The Star Wars #5 (Dark Horse)

via Comic Book DB

writer: J.W. Rinzler

artist: Mike Mayhew

Every time I read a new issue of The Star Wars, adapted from George Lucas's original vision for his saga, I think I'm going to finally be disappointed.  Maybe it won't be as fun as I remember from the last one.  Maybe this will be the one that finally breaks the spell.

And every time, every time, I'm proven wrong, all over again.

I haven't had this much fun reading a comic book since 52, DC's first year-long weekly series from 2006-2007 (which topped both years' QB50s).  I've always been a big fan of Star Wars, but I haven't always loved everything I've encountered based on it.  Yes, I'm one of the crazy people who love the prequels.  The thing that Star Wars always needs, for me, is a real connection to the original inspiration Lucas had.

And apparently, the original inspiration was not too bad, either.  As you may or may not be aware, The Star Wars is nearly exactly like the Star Wars you know.  Lucas scrambled a lot of the details when he went back to the drawing board and came up with the version of events and characters you know from the movies, but his first ideas weren't so drastically different.  And that's what's so fascinating to read in this adaptation from those ideas.

Today's the release of the final issue, so for me that's kind of a holiday.  Couldn't be more excited.  I've been catching each issue almost by accident sometimes.  This particular one (#5) was one I had to catch after its release, while #6 I had to miraculously snatch on Free Comic Book Day (meaning my reviews for that one and #7 will be out of order because I review in reading order...and you now have an idea of how long after the fact I get around to writing about comics these days).

Much of The Star Wars features material that best resonates with New Hope material, naturally, though there are elements that also resonate with Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace.  This is an issue that revolves on New Hope.  The action is like a mash-up of the escapes from Mos Eisley and the Death Star.  There's a moment that calls to mind "You don't need to see his identification."  Good stuff.  

If you randomly pick this one up, you may need to be reminded that Han Solo in this version looks like Swamp Thing rather than Harrison Ford.  And the Millennium Falcon looks like the ship Leia was captured in at the start of New Hope.

Two of the things pesky fans sometimes criticize Lucas for are his dialogue and the decision to reveal Luke and Leia as siblings after some in-hindsight-awkward moments of attraction.  This is maybe an issue where if you have problems with that you may either want to study or avoid.  Again, characters and situations are not completely comparable.  Anakin, here known as Annikin Starkiller and clearly not Darth Vader, is running around in an outfit that looks exactly like Luke's ceremonial garb at the end of New Hope, has realized he and Leia are probably in love.  The dialogue is so to-the-point (I'm not clear if Rinzler keeps all of that as he found it, if his role is more shaping the script into this particular format), it reminds me all over again that I've always been a fan of even that aspect of Star Wars.  Han's bantering is really no different from Anakin and Padme's heart-to-hearts.  Always direct.  "What is this silly talk of love?  Stop acting like a child and start behaving like a queen!"

Also, it's weird that R2 (here Artwo) has actual dialogue.  I suspect if that had always been the case, there would have been much less difference between him and Threepio.  Although as they stand in the movies, they really aren't that different from, say, Jar Jar Binks.  That would be as clear in words as it is in beeps and boops.

Just to make this clear, too: Mike Mayhew is an absolute godsend to this project.