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Star Wars (2015)
Star Wars, Vol. 7: The Ashes of Jedha
The specter of the devastating weapon brought together a patchwork cloth of people, united in hope. And now these rebels continue to fight for a better tomorrow for a galaxy far, far away! Jedha was left in ruins when the Death Star annihilated the Holy City--now, as Queen Trios' forces move in to strip what's left, the rebels struggle to preserve the planet for its survivors! With the Leviathan looming, Luke Skywalker is torn between his allegiance to the Rebellion and pursuing the path of a Jedi--so who will lead the charge against the Empire? The echoes of Rogue One continue to be heard in an all-new adventure written by Kieron Gillen (DARTH VADER, DOCTOR APHRA). COLLECTING: STAR WARS 38-43
144 pages, Paperback
First published April 17, 2018
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About the author
Kieron Gillen
1,472 books1,907 followersKieron Gillen is a comic book writer and former media journalist.
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June 13, 2018
The fate of Jedha!
I bought this in its single comic book issues, but I chosen this TPB edition to be able of making a better overall review.
This TPB edition collects “Star Wars” #38-43.
This comic book run is set after the events of “Star Wars IV: A New Hope” but before the events of “Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back”.
Creative Team:
Writer: Jason Aaron
Illustrator: Salvador Larroca
JEDHA’S AFTERMATH
The situation is… hostile.
We’re the Empire, you little fool. We thrive on hostile. The universe says “no” and we twist its arm until it howls “yes”.
After the destruction of the Death Star, it’s obvious that the Empire got quite short of kyber crystals since the most of its reverves were onboard the huge mobile space station, so they need to get more, and the only place is…
…Jedha.
But, that particular planet was the first target practice of the dissapeared Death Star, and while it only was hit with the power of one generator…
…not only Jedha City become dust, but the planet itself got a deep impact creating a gigantic hole, unbalanced not only its atmospheric environment but even…
…The Force got unbalanced there!
Saw Gerrera is no more, but his partisans still are fighting in a ruined world, and now with a kinda of unwanted boost of Rebel Alliance forces lead by Leia, along with Luke and Han, the Empire detachment sent there to look for kyber crystals is having a headache to achieve its mission…
…Enter: General Kanchar!
A very tall and massive, uber-brawny, and with a versatile cybernetic arm, Imperial Officer assigned to fix the lack of kyber crystals shipments.
And along with the mining advisement of Queen Trios of Shu-Torun (previously seen in this comic book run), the new commander in what remains of Jedha, expects to solve the hostile situation soon.
While Rebels and Partisans battle against the Galactic Empire, their own methods couldn’t be more different, so an “alliance” between the two resistance groups is quite fragile and not easy to make it work against formidable enemies.
But, don’t forget that Jedha used to be a key Jedi place, not only for the kyber crystals but also for its Jedi temples, and young Luke Skywalker wants to look for any remaining Jedi building for any clue for his already struggled self-training to become a Jedi Knight.
I bought this in its single comic book issues, but I chosen this TPB edition to be able of making a better overall review.
This TPB edition collects “Star Wars” #38-43.
This comic book run is set after the events of “Star Wars IV: A New Hope” but before the events of “Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back”.
Creative Team:
Writer: Jason Aaron
Illustrator: Salvador Larroca
JEDHA’S AFTERMATH
The situation is… hostile.
We’re the Empire, you little fool. We thrive on hostile. The universe says “no” and we twist its arm until it howls “yes”.
After the destruction of the Death Star, it’s obvious that the Empire got quite short of kyber crystals since the most of its reverves were onboard the huge mobile space station, so they need to get more, and the only place is…
…Jedha.
But, that particular planet was the first target practice of the dissapeared Death Star, and while it only was hit with the power of one generator…
…not only Jedha City become dust, but the planet itself got a deep impact creating a gigantic hole, unbalanced not only its atmospheric environment but even…
…The Force got unbalanced there!
Saw Gerrera is no more, but his partisans still are fighting in a ruined world, and now with a kinda of unwanted boost of Rebel Alliance forces lead by Leia, along with Luke and Han, the Empire detachment sent there to look for kyber crystals is having a headache to achieve its mission…
…Enter: General Kanchar!
A very tall and massive, uber-brawny, and with a versatile cybernetic arm, Imperial Officer assigned to fix the lack of kyber crystals shipments.
And along with the mining advisement of Queen Trios of Shu-Torun (previously seen in this comic book run), the new commander in what remains of Jedha, expects to solve the hostile situation soon.
While Rebels and Partisans battle against the Galactic Empire, their own methods couldn’t be more different, so an “alliance” between the two resistance groups is quite fragile and not easy to make it work against formidable enemies.
But, don’t forget that Jedha used to be a key Jedi place, not only for the kyber crystals but also for its Jedi temples, and young Luke Skywalker wants to look for any remaining Jedi building for any clue for his already struggled self-training to become a Jedi Knight.
August 4, 2018
The Screaming Citadel was as big a flashing red warning sign as there could’ve been that Kieron Gillen was NOT the writer to be taking over Star Wars from Jason Aaron and yet he still did. And The Ashes of Jedha is as terrible as The Screaming Citadel was. Right again, Marvel!
