Star Wars by Jason Aaron Omnibus

Star Wars (2015) #1-6

by Jason Aaron

When Star Wars returned to Marvel, Jason Aaron was the ideal candidate to steer the rebels into all-new adventures! Now Aaron's entire saga is collected in full! The Death Star has been destroyed - but the Empire isn't toppled yet! Join Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2 as they continue the fight for freedom against Darth Vader! Luke battles Boba Fett! A woman from Han Solo's past returns! The Dark Lord crash-lands - but you can't keep Vader down for long! And the roguish Doctor Aphra lures Luke to the Screaming Citadel! COLLECTING: STAR WARS 1-37, STAR WARS: VADER DOWN 1, DARTH VADER 13-15, STAR WARS: DOCTOR APHRA 7-8, STAR WARS: THE SCREAMING CITADEL 1, STAR WARS ANNUAL 1-3

Genres: Star Wars, Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction

1192 pages, Hardcover

First published February 26, 2019

About the author

Jason Aaron grew up in a small town in Alabama. His cousin, Gustav Hasford, who wrote the semi-autobiographical novel The Short-Timers, on which the feature film Full Metal Jacket was based, was a large influence on Aaron. Aaron decided he wanted to write comics as a child, and though his father was skeptical when Aaron informed him of this aspiration, his mother took Aaron to drug stores, where he would purchase books from spinner racks, some of which he still owns today.

Aaron's career in comics began in 2001 when he won a Marvel Comics talent search contest with an eight-page Wolverine back-up story script. The story, which was published in Wolverine #175 (June 2002), gave him the opportunity to pitch subsequent ideas to editors.

In 2006, Aaron made a blind submission to DC/Vertigo, who published his first major work, the Vietnam War story The Other Side which was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Miniseries, and which Aaron regards as the "second time" he broke into the industry.

Following this, Vertigo asked him to pitch other ideas, which led to the series Scalped, a creator-owned series set on the fictional Prairie Rose Indian Reservation and published by DC/Vertigo.

In 2007, Aaron wrote Ripclaw: Pilot Season for Top Cow Productions. Later that year, Marvel editor Axel Alonso, who was impressed by The Other Side and Scalped, hired Aaron to write issues of Wolverine, Black Panther and eventually, an extended run on Ghost Rider that began in April 2008. His continued work on Black Panther also included a tie-in to the company-wide crossover storyline along with a "Secret Invasion" with David Lapham in 2009.

In January 2008, he signed an exclusive contract with Marvel, though it would not affect his work on Scalped. Later that July, he wrote the Penguin issue of The Joker's Asylum.

After a 4-issue stint on Wolverine in 2007, Aaron returned to the character with the ongoing series Wolverine: Weapon X, launched to coincide with the feature film X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Aaron commented, "With Wolverine: Weapon X we'll be trying to mix things up like that from arc to arc, so the first arc is a typical sort of black ops story but the second arc will jump right into the middle of a completely different genre," In 2010, the series was relaunched once again as simply Wolverine. He followed this with his current run on Thor: God of Thunder.

Reviews

[Rumi Bossche · Rating 4 out of 5]

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away . . . .


( cue the fucking music ! )

Bring on the yellow Letters, and give me that always great opening shot in space.

I decided to reread Star Wars by Jason Aaron, a run that i have read before in hcs, but when i heared there was going to be a omnibus,  i quickly selled those for this beauty. When Marvel took back the franchise from Dark Horse, they took off and ran with it, the brought in great artists. John Cassaday, Stuart Immonen, Mike Deodato JR., Salvador Larocca and Leinil Francis Yu, and Jason Aaron and a couple others to write. Let me get this right away, Aaron gets Star Wars! This is just like the classic movies,  with the famous intro and all, all the fan favorite characters,  and worlds. Its also set in maby the best period of Star Wars, between A New Hope, and Empire. Its always thrilling to see what happenend inbetween, and again, Jason Aaron kills it!  We get the classic crew, and a badass Darthvader in Vader Down, Bobba Fett, Doctor Aphra (a cool new character) Yoda, Obi Wan Kenobi in a couple flashbacks, space battles, smuggling with Han Solo and Chewie, Light saber battles, and just everything that makes Star Wars cool. This run is very fast paced and epic, and the first 25 or so issues are a absolute delight, it does fizzle down a bit with some annual issues, but i try to see them for completion sake, all in all The Force is very strong with this one!!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

