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Star Wars: Union #1-4
Star Wars: Union
After the destruction of the second Death Star and the demise of the Empire, the New Republic thrives. But there are many who remain true to the spirit and evil designs of the Emperor. So when Luke Skywalker, the New Republic's greatest hero and sole Jedi Master, decides to marry Mara Jade, the woman who was once the Emperor's personal assassin, you can be sure that hands both Imperial and New Republican will be raised to stop the marriage -- at any cost
96 pages, Paperback
First published August 9, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
April 1, 2019
Oh my gosh, this was so bad. Seriously, this was like the worst thing I've ever read. It was so corny. It was like a horrible romantic comedy, but with Jedi. Filled with cliches and bad characterizations. I almost think you should read it just to experience the horror.
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January 14, 2016
Indulgent as fuck and wonderful. Appearances by so many beautiful EU characters, all present to support Mara and Luke on the road to their marriage. There's a thin plot to disrupt the wedding, given that it's been broadcast as a symbolic healing gesture - a past agent of the Empire marrying a hero of the Rebel Alliance - but it's nothing to write home about. In the end, this is a fluffy valentine to love in the Star Wars world. Mara and Luke have their requisite cheesy romantic dialogue, but it's peppered with realistic humor that keep it from feeling as heavy handed as it's been in a few of their book appearances.
My biggest complaint would be that reading it at this point in my life made me cringe a bit at the buffet of heteronormativity and white people (to the point where sometimes it's hard to tell who's supposed to be who amid a few of the more standard white bread looking dudes). Room for improvement that the future of Star Wars is doing a great job of addressing though, so I'm able to put it aside and enjoy seeing these characters I love and adore getting to actually indulge in some happiness for once in their difficult lives.
My biggest complaint would be that reading it at this point in my life made me cringe a bit at the buffet of heteronormativity and white people (to the point where sometimes it's hard to tell who's supposed to be who amid a few of the more standard white bread looking dudes). Room for improvement that the future of Star Wars is doing a great job of addressing though, so I'm able to put it aside and enjoy seeing these characters I love and adore getting to actually indulge in some happiness for once in their difficult lives.
July 25, 2023
6/10:
This comic collection is the first time in quite a few years that I’ve dove into Legends comics, and I’m glad to be back. It’s always cool to see these characters again, especially with Mara Jade being one of my favorite characters from Legends. While the actual wedding of Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade was beautiful, there’s a lot of problems with this 4-issue run.
First off, the writing just feels so unnatural and I think that’s because this is the first time I’ve read the writing of Luke and Mara’s relationship outside of Timothy Zahn’s. The layout of the text was also really messy and extremely difficult to follow because of that.
Then we get to the art. The art is really good every once in a while, but most of the time each character looks like a blob on the page and it’s impossible to tell who is who. And when you have a cast of so many characters (former Rebels, students of Luke’s Jedi Academy, New Republic officials, family, etc.) that becomes a massive problem. I couldn’t tell which Jedi was which and I couldn’t even try to guess based on Lightsaber colors because I couldn’t tell the difference between some of the colors.
This comic collection is the first time in quite a few years that I’ve dove into Legends comics, and I’m glad to be back. It’s always cool to see these characters again, especially with Mara Jade being one of my favorite characters from Legends. While the actual wedding of Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade was beautiful, there’s a lot of problems with this 4-issue run.
First off, the writing just feels so unnatural and I think that’s because this is the first time I’ve read the writing of Luke and Mara’s relationship outside of Timothy Zahn’s. The layout of the text was also really messy and extremely difficult to follow because of that.
Then we get to the art. The art is really good every once in a while, but most of the time each character looks like a blob on the page and it’s impossible to tell who is who. And when you have a cast of so many characters (former Rebels, students of Luke’s Jedi Academy, New Republic officials, family, etc.) that becomes a massive problem. I couldn’t tell which Jedi was which and I couldn’t even try to guess based on Lightsaber colors because I couldn’t tell the difference between some of the colors.
June 17, 2007
Yes, I'm a sucker for Mara Jade. The art is quite good in this miniseries, though the covers (especially the last one) are kind of ugly. However, I have huge problems with the ending... does anyone actually believe that Mara would sit back and let Luke deal with the crazy Imperial suicide bomber at their wedding? So it's basically Luke-and-Mara-get-married fanfic, except that it's canon.