The Empire want to mine kyber crystals (aka lightsaber batteries) from the ruins of Jedha - that planet from Rogue One - and Rebels show up to stop them. Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie act as predictably as the plot plays out. The real conflict comes from keeping your eyes open when reading this rubbish!
There are some pointless references to Rogue One and the new characters are bland, boring nobodies I didn’t care about. I guess Salvador Larroca’s art is ok though I hated how fucking weird most of the characters’ faces looked - like Larroca couldn’t be bothered to draw them so he used real life models/movie stills, slapped a shit Instagram filter over them and stuck them in?? It looks so ugly!
Marvel, if you’re listening, it’s time to stop with these awful stories featuring the original cast. Let’s spotlight some new characters, new settings, a new era - let’s start taking some risks instead of grinding out more of this unexciting, play-it-safe crapola, ok?
Don’t get burned by Star Wars, Volume 7: The Ashes of Jedha - avoid!
The Empire want to mine kyber crystals (aka lightsaber batteries) from the ruins of Jedha - that planet from Rogue One - and Rebels show up to stop them. Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie act as predictably as the plot plays out. The real conflict comes from keeping your eyes open when reading this rubbish!
There are some pointless references to Rogue One and the new characters are bland, boring nobodies I didn’t care about. I guess Salvador Larroca’s art is ok though I hated how fucking weird most of the characters’ faces looked - like Larroca couldn’t be bothered to draw them so he used real life models/movie stills, slapped a shit Instagram filter over them and stuck them in?? It looks so ugly!
Marvel, if you’re listening, it’s time to stop with these awful stories featuring the original cast. Let’s spotlight some new characters, new settings, a new era - let’s start taking some risks instead of grinding out more of this unexciting, play-it-safe crapola, ok?
Don’t get burned by Star Wars, Volume 7: The Ashes of Jedha - avoid!
August 8, 2021
This collection is part of a series but this can be read as a stand alone. In this one, there is a group that survived the disaster on Jedha and they are fighting against the Empire. Leia, Luke, and Han travel there to see if this group will join the Rebel Alliance.
I really enjoyed the story and the story itself is easily worth more than a three star rating. This story ties in with the movie Rogue One. What I liked about this story was how it tackled little things that were glossed over from one movie to another. This collection starts to address issues that people might have questions from A New Hope to The Empire Strikes Back. Some of these questions could be how does Han go from a person who only cares about himself to a ranking official. This collection goes into how characters accept their new roles and how they face them and I really enjoyed this aspect. Then why the three star rating? Once again the artwork is a failure. Once again they have photo shopped faces to the characters instead of drawing the faces of the characters. And now they are doing it not just for characters that have appeared in the movies but for all characters. It is just awful and it takes away from the enjoyment of the story. There was one panel that made me laugh out loud as it had a sexual connotation.
This story is excellent as is most of the stories in this comic's run. Once again the artwork of the characters takes center stage. It is a shame too because the artwork for the background is really good. It evokes the dire atmosphere of a destroyed world. The problem is when I am reading about a dire situation and I am laughing because it looks like a character just...I'll leave the rest of the that sentence to your imagination. This idea for the artwork needs to change before I can truly start really enjoying these comics again. I just cannot get past the artwork.
I really enjoyed the story and the story itself is easily worth more than a three star rating. This story ties in with the movie Rogue One. What I liked about this story was how it tackled little things that were glossed over from one movie to another. This collection starts to address issues that people might have questions from A New Hope to The Empire Strikes Back. Some of these questions could be how does Han go from a person who only cares about himself to a ranking official. This collection goes into how characters accept their new roles and how they face them and I really enjoyed this aspect. Then why the three star rating? Once again the artwork is a failure. Once again they have photo shopped faces to the characters instead of drawing the faces of the characters. And now they are doing it not just for characters that have appeared in the movies but for all characters. It is just awful and it takes away from the enjoyment of the story. There was one panel that made me laugh out loud as it had a sexual connotation.
This story is excellent as is most of the stories in this comic's run. Once again the artwork of the characters takes center stage. It is a shame too because the artwork for the background is really good. It evokes the dire atmosphere of a destroyed world. The problem is when I am reading about a dire situation and I am laughing because it looks like a character just...I'll leave the rest of the that sentence to your imagination. This idea for the artwork needs to change before I can truly start really enjoying these comics again. I just cannot get past the artwork.
April 19, 2019
Sort of a dull 'SW' adventure. I actually nodded off in the middle of the book - hardly a ringing endorsement, to be sure, and especially alarming since it was after I had consumed a large coffee (!). Anyway, the few interesting parts were the action scenes in the opening pages, a mention of the heroes from the Rogue One story-line and finally Luke Skywalker's all-too-brief dueling encounter with 'bad guy of the moment' Commander Kanchar (as movie critic Roger Ebert once said, villains "usually have a hard C or K in their names" - I guess this character wanted to bury the competition!) near the climax. This volume was a disappointment compared to the rest of the series.
April 18, 2023
Reread: 18/04/2023
Last time I read it, I rated it so harshly but okay its not that bad after seeing Rogue one and other events transpiring here and reading Gillen's vader run, its kinda fun seeing the rebels perspective on the sacrifice of Jyn erso and Rogue one and its fantastic and connects everything together so well. The characterization of Luke suffering from the dilemma of finding the Jedi temple here on Jedha (as its a natural place for them) or helping the rebellion is so well done and then showing new enemies in Kanchar was quite fun, he has that electric axe which is a funny and new kinda weapon and it should have been more of a long fight but I loved the way Trios is introduced here and you can see her shifting allegiances (again you need to read Gillen's DV run for this one) and like it seems like a big story with her is coming and the rest of the battle while predictable has some good moments and you will enjoy it for sure.
