Star Wars: Rebellion, Vol. 1: My Brother, My Enemy

Star Wars: Rebellion #1

by Rob Williams (Writer), Michel Lacombe

Having rescued Rebel strategist Jorin Sol from the Empire, Luke Skywalker now leads X-Wing attack runs on Imperial convoys to rustle up much needed supplies for the Rebel fleet. Little does he know that within Sol lies a secret that will put the entire Alliance in danger. What's worse, when Luke receives a coded message from Lt. Sunber, he must decide whether to trust his old friend or obey the orders of Princess Leia who believes Tank may be part of an Imperial plot to capture the Rebellion's greatest hero!

Genres: Star Wars, Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published March 6, 2003

Reviews

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this review and more on my blog.

Star Wars: Rebellion was underwhelming to say the least.

I am still trying to figure out what the storyline actually was, and what the writers had wanted to add to the Star Wars universe with this.

I was unable to connect to any of the characters, and I did not feel any worry for anyone in it. Although it did add some new characters into the fold, their motives and subsequent actions are extremely predictable. Not that I am saying that it is bad to have predictable characters, sometimes it adds to the story, but every action by everyone was so predictable that I even managed to guess what they were going to say next.

The art style was good for the big panels and the 2 page splash pages (those were my favourite parts of this graphic novel), but apart fro that I found it almost distracting. At times I was reading sone dialogue and the facial expressions did not match what was being said.

I do not know whether this is me just trying to find fault with it but in all honesty it is just not up to scratch. The only redeeming parts of it is the big panels and splash pages.

It is a good thing that this coming is now Legends as it had not added anything of value to the Star Wars universe.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rebellion gets a bit more ambitious than Empire but builds really strongly on the seeds it planted. The weak links here for me are Tank's angsty backstory about Luke, which comes kind of out of nowhere and kind of erases his great introduction in Empire, and the weight it puts on double crosses and mind control (Jorin Sol's arc is the weakest in the two series probs). I love the art, the scale, the writing mostly, and Deena as a character. Definitely hits the quality and innovation I want to see in the comics regularly but which Empire delivered only inconsistently.

[Stephen Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually quite liked this one. It collects the first six issues of the Rebellion comic series and revolves, as several of the preceding series, Empire, did, around Janek Sunber, an Imperial officer that Luke Skywalker used to know before he joined the Empire. Sunber's a really cool, complicated character. There's a scene where the series could have killed off a recurring character in a really brutal and dark way and I wish they'd done it instead of saving the character in a contrived way. But still, really enjoyable.

[Jonathan Harbour · Rating 2 out of 5]

Writing is sub par and there's too much rollover from a previous series that clogs the introduction. instead of bringing the reader up to speed it just lets you know that you missed out and you're not going to be able to follow what's going on. I'm not surprised that this series was short-lived it doesn't come up to the same level as dark times or Kotor.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

small piece of a larger storyline.

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Wars Legends Project #263

Background: My Brother, My Enemy, released in February of 2007, collects issues #0-5 of Rebellion (Mar-Dec 2006). "Crossroads" (#0) was written by Thomas Andrews and drawn by Michel Lacombe. "My Brother, My Enemy" (#1-5) was written by Rob Williams with art by Brandon Badeaux (mostly . . . issue #3 was drawn by Lacombe). Thomas Andrews is a pseudonym of Jeremy Barlow, who wrote or edited several dozen issues of Star Wars comics. Lacombe drew for several issues of Rebellion, as well as a few of Empire. Williams wrote a dozen issues of Rebellion and a few stories for Tales, and Badeaux drew about a dozen issues across various series.

My Brother, My Enemy is set 9 months after the Battle of Yavin, picking up about where the final issue of Empire left off. The main characters are Luke, Leia, Janek Sunber, Deena Shan, Jorin Sol, and Darth Vader. Most of the story takes place at various locations in space, largely aboard the Rebel Fleet.

Summary: The Rebellion's daring mission to rescue Jorin Sol has seemingly succeeded, and they have returned safely to rejoin the rest of the fleet, with Sol in treatment for his wounds. But all is not as well as it seems. Sol has been turned, brainwashed by Imperial torturers. He has not only given up the location of the Rebel Fleet and the algorithm the Rebels are using to plot their movements, but he is now operating as a sleeper agent for the Empire, awaiting the right moment to strike. Meanwhile, Luke's old friend Tank from Tatooine, now Imperial Lieutenant Janek Sunber, reports to Darth Vader and helps lay a trap for Luke, and the rest of the Rebellion. Despite recent small victories, Vader is poised to turn the Rebels' successes into ruinous failure.