For Mara Jade books, "By the Emperor's Hand" is MUCH better.
For Mara Jade books, "By the Emperor's Hand" is MUCH better.
August 10, 2009
Somethings in the Star Wars universe don't make for an interesting story and the Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade wedding is one of them. Not that I'm opposed to it (was looking forward to it happening since Heir to the Empire) but like wedding videos they can be boring unless you were there in person. Maybe if something big happened like superweapons, returning Sith, etc but its merely a terrorist plot that becomes the focus with uninteresting additional characters to boot.
March 27, 2013
A clever graphic novel covering the events leading up to Luke's and Mara's wedding and the self doubts they suffer, cleverly written with excellent artwork. It has a nice synergy with other novels as we all now how things end up for the two of them!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 17, 2017
First off, I want to say that I appreciate that this exists. Action, comedy, and romance have always been apart of Star Wars and I like the idea of a scifi fantasy comic focused on a wedding.
As a Star Wars obsessed chick that reads lots of romance novels, and plans weddings, I’m a great target for it.
I recall really wanting to read this as a tween. I probably should have back in the day. Nowadays, ‘Union’ is very much a product of its time. It feels like a 90s romcom with a laugh track. Although, in parts, it’s thought provoking and cutesy.
Again, the idea is awesome, but there were things that just didn’t work for me.
The comic assumes I have read all the old-canon up to that point. I know, second-hand, who Mara Jade is, but the comic itself didn’t help me to know her. I could have benefited from some relationship flashbacks or a conversation from Luke why Mara is the right woman for him other than just-that-he-loves-her.
Everyone feels mellow to me. Han and Leia have had their happily-ever-after and are tame, ho-hum parents now. War is over. Everything seems easy-going and normal. Although the main characters are worried about the wedding taking place, the threat doesn’t seem very high. I’m never concerned that the characters can’t handle whatever the few baddies are planning. About as threatening as rain or the caterer not arriving.
Plus, it’s been sixteen years since the Battle of Endor…and Han is still calling Luke “kid.” Gee, Han, Luke’s almost 40! And he’s a Jedi Master now, have some RESPECT. But then again, I guess it doesn’t help that Luke jokes that he’s going to have to stay with Han when Mara gets mad and kicks him out.
As a Star Wars obsessed chick that reads lots of romance novels, and plans weddings, I’m a great target for it.
I recall really wanting to read this as a tween. I probably should have back in the day. Nowadays, ‘Union’ is very much a product of its time. It feels like a 90s romcom with a laugh track. Although, in parts, it’s thought provoking and cutesy.
Again, the idea is awesome, but there were things that just didn’t work for me.
The comic assumes I have read all the old-canon up to that point. I know, second-hand, who Mara Jade is, but the comic itself didn’t help me to know her. I could have benefited from some relationship flashbacks or a conversation from Luke why Mara is the right woman for him other than just-that-he-loves-her.
Everyone feels mellow to me. Han and Leia have had their happily-ever-after and are tame, ho-hum parents now. War is over. Everything seems easy-going and normal. Although the main characters are worried about the wedding taking place, the threat doesn’t seem very high. I’m never concerned that the characters can’t handle whatever the few baddies are planning. About as threatening as rain or the caterer not arriving.
Plus, it’s been sixteen years since the Battle of Endor…and Han is still calling Luke “kid.” Gee, Han, Luke’s almost 40! And he’s a Jedi Master now, have some RESPECT. But then again, I guess it doesn’t help that Luke jokes that he’s going to have to stay with Han when Mara gets mad and kicks him out.
April 10, 2021
This book just...didn't do it for me. I feel like I would've probably enjoyed this significantly more if I was a diehard EU fan, but having only read the Thrawn trilogy, two of the X-wing books, the Newspaper Strips, and Darth Plagueis before this, I had trouble keeping up with all the new-to-me characters, and neither plot nor art were stellar.
January 14, 2019
When I first saw this graphic novel, I was elated. The moment I had been waiting for for countless books had finally happened! Luke and Mara were married. Apart from the Leia series by Mark Waid, I think this is my favorite Star Wars graphic novel.