_______________________________________________________________________
Luke, Han and Leia must go to a planet or what remains of it called Jedha and prevent the empire from getting Khyber Crystals. Also there is a new baldie bad guy named Commander Kanchar and he has that presence like big bads in Star Wars do and he has allied himself with Queen Trios and they wanna mine the remaining Khyber crystal in Jedha. Meanwhile Luke and co team up with Ubin Des and other remaining rebels sorta including Benthic to stop them and they have fights and all and ultimately prevent it and has some twists like Queen Trios playing both sides, Luke having an interesting moment with what it means to be a Jedi and Han leading. This book is super boring and has no story for real. Just a bunch of filler nonsense and same old themes and things that you know, in the larger context the story doesn't matter and the villains just come off as forgettable and some who had potential are squandered away and the art is just traced 3-D models and is so uninspiring. Kind of disappointed.
Last time I read it, I rated it so harshly but okay its not that bad after seeing Rogue one and other events transpiring here and reading Gillen's vader run, its kinda fun seeing the rebels perspective on the sacrifice of Jyn erso and Rogue one and its fantastic and connects everything together so well. The characterization of Luke suffering from the dilemma of finding the Jedi temple here on Jedha (as its a natural place for them) or helping the rebellion is so well done and then showing new enemies in Kanchar was quite fun, he has that electric axe which is a funny and new kinda weapon and it should have been more of a long fight but I loved the way Trios is introduced here and you can see her shifting allegiances (again you need to read Gillen's DV run for this one) and like it seems like a big story with her is coming and the rest of the battle while predictable has some good moments and you will enjoy it for sure.
_______________________________________________________________________
Luke, Han and Leia must go to a planet or what remains of it called Jedha and prevent the empire from getting Khyber Crystals. Also there is a new baldie bad guy named Commander Kanchar and he has that presence like big bads in Star Wars do and he has allied himself with Queen Trios and they wanna mine the remaining Khyber crystal in Jedha. Meanwhile Luke and co team up with Ubin Des and other remaining rebels sorta including Benthic to stop them and they have fights and all and ultimately prevent it and has some twists like Queen Trios playing both sides, Luke having an interesting moment with what it means to be a Jedi and Han leading. This book is super boring and has no story for real. Just a bunch of filler nonsense and same old themes and things that you know, in the larger context the story doesn't matter and the villains just come off as forgettable and some who had potential are squandered away and the art is just traced 3-D models and is so uninspiring. Kind of disappointed.
November 25, 2024
In Volume 9 of the Marvel Comics’ Star Wars series (not volume 7, according to Goodreads), “The Ashes of Jedha”: Luke and Leia return to the devastated planet of Jedha, bombed by the Death Star in “Rogue One”, in hopes of finding surviving members of the Partisans, the militant Rebel group led by Saw Gererra; the Imperials are still mining the dead planet for kyber crystals, led by Commander Kanchar, who looks like an aging Jesse Ventura with a robot arm, and Queen Trios of Shu-Torun; Luke goes searching for more Jedi wisdom and finds it, the hard way; and Han and Chewie lead another mission to destroy a giant Imperial weapon, which is something they’re pretty good at.
Once again, writer Kieron Gillen and artist Salvador Larroca have struck gold. Seriously, this series continues to get better and better. Onward and upward!
Once again, writer Kieron Gillen and artist Salvador Larroca have struck gold. Seriously, this series continues to get better and better. Onward and upward!
June 13, 2018
Keiron Gillen takes over the book from Jason Aaron and delivers a winning tale. In a Rogue One follow-up, Han, Luke, and Leia head to what's left of Jedha to help the local resistance keep the remaining kyber crystals out of the Empire's hand. The story feels a bit stretched at 6 issues. What you will see in every single review here is that everyone hates Salvador Larroca's photo tracing. The faces look almost cut and pasted out of a magazine over the art like a ransom note. It's REALLY distracting and looks like something a 10-year old would do when making their own comics.
March 7, 2018
I miss the days when Marvel put good artists on the Star Wars books. I liked Aaron’s run but this book needed a change of writer to help give it some freshness and Gillen is someone I welcome to the title. He’s usually a solid writer and has already worked in the new Star Wars canon before (and he doesn’t waste time bringing in characters from his Darth Vader run).
But the art really lets this down because it looks shit. Larroca is someone I’ve progressively gone off more and more because of the way he does facial expressions, which is straight up photoshopping them from various shots from the movies in this case. It was less obvious in the Darth Vader book because there were less human characters, so he didn’t do it as much. But every issue I notice a facial expression and I can even remember which scene and which film it’s from (the downside to being a Star Wars obsessive I guess). It’s bringing the book down. He’s reliable and he’s not that bad of a story teller with his art but the faces are really annoying me now.
