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Star Wars: Rebellion #2
Star Wars: Rebellion, Vol. 2: The Ahakista Gambit
For years, Wyl Tarson, top lieutenant to the galactic crimelord Raze, secretly delivered valuable information to the Rebel Alliance - until his employer discovered the betrayal and implanted a bomb inside Wyl's skull! Now, Wyl must infiltrate an Imperial stronghold on the planet Ahakista under the guise of working for the Rebellion, or Raze will detonate the bomb. Unwilling to compromise active Rebel agents, Wyl assembles a team of operatives too washed up or too crazy for the Alliance and leads them into a suicide mission that's his only chance for survival!
128 pages, Paperback
First published March 25, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 4, 2018
I really like Ahakista Gambit as a Star Wars story--it's familiar but just unique enough, lands enough of its short but sweet character arcs, distant enough from the main characters, locations, and storylines of the series, and introduces enough good aesthetic ideas to be fun (Raze is pretty awesome). In that way and a dozen others, it resembles Rogue One. If you took the data center from Scarif and moved it to Jedha, cut the Eadu bit, and removed the stakes relative to ANH, Ahakista Gambit is basically just Rogue One. I'm a big fan of that kind of stuff.
As a 5 issue comic, a lot of the character arcs feel really accelerated and flimsy compared to what they should, and I'm really not a fan of the whole betrayal and strength of character theme that underlies it all, at least as it's executed. Darca Nyl and his opponent are barely sketched at all for the ending they come to. And the Ahakista Rebel leader is kind of generic. The art is still really good though, and the plotting is strong.
As a 5 issue comic, a lot of the character arcs feel really accelerated and flimsy compared to what they should, and I'm really not a fan of the whole betrayal and strength of character theme that underlies it all, at least as it's executed. Darca Nyl and his opponent are barely sketched at all for the ending they come to. And the Ahakista Rebel leader is kind of generic. The art is still really good though, and the plotting is strong.
April 7, 2011
This story focus' on a guy named Wyl. He helped the Rebel Alliance in the previous comic in this series. However that assistance is caught and a bomb is implanted in his head so if he doesn't do as he is told be a crime boss, he will die. He gets a team together for a special mission that is thought to be suicidal. The story highly focus's on his never ending conflict over what to do.
I give this barely a four, 3.5 is more accurate. Overall a good comic. Decent art, fair story. I enjoyed the variety of alien creatures the book showed.
I give this barely a four, 3.5 is more accurate. Overall a good comic. Decent art, fair story. I enjoyed the variety of alien creatures the book showed.
August 9, 2015
Like the previous volume, a small piece of a larger tale.
December 31, 2020
Though this follows on from book 1 of the series My Brother, My Enemy it has nothing to do with the events of that book. In this one a criminal who had been sneaking intelligence to the Alliance is found out by his crimelord boss and has a bomb implanted in his skull. His new mission: To bring together a team in order to infiltrate an Imperial installation on the planet Ahakista and plant a spy droid into the information network.
I must confess, it too me a little while to get into this story, firstly because it has nothing to do with the previous book, secondly the artwork and lastly I just didn't care. Having stuck with it though, I found that it didn't need to have anything to do with the previous book and was able to stand up one its own in much the same way that Rogue One does. This is another act of rebellion against the Empire and there are many parallels featured in Rogue One. The artwork of the locations, machines and masks is great, it's just the faces are somewhat fluid in their countenance. Characters can look very different from panel to panel and it's only their clothing or species that makes them identifiable. Even so, a lot of the expressions are somewhat constipated. Once I got into the story, I found that I did care a lot. The comic relief came from Baco Par a lock breaker who got all the good one-liners. There's also the surprise return of Darca Nil last seen in the serialised Nomad story in Tales volume 6 and the apprentice of Lycan, the villain of that story.
There were a number of flashbacks which did make the beginning of the story a little jumbled and that was where my caring about the story struggled. Once I was able to get past that, I ended up really enjoying the story and found the finale particularly good, if a little tropey.
I must confess, it too me a little while to get into this story, firstly because it has nothing to do with the previous book, secondly the artwork and lastly I just didn't care. Having stuck with it though, I found that it didn't need to have anything to do with the previous book and was able to stand up one its own in much the same way that Rogue One does. This is another act of rebellion against the Empire and there are many parallels featured in Rogue One. The artwork of the locations, machines and masks is great, it's just the faces are somewhat fluid in their countenance. Characters can look very different from panel to panel and it's only their clothing or species that makes them identifiable. Even so, a lot of the expressions are somewhat constipated. Once I got into the story, I found that I did care a lot. The comic relief came from Baco Par a lock breaker who got all the good one-liners. There's also the surprise return of Darca Nil last seen in the serialised Nomad story in Tales volume 6 and the apprentice of Lycan, the villain of that story.