Review: I was pretty excited to return to this storyline as the one really good thread to emerge out of the otherwise scattered Empire run. Obviously a lot was left unresolved, and this arc jumps right into gathering up those threads and unspooling them further. Plus there are a lot of major characters here who don't appear in the movies, so their fates are uncertain. Any of them could die at any time, and the peril feels real and immediate which always makes for a better read. Overall, I was satisfied with how the story unfolded and developed. The tension builds and builds well past the point that the reader can easily see how the good guys will get out of this situation . . . at first unscathed, and then failing that, without serious damage, and then failing even that, at least alive?

I will say that I've appreciated how some of the comics dealing with this era have written Luke's difficulties fitting into his role as a Hero of the Rebellion but also someone who isn't very high up in the hierarchy of the organization . . . but I didn't care for it here. It's not that he doesn't come off well, which can work fine, but that the story basically explicitly states that he's too important and too well known for the Rebellion to really do anything if he decides to totally ignore the chain of command. And he does that here with truly devastating consequences. I'd like to think that this will be addressed in future issues, but I have a feeling it won't even be acknowledged. I was also slightly let down by how the central conflict of the arc was concluded, though perhaps there may be a bit more to come down the road, at least as far as the surviving characters are concerned (trying to tiptoe around spoilers here).

Finally, I wasn't fully conscious of this while I was reading, but thinking back the artwork didn't quite do it for me. It's mostly the way the humans are drawn, with massive barrel chests and bulging necks. Almost everyone looks cartoonishly ripped, regardless of gender, and it's a pretty significant departure from how they've been drawn elsewhere. One exception to this, and also a new character, is the Rebel spymaster Tungo Li. He doesn't seem great at this job because of how this story is written, but I'm interested to see more of him in future issues!

Overall, this is an okay continuation of storyline that I am really invested in, and definitely worth reading as part of that whole.

B+

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this is a good Star Wars comic. A relatively self-contained adventure featuring the movie heroes, plus the best characters from the previous Empire series. There's space-shootin', fist-punchin', back-stabbin', and plenty of obvious twists that nonetheless go down smooth.

Lieutenant Sunber ("Tank") is back, brooding about his dust-up with Luke on Kalist IV. Is the Empire good? Or is Luke right? Luke, meanwhile, is free-wheeling around the galaxy, collecting materials for a rebellion on the ropes. Another Empire character, Jorin Sol, remains in a bacta tank at the center of the rebel fleet. These characters, plus Leia and a handful of weirdo aliens, come together in a tragic, explosive conclusion that seems like it'll leave a mark on all characters involved - a rare sensation for Star Wars comics, where most adventures feel less than impactful.

I'm tempted to complain about the odd artwork with its harsh colors and unnecessarily deep shadows, but hey, these comics are from 2007. Art was probably different way back then.

[Rivulet027 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The brainwashing aspects were interesting. So was how the whole spying/finding information/and how it's distributed. The stakes seemed high. The characters all took themselves very seriously. It was enough to keep me reading until the end. I didn't like that Luke and Leia argued with each other in every interaction. This characterization for Luke wasn't really my thing (he came off as a jerk), but I found several of the minor characters interesting.

[Alyce Caswell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure why the series' name changed from Empire to Rebellion, since it's still the same storyline. Anyone picking up this TPB and expecting a new series would have been confused and annoyed, I'd wager. But since I like the Sunber storyline, I was pleased to see more of him and his struggle to be both an Imperial and a good man. It's a pity the art was so off-putting at times - that and the fact that everyone was so shouty! - since there is such a solid foundation here.

[Olmota · Rating 5 out of 5]

War ganz cool für zwischendurch. Man hätte mehr noch auf den Zwiespalt von Janek eingehen können, da das ziemlich kurz kam. Vor allem seine Zeit im Imperium war auch Recht kurz und der Comic hätte ein paar Seiten mehr verdient. Trotzdem cool

[David Kujawa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good story, but jumped around feeling disjointed and felt like it tried to do a little too much. It was hard at times to tell if different events were supposed to appear like they were happening at the same time or if they were happening in order without any kind of transition.