But the art really lets this down because it looks shit. Larroca is someone I’ve progressively gone off more and more because of the way he does facial expressions, which is straight up photoshopping them from various shots from the movies in this case. It was less obvious in the Darth Vader book because there were less human characters, so he didn’t do it as much. But every issue I notice a facial expression and I can even remember which scene and which film it’s from (the downside to being a Star Wars obsessive I guess). It’s bringing the book down. He’s reliable and he’s not that bad of a story teller with his art but the faces are really annoying me now.
January 18, 2020
Excellent tales!
Really good stories that add much to the worlds of Star Wars. Many new and fascinating characters both good and bad.
Really good stories that add much to the worlds of Star Wars. Many new and fascinating characters both good and bad.
March 24, 2024
1.5 stars ...
This was 🥱😴💤💤💤
This was 🥱😴💤💤💤
April 10, 2021
Adapted from my weekly Star Wars column over at The Grimoire Reliquary!
Ashes of Jedha sees a great deal many minor characters from Rogue One either referenced or appear in the pages of the trade paperback. Judging by the publication date, these issues weren’t quite a tie-in to that movie but they could’ve been. Make of this what you will. Some elements were of interest, such as the reappearance of Queen Trios, the rather excellent character from the aforementioned Vader run. I also enjoyed the Imperial commander, a rather bad egg with the nastiest robotic arm an imperial salary can buy. Luke reckoned he’d go on a Force quest at the worst of times but of course it all worked out, and he only had to kill one new friend corrupted by the Dark Side.
Han and Leia flirted, probably, and I have the firm suspicion that I might’ve even laughed at one time or another at the antics of the . Excellent characterizations of our heroic triad, but not an altogether memorable adventure, and the side-characters are best left forgotten.
If you’ve got a local library that purchases comics and are itching for another unimpressive Star Wars read – knock yourselves out. If you’d rather read something good…maybe do with a summary of this and the next one, and jump to Hope Dies.
Ashes of Jedha sees a great deal many minor characters from Rogue One either referenced or appear in the pages of the trade paperback. Judging by the publication date, these issues weren’t quite a tie-in to that movie but they could’ve been. Make of this what you will. Some elements were of interest, such as the reappearance of Queen Trios, the rather excellent character from the aforementioned Vader run. I also enjoyed the Imperial commander, a rather bad egg with the nastiest robotic arm an imperial salary can buy. Luke reckoned he’d go on a Force quest at the worst of times but of course it all worked out, and he only had to kill one new friend corrupted by the Dark Side.
Han and Leia flirted, probably, and I have the firm suspicion that I might’ve even laughed at one time or another at the antics of the . Excellent characterizations of our heroic triad, but not an altogether memorable adventure, and the side-characters are best left forgotten.
If you’ve got a local library that purchases comics and are itching for another unimpressive Star Wars read – knock yourselves out. If you’d rather read something good…maybe do with a summary of this and the next one, and jump to Hope Dies.
April 29, 2019
That's more like it. Gillen has managed to steer this title back on track. Aaron was really fumbling this run the last few volumes The story was all over the place with spotty story arc's. It's nice to finally read a contained story with no filler elements. The thing Aaron managed better than Gillen was the excitement factor, but I would trade that for a proper story with high quality writing any day.
Anyone remember Jheda from the rogue one movie? Well the story takes place on the moon which was the first target of the Death Star. It's a dying Moon with drastic climate changes due to recieving the blast from said Death Star. The imperials have their eye on some more Kyber crystals. The cast is highlighted with the survivors of Saw Gerrera's faction. We also get some nice viewpoints from the villains, Han Solo tries his hand at leadership though reluctantly, Luke takes a pilgrimage to the chasm where the central isotopes shrine once stood, and Leia hashes a plan to infiltrate a massive stripmining vehicle that is the size of a city.
Looking forward to volume 8, could use a one more dash of excitement to elevate this series to the next level
Anyone remember Jheda from the rogue one movie? Well the story takes place on the moon which was the first target of the Death Star. It's a dying Moon with drastic climate changes due to recieving the blast from said Death Star. The imperials have their eye on some more Kyber crystals. The cast is highlighted with the survivors of Saw Gerrera's faction. We also get some nice viewpoints from the villains, Han Solo tries his hand at leadership though reluctantly, Luke takes a pilgrimage to the chasm where the central isotopes shrine once stood, and Leia hashes a plan to infiltrate a massive stripmining vehicle that is the size of a city.
Looking forward to volume 8, could use a one more dash of excitement to elevate this series to the next level
December 25, 2020
*4.25
This one wasn't terrible, but it could've been better.
Since this is called "Ashes of Jedha," you can guess that it talks about Rogue One quite a bit, which I really liked. I'm glad that Luke learned about Jyn Erso and the whole Rogue One squadron.
The artwork in here is incredible, and I particularly loved that first image on Luke on page 2. Stunning.
There are so truly excellent Han and Chewie moments in here, which I live for. That "I'm the captain" moment was wonderful.
Ooh also - Queen Trios is here! She is such an intriguing character...
The plot here is where this book is lacking. Luke goes off looking for some Jedi stuff, and Leia and Han and the ground crew are fighting some Imperial machines. The Jedi part is just a bit too weird for me, frankly. Neither plotline really gives the opportunity for a lot of character moments or original movie references - and those are my top two favorite parts of these graphic novels.
4.25/5 stars.
This one wasn't terrible, but it could've been better.