There were a number of flashbacks which did make the beginning of the story a little jumbled and that was where my caring about the story struggled. Once I was able to get past that, I ended up really enjoying the story and found the finale particularly good, if a little tropey.
July 15, 2019
These Rebellion volumes are solid Star Wars reads. Compact adventures with interesting, sometimes new characters. The repercussions aren't galaxy-spanning, which is welcome. The characters are often shades of grey, such as this volume's Wyl Tarson, right-hand man to a crime lord. He's compelled to steal some Imperial data for the crime lord, but uses his Rebellion connections to get at that data.
All of your favorite heist elements appear in The Ahakista Gambit: building the team, laying out the plan, things going wrong, characters making sacrifices for the greater good. I felt a real connection with these random Star Wars goons, sometimes more connection than I feel with the characters that appear in the actual Star Wars movies. That's a clear sign of strong writing. Additionally, the art is much better than the first Rebellion volume, with the characters having normal musculature and coloring!
All of your favorite heist elements appear in The Ahakista Gambit: building the team, laying out the plan, things going wrong, characters making sacrifices for the greater good. I felt a real connection with these random Star Wars goons, sometimes more connection than I feel with the characters that appear in the actual Star Wars movies. That's a clear sign of strong writing. Additionally, the art is much better than the first Rebellion volume, with the characters having normal musculature and coloring!
April 15, 2021
Star Wars Legends Project #264
Background: The Ahakista Gambit, released in March 2008, collects issues #6-10 of Rebellion (May-Dec 2007). All 6 issues were co-written by Rob Williams and Brandon Badeaux, with art by Michel Lacombe. Williams wrote a number of issues for Rebellion, Badeaux (who has mostly worked in Star Wars as an artist) drew about a dozen issues across various series in addition to his story credit here. Lacombe has also drawn for several issues, mostly of Rebellion.
The Ahakista Gambit is set 9 months after the Battle of Yavin, picking up shortly after the end of My Brother, My Enemy (my review). The main characters are Wyl Tarson, Laynara, Baco Par, and Darca Nyl. (Oh, you haven't heard of any of those characters? Well, that's because you haven't read this specific comic.) Darth Vader also puts in an appearance. The story takes place in various locations, most notably Ahakista.
Summary: Wyl Tarson is a Rebel spy in deep cover with the Raze crime organization, but now his cover is blown and Raze wants revenge. By way of compensation for all of the valuable information Wyl has stolen, Raze tasks him with infiltrating an Imperial stronghold so secure few know it even exists, and if Wyl refuses, Raze will detonate the bomb he's implanted in Wyl's head. Hoping to keep active Rebels out of harm's way, Wyl assembles a ragtag team of outcasts for a mission that could well be suicide.
Review: This story really feels shoehorned into Rebellion in a way that makes me think it must have been pitched as a stand-alone story and then at the last minute they decided they needed it to fill an empty space here. It doesn't have anything to do with the main storyline, but they've tried to pretend that it does by sprinkling some equally irrelevant set-up into the previous issues.
These perfunctory efforts at making connections with the rest of the Rebellion run stick out very awkwardly and are the most glaring flaws in what is otherwise a pretty solid arc. I always enjoy something starring new characters who are well-written and interesting, because then you get a Star Wars story that you truly don't know the outcome of and it raises the stakes immensely.
I liked these characters, and I liked the story they were in. It felt like they were all probably doomed, but I genuinely didn't know what might happen from issue to issue. The set-up kind of takes awhile, but the payoff is worth it. Again, I don't know why this is part of Rebellion, but it's good stuff.
A-
Background: The Ahakista Gambit, released in March 2008, collects issues #6-10 of Rebellion (May-Dec 2007). All 6 issues were co-written by Rob Williams and Brandon Badeaux, with art by Michel Lacombe. Williams wrote a number of issues for Rebellion, Badeaux (who has mostly worked in Star Wars as an artist) drew about a dozen issues across various series in addition to his story credit here. Lacombe has also drawn for several issues, mostly of Rebellion.
The Ahakista Gambit is set 9 months after the Battle of Yavin, picking up shortly after the end of My Brother, My Enemy (my review). The main characters are Wyl Tarson, Laynara, Baco Par, and Darca Nyl. (Oh, you haven't heard of any of those characters? Well, that's because you haven't read this specific comic.) Darth Vader also puts in an appearance. The story takes place in various locations, most notably Ahakista.