[Garrett Ballendine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ouch that was bad.
Characters make stupid choices with cringy soap opera dialog.
The art has a clear sexualization slander on any female characters. Gross.

The space battle scenes were fantastic though. Pew pew. X-Wing's looked great.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahh classic old canon Star Wars. It warms the cookies of my heart.

[angelofmine1974 · Rating 2 out of 5]

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/l5JgLBBq1QY

Enjoy!

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fans of the original Star Wars trilogy will be drawn into this series. The Rebel Alliance is going strong, and readers are introduced to another whole set of characters who are fighting to overthrow the Galactic Empire.

Luke Skywalker is quickly moving up the ranks, thanks to his success in blowing up the Death Star. As a result, he and his friends are playing an increasingly important role in various missions. In one such mission, he recovered Jorin Sol, an important strategist for the Alliance from being held by the Empire. Unfortunately, sometimes people have more secrets than we realize, and Sol knows something that could bring the whol Rebellion down.

Within the Empire, Luke learns that Lt Sunber, a former childhood friend from Tatooine, has some information for him. Sunber's coded message indicates that he has some secret information that could protect the Rebels from the Empire, but Luke can't help but wonder whether he should really trust a Rebel agent even if they were once friends

Trust takes on major importance in this collection of short pieces. The Alliance is definitely making headway against the Empire, but so many of the people working for it (most of them new characters created just for this comic run) have dark pasts that would place them and the Rebels in danger. Will they be able to come together as a team in order to defeat the Empire?

I thought this was pretty well done, but I find that the stories are not as connected as I would have liked. There are so many new characters introduced, that I could only hope they will slowly come together to connect the various plots as the series progresses. It is worth picking up these books, though, if you would like to go back down memory lane to the period before the newer Star Wars trilogy came out.

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rob Williams pens and Brandon Badeaux draws for this Star Wars graphic novel about rebellion. The book focuses on a string of characters and their subplots, detailing how resistance - or lack thereof - had lead to the galactic battle that threatens star systems. Engineer Jorin Sol was a nobody until being sent with Luke Sywalker on a diplomatic mission. Though Luke escaped the Empire, Sol would be taken and tortured] at Vader's request. A lieutenant in the Imperial Army, Janek Sunber was a childhood friend of Luke's who willingly embarked on a career for the governmental regime. Sunber's encounter with his friend-turned-Rebel Jedi would bring into question his own sanity and life choices. As both men deal with their tenuous ties to a Skywalker, the young Jedi warrior must discern who he can trust amid an ever-suspicious Rebellion. While the notion of seeing an Imperial officer question his role in the day-to-day operations was enlightening, the Williams and Badeaux instead present a multitude of names and faces all vying for attention. The brainwashed Sol is relegated to but a few panels and an attempted murder, all but forgotten during the soul-searching nightmares of Sunber and his eventual waffling. Luke himself continues his trend of whiny impulsiveness, while the rescued Leia is painted as cold and calculating. The only high point is drunkard Deena Shan, a Rebellion member whose self-loathing and failed relationships has her jumping at any chance for acceptance. My Brother, My Enemy is a prime example of the concerns with the Star Wars Universe - a cast of thousands, each seeking a brief chance at stardom amid a family squabble in space.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whilst it was a bit hard to follow most of the time, with unnecessary side characters and sub plots that shouldn't have been included, the first volume of Star Wars: Rebellion wasn't that bad? It definitely wasn't incredible, but it could have been worse. The first issue in this volume follows an Imperial lieutenant who used to be friends with Luke and Biggs back on Tatooine. He spends a lot of time being conflicted over whether the side he is on is the right one. This issue had promise, but as the story went on the focus fell away from this plot line (which albeit was the most interesting of the lot) and as a result the volume as a whole felt mediocre.

There is some weird rebel armour which is introduced about halfway through and this honestly annoyed me more than anything else. They look like Rebel variants of shadow troopers. Meh. Whilst the two page spreads were quite lovely, overall the art style was average. I probably won't be reading the next volume, firstly because I don't own it (and can't be bothered to find it) and secondly because I just really don't care.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely written comic. The story focuses on how the empire infiltrates the rebel alliance by brainwashing one of their own and using an old friend of Luke's, from Tatooine. The story leaves you wondering what their motives are and which side they end up on (and I'm not giving that away). Especially Luke's friend. The conflict of it all and which of them is fighting for the right side is well written.
The writer did a good job expression various thoughts and emotions and were also caught well enough by the artist. Te artistic style was very details which I like. I really enjoyed they way he played and worked with shadowing. My only complaint was the characters were often drawn looking too old. He was suppose to be around 18 years old but does not look it. Nor does Leia. Otherwise though, very well done.