Since this is called "Ashes of Jedha," you can guess that it talks about Rogue One quite a bit, which I really liked. I'm glad that Luke learned about Jyn Erso and the whole Rogue One squadron.
The artwork in here is incredible, and I particularly loved that first image on Luke on page 2. Stunning.
There are so truly excellent Han and Chewie moments in here, which I live for. That "I'm the captain" moment was wonderful.
Ooh also - Queen Trios is here! She is such an intriguing character...
The plot here is where this book is lacking. Luke goes off looking for some Jedi stuff, and Leia and Han and the ground crew are fighting some Imperial machines. The Jedi part is just a bit too weird for me, frankly. Neither plotline really gives the opportunity for a lot of character moments or original movie references - and those are my top two favorite parts of these graphic novels.
4.25/5 stars.
August 4, 2021
This volume of Star Wars wasn't bad but rather underwhelming after the excellent previous volumes. This one "ties in" with the story from the movie "Rogue One".
The Death Star has destroyed Jedha. Queen Trios has brought her forces and some random Cybernetic armed Imperial General who does bad Darth Vader impressions, to accompany a mining machine named the "Leviathan".
Some of the Rebels from Jedha get together with Luke-Leia and Han to fight the Imperials. Luke seems to be caught between doing dumb Rebel stuff while ignoring his Jedi training.
That's the gist. The artwork isn't as good as usual, but never bad. So all in all a good addition to the series, but nothing to rave about. Nice to see some incorporation of the movie Rebels and the ones on the Comic level, all interacting. But that's about it. I didn't think much of the cybernetic-armed Imperial.
The Death Star has destroyed Jedha. Queen Trios has brought her forces and some random Cybernetic armed Imperial General who does bad Darth Vader impressions, to accompany a mining machine named the "Leviathan".
Some of the Rebels from Jedha get together with Luke-Leia and Han to fight the Imperials. Luke seems to be caught between doing dumb Rebel stuff while ignoring his Jedi training.
That's the gist. The artwork isn't as good as usual, but never bad. So all in all a good addition to the series, but nothing to rave about. Nice to see some incorporation of the movie Rebels and the ones on the Comic level, all interacting. But that's about it. I didn't think much of the cybernetic-armed Imperial.
February 10, 2019
Re read but still think its just early days of Gillens run. I started it again as I just finished his Vader run and loved it. Solid without the same impact as Aaron.
February 15, 2021
5 🌟
Leia, Luke, and Han go to Jedha and stop the Empire from extracting kyber.
Leia, Luke, and Han go to Jedha and stop the Empire from extracting kyber.
January 10, 2020
Once you learn to get past those weird, weird faces the story Gillen is telling here is actually really solid, and does a lot to fit the story and sacrifice of Rogue One into the narrative of our familiar heroes Luke, Leia and Han, as well as bringing back some of Gillen's past creations from his very solid Star Wars: Darth Vader, Vol. 3: The Shu-Torun War in the Queen of Shu-Torun and her minions.
Those faces, though...
Those faces, though...
November 17, 2021
I love anything tied into Jedha, but I didn’t like the story as much for this one. I’m excited to see where Trios’ story leads though!
March 25, 2019
It's been a while since I have followed the flagship comic series for the star wars canon, but now I am back for the 7th volume that chronicles the adventures of Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, R2-D2, and C-3PO between "A New Hope" and "The Empire Strikes Back".
This series has gone through some ups and downs. Jason Aaron, who wrote the first six volumes and was a cowriter on the two crossovers that took place in between them, began this series to a solid start with the first three volumes (in fact, I LOVED Showdown on the Smuggler's Moon). Vol. 3: Rebel Jail was still pretty good, but looking back it was the start of a downhill spiral- Vol. 4: Last Flight of the Harbinger was a complete misfire, and the series never recovered while Jason Aaron was still the writer. Between volumes 3 and 6, the I got the sense that Aaron ran out of ideas for where to take the narrative of this comic. Rebel Jail was just a dragged out way to resolve a plot thread from the Vader Down crossover, and Last Flight was a completely generic filler story that didn't really advance anything. Vol. 5: Yoda's Secret War literally told a story within a story within a story using Ben Kenobi's Journal entries, and Vol. 6: Out Among the Stars just did a bunch of unconnected one-shots, not even committing to a single story all the way through.
To make matters worse, I got even more worried when I heard that Kieron Gillen would be replacing Jason Aaron: at the time of the announcement, his catalog of canon star wars comics wasn't that great: I thought his Darth Vader, comic completely nose-dived after a great first volume, and his contributions to Vader Down were the weakest parts of that crossover. Even though the first volume of the Doctor Aphra comic was pretty good, it was just one volume. But then I read The Screaming Citadel, and grew more hopeful. That crossover was a good shot in the arm for the flagship comic series and some of my pessimism I had towards Gillen taking over went away.
After "Ashes of Jedha", I am happy to report that my fears about Kieren Gillen as the writer for this comic didn't come to fruition. While it had some flaws, this shows some welcome promise to a series that I had pretty much lost interest in.
THE STORY: The rebel alliance is still on the lookout for a new planet to call home. But in the meantime, they are looking for any opportunity they can to fight back against the Empire's war machine. This takes them to the ruined shell of Jedha, and to what is left of Saw Gerrera's Partisans, the infamous rebel cell that the alliance distanced themselves from in the past. They aid the partisans now lead by the Tognath Benthic (who can be seen in both "Star Wars Story" films Rogue One and Solo) in stopping the efforts of Queen Trios and a cybernetically enhanced imperial officer to mine what is left of the ruined moon.