[OmniBen · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review) 2.5/5
I know that opinions on Jason Aaron vary wildly. The guy has been around for a while and written for a hell of a lot of characters. I haven't read any of his superhero runs, so I will hold off on any praise or criticism in this regard. What I can praise the guy for, are his independent runs. Scalped and Southern Bastards are some of the best independent comics I've had the pleasure of reading recently. Other works such as The Goddamned and Men of Wrath were pretty solid too. So, it comes as a little bit of a surprise to see how impotent and average I found his work here on Star Wars. Now, to give the guy a slight break, I can't imagine what it would be like trying to be creative inside Disney / Marvel / Lucasfilm / Star Wars these days. I mean, the amount of people you would have to go through, and political and creative red tape to navigate would be enough to completely drain anyone of whatever creative juices one could muster. It would be a far safer bet to simply create a modern generic Star Wars algorithm, that can spit out all the bland, safe and representative Star Wars content Disney Lucasfilm could hope to publish. Now, I've never been a big Star Wars fan. I've seen each of the two earlier trilogies once. Most so long ago I could watch them again (especially the OG trilogy) and a lot of it would seem new, such is my fading memory of it. I tried to watch all of the Disney movies, both trilogy and standalone, and wasn't able to finish a single one of them, so bad was nearly every aspect of the film. Don't let the use of original trilogy characters fool you, this is modern Star Wars levels of storytelling in all its unappealing glory. Whilst it was originally nice early on, to see Han, Luke and Leia going about their business (along with some gorgeous Michael Cassaday art). The slight hints of nostalgia and pretty pictures soon gave way to a woeful sinking feeling, as the narrative drifted further and further into ridiculous contrivances and coincidences, just as the art began fluctuating wildly as well. I have never seen a story, much less a comic that relied so fundamentally on coincidences, to the point where the merest hints of tension or engagement rapidly disappear, with characters warping around the galaxy issue from issue, with nothing even close to consistency or a concrete plot to navigate them. You would think this tale takes place on a single suburban street, such is the frequency and speed with which characters can move between star systems and planets. Always turning up with split second accuracy as soon as a character encounters any sort of trouble, and mostly with no knowledge of where the character would be, and what they were facing. And don't give me the force and light speed travel bollocks either. If you are fine with paper thin plots and awful coincidences then that's fine, but I like my stories to make sense, and carry some weight of believability. Star Wars omnibus does nothing of the sort.
Aaron's dialogue is often rather weak at times, too. It was never a detailed character study or work of literary genius, but this is some properly bargain basement stuff. It always does just enough to push the plot forward, and never inspires anything more than moderate interest at best. Beloved characters sound neutered and a shadow of their former selves, and it wasn't long before even the old characters couldn't get me engaged in the story.
So, the main question. Is this woke? Well... kinda. There are far more egregious examples of wokeness in modern Star Wars than this, although the female characters, either established or newly introduced or all almost flawless and amazing. Often outshining the original male cast (Han and Luke) who are rightfully flawed and still growing in confidence and ability. Other than Leia, none of the female characters inspired anything other than my ire. Make what you want of that. I adore strong female characters, when their strength is justified, when it doesn't come at the cost of the men around them, and they are interesting in their own right, powerful or not. This is definitely not the case here.
The art, as previously mentioned, is frequently great, and frequently bloody average as well. I've never seen a book change authors so often. If the story was doing its best to boot me out of it, the continuous art changes more than finished the job. Cassaday and Immomen are outstanding. Everyone else might be a decent artist, but they didn't belong on this title, nor amongst such esteemed company. The comparison wasn't kind to them.
So, should you read Star Wars omnibus. Well, I would say, no. Even if you are a fan of Disney Star Wars, I would say the lack of artistic consistency and the at times shocking writing of Aaron should be enough to keep anyone away. The again, if you are a fan of Disney Star Wars, then strong writing clearly isn't your cup of tea, is it? 2.5/5


OmniBen.

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know why there’s only one Omnibus that only kind of covers half the series but it saves me a lot of work. This first half of the series has been fantastic with a load of fun rebel stories and events. I know I read Screaming Citadel back when it came out but having the context of the rest of the series makes it so much better. I’m excited to see what else the other half has to offer.

[Thurm · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10.

Very fun collection of Star Wars stories set between episodes 4 and 5. Reading this over the past couple of months got me to cancel my sub for the ongoing new mainline SW comic run, because compared to this it is swamp water. Highly recommend!

[Joey Amorim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This omnibus is absolutely worth the price of admission! Not every single story is a winner, but the art is solid to great, the only real negative being that the traced faces of the main cast can be distracting. The one thing that stays consistently great throughout is the characters. Everyone we know and love never act out of character, and it’s fun to watch them cut loose in ways we never really got to see in the movies. I can’t really say I loved any of the new original characters, but they’re mostly at least fine (except Commander Karbin, fuck Commander Karbin). It’s clear that everyone involved is a huge fan of Star Wars, and I’m happy Marvel didn’t just half-ass these books as an easy cash grab. I’ve heard the series falls off pretty hard after Jason Aaron leaves, but his work here is about as solid as you can ask for. I easily recommend this omnibus to any Star Wars fan!

