Nothing comes easy for the Rebels as mischief and misfortunes befall every mission that they’re on. Not even Han’s charming trickery can get them out of this one. Minor spoilers for Star Wars #72 follow.
Star Wars has been on a roll lately ever since Greg Pak and Phil Noto took over the series. And now, with just four issues left, one would think that quality may begin to dip because of possible lack of care. If you think that though, you’d be dead wrong. Once again, this issue is fantastic. It combines so many different styles and storytelling techniques into one issue that really shouldn’t work yet, it does. This is another really fun issue that perfectly captures the essence of Star Wars.
It’s usually easy to tell when creators are having fun with what they’re doing and it’s easy to see here. Unless they come right out and say otherwise, Pak and Noto love working on this book. There’s so much passion dedicated to every page, no matter what is occurring on that page. Every legacy character’s voice sounds right for this period in the timeline. Every situation that the characters are in feels perfectly suited for them. And, above all else in this issue, there’s humor. Seriously, this issue is really funny.
That’s one thing that a lot of people always forget about Star Wars there’s humor involved with it. Now some stories don’t lend themselves to humor, which is okay, but the main entries to the series have always had some. That’s one thing that this series has been missing from issue #1 though, it hasn’t had much humor. This latest story, with this issue in particular, are remedying that and making it perfectly in line with tone for A New Hope. What that means is, the issue takes itself seriously and it has some deep, heartfelt moments, but it also has fun. It never loses sight of what it is, a space opera influenced by 1930s adventures serials.
As for those heartfelt moments, they hit incredibly well too. They’re often deep and philosophical in a way perfectly meant for Star Wars. And yet, some of them even lend their ways to jokes. For some, that may be off-putting, it usually is for me, but it never is here. The jokes don’t take away from the seriousness, but rather they build on the characters involved in an organic way.
Noto’s art is the reason that pretty much every joke present in the issue works though. It all comes down to the pacing of the issue and how expressive his linework is. Both are great in this issue. It still continues to shock me how accurate he can make Han, Luke, and Leia look while still staying in his style, and he adds layers and depth to these characters in such great ways. His pacing is phenomenal too because he knows exactly how many panels need to be on a page to perfectly get across an emotional moment or a joke.
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