THE BAD: this story arc showed newfound promise for the flagship series going forward, but still has some problems.
The biggest one is the artwork. The characters' faces (namely Luke, Han, and Leia) look really bad. Additionally, the action scenes are underwhelming, as many panels have either the combatants or the vehicles/ships involved drawn as silhouettes, making it harder to invest in the sequences.
Another problem I have is the worldbuilding surrounding the Partisans. It was pretty clearly set up in Christie Golden's Inferno Squad that "The Dreamers" were supposedly all that was left of the group. That novel came out first, and also takes place first in the canon timeline (I checked Wookieepedia to make sure I didn't miss anything in this regard). It's not that there being more partisans still surviving isn't believable, I just really wanted this comic to make more of an effort to clarify the discrepancy it created.
THE GOOD: There is quite a bit to like in this story arc, something that I haven't been able to say about the flagship star wars series for a while.
The story is pretty engaging. I like how it tackles the morality of our main heroes working with the partisans, especially after the alliance made an effort to distances themselves from the group before the events of Rebels/Rogue One/A New Hope. It is also just a fun an entertaining rebels vs empire story. Additionally, I liked the inclusion of Queen Trios as one of the main antagonists, as a nice connection to other canon stories and Gillen cherrypicking the good stuff he created from his Darth Vader comic, Queen Trios being one of them (despite the comic overall not being that good).
The characters were great. Han, Leia, Chewie, and the droids were consistent with their characterizations from the original trilogy and what has come before in these comics. This was particularly good for Luke, who got a chance to deal both with the morally reprehensible methods of Benthic and the partisans as well as experience new aspects of the force with the various cults he encounters.
Recurring side characters Benthic and Trios were pretty well done too. Trios goes through some intriguing new developments and I liked how Benthic's character was expanded from his bit roles in the films.
The brand new characters introduced in this comic were also pretty good. Chulco had some interesting philosphical discussions with Luke about the force, and Ubin's backstory about going from the rebel alliance to the more extremist partisans was really interesting too.
Finally, I liked the worldbuilding surrounding Jedha itself. I liked seeing the changes Jedha has gone through, and how the remaining residents of the moon interacted with its ravaged surface.
THE CONCLUSION: Final rating is 3.5 stars. It has some problems, but feels like a much needed "reboot" of sorts for the flagship canon star wars comic. It had a good story, decent worldbuilding, did a great job developing the classic characters, and had an interesting exploration of force-related philosophy and moral dilemmas. This series' connection to the force may have been lost for a bit, but if the seventh volume is any indication, it is slowly coming back.
This series has gone through some ups and downs. Jason Aaron, who wrote the first six volumes and was a cowriter on the two crossovers that took place in between them, began this series to a solid start with the first three volumes (in fact, I LOVED Showdown on the Smuggler's Moon). Vol. 3: Rebel Jail was still pretty good, but looking back it was the start of a downhill spiral- Vol. 4: Last Flight of the Harbinger was a complete misfire, and the series never recovered while Jason Aaron was still the writer. Between volumes 3 and 6, the I got the sense that Aaron ran out of ideas for where to take the narrative of this comic. Rebel Jail was just a dragged out way to resolve a plot thread from the Vader Down crossover, and Last Flight was a completely generic filler story that didn't really advance anything. Vol. 5: Yoda's Secret War literally told a story within a story within a story using Ben Kenobi's Journal entries, and Vol. 6: Out Among the Stars just did a bunch of unconnected one-shots, not even committing to a single story all the way through.
To make matters worse, I got even more worried when I heard that Kieron Gillen would be replacing Jason Aaron: at the time of the announcement, his catalog of canon star wars comics wasn't that great: I thought his Darth Vader, comic completely nose-dived after a great first volume, and his contributions to Vader Down were the weakest parts of that crossover. Even though the first volume of the Doctor Aphra comic was pretty good, it was just one volume. But then I read The Screaming Citadel, and grew more hopeful. That crossover was a good shot in the arm for the flagship comic series and some of my pessimism I had towards Gillen taking over went away.
After "Ashes of Jedha", I am happy to report that my fears about Kieren Gillen as the writer for this comic didn't come to fruition. While it had some flaws, this shows some welcome promise to a series that I had pretty much lost interest in.
THE STORY: The rebel alliance is still on the lookout for a new planet to call home. But in the meantime, they are looking for any opportunity they can to fight back against the Empire's war machine. This takes them to the ruined shell of Jedha, and to what is left of Saw Gerrera's Partisans, the infamous rebel cell that the alliance distanced themselves from in the past. They aid the partisans now lead by the Tognath Benthic (who can be seen in both "Star Wars Story" films Rogue One and Solo) in stopping the efforts of Queen Trios and a cybernetically enhanced imperial officer to mine what is left of the ruined moon.
THE BAD: this story arc showed newfound promise for the flagship series going forward, but still has some problems.
The biggest one is the artwork. The characters' faces (namely Luke, Han, and Leia) look really bad. Additionally, the action scenes are underwhelming, as many panels have either the combatants or the vehicles/ships involved drawn as silhouettes, making it harder to invest in the sequences.