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun read, overall. In some ways, better than Marvel's first 37 issues of its original Star Wars series but not necessarily better than the newspaper run of Star Wars. The art work is pretty hit-and-miss for me; I loved some of it and what I didn't like as much took me out of the story. The stories were okay, I guess. As I am thinking back, it is not like the majority of them really stand out to me in a strongly positive way (in that I remember the various narratives). I do not mean to sound excessively negative, but I think I would have enjoyed stories that made more of a strong statement, of some kind.

On the one hand, it does have some "solid stories" of the Imperial soldiers not being completely idiots and unable to hit anything they are shooting at. Most of those involve Sgt. Kreel and Scar Squadron, who were an awesome addition to the Imperials; I "loved" them (as much as one can "love" the villains) and that they were able to get their assignments done (for the most part as they failed to capture Luke Skywalker and give him to Vader). The part where Sgt. Kreel "meets" the Emperor by accident is one of the better parts of the compilation and for sure that story; it has a tremendous impact upon the Imperial sergeant and motivates him even further to serve the Empire and ensure the defeat of the Rebels. Based on how the omnibus ends, I trust they will show up in later issues. I also liked how Sgt. Kreel was the flip side of the coin when compared to the Rebels. Kreel gives the perspective of somebody who whole-heartedly supports the Empire and why he (or she) supports the Empire. I feel like that is a perspective that is hardly ever, if never, really considered by authors who tell "Star Wars stories" (other than maybe the book Inferno Squadron, and it seems like there were a couple of issues in Marvel's original run towards the end that talked about why somebody might want to join the Empire).

I was initially meh about Sana Solo being introduced to the series; I really was not sure what she would bring to the table. The "plotline" about her being Han Solo's wife was an interesting twist. I think what was most interesting was how her character grew over the series. She initially sticks around because she wants to get paid for the help she provides the Rebellion. She then begins taking part in some missions (which is really odd, regardless of how much she was supposedly going to be paid when taking into account other moments when Luke and Han are told there is not enough money or resources available for whatever they feel needs to be done). Then she seems to have had a change of heart, to some extent, in that she helps "lead" a mission to rescue Luke Skywalker from the "Screaming Citadel" followed by teaming up with Lando Calrissian to scam 65,000-plus credits from various organizations (including the Empire) in order to help support some local hospitals/charities on Nar Shadda. So by the end of the omnibus, I did "enjoy" her being in various parts of the series and thought she was a decent character to have created to interact with the other "main characters" of the original trilogy.

The omnibus includes the "crossover issues" of the Darth Vader and Doctor Aphra runs, for which I was grateful. I have read other omnibuses that did not included the "crossover issues" for some storylines and those omissions made the stories difficult to read/follow. I do not know how impressed I was with those "crossover events," but I would say I preferred the Vader Down storyline more than the Screaming Citadel storyline (but the Screaming Citadel story was crazy and unexpected and different and . . . "off the charts," so that was cool, too). Doctor Aphra's two droid "companions" are very bizarre, twisted, demented characters. Beetee is funny, at times (mainly when these huge guns and rocket launchers pop out of its small chassis), but both droid characters are also quite disturbing. I do not quite know how I feel about them, overall. The humorous observation that "they've never heard of the Three Laws of Robotics" went through my head at one point.

As hard as it would have been to have any kind of "true character development" over the course of the series (because you cannot have any development contradicting the movies in any way), I will say this - I did think the author was able to create some kind of "development" for Han, Luke, and Leia, on varying levels. Most of Luke's "character development" probably stems from his searches, at times, for any kind of information relating to the Jedi and the lessons he learns along the way. Sgt. Kreel ended up teaching Luke quite a bit when both were under the control of Grakkus the Hutt. Luke never loses his optimism or hope, but he does develop a more realistic view of the universe instead of being the complete noob that he was when he left Tatooine. I thought at one point that the authors were trying to set up Doctor Aphra as a potential love interest for Luke and I was glad that they did not do that.

Leia's "character growth and development" probably stems from how she is initially portrayed as being obsessed with specific missions, with accomplishing the goals while seeming to not care how many lives are lost in the process. She comes across as willing to sacrifice anybody and everybody because of her perspective that the ends will always justify the means. She even reveals that she would "gladly" sacrifice her home planet of Alderaan over and over and over again if it would ensure the downfall of the Empire at one point. However, it is her obsession with Darth Vader and trying to kill him that probably shows where she had "the most character growth." She is portrayed a willing to sacrifice as many men and war materials as possible to try and kill the Dark Lord, including Han and Luke, but then she has an epiphany and that her obsession is doing the Rebellion more harm than good and she is able to back away from it. I would not necessarily say she always makes the best choices and/or decisions in the subsequent stories that follow, but she does not quiet have that "suicidal edge" that she'd had prior to that epiphany. Granted, the epiphany does occur "early on" (during the Vader Down storyline), but I still think it was a pivotal moment for her. On the other hand, it does seem disappointing that this epiphany occurred as early as it does, because she still comes across as not caring for the men and women under her command as much as she cares about accomplishing whatever mission at a lower cost that she is willing to pay. So she learned something but maybe not as fully as she could have learned said "lesson."