Summary: Wyl Tarson is a Rebel spy in deep cover with the Raze crime organization, but now his cover is blown and Raze wants revenge. By way of compensation for all of the valuable information Wyl has stolen, Raze tasks him with infiltrating an Imperial stronghold so secure few know it even exists, and if Wyl refuses, Raze will detonate the bomb he's implanted in Wyl's head. Hoping to keep active Rebels out of harm's way, Wyl assembles a ragtag team of outcasts for a mission that could well be suicide.
Review: This story really feels shoehorned into Rebellion in a way that makes me think it must have been pitched as a stand-alone story and then at the last minute they decided they needed it to fill an empty space here. It doesn't have anything to do with the main storyline, but they've tried to pretend that it does by sprinkling some equally irrelevant set-up into the previous issues.
These perfunctory efforts at making connections with the rest of the Rebellion run stick out very awkwardly and are the most glaring flaws in what is otherwise a pretty solid arc. I always enjoy something starring new characters who are well-written and interesting, because then you get a Star Wars story that you truly don't know the outcome of and it raises the stakes immensely.
I liked these characters, and I liked the story they were in. It felt like they were all probably doomed, but I genuinely didn't know what might happen from issue to issue. The set-up kind of takes awhile, but the payoff is worth it. Again, I don't know why this is part of Rebellion, but it's good stuff.
A-
May 21, 2024
I was bored during the entirety of this TPB and did not care about any of these characters, though perhaps in Darca's case that's not fair of me because it's just been too long since I read "Nomad" (and I vaguely recall liking that story). I think my main issue with this volume is that the characters and plot are too similar to what I've encountered in other volumes in other series (Republic/Dark Times, in particular).
July 3, 2024
I know I’m always pushing for stories that don’t involve the leads but this one was just ok. Nonetheless, it is a key part of the story.
July 13, 2011
The Rebel Alliance continues to make headway in the fight against the Empire. Thanks to the help of Wyl Tarson, one of crimlord Raze's top men, the Rebels have come into some valuable infromation. The Imperial stronghold on Ahakista may be ripe to join the Rebellion.
Unfortuantely Raze, who enjoys working with the Empire, realizes that Wyl may be betraying him and uses a bomb implanted in Wyl's skull to try and control him. Fortunately, Wyl is better than his boss realizes. He contacts a number of people who previously worked for the Alliance and were pushed to the sidelines because of their lack of ability or trustworthiness to try to not only survive, but make sure the Rebels come out on top.
This volume shows that heroes are not always glamprous, but they definitely get the job done and save the day. I thought this volume was stronger than the earlier one, though the series continues to introduce more and more characters without starting to tie them together. Perhaps that is the intent of the series ... showing how broad the Alliance is by highlighting that many different people contributed to the success of the fight.
Unfortuantely Raze, who enjoys working with the Empire, realizes that Wyl may be betraying him and uses a bomb implanted in Wyl's skull to try and control him. Fortunately, Wyl is better than his boss realizes. He contacts a number of people who previously worked for the Alliance and were pushed to the sidelines because of their lack of ability or trustworthiness to try to not only survive, but make sure the Rebels come out on top.
This volume shows that heroes are not always glamprous, but they definitely get the job done and save the day. I thought this volume was stronger than the earlier one, though the series continues to introduce more and more characters without starting to tie them together. Perhaps that is the intent of the series ... showing how broad the Alliance is by highlighting that many different people contributed to the success of the fight.
September 25, 2011
The second installment in this series is just as good as the first, if not better. While "My Brother, My Enemy" gave us Luke, Leia and Tank, this 'Episode' gives fans a taste of what the Rebellion is like on-the-ground, a fun rag-tag group of operatives, and also throws a little Vader in for good measure. Pretty much everything I said in my first review stands for volume two; great story, great art, worthy addition to the saga, blah, blah, blah. I'm curious to see what Volume Three will bring with a change in creative teams.
April 15, 2011
Vader is in top form here, and those AT-AT's out for a stroll in populated areas... Yeesh! Wyl's got a motley band together and nobody cares if they live or die- or was I, the reader, supposed to care? Traitors, sinners, rebels, and the damned all beautifully illustrated. Raze is one freaky looking jerk-hole, like Marvel's Mojo if he was a giant drug-addled cyborg centipede. Fun for the whole Star Wars family.
January 18, 2017
I like the suicide squad aspect of this book and by that I meant a bunch of anti-heroes coming together to take on a task that will most likely kill them. Wyl Tarson's character is extremely fascinating and I am hoping I get to see him in more books.
August 28, 2009
The second in the series; Vader plays a small role, so the cover art is somewhat deceptive.
October 30, 2015
Didn't realise this was the second volume of a series. Didn't make a huge amount of sense as a result. Pesky library, never having volume ones of things.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews