Star Wars #50 Review

Milestone Riches

Written by: Kieron Gillen
Art by: Salvador Larocca
Colors by: Guru FX
Letters by: Clayton Cowles
Cover by: David Marquez
Publisher: Marvel
Publication Date: 4 July 2018


If you have been keeping abreast of the reviews of this main Star Wars title on Weird Science DC you will know that I have become increasingly impressed with this title, which has just closed off a magnificent arc set around the inclusion of Mon Cala within the growing Rebellion against the Empire. The improvement in the title's presentation, tightness and overall coherence was timely coming as it did ahead of the 50th issue, a significant achievement. Let's see how it was.

This was a case of going from strength to strength. I've always felt that this title should utilize the comic book medium to bend its ability to imagine on a grand scale and circumvent the need for expensive CGI cinematic tricks. This book delivers on the promise of the medium. Imagine the joy of seeing the Rebel fleet amassing and forming and growing in the period prior to The Empire Strikes Back.

The scale and grandeur of that imagery is really rendered brilliantly here. Kudos to Larocca on the scale of his ambition here. The quality of art in this book continues to really improve a lot and with the exception of a few facial expressions here or there in this issue the representations of beloved characters are so good; they really conjure up the chemistry of the Original Trilogy magic. Also, great work in weaving in characters from Rebels, and Rogue One so that they synthesize well with the principal cast of this book - this needs to happen more often in the comic books.

Gillen tells a sharp story here. We get the build-up of the fleet and then the tension is introduced quickly as circumstances unfold in this book. The narrative is handled well and I think we get the right balance between the outworking of the last 49 issues and the types of challenges that the Rebellion is going to face going forward in the next part of the series.

Bits and Pieces:

This is a pretty good and enjoyable 50th issue. The editorial shakes up is acknowledged at the close of the issue where the new editorial team thanks the outgoing team. I wouldn't thank them too much, it has been a vastly inconsistent and badly managed run to this point, and one in which I suspect involved the rushing of artists, but which at a minimum lacked an overall level of quality control on output. Looking back it had a decent start, followed by an extremely rocky patch. There is now a sense of having passed through the asteroid belt and with a formal acknowledgment of the shake-up at the top, I think there is cause for hope. This is a decent jumping on point, but if you are interested in picking up this series then I think to pick up the last arc, and then enjoy from here on in.

9.1/10