Graphic Novel Review--Shadows of the Empire

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire TPB
Writer--John Wagner
Artist--Kilian Plunkett

At last, we review the graphic novel compiling the six issue mini series of Shadows of the Empire. As I've stated before, this is where I came into comics and the Shadows of the Empire storyline. It all started with the lovely looking first issue at that crappy gas station in my hometown, and I still have that issue in my longbox today.

I truly wish that this is the way modern Star Wars books were done. It actually looks in line with the poster art of Drew Struzan rather than just another comic book. It sold me in 1996 and it sells me today in 2010.

But surely there must be more to it than the cover art, right?

To me, absolutely. However, I'm going to review this from the perspective of having read the novel, and how the book plays into the overall story.

As with the novel, Empire has just ended, Luke and Vader are recovering from their battle in Cloud City. The book opens with the traditional text scroll, in bold yellow across a star scape. Then, the rebel fleet is underneath. It's almost like the credits never started after the movie ended. The book dives right into a beautifully rendered space battle, depicting the heavily detailed star fighters of both the Alliance and the Empire. Already, it feels like we're home.

But following this sequence, the comic diverts it's attention from the heroes of the films. Instead, the graphic novel focuses on the villains, both in the Empire and in the underworld, vying for power in some way. The main characters of this book are Jix, an agent of Darth Vader, Xizor, and Boba Fett. Jix isn't very interesting as a character, but his interactions with Darth Vader are. I've already said that Vader comes into a light in Shadows, playing the role of the victim of the Emperor, and setting up for that slave-of-darkness tone present in Return of the Jedi. Jix is the person who draws this out of him to an extent, though not with his actions, but with the commands given to Jix. It's clear that Vader wants his son to live long enough to be with him, though in the service of evil. The more we get of Vader like this, the better. It's a side more common to his character in comics since, especially in The Force Unleashed by Hayden Blackman. Boba Fett is given a lot of focus in this comic, detailing his difficulties delivering Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt. These parts often give some humor to the book, as Fett speaks to the carbonite encased smuggler, complaining about how much of a nuisance he is. Whether it's intentional or not, you can't help but chuckle at the fan favorite talking to what is essentially an inanimate object. When he's not making himself out to be crazy, he participates in some exciting battles with other bounty hunters, reminding everyone how crafty and generally awesome he is. Sadly, I don't feel like he's given enough as a character, but that's just an aside. This is Star Wars after all, and we can't get such depth with every character.

The writing is on the higher end of the nineties Star Wars comic grade of quality. The characters don't step outside of their personalities, and the scenarios are well constructed and interesting. He keeps Dash Rendar from taking center screen too much, and even provides some exciting, tense sequences of action from time to time. However, his best work comes from the behind the scenes deconstruction of the Empire through Prince Xizor. His actions prove important to what happens in the series following the books end, and that's an admirable quality for the book to have given it's important placement in the time line.

Killian Plunkett's art is pretty good, though not amazing by any stretch. While ships, vehicles, and environments are drawn beautifully and technically, characters often have minor imperfections that could have been cleared up with a slightly higher attention to those details. The covers for all six issues are beautiful, and are included in the last pages of the trade. Overall, I must recommend this book, even if you don't intend to read the novel. It works as a stand alone story well enough. It has recently been reprinted as part of the Shadows of the Empire Omnibus by Dark Horse. Also included in the Omnibus are the sequel to Shadows, Evolution, and a Mara Jade mini-series that I may review at a later time on this site.

On the whole, the Shadows of the Empire multi-media event levels out as being a highly entertaining, though slightly flawed experiment in how LucasArts would market it's later projects and sell their stories. However, unlike more recent Star Wars works, this feels like Star Wars. The conflicts, characters, and even the music feel like I've been taken back to that galaxy, far away. If you have the time for the whole experience, I fully recommend it. However, the lone comic is the easiest and the only of the books that can be taken in as a singular work, not dependent on the events of the game or the novel to tell the complete story it's trying to tell. It's a fun trip, and you will learn some new things about how the galaxy really works.