Imagine Mara Jade trying on wedding dresses. Designer after designer arrives, each with a more ludicrous creation than the last. My personal favorite was the one that would have made her look like Darth Vader. Imagine Luke trying to iron out details of two different ceremonies, Jedi and a normal wedding, amidst looming threats. That is the backdrop in which many familiar characters find themselves in this humorous, engaging, but no less action packed adventure. Though at times the road got a little bumpy, for all concerned, the weddings went off without a hitch (no pun intended). The humor, wit, sarcasm and action in this comic made it one of the most enjoyable Star Wars works I have read.
The art was fabulous as well, particularly Mara's parade of wedding dresses, and the one she finally settles on. It evoked the scenes, and emotions, it depicted so well, particularly facial expressions. A wonderful graphic novel.
Imagine Mara Jade trying on wedding dresses. Designer after designer arrives, each with a more ludicrous creation than the last. My personal favorite was the one that would have made her look like Darth Vader. Imagine Luke trying to iron out details of two different ceremonies, Jedi and a normal wedding, amidst looming threats. That is the backdrop in which many familiar characters find themselves in this humorous, engaging, but no less action packed adventure. Though at times the road got a little bumpy, for all concerned, the weddings went off without a hitch (no pun intended). The humor, wit, sarcasm and action in this comic made it one of the most enjoyable Star Wars works I have read.
The art was fabulous as well, particularly Mara's parade of wedding dresses, and the one she finally settles on. It evoked the scenes, and emotions, it depicted so well, particularly facial expressions. A wonderful graphic novel.
November 14, 2020
This would've been 4* -- perhaps even 5? Nah, that's stretching it -- if only I had visually recognized more of the protagonists, and had understood more of their social interactions. It has way too many characters (which will be fun for many a fan!). Many of them, I knew only superficially; and often, I couldn't optically make out who was who. But I did pick up on the multiple inside jokes and references to the X-wing novels and other comics (of which I've read only a few); and potentially, I love such cross-references in a franchise. So, I felt left out, LOL! The often (intentionally) "vague" artwork was to blame for another small portion of my confusion; but it's not bad. I'd rather call it interesting, overall; but the action scenes were a bit muddled, if I recall correctly. I liked the story and the "villains" and their motivation; their stupidity in not anticipating the eventual resolution of their threat was cringe-worthy (plot-wise), but forgivable (production-wise) when seen in the light of its purpose: to set up said resolution -- which in turn I did like.
July 4, 2021
Though I didn't review it before, I gave this comic five stars the first time I read it. That was for the reasons I was still excited to make my way around to it again, now propely placed in the timeline: being a Stackpole endeavor, it includes many familiar characters I love, namely those from the X-wing books. It's great to see them, especially all together. However, since this is a comic, my rating has to take in the art, not just the writing. And that is...not great. Very few of the characters are drawn distinctly enough to actually be able to tell them apart. And that's very disappointing since I know I like these characters but can't tell who is who or who's talking. It's especially bad in the several pages the ladies spend at the spa dressed all in towels and with towels covering their hair - they all look *exactly* alike.
November 22, 2012
I wish I had read all these comments before buying this graphic novel (second-hand thank the maker). It is the worst Star Wars novel I have ever read and one of the worst graphic novels. Honestly, I was so surprised at how bad it was because I own three other Michael Stackpole books, and they are so much better. Do not buy this book. It will make you sad to be a Star Wars fan.
September 8, 2011
Reads like an awkward chick flick with Star Wars characters and references thrown in. The artwork is stylish enough, but makes it hard to see who's who or what's going on. Pacing is off too - takes ages to get going, only to end on an anticlimax
May 31, 2019
Read this right after Vision of the Future. It is based around Luke and Mara's wedding. I read it years ago, but didn't like it. And I still don't. The story is a mess.
October 15, 2020
This was waaaaay too girly rom-com-piece-of-utter-shit with crappy art that made following who is who really hard.
March 6, 2022
Art is awful, plot is cheesy and trite.
March 7, 2023
One of the most vapid stories I have ever read.
The garbage art of traced faces from movie stills hurts to look at.
At least Bruce Willis and Tommy Lee Jones finally got to be in Star Wars I guess.
The garbage art of traced faces from movie stills hurts to look at.
At least Bruce Willis and Tommy Lee Jones finally got to be in Star Wars I guess.
November 14, 2023
I hated everything about this dated piece of doodoo
August 29, 2008
Cute and fun.