Another problem I have is the worldbuilding surrounding the Partisans. It was pretty clearly set up in Christie Golden's Inferno Squad that "The Dreamers" were supposedly all that was left of the group. That novel came out first, and also takes place first in the canon timeline (I checked Wookieepedia to make sure I didn't miss anything in this regard). It's not that there being more partisans still surviving isn't believable, I just really wanted this comic to make more of an effort to clarify the discrepancy it created.
THE GOOD: There is quite a bit to like in this story arc, something that I haven't been able to say about the flagship star wars series for a while.
The story is pretty engaging. I like how it tackles the morality of our main heroes working with the partisans, especially after the alliance made an effort to distances themselves from the group before the events of Rebels/Rogue One/A New Hope. It is also just a fun an entertaining rebels vs empire story. Additionally, I liked the inclusion of Queen Trios as one of the main antagonists, as a nice connection to other canon stories and Gillen cherrypicking the good stuff he created from his Darth Vader comic, Queen Trios being one of them (despite the comic overall not being that good).
The characters were great. Han, Leia, Chewie, and the droids were consistent with their characterizations from the original trilogy and what has come before in these comics. This was particularly good for Luke, who got a chance to deal both with the morally reprehensible methods of Benthic and the partisans as well as experience new aspects of the force with the various cults he encounters.
Recurring side characters Benthic and Trios were pretty well done too. Trios goes through some intriguing new developments and I liked how Benthic's character was expanded from his bit roles in the films.
The brand new characters introduced in this comic were also pretty good. Chulco had some interesting philosphical discussions with Luke about the force, and Ubin's backstory about going from the rebel alliance to the more extremist partisans was really interesting too.
Finally, I liked the worldbuilding surrounding Jedha itself. I liked seeing the changes Jedha has gone through, and how the remaining residents of the moon interacted with its ravaged surface.
THE CONCLUSION: Final rating is 3.5 stars. It has some problems, but feels like a much needed "reboot" of sorts for the flagship canon star wars comic. It had a good story, decent worldbuilding, did a great job developing the classic characters, and had an interesting exploration of force-related philosophy and moral dilemmas. This series' connection to the force may have been lost for a bit, but if the seventh volume is any indication, it is slowly coming back.
October 3, 2025
Jedha was brutal. I think the baddies were a bit clownish.
July 28, 2018
Quick and instantly forgettable--yep, another Star Wars graphic novel.
This one has a lot of references to Rogue One, which is good, since that's the best that Star Wars has been in the current era. But as is usually the case with these graphic novels, the story is really unnecessary. I don't know what's going on with the artist, but every single frame of Han is so obviously a shot from the movies, it's really laughably, distractingly bad. If the book had interesting art, I could probably overlook the shortcomings in the story itself.
Because it's a Star Wars story, Leia says inspiring words about "hope" a couple of times. And because the story includes some remnants of Saw Gerrera's group, people talk about "keeping the dream alive" a couple of times. The galaxy is rather limited in what people can say. But it's getting less restrictive about "damn" and "hell." I felt there was far too much of that in this book.
I also noticed in this story that Luke is wildly inconsistent in his opinion on when it's okay to slaughter "bad guys" and when it's a horrific thing to do. He gets upset at Benthic (Two Tubes) for killing Imperials, but he has no qualms about killing a bunch of stormtroopers with his lightsaber, or driving a city-sized machine, full of people, into an abyss, or killing a force-user just moments after he seems to have turned bad (but it's all very confusing). And this is a guy who recently killed over a million people by destroying the Death Star. This is a significant issue, and I wish it were being dealt with more deliberately.
I'm thankful for the public library. Can you imagine spending money on this stuff?
This one has a lot of references to Rogue One, which is good, since that's the best that Star Wars has been in the current era. But as is usually the case with these graphic novels, the story is really unnecessary. I don't know what's going on with the artist, but every single frame of Han is so obviously a shot from the movies, it's really laughably, distractingly bad. If the book had interesting art, I could probably overlook the shortcomings in the story itself.
Because it's a Star Wars story, Leia says inspiring words about "hope" a couple of times. And because the story includes some remnants of Saw Gerrera's group, people talk about "keeping the dream alive" a couple of times. The galaxy is rather limited in what people can say. But it's getting less restrictive about "damn" and "hell." I felt there was far too much of that in this book.
I also noticed in this story that Luke is wildly inconsistent in his opinion on when it's okay to slaughter "bad guys" and when it's a horrific thing to do. He gets upset at Benthic (Two Tubes) for killing Imperials, but he has no qualms about killing a bunch of stormtroopers with his lightsaber, or driving a city-sized machine, full of people, into an abyss, or killing a force-user just moments after he seems to have turned bad (but it's all very confusing). And this is a guy who recently killed over a million people by destroying the Death Star. This is a significant issue, and I wish it were being dealt with more deliberately.
I'm thankful for the public library. Can you imagine spending money on this stuff?
April 9, 2018
Kieron Gillen graduates from Darth Vader and Doctor Aphra to the main Star Wars series as Luke, Leia, and Han head to the remains of the planet Jedha, destroyed during the events of Star Wars: Rogue One.