It is funny; I feel like Han grew as a character, but I cannot quite put my foot or finger on the "how" of it all. I just know that he "morphed" from the guy who was just in it "for the money" into somebody who kept staying around and doing the right thing even if he did not fully understand the "why" of it. I just . . . feel like Han actually grew as a character even though I cannot explain "how." I think we did see his loyalty to his friends, though, and that definitely shone through.

Chewbacca has what I would consider "small, bit parts" in the comics, and it seemed like there were many times when he did not show up at all. It was a trifle odd to see Han running around with Luke and Leia sans Chewbacca. One would think the two of them would have been more inseparable than they were; perhaps it could be explained away by saying the two had to stay separated because the Imperials and bounty hunters would be looking for a tall human male with a Wookie companion/partner/sidekick. I think I would have liked to have seen Chewbacca show up more in the stories than he did, regardless, because it only seems right for the two of them to be "together" as opposed to Han constantly being paired with Leia (or Leia and Sana).

At one point, either Sana or Aphra makes the comment that the two of them are in love and fighting each other like they do because they do not want to admit that they love each other, so they are fighting themselves as much as each other. Han's fights with Leia constantly, and I felt that it started to take away from the stories. There was a stupid, childish moment where the two are bickering about who is "the Captain" of a captured Imperial Star Destroyer and they decide to race to the bridge to determine who the captain will be. Leia, naturally, wins, but it still seemed stupid and childish and beneath her. She already had "command authority" by virtue of her position in the Rebel Alliance and being in command of the mission; the troops would have listened to her over Han Solo. I know it would have been "weird" for there to be any kind of romance between Luke and Leia (like in the original series and to a lesser extent in the newspaper serial between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back) since we know they are twins even though they did not know it (which is really weird, because you'd think any kind of blood tests would have automatically notified everybody they were twins; they should have been tested before leaving for missions and then upon return to make sure no dangerous substances were transported back with them, on the one hand, and it only seems logical that those tests (scans) would have shown them to be twins), but there did seem to be hint of something between Luke and Leia (granted, it was more on Luke's part than Leia's), yet Luke's feelings for Leia are practically non-existent. In any case, Han and Leia's "relationship" did not feel like it progressed "naturally" (as naturally as it could have progressed, considering there was a war going on).

I also thought it was totally bizarre how Artoo-Detoo totally dropped off like he did for nearly ten issues (it felt like). Threepio is captured by Scar Squad and Artoo leave to free his friend. That story felt like it was played up for laughs, but it was really annoying in many respects. One good thing that it did, though, was play upon how droids would practically be ignored because they would blend in with the background. It is something that is always seen in movies and mentioned in books - that the servants and other "hired help" are treated as if they do not exist, so they tend to hear more and learn more than the "bosses/masters" realize as a result. So it makes sense that Artoo could have pulled off his "stunt" to free Threepio, but I still did not really care for that story.

It was also weird how Luke has a run-in with Boba Fett on Tatooine and yet neither of them are supposed to recognize each other later on Cloud City. That seemed like a bad idea to me.

The Kenobi Kronicles (or whatever the author called them) were okay; I felt like they would have been better off being told in a separate series (or in addition to the comic as a kind of "back-up story"). I could see the first one, as Luke was reading from Ben's journal while waiting for Artoo to work his magic and repair the X-Wing, but after that, I did not see the need for them to take up an entire issue like they did. They broke up the overall storyline narrative of the issues, in my opinion. I suppose they could have been "inserted" at "stopping points" or "break points" between the stories themselves, but I felt like the "journal stories" took away from the comic run itself.

The story of Eneb Ray, the Rebel spy, was a sad story. He is introduced in the first annual and then shows up "later" with the intention of teaching Leia a "lesson" she never truly learned when it came to fighting a war. Eneb Ray was tricked into ensuring all of other Rebel spies on Coruscant were killed along with several captured Senators who were sympathetic towards the Rebellion. Eneb Ray takes over a prison facility and begins executing prisoners - mostly Imperials but also some criminals as well. Leia, Sana, and Aphra have to work together to stop him. Eneb Ray is captured and the remaining prisoners are saved a painful death, but I cannot quite figure out if Eneb Ray kills himself in the end or merely escapes to wage his own war against the Empire. In any case, it was a bitter, hard story and a painful arc for a character, so I guess it was told rather well because of the emotional pain behind it.