November 3, 2025
This is the 11th comic series on my read-through of all the Star Wars legends books and comics.
In theory, I really like the idea of this comic: bringing together all the characters from the original trilogy and Bantam era for a last light-hearted hurray before NJO -- basically the Star Wars equivalent of the Mass Effect 3: Citadel DLC -- but the execution falls seriously flat.
The elephant in the room: the art in "Union" is absolutely horrendous, to the point of being a constant distraction. All of the faces evoke an uncomfortable uncanny valley feeling -- the shading, facial expressions, and poses all look very...off. Characters shift facial features from panel to panel and it's hard to even tell who's who half the time. Everything looked like it was traced (poorly) from candid photos from real-life people. Hilariously, I even thought I spotted a half-dozen panels that looked like they were traced directly from pictures of celebrities (but not ones who had actually played the Star Wars character in question). The backgrounds looked alright and some of the images of cityscapes were impressive, but not enough to counterbalance the butt-ugly people and washed out colors. Action scenes are also muddled and hard to follow visually.
The plot is a mess. The villains' scheme is incredibly dumb, and not in "fun dumb" way but in more of a "pointless and confusing" way. The heroes don't learn about the scheme until near the end, so they spend the entire rest of the comic blissfully unaware, doing their own low-stakes slice-of-life activities. That COULD have been fun, but unfortunately:
A) despite all the Bantam-era characters showing up, they end up getting bunched up into groups for convenience -- the girls, the X-wing pilots, the smugglers, etc. -- so individual characters get barely any time to shine. Coupled with the art making it hard to tell people apart, it felt like the characters had been coalesced into blobs.
B) this comic constantly veers into shitty marriage boomer humor, about how husbands are idiots and wives are shrews. One of the things I kinda love about the EU books is how wholesome the relationships in it generally are -- especially Han and Leia, who are always depicted as unrelentingly devoted and respectful to each other. But instead, here we have Han giving lowest-common denominator boomer jokes about how he hasn't been "right" about anything since he met Leia. Fuck right the fuck off.
C) Luke and Mara's chemistry in this comic is atrocious. I was quite harsh about the romance in "Vision of the Future", but, while the romance itself was lackluster, the dynamic between Luke and Mara Jade in that book was just as perfect as ever -- Mara's snark vs Luke's farm boy goodness. In "Union", they spend the entire time spouting boring platitudes at each other. Mara Jade's personality has completely neutered, leaving her as a blushing schoolgirl. I understand they're getting married, so a little blushing and words of devotion are in order, but this is too much.
All that said, this comic is so light-hearted and insubstantial that I have trouble being too mad at it. It's not offensively bad and it does have some fun moments. Mara Jade's wedding dress looked pretty.
4/10...
In theory, I really like the idea of this comic: bringing together all the characters from the original trilogy and Bantam era for a last light-hearted hurray before NJO -- basically the Star Wars equivalent of the Mass Effect 3: Citadel DLC -- but the execution falls seriously flat.
The elephant in the room: the art in "Union" is absolutely horrendous, to the point of being a constant distraction. All of the faces evoke an uncomfortable uncanny valley feeling -- the shading, facial expressions, and poses all look very...off. Characters shift facial features from panel to panel and it's hard to even tell who's who half the time. Everything looked like it was traced (poorly) from candid photos from real-life people. Hilariously, I even thought I spotted a half-dozen panels that looked like they were traced directly from pictures of celebrities (but not ones who had actually played the Star Wars character in question). The backgrounds looked alright and some of the images of cityscapes were impressive, but not enough to counterbalance the butt-ugly people and washed out colors. Action scenes are also muddled and hard to follow visually.
The plot is a mess. The villains' scheme is incredibly dumb, and not in "fun dumb" way but in more of a "pointless and confusing" way. The heroes don't learn about the scheme until near the end, so they spend the entire rest of the comic blissfully unaware, doing their own low-stakes slice-of-life activities. That COULD have been fun, but unfortunately:
A) despite all the Bantam-era characters showing up, they end up getting bunched up into groups for convenience -- the girls, the X-wing pilots, the smugglers, etc. -- so individual characters get barely any time to shine. Coupled with the art making it hard to tell people apart, it felt like the characters had been coalesced into blobs.