5/5

Weekly Graphic Novel Review: Fallen Angel Vol. 1--To Serve in Heaven

Fallen Angel Vol. 1--To Serve in Heaven
Writer--Peter David
Artist--J.K. Woodward

So, let's get the obvious out of the way: this book is beautiful. The above image isn't even one of the best examples, and it sold me on Woodward's visuals. The world of Bette Noir is brought to life with surreal hand painted panels, in a deep color palette that sets the tone before you've read the first bit of text. Even as the scene shifts between the present day, and the back story of Liandra, the titular fallen, you will continue to be amazed by what has been done on the page. Some of the books finest moments are foundation shots of the streets of Bette Noir. I know this is going to sound like a pun, and for that I apologize, but it screams of film noir. But of course, this all means very little if the story isn't engaging.

Well, you are lucky. Peter David has taken great care in his writing, and rebooted his DC comic of the same title for IDW, allowing new readers to not be completely lost in the dark, and serve the previous story's fans. While I can't comment on the continuity between these two series, I'm just going to say that I wasn't lost when I read it, so most readers will probably not have any trouble jumping right in. If nothing else, there is a decent chance they are going to hunt down the DC books (which are soon to be reprinted in omnibus form by IDW).

The story is about Liandra, or Lee. By day, she is a college physical education teacher, and by night, defends the city of Bette Noire from the evil of the Heirarchy as their will is done by the Magistrate, Doctor Juris. Quickly, this becomes more complicated, as Juris attempts to pass on his position to his son, Jubal. This sets an origin story for Lee, how she fell from being a guardian angel, refusing the concept of free will. The origin story is told through several flashbacks, and David really builds the flashbacks into play naturally, slowly revealing the complexities of Liandra's current character.

Lee is easily one of the most interesting 'superhero' type characters I've read. Her powers are vast, but understated in favor or telling a story. We see her shoot lasers from her eyes a couple of times, but it never takes the center screen in favor of building on her relationships with the different people in the city. The Magistrate, Juris, is a selfish man, seeking his true first born sun, who would take his charge away from him forever. Then there is Xia, who comes across quickly as an agitated person by character. Xia, Juris, and Jubal have an interesting chemistry to their arrangement. Juris doesn't want. However, to a point, I didn't find myself wanting them there either. But, David still had their spot in the story, and I agree with it to a point. If he was just trying to get us to be annoyed by Juris and his thoughts and actions, then he suceeded with flying colors. Still, Lee is the main character, and who we spend the most time with as readers. She had a deep and interesting back story.

As a person of religious faith, I feel I should comment on David's statements about faith, religion, and God Himself. No, I'm not offended. Lee is a rebellious person in the eyes of The Boss, but it's not written in such a way as to say "Go burn down a church, Johnny" like some other works of fiction that are critical of organized religion. Instead, it's an alternative view of the nature of our existence, and it's intriguing. It's a bit frightening even, as it almost seems like a valid viewpoint. In short, I appreciate David's handling of the content. It's got the markings of a target for controversy, but it's not a blatant cross inverting, pentagram drawing, number of the beast screaming work of fiction that so many other writers allow their religious criticisms to be.

The book I read for my review is a paperback print of the first story arc. As I mentioned before, it's a lovely cover, depiticting Liandra in a haunting view of Bette Noir. It does little to speak for what's inside, and doesn't really show the city itself for what it is. The inclusion of the different cover arts was nice, as many trades don't tend to do this like they should. Also, there is a step by step walkthrough of J.K. Woodward's process for drawing and painting the book. Not necessary to the story, but a worthwhile addition nonetheless.

Whether you should start with the DC books or not is completely up to you. I read this trade with little trouble, so it won't hinder your experience. I feel like this book is solid enough to warrant a recommendation. The story is interesting, and at times stellar. The art is definitely the books high point. Check it out.

4/5

Coming up next week, I've got the surprise review coming out, as well as reviews of Air, Joe the Barbarian, Amory Wars, and the next issue in Dark Horse's Predators mini-series.