Another character is introduced in the third annual, a Pash Davane. She was a former underwater engineer, but then she lost her job because of a battle between the Rebellion and Empire. Her perspective is a much-needed one, as it is the perspective of somebody who just wants to live, to survive the war, and go on living his or her life. I am sure it is the perspective of many citizens. Neither the Empire of the Rebellion truly seem to care about what happens to the citizens of the planets in the aftermath of their battles, and the author does a nice job of touching upon that in this story. He has Leia being a kind of a jerk to Pash, though, and I could not decide if I felt it was intellectually dishonest for Pash to join the Rebellion like she does at the end (the "excuse" being that Leia has given Pash "hope" for the first time in a long time). So, hopefully Pash shows up in future issues as that occur after #37, as she no longer makes an appearance in Aaron's run after this annual.

As I said above, the art work was really hit-or-miss for me, and bad art can really kill a story. There are some amazing two-page spreads of art throughout the early part of the omnibus (such as some shots of the Rebel fleet - while not "full" two-page spreads, they are still spread out over two pages and are beautiful to behold). I liked Cassady's work, as well as Stuart Immonen's work. However, I have never really been a fan of Leinel Yu's work on the New Avengers, and I did not really care for it in this series, either. I have always felt like "good artwork can save a bad story" (up to a point, possibly, but ideally a good artist can "fix" the "bad parts" of the story by getting the point across in good/beautiful/amazing artwork) whereas "bad/horrible art will ALWAYS kill a good story," and I felt like that held true in this omnibus. I am not going to bother going back to figure out who the artist is/was, but there were some stories where the art was "so bad" it really interfered with enjoying the story (and some of those stories would have been difficult to save if the artwork had been good). There were some stories I felt could have been salvaged had the artist been "up to the task," but that did not happen, either. I will say this, though - as much as I disliked some of the art in this omnibus, most of it was not nearly as bad as most of the artwork in the first 38 issues of Marvel's original run, so it does have that going for it.

It is funny; I think there is only one story in here, and it's a "one-issues story" at that, in which Luke and Leia are teamed up. That was actually an interesting story, overall. Otherwise, it's usually Leia teamed up with Han or Leia teamed up with Sana or Leia and Han and Sana. Luke does tend to go out on his own quite a bit, which is odd considering he's supposed to be a "soldier" and "rebel pilot" for the Rebellion. Otherwise, I cannot see the Rebellion giving him his own starfighter to fly around in whenever he feels like it (and he is shown at times still being "Red Five" and under the command of somebody else).

It would be nice of Marvel would collect the remaining thirty-some issues in another omnibus. If they do not, I am sure there are smaller compilations that collect the remaining issues. It's an okay omnibus, overall. The author definitely shows the "three main characters" (Han, Luke, and Leia) in ways I have not seen them portrayed before, so that was interesting, overall. I did not feel like there were that many "new characters" introduced regarding the Rebellion (or planets who would be joining the Rebellion); most of the "new characters" were either villains/criminals of some kind or Imperials. It was also odd that the author (and artists) continued to show the Rebel Alliance as being a "mostly human organization" with the occasional alien thrown into the mix. I would have thought that they would have taken advantage of the comic medium to introduce more "alien/non-human characters" into the mix, which would have been cool (especially in terms of the Rebel Alliance). The books tend to have more alien/non-human characters in them; why not the comics as well?

As I am thinking about it, one of the "saving graces" of the series is that Threepio does not appear in most of the issues. He is an annoying character as it is, so I was extremely grateful he appears as little as he does. Or, if he does appear, he does not have that many lines (speaking parts). The issue in which Artoo rescues him from Imperial control reminded me of how painfully, annoyingly obnoxious Threepio truly is.

So, overall, it was a fun series to read. Some of the stories were pretty strong; some were not; some were just downright annoying. It does feel like sometimes the author is "just going through the motions" (and I imagine that has to do with all of the layers of corporate and legal bureaucracy that have to be navigated when writing stories in a franchise like Star Wars), but there are other times the stories are fun to read and seem pretty clever in some respects. Some of the artwork was amazing; some of it was good; some of it was mediocre; some of it was . . . if not "bad" then "distracting from the story." I enjoyed it; I would probably rate it 2.7 - 2.9 stars rounded up to 3 stars. I am glad I was finally able to find a copy and read it; I actually could see myself reading it again, someday, so 3 stars seems to be a reasonable rating for it. Perhaps the next time I read it, I'll have a different opinion of it (and I definitely enjoyed it more than I enjoyed Aaron's run on Thor and the downward spiral that storyline took), but I will leave it as 3 stars for now.

[Patrick Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5. I had a great time reading this book, it is over 1K pages and still reads very fast! I’m
A huge SW fan my whole life,so just seeing what all these characters were doing between episode 4 and 5 was just so dang cool! Vader Down was so damn good! I would love to see it adapted one day!

[Alex Dickie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stories, loved Aaron’s writing and for the most part, the art throughout. Big exception is when they started digitizing the faces of the original characters to make them look like the actors. Looked creepy as hell

[Thezachespinoza · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's new, fun, and different, but the main characters suffer from a heavy dose of plot armor, therefore taking out the suspense for a large part of the book.