B) this comic constantly veers into shitty marriage boomer humor, about how husbands are idiots and wives are shrews. One of the things I kinda love about the EU books is how wholesome the relationships in it generally are -- especially Han and Leia, who are always depicted as unrelentingly devoted and respectful to each other. But instead, here we have Han giving lowest-common denominator boomer jokes about how he hasn't been "right" about anything since he met Leia. Fuck right the fuck off.
C) Luke and Mara's chemistry in this comic is atrocious. I was quite harsh about the romance in "Vision of the Future", but, while the romance itself was lackluster, the dynamic between Luke and Mara Jade in that book was just as perfect as ever -- Mara's snark vs Luke's farm boy goodness. In "Union", they spend the entire time spouting boring platitudes at each other. Mara Jade's personality has completely neutered, leaving her as a blushing schoolgirl. I understand they're getting married, so a little blushing and words of devotion are in order, but this is too much.
All that said, this comic is so light-hearted and insubstantial that I have trouble being too mad at it. It's not offensively bad and it does have some fun moments. Mara Jade's wedding dress looked pretty.
4/10...
June 17, 2023
This story stands out as a beacon of light compared to the cynical pile of crap that is Disney Star Wars. Imagine, a legacy character being happily married after a series of adventures with his well-defined bride who is a badass in her own right? While at the same time including all the other characters who are also happily married. A true celebration of what Star Wars used to represent—the importance of family and coming together.
Now that my rant against Disney is over, let's move on to rate Union on its own merits and flaws:
I liked:
- The inclusion of a large roster of characters essential to the Expanded Universe during The New Republic Era.
- The attention provided to Mara and Luke.
- The overall theme of the story.
- How it touched upon the political situation between The New Republic and The Imperial Remnant after the peace treaty was signed.
- The art style—it ranges from good to excellent in some panels.
I didn't like:
- Mara Jade's lightsaber was the wrong color.
What could've been done better?
A visual character roster. While the comic does an excellent job of including characters from the Expanded Universe, there are a lot of them, and people who only read the novels won't necessarily recognize them based on visuals alone.
Should you read Union?
Yes, but you'll enjoy it more if you are well-read in The New Republic Era of the Expanded Universe. I'd save it for after reading the Hand of Thrawn Duology in particular.
Now that my rant against Disney is over, let's move on to rate Union on its own merits and flaws:
I liked:
- The inclusion of a large roster of characters essential to the Expanded Universe during The New Republic Era.
- The attention provided to Mara and Luke.
- The overall theme of the story.
- How it touched upon the political situation between The New Republic and The Imperial Remnant after the peace treaty was signed.
- The art style—it ranges from good to excellent in some panels.
I didn't like:
- Mara Jade's lightsaber was the wrong color.
What could've been done better?
A visual character roster. While the comic does an excellent job of including characters from the Expanded Universe, there are a lot of them, and people who only read the novels won't necessarily recognize them based on visuals alone.
Should you read Union?
Yes, but you'll enjoy it more if you are well-read in The New Republic Era of the Expanded Universe. I'd save it for after reading the Hand of Thrawn Duology in particular.
April 26, 2021
The end of this is cheesy, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. I feel like this is one of Stackpole's best representation of women. The art is phenomenal--though the panel with Mara grinning on page 33 makes her look evil.
We get little Syal and baby Myri; Talon, the Rogues and Wraiths; Kam and Tionne.
Everyone is excited for Luke and Mara's wedding--well, except for the Imperials on Dolis 3. Them aside though, we get the entire crew!
The only issue is that everyone is a white human, so I struggled a lot with differentiating between certain people, except for like Talon Karrde. That confusion over who was who, and what was going on in some panels, is why I gave this 4 stars and not 5.
3PO goes overboard with the guest list. Mara hates all the crazy dresses Leia suggests, until she finds a fired designer in a back alley.
I never really thought of Mara being fashionable, but it makes sense given the undercover missions she's had to do.
I really like Corran's suggestion of a private Jedi ceremony before the public one.
For the public event, the Imps want to assassinate Luke and cause an Imperial cyberattack. They're led by Moff Derran Takkar and his wife Anlys. She is cunning. I don't like her, but I love her characterization. She proves that sometimes, females get the job done when men can't.
I love the bachelor party (other than the Imperials).