Weekly Graphic Novel Review: Orbiter by Warren Ellis

Orbiter--DC/Vertigo
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Collen Doran

Let's start with a little history. As a kid in elementary school, I was obsessed with space travel. I read books, drew the Apollo rocket in my notebooks, thought about life on the Skylab, and watched Apollo 13 a few hundred times just to see Mission Control and all those switches on the control panels of the command module. Turns out, Warren Ellis was like me. The result of his love for space travel: Orbiter.

Ellis penned the book following the explosion of the Columbia space shuttle in 2003, and the forward of the book details the history of his love for space travel and his urges to not let the space program die. A passionate start to a beautiful love note, to say the least, the book starts off coldly, displaying the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as nothing more than a refugee camp of sorts, tents and tarps amongst the scraps of metal in tints of sepia tone. It sets the scene quickly, showing a future without NASA exploration, all because of the disappearance of the space shuttle Venture ten years before. However, the story shifts quickly as a shuttle crashes in the shanty town, killing many of it's settlers. This set us up for an interesting mystery about the whereabouts of the Venture, and what exactly is wrong with the shuttle captain, John Cost.

Aside from the seemingly deranged captain are Terry Marx, an engineer, Anna Bracken, a psychiatrist, and Michelle Robeson, an astronaut who never made it to space. Each of these characters are called in by the military and NASA to investigate what happened to the Venture. What they quickly discover is that the ship is not the same as when it left earths atmosphere ten years previous. In it's absence, it arrived at Mars, which Terry believes is impossible due to the construction of the shuttle itself. Anna interrogates the absentminded Captain Cost, who is locked in a room deep beneath Kennedy Space Center in what was originally designed as a quarantine suite for returning astronauts. Between the two of them, and the odd discovery of Martian dirt in the 'skin' of the shuttle, the mystery of the Ventures flight is unfolded slowly and elegantly over the course of about a hundred pages of pure comic bliss.

Aside from a slightly slow setup, Ellis and his common knack for careful and precise dialogue brings the story to a slow boil early on, allowing the discoveries of his cast to accelerate the story at the exact right times. Usually Terry Marx is the one who breathes this energy into the tale, and he seems to be the character who most represents Warren's own excitement about space travel in general. Dr. Bracken is his interest in hearing tales from space itself, about the launch, the presence outside the atmosphere of our tiny little planet. I was able to get into the discoveries about how the shuttle made its fantastic flight as well as John Costs' adventurous tales during his therapy. There is an immense warmth to the narrative, even during Dr. Marx's hard sci-fi approved analysis of the alien technology implemented in the Venture. There is a great deal of care placed on making these moments understandable for the layman as well, as phrases like bias drive aren't exactly common in everyday speech. From a writing standpoint, Orbiter goes alongside Freakangels as being my favorite work from Warren Ellis. It's filled with strong characters and believable performances from the childlike geniuses who populate the cast.

On the other end is the artwork of Collen Doran. The first thing I ever saw of the book was her cover for it, on the Vertigo website. Honestly, the cover sold me before I even read the synopsis. However, the work within that beautiful cover was a mixed bag at times, with phenomenal splash pages and detailed panels on what was generally a wonderful layout with sparse moments of just flat out 'okay' pages. The opening pages do little to prove Doran's talents, but as soon as you see the first splash, you become aware that you are in for a treat. Character designs were not brilliant by any means, but they are suitable for the character types. John Cost is an astronaut, and he has the buzzed haircut, stiff jaw, and fit body that is expected of his character. Terry Marx is a physicist, and looks just as an immature space and science nut would in our minds: unkempt, t-shirt with silly slogan, and messy hair early twenty something. Or at least, that's how he looks to me. He's supposed to be in his thirties, but he just appears to be in his twenties. It probably has to do with his attitude and reactions. Not that this detracts from the series by any means. Despite generalizing the characters that Ellis wrote, the writing ultimately sells them, making them come to life for the reader in a sweet, poignant way.

If you can find a copy of this book in your local shop, I'd highly recommend it. The copy reviewed here was the hardback version, which I can honestly say is worth the extra few dollars. It's wrapped in a dust jacket, and has a blue foil stamp in the front cover done in the style of the patches on astronaut's space suits, a very nice touch.

It's a book about glory. About going back to space, because it's waiting for us, and it's where we're meant to be.
--Warren Ellis

4.5/5