[Adrian Sandoval · Rating 5 out of 5]

Transcurrieron 3 años desde que el "desconocido" piloto Luke Skywalker destruye el arma mas poderosa del Imperio (Final del Episodio IV "Una Nueva Esperanza") y la caída de la Base de Hoth (Inicio del Episodio V "El Imperio Contraataca"). Pero... ¿Que sucedió en esos 3 años?

El universo de Star Wars se expande mas allá de solamente las películas, y en este caso los Comics tienen la respuesta.

- Luke es inexperto en la fuerza, y busca la manera de aprender mas sobre los Jedi
- Leia es solo una imágen de la rebelión, pero eso no durará mucho tiempo gracias a sus capacidades de Liderazgo.
- Y Han Solo .... es Han Solo tratando de impresionar a Leia.

¿Alguna vez te has preguntado como se enteró Vader de que el piloto que destruyó la Estrella de la Muerte... era su hijo?

Este Omnibus es una joya para cualquier fan de Star Wars, recopilando 47 comics de 3 series, y con 1296 páginas escritas por Jason Aaron (Star Wars, Vader Down, Wolverine) conteniendo buena parte de la historia entre EIV y EV.

Contiene también el Crossover "Vader Down" donde Darth Vader es derribado y la rebelión tiene la valiosa oportunidad de acabar con el de una vez por todas, aunque conocemos el resultado, la historia no carece de emoción ni epicidad.

Ah... y conocemos a la Dra. Aphra.

[Cannon Qorson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most of the stuff I review on here, it's been a while, but I remember my feelings pretty well.

Skywalker Strikes: Incredible art, great writing, Jason Aaron excells at getting the voices of the classic characters and the tone of the OT down in a way that I don't think many others have achieved. And the art is good, it's so so good. Really good, really fast pacing. I like the fight between Boba and Luke. However, I'll say, while this arc is really fun, it doesn't have a lot of meat. It mainly feels like a kick-off to the bigger and series. And this is a problem because... this is the best arc in the volume. It goes downhill after this. Thats on the rest of the stories though, not on this one. Five stars.

Showdown on the Smugglers Moon: I don't remember this one super well. I think it was decent. Step down from SS though. Nothing crazy A 3.5 or four star rating.

Vader Down: Eh... It's a crossover. Some good art and some Larroca. It was fine. Some cool moments. Rebel alliance surrounds Vader, he blows them all up, the end. I don't find that sort of plot very interesting.

Star Wars Annual 1: YEAH! This is the best thing in the volume and one of the best Star Wars comics ever! It's a spy story, kinda what I expected Andor to be. Very cool, very good. Honestly, this issue is perfect in every way.

Rebel Jail: Sunspot Prison is a really neat concept, and it continues the story of the guy from Annual 1 (ending him on a cliffhanger. Hopefully Star Wars remembers him sometime. Honestly I feel like this series is kinda forgotten). Otherwise, it was kinda mid. The art is good but didn't really jive with me. 3 stars.

The Last Flight of the Harbringer: Don't remember this one super well. It has a decent premise and I don't remember any super negative feelings about it, but I don't remember much positive, outside of the issue introducing Scar Squad, which was pretty great. Shame Lucasfilm forgot about them too. They're kinda lame after that issue and then they just vanish from the canon. 3.5 stars.

Star Wars Annual 2: Good enough. Step down from first annual. 4 stars.

Yoda's Secret War: Pretty cool. Larroca draws this one, but he isn't as bad here as he normally is. The climax was confusing for me though. This ones pretty cool. I like it a lot when Star Wars leans into its weird fantasy side. 3.5/4 stars.

The Screaming Citadel: Pretty good, pretty weird which I like. I liked Aphra and Lukes interactions. The art in the first issue was amazing, but then for the rest of the crossover it alternates between the amazing Andrea Broccardo and our old friend Salvador Larroca. I hate it when they do that. I don't like everything about this crossover, but it gets a 3.5.

Out Among the Stars: I think this was fine. Weird way to end his run, with a bunch of one offs. Art ain't good because you know who did it. 3 stars.

From the Journals of Old Ben Kenobi: Good. Good art, good writing. Kinda clashes with the Obi Wan show IMO, but thats not it's fault and not a big deal. 4 stars.

Overall, a good run, but I feel it doesn't have a lot of consequence. Jason Aaron mainly zeros in on small scale events. He is very good at doing that though. Definitely gets progressively weaker but it's not bad, and there are some great issues with great art.

[Silver Keeper · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Rebel Alliance has never been among my favorite aspects of Star Wars (except perhaps in the original trilogy). I’ve always been more drawn to the lyrical conflict between Jedi and Sith in Knights of the Old Republic, the epic battles of the Clone Wars, the pulpy eccentricity of pre-2000s Star Wars stories, the mysticism of certain Rebels episodes, and the tense, gritty atmosphere of Andor.