[James Bardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Wars Rebellion is the story of Luke Skywalker and the Rebellion in between Episodes 4 and 5.
It starts off with a story about this one guy, who they never showed again. I see how it related to the story, but still, it was a bit random. But after it picked up. I really enjoyed how they saw into the mind of an imperial officer and I see how and why he became one. The movies never really humanized them, but they did a good job in this. It had a good story and I always like it when the main character meets an old friend, and they aren't so sure they can trust each other.
It was a bit predictable and cheesy at times though.
Overall I really enjoyed it and any Star Wars fan should give it a try.

[Brenda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not the best judge of Graphic Novels because I just don't read them enough. Having said that, this one didn't really do it for me. The illustrations were very vivid but the story did not hold my interest. In all fairness, I don't read any of the Star Wars books either but it was there so I picked it up. I'll send this copy to my nephew who will more than likely enjoy it a LOT more than I did. He may even know who these characters are and understand the back story too.

Can't really say if I recommend this or not simply because I am really a fish out of water here. I'll be the insecure girlfriend in this relationship and say, "It's probably just me."

[Mike Jozic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rob Williams has done some great work outside of the Star Wars universe, and it can be said that his work within it is also exemplary. So often these licensed books can miss the mark but Williams has managed to capture both the essence of the characters and the saga itself. It has a very natural feel to its storytelling and could easily be taken as an extension of the films. The art by Lacomb and Badeaux is equally faithful and some of the best EU work I've run across. Worth checking out whether you're a steadfast fan, or one of those Lucas has lost along the way.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

This first volume of Rebellion feels like it's later in the series - the zero issue included especially focuses on telling about a character, and the first issue feels like we're joining a story already in progress, and not just for the major characters (Luke and Leia both feature prominently). It's all about the ideas of a civil war, with people who were once friends ending up on opposite sides, and questions of who can be trusted and when. There's a fair bit of action, but it's the ethical questions that really seem to be the heart of the book.

[Mike McDevitt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good artwork, so-so story. What dianoga crawled up Luke's shorts to make him so cranky? Tank holds back on betraying the Rebels he's infiltrated... what, about six minutes? MAYBE? Is that the best use the Empire can put a couple of moles to- leaping out of bacta tanks and stabbing one, maybe two rebels before they get gunned down? Anyway, Kara Thrace... I MEAN Deena Shan came along, so it's not all bad.

[Josh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really Dark Horse, you couldn't have had Hartley and Fabbri pump out five more issues to wrap up Lt. Sunbar's storyline? I don't have much of anything to say about Williams' writing other than I got the impression that he wanted to wrap this up as quickly as possible to get to his own story. This volume also contains some of the worst artwork I have seen from Bardeaux (who is usually very good) and Wil Glass' colors are not doing the artwork any favors.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This uses the cliche of friends on opposite sides of the war, but sometimes it is interesting. However, there are certain things that Luke does that make me cringe, like immediately trusting an old friend who has changed and being whiny when Leia gives him the cold shoulder. But at least he did not take advantage of Deena when she was drunk. Some of the artwork is incredible, but sometimes it looks like there is too much going on and gets confusing.

[Malcolm Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a continuation of the story arc started in the Empire series of which I’ve only read books 1 & 2 (because that’s all I’ve got). As such, there are some characters and situations that I’m not fully up to speed on. Despite that, this was well told with some stunning visuals. It really dug deep into the hearts of Tank and Luke on opposing sides where both believe they are on the side of right.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm starting to realize that, unless the stories take place before or after the movie, Star Wars comics are nice but not so great. I love Legacy and Dark Times, and have a soft spot for KOTOR, but Rebellion was only interesting to me because it was Star Wars, not because it was a great story.

[Hillingdon Libraries]

Find this book at Hillingdon Libraries

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

The start of the Rebellion series pretty good, but not great.

[Julian Chavez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was not that bad and i enjoyed it becasue it really went into detail about Luke's life.