Every plan changes and the heroes are learning that the hard way. As their plans go astray, they must pivot or else they won’t beat the Empire. Minor spoilers for Star Wars #71 follow.
The past couple of issues of Star Wars have been fantastic. It’s been a great new status quo for the series and the storytelling harkens back to the storytelling in the films. However, now with the knowledge that the series is ending, this is leading to a great end for the series. There’s the perfect mix of drama, action, and suspense that all the best Star Wars stories have. Plus, every story is interesting and varied, with not a dud between the three.
Each of the stories in this arc feels like such classic Star Wars, it’s wonderful. Much like The Empire Strikes Back there are multiple stories being told that seemingly have no connection while occurring. This disparity is even larger here because the three stories only have a tiny thread connecting them. However, each of these stories works well because of that loose connection. The loose connection is what makes each story so different. There’s no need for the characters to be in similar situations because they’re together, thus opening up the universe and the stories being told. It’s smart and works effectively.
Each of the stories are becoming a lot more interesting in this issue as well because they are all moving into the second act. The set-up of each story has been solidified and now, this is where things begin to go wrong. Star Wars is often at its best when the characters are constantly having to pivot to new situations. Problems arise and the characters must evolve to meet those changes. This is just basic storytelling for adventure stories and it’s a structure that works perfectly for Star Wars. However, this storytelling device has been used sparingly over the past four years on the series. Now that it is being used, consistently though, the story is the best it has been in a while.
Phil Noto’s art in this issue is, yet again, outstanding as well. Not because he continuously has grandiose splash pages, but because of the simplicity of his pages. He focused on telling these stories in the most efficient way possible. Because of that, this issue flows incredibly well. There’s just not a lot of flash in this issue, which is honestly for the best with the stories being told.
That’s not to say that the art isn’t gorgeous though, because it absolutely is. It’s simple, yet beautiful. His linework is wonderful and his colors capture the distinct vibe of these different stories perfectly. Both the action and the story are paced well and flows very smoothly. Plus, he manages to make each character’s face look like their respective actor. With his style this is something that shouldn’t really happen, yet he manages to do so, and does it extremely well.