This collection captures much of what I enjoy about the Star Wars universe.

There are glimpses of Jedi philosophy in Luke Skywalker’s quest to uncover the lost knowledge of the Jedi Order—a journey that intertwines his path to becoming a Jedi Master with his mission to protect his friends.
Task Force 99, the Empire’s version of Bad Batch from The Clone Wars, adds an intriguing layer to the story. Their unyielding loyalty to the Galactic Empire and brutal (at times fanatical) tactics make them a dreadful enemy but also an unusual point of view inside the Galactic Empire.
Arcs like Yoda’s Secret War and The Screaming Citadel feel like they’ve been plucked straight from the 1980s when Star Wars embraced a more fantastical and weird tone. The inclusion of a zombie Gungan, not even the strangest element of that issue, perfectly illustrates this.
Rebel Jail, with its darker and more realistic art style, evokes the tension and grittiness of the Andor TV series. While it doesn’t quite match the depth of the Disney+ show, it serves as a solid reminder of the power of such stories within the Star Wars universe.

But the most important thing is that this omnibus offered me good quality “heroes adventures”, light and classic ones with Luke, Han, Leia and the others famous rebels between episode IV and V. Some that I enjoyed like the others or more.
There are also some interesting new entry such as the smuggler Sana Starros, more than a female version of that one from the movies.
The collection demonstrates a creativity that surpasses much of the current Star Wars canon. While some stories feel rushed, I found myself thoroughly engaged by the mix of lighthearted escapades, strange new characters and situations with the excitement that keeps readers eagerly turning pages. Highlights include also more Doctor Aphra (from the Vader comics), R2-D2 in a thrilling one-droid-army sequence, and other imaginative moments. All good things to read.

My main critiques are the derivative artistic style (some pages rely too heavily on faces copied directly from the films) and the unresolved cliffhanger involving Task Force 99. I had expected all story arcs in this omnibus to be complete, but the Task Force 99 showdown required reading the Gillen & Pak one.

[Los · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll preface this with I'm not a huge fan of the original trilogy. As far as Star Wars go, it's not my favorite, go-to, can watch whenever version of the universe. That's where the 4 stars comes in. That said, I still really enjoyed this. It shone a light a lot of the characters and really highlighted and gave them more depth. I appreciate it because like I said, it gives new light to a trilogy and characters I'm not particularly attached to and makes me understand them more.

Also, like I said, Aphra is the freaking best, and she's in here so it's great.

This intertwines with Star Wars: Darth Vader Omnibus and Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Omnibus. Which is why I didn't finish the whole run. It's a lot to catch up on lol.

[Ángel G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Star Wars 1
El primer tomo de la colección que saca Planeta en exclusiva con Carrefour

En esta casa se agradecen las ediciones baratas y había dejado pasar esta hasta hace unos días.
Primer tomo con las primeras aventuras modernas que celebran el regreso de Star Wars a Marvel.

Nuevas aventuras llenas de nostalgia y guiños de los personajes más queridos de la galaxia. Tres grandes dibujantes y un buen guionista, Jason Aaron que se centra en la épica y en la acción por encima de los grandes temas.
Los personajes son muy reconocibles y hasta puedes oír sus voces.

El único pero es en la segunda mitad, que la narrativa resulta algo confusa y algunos fallos en la rotulación.

Gran edición a precio estupendo.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a chunky book with stories ranging from forgettable to surprisingly good. It’s a tall order to make a bunch of brand new stories that take place between the first two SW movies, but I managed to find some fun in most of them.

With so many artists involved, there’s bound to be some highs and lows - and for me there was way too much of what felt like an odd tracing technique over actual screenshots of the actor’s faces. The accuracy was cool at first, but then just felt too repetitive and uninteresting.

I think this is a perfect example of an omni I wouldn’t reread all the way through, and instead will pick and choose some of the hits.

[Joshua]

Nearly the pinnacle of Star Wars EU for me. It uses the major players but doesn’t do anything drastic with them that flies in the face of the films. It’s a big galaxy and Jason Aaron takes Luke, Leia and Han to all the right places. Never feels like it’s trying recontextualize everything you think you know about Star Wars and never feels like it’s too gun shy to touch on major locations, characters and events. Dude just gets it right. Perhaps a little more compelling in the front than in the back, but a great Star Wars tome I’m happy to have on the shelf.

[Dylan McDermot · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was completely shocked by how thoroughly I enjoyed this from start to finish. Not a single story arc was lacking for me. I’m not the biggest fan of Aaron but I really felt he captured the spirit of these characters, so much so that when reading other issues in the Omni written by others, it’s noticeable it’s not him.
For a book that can’t really go too far off the beaten path, Aaron does a great job extract as much as he can pushing each character as far as they can go. Also, this is just a blast. So much fun to read!