We get little Syal and baby Myri; Talon, the Rogues and Wraiths; Kam and Tionne.
Everyone is excited for Luke and Mara's wedding--well, except for the Imperials on Dolis 3. Them aside though, we get the entire crew!
The only issue is that everyone is a white human, so I struggled a lot with differentiating between certain people, except for like Talon Karrde. That confusion over who was who, and what was going on in some panels, is why I gave this 4 stars and not 5.
3PO goes overboard with the guest list. Mara hates all the crazy dresses Leia suggests, until she finds a fired designer in a back alley.
I never really thought of Mara being fashionable, but it makes sense given the undercover missions she's had to do.
I really like Corran's suggestion of a private Jedi ceremony before the public one.
For the public event, the Imps want to assassinate Luke and cause an Imperial cyberattack. They're led by Moff Derran Takkar and his wife Anlys. She is cunning. I don't like her, but I love her characterization. She proves that sometimes, females get the job done when men can't.
I love the bachelor party (other than the Imperials).
July 29, 2017
19 ABY
This graphic novel takes place after Luke and Mara have already had numerous adventures, reflecting on how their relationship started as one of hate. "Union" brings Luke and Mara together on their wedding day. Like most weddings, a lot of set up is involved, and it is being broadcast across the galaxy, for a Jedi and a once-Imperial Agent are joining together for the rest of their lives. Mara shows her girly side with friends and searching for the perfect dress, and Leia aims to have the location perfectly set up for her brother. Despite their union, some Empire remnants find this to be an appalling affair and aim to kill those involved.
I enjoyed this four-part series in seeing Luke and Mara together at last, with my favorite character becoming Mara Jade Skywalker. The art is decent, but I feel like Mara wasn't portrayed well, that she was too soft and feminine. Despite it being a wedding, Mara should still be headstrong and sharp. One of the other interesting things about this book is that a bunch of characters from previous novels (Talon, Kam, etc.) make appearances, so it is good to have read a good number of the novels from the Thrawn Trilogy onward. All in all, it was a decent read and shows that even 19 ABY, there are still conflicts between the New Republic and the remnants of the Empire.
January 8, 2024
Would probably give it a 3.5 if it let me.
The concept was really sweet, I loved how you see Mara and Luke get married and all of the complications that come with it. Especially with how high profile they are and all of the symbolism that their relationship holds for the peace between the Empire and New Republic. My only real gripes come from the Dark Horse style comics, the style just feels off somehow, like the characters are almost right but look slightly uncanny. Also a lot of characters are from books and so I have no idea what they look like, but the comic expects you to pick it up just from the dialogue making it kinda confusing figuring out who was who. Other than that my only other complaint was that the villains were completely pathetic. They pose literally zero threat to the characters and are defeated in 1-2 pages every time they show up. I can forgive this because the main focus of the story is to show the wedding and the bad guys are really just there for the redemption at the end.
The concept was really sweet, I loved how you see Mara and Luke get married and all of the complications that come with it. Especially with how high profile they are and all of the symbolism that their relationship holds for the peace between the Empire and New Republic. My only real gripes come from the Dark Horse style comics, the style just feels off somehow, like the characters are almost right but look slightly uncanny. Also a lot of characters are from books and so I have no idea what they look like, but the comic expects you to pick it up just from the dialogue making it kinda confusing figuring out who was who. Other than that my only other complaint was that the villains were completely pathetic. They pose literally zero threat to the characters and are defeated in 1-2 pages every time they show up. I can forgive this because the main focus of the story is to show the wedding and the bad guys are really just there for the redemption at the end.
February 3, 2024
Art: 1 stars
Storytelling 1 star
Character Voice: 1.5 stars
Oh my. This was bad, especially coming right off the heels of rereading the Thrawn trilogy, “Specter of the Past”, and “Vision of the Future”. I’m glad I read it, but wow… what a disappointment.
The storytelling was disjointed and comic’s layout was often messy and confusing to the point that it impeded the reader’s understanding of what was happening. The characters often did not look like themselves and almost as often did not sound like themselves. The author seemed to have a very limited conception of character voice. Since he and the artist were frequently unclear as to which characters were on the page at any given moment, it was easy to become confused about who characters were if they were not the Solos, Skywalkers, Chewie, the droids, or Talon Karrde. Character actions did not always make sense or seem like things they would have said or done.