I've really enjoyed all of Gillen's entries into the Star Wars universe so far, which makes the slow start to this one a bit baffling. It takes three or so issues before things really seem to get going. It's not like Gillen needs to establish these characters, or recap the events of Rogue One, but it all feels a bit sluggish until about midway through. There's also really no point in Luke's 'I'm going to do what I want because Jedi stuff' thing showing up again, because he's done it at least twice under Aaron and it's getting a tad tedious.
The second half moves a lot brisker however, especially once we get to the nitty gritty of what Rogue One's story teaches Luke, Leia, and Han. I also really like the involvement of Queen Trios of Shu-Torun, from Gillen's aforementioned Darth Vader run. I hope we see more of her going forward.
The art is another drawback; I've liked Salvador Larroca on previous Star Wars books too, but here he seems a lot more photo-tracey than usual. It wouldn't be that distracting, but it looks like the bodies of the characters and the faces are drawn in different styles, so it makes the faces stand out even more, and not for a good reason.
A combination of two Star Wars veterans doesn't quite measure up as well as we'd like; let's hope their next arc works a bit better.
I've really enjoyed all of Gillen's entries into the Star Wars universe so far, which makes the slow start to this one a bit baffling. It takes three or so issues before things really seem to get going. It's not like Gillen needs to establish these characters, or recap the events of Rogue One, but it all feels a bit sluggish until about midway through. There's also really no point in Luke's 'I'm going to do what I want because Jedi stuff' thing showing up again, because he's done it at least twice under Aaron and it's getting a tad tedious.
The second half moves a lot brisker however, especially once we get to the nitty gritty of what Rogue One's story teaches Luke, Leia, and Han. I also really like the involvement of Queen Trios of Shu-Torun, from Gillen's aforementioned Darth Vader run. I hope we see more of her going forward.
The art is another drawback; I've liked Salvador Larroca on previous Star Wars books too, but here he seems a lot more photo-tracey than usual. It wouldn't be that distracting, but it looks like the bodies of the characters and the faces are drawn in different styles, so it makes the faces stand out even more, and not for a good reason.
A combination of two Star Wars veterans doesn't quite measure up as well as we'd like; let's hope their next arc works a bit better.
June 16, 2018
More middle of the road star wars. Gillen took over from Aaron and to be honest I can't really tell. The characters are so established that there isn't much marvel or disney is going to let an author do creatively (I'm guessing here). The story has a pretty big tie into Rogue one and the previous Shu-torun stuff, which was fun. Other than that the book is sort of mediocre. Larocca on art, I used to like him more but now his realism is sort of creepy to me in some panels.
July 31, 2022
WHY DO THEY KEEP LETTING SALVADOR LARROCA DRAW FACES
March 23, 2025
Kieron Gillen writes a great story of Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, C-3PEO & R2-D2 assisting Saw Gurrera's group in protecting the reamins of the plant Jedha from a group of Imperials looking for the remaining kyber crystals on the planet all while Luke is torn between becoming a Jedi and his allegiance to the force. This story is enhanced by the beautiful artwork of Salvador Larocca and the coloring of Guru-eFX. This volume is one of the best thus far in this series.
November 9, 2018
I like that this story had it serious moments but also some moments of lightness.
May 19, 2018
Character's faces in this book have a strange finish applied which throws them into the uncanny valley. I think the artist was going for a photorealistic look (i.e. Alex Ross or Greg Land), but they failed miserably.
June 21, 2024
Finally back to the older wave of Star Wars comics. It’s been so long but these comics are a great vacation binge. I’ve heard a lot about this Jedha arc, as cool as it is to see Jedha again the story is just alright. This would have been great to read when it came out though with Rogue One still so fresh on the mind. The art of this series is slightly unnerving, the almost photorealism of it just doesn’t sit right with me. It feels so uncanny. Nice to see the new Queen of Sho-Torun so soon after that whole story. I’m excited to see this Mon Cala revolt because I know it’s an important piece of Star Wars canon.
November 30, 2020
KONEČNĚ zábavný book Star Wars po delší době. Poslední knihy fakt trpěli heroismem a akcí over the top. Gillenovi Star Wars v určitém směru zůstávají taky takové ale dávají smysl a je to zatraceně zábavné když srovnám poslední booky od Aarona. Jediný co z předchozích dílů zůstalo příšerný je kresba, já prostě toho Larrocu tady nemůžu vystát a urazil bych mu za to nejradši obě ruce. Jsem hrozně rád za návrat na Jedhu, bylo to nejen zajímavé ale skvěle napsané. A tohle od Star Wars chci, Kieron Gillen je očividně schopen mi to dát když vidím kolik kvalitní SW látky zpracoval.
May 6, 2024
9/10:
One of the best collections in this entire run! I love how intimately this connects and builds upon the lore introduced in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), really tying it closer to the original trilogy of films in the franchise.
On top of these connections, we see Chewbacca willing to risk his life for the Rebellion yet again while Han Solo take a leadership role for the first time and Leia Organa makes a new ally for the Rebel Alliance.
One of the best collections in this entire run! I love how intimately this connects and builds upon the lore introduced in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), really tying it closer to the original trilogy of films in the franchise.
On top of these connections, we see Chewbacca willing to risk his life for the Rebellion yet again while Han Solo take a leadership role for the first time and Leia Organa makes a new ally for the Rebel Alliance.
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