly to this current story arc in the Star Wars comic.