An unfortunately lackluster story told in a visually confusing way. Luke and Mara deserved better.
At least her dress was lovely.
Storytelling 1 star
Character Voice: 1.5 stars
Oh my. This was bad, especially coming right off the heels of rereading the Thrawn trilogy, “Specter of the Past”, and “Vision of the Future”. I’m glad I read it, but wow… what a disappointment.
The storytelling was disjointed and comic’s layout was often messy and confusing to the point that it impeded the reader’s understanding of what was happening. The characters often did not look like themselves and almost as often did not sound like themselves. The author seemed to have a very limited conception of character voice. Since he and the artist were frequently unclear as to which characters were on the page at any given moment, it was easy to become confused about who characters were if they were not the Solos, Skywalkers, Chewie, the droids, or Talon Karrde. Character actions did not always make sense or seem like things they would have said or done.
An unfortunately lackluster story told in a visually confusing way. Luke and Mara deserved better.
At least her dress was lovely.
November 20, 2017
It's funny how impressions change over time. This is my third time reading the graphic novel, and my opinion of it was very different each time. The artwork, while not the most detailed, was still really vibrant and allowed the reader's eyes to linger, to enjoy it as a graphical story. The real gem, though is in the characters. Most of these are known from the Rogue Squadron and Wraith Squadron novels, as well as some of the comics that came before them. The Imperial threat looks shoe-horned in, but the rest of the cast really delivers a realistic pre-wedding preparation. From Leia and Han, Corran and Mirax, Wedge and Iella, and was that Winter and Tycho, among the others? -they really showed how they've bonded, and how the hopes for the future were huge, before disaster struck with the Yuuzhan Vong war, Jacen Solo's war, and Abeloth's Sith War. Here were people doing what real people do!
May 23, 2025
I'm always in two minds over stories featuring the actors faces from the feature films. If the artist gets it right, it gives the story a level of authenticity but if they get it wrong...it comes off looking like a horrible parody.
Thankfully, Teranishi is a very capable artist so captures all the myriad expressions of the likes of Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill (and I'm pretty sure I saw Tommy Lee Jones in there too!) with making them look like a disgy waxwork.
Stackpole again proves why he deserves the credit as much as Timothy Zahn for building the Extended Universe, weaving bitter Imperials together with devoted Jedi that genuinely makes you wonder just how things will be resolved by stories end.
Thankfully, Teranishi is a very capable artist so captures all the myriad expressions of the likes of Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill (and I'm pretty sure I saw Tommy Lee Jones in there too!) with making them look like a disgy waxwork.
Stackpole again proves why he deserves the credit as much as Timothy Zahn for building the Extended Universe, weaving bitter Imperials together with devoted Jedi that genuinely makes you wonder just how things will be resolved by stories end.
January 13, 2022
After Luke Skywalker proposed to Mara Jade at the end of Vision of the Future, this comic tells us about their wedding. Essentially, this tells about both the preparations for the wedding, and a plot by ex-imperials to disrupt it. The story's a good story my problem is with the art. It's not bad art and works for the story, however, it's very hard to pick out who's who. I can tell Han, and usually Luke, if Mara's hair is visible, I can pick her out. But the other people who are either new or from the various novels of the era are much harder to pick out. Still, that said, it's a good story and well worth the read.
January 7, 2023
This 4 part series was just as silly as I remembered thinking it was back when it first released. The Luke and Mara lovey dovey parts were still cringe and the side plot of a bunch of ex-Imperials wanting to wreck the wedding never made any sense. I also didn't care for the art. The male characters all looked similar and looked about 20 years older than they were supposed to be.
April 1, 2025
3.25 ⭐
I have to admit it, the art is ass, but, I'm here for the story not the art. This comic felt a lot like a fanfiction, I think it may have to do with the fact that it was definitely cheesy, but hey, I have always loved that type of media. Overall, does this comic deserve a lower rating? Yes, do I love Mara and Luke too much to give it a fair rating? Also yes.
I have to admit it, the art is ass, but, I'm here for the story not the art. This comic felt a lot like a fanfiction, I think it may have to do with the fact that it was definitely cheesy, but hey, I have always loved that type of media. Overall, does this comic deserve a lower rating? Yes, do I love Mara and Luke too much to give it a fair rating? Also yes.
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