[Sebastian Lauterbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's fun and the story arcs are refreshingly different from another. Every character gets to shine here.

The artwork changes a lot, unfortunately. But it does look really good for the most part.

Sometimes characters are rescued 'off panel' between two issues, which is a bit annoying.

Biggest disappointment in my opinion is the atrocious crossover that is the Screaming Citadel. Hostile Alien symbiotes in a Star Wars setting? No thanks.

Still, I can recommend this book, as it is one of the stronger SW Omnibus Volumes out there.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skywalker Strikes - 8/10
Showdown on the Smuggler’s Moon - 6/10
Vader Down - 9/10
Rebel Jail - 6/10
The Last Flight of the Harbinger - 8/10
Yoda’ Secret War - 5/10
The Screaming Citadel - 5/10
Out Among the Stars - 6/10

Overall - 7/10

Not as cohesive as Darth Vader or Doctor Aphra. A bit too much magic/supernatural for the Star Wars universe in a few sections.

Still reads like Star Wars. Characters fit. Nice story progression. Unlike the random 1-shots that Dark Horse is about to publish.

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun and I thought captured the feel of the original trilogy very well though at times a little over the top.

I think I enjoyed the Rebel Jail and Screaming Citadel arcs the most as they introduced new ideas similar to what one saw in the animated The Clone Wars and Rebels; there's a particularly 'out there' arc in Yoda's Secret War that took a little time to warm to but again added something new to the lore.

Overall I think this is a good read as a Star Wars fan.

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

[2.5]
Some parts were fun, good and felt like proper Star Wars, while others were woke, bad and above all - cringe. As big as the discrepancies were in the story telling, they were even greater in the art. The art were good to great in some cases and bad to laughable in other. Mix all of it together and the product as a whole is mediocre. I expected more after all the praise I heard for this. Makes me less enthusiastic about digging into the other Star Wars omnibuses I got

[Michael Bogin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Agree with other reviews. The first half plus was amazing. The end was good but not as good. The art is terrific throughout. The Yoda stories are strange. The Dr. Aphra stories are great. Highly recommend.

[Devin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pacing was solid in this series. The art was mostly good, but some panels felt very rushed.

I just don’t think I’m a Star Wars fan. Han Solo irritated me with his macho, constant sarcastic snide remarks.

[Eric Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first two story arcs are amazing. The characters are written so well and you can tell Jason Aaron is just having a blast writing them. After that the quality went down a bit. They are still good stories but they never match those first two. I did appreciate the flashbacks to Obi-Wan throughout the series, those were excellent as well. Overall, it was a fun time and I would recommend it for any Star Wars fan.

[Roelofsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good for Disney standards, some great stories some not so great, same goes for the art. Its nice to see the main trio back in action, feels true to the original movies most of the time. The new characters blend in pretty well. 3.5/5

[Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Artwork is solid throughout. Stories are hit or miss.
The Kenobi journal issues were really disappointing but I may have expected too much from them.

[poier · Rating 4 out of 5]

five star writing, one star removed for salvador larocca

[Alain del Risco · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say Mr. Aaron is definitely one of my top authors!!! So glad I read this.

[Omnibuster · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Jason Aaron but overall, I don't think he was the right person for Star Wars. That being said, I am a HUGE Star Wars fan and really enjoyed these comics and what they added to the official canon of the universe.

Aaron's primary focus is the period right after "A New Hope" and provides some satisfying answers to my lifelong curiosity about how Luke, Leia, and Han seemed to be way more "adult" and experienced in "Empire Strikes Back." I always wondered if Luke kept training, how people felt about Leia's decisions that led to the annihilation of her planet, how Leia feels about being a leader, why did Han really stick after getting his medal, do stormtroopers have any thoughts, and how much of a badass was Vader really? There also a couple of stories involving stories from Obi-Wan's journal during his exile on Tatooine and how he had to hide that fact he was a Jedi and a mini-series of Yoda learning more about failure and the Force through species on another planet (not sure when this is set). There is also some double-dipping with the inclusion of Gillen's "Vader Down" which shows Vader at his Sith lord best.

My main grip with Aaron's take on Star Wars is that he doesn't really capture the way the characters would actually speak and at points I wondered if he even watched the movies. I know this is due to us being raised on these cultural icons and is a tall order, but it may take you out of the stories. I will say that the events in the omnibus are VERY Star Wars and come off as they were actual TV episodes.

The Force is strong with this omnibus but may be more for hardcore fans who want all the Star Wars content or for those who loved Gillen's Vader omni and want to dive further into the universe.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing in this omnibus ranges from excellent to mediocre retreads of the same continued themes. But the art is probably the real showcase here. Marvel really pulled out all the stops and brought in their top-tier artists. And they must have given these guys extra time to illustrate each issue, because artists like Immonen and Larroca are already good, but these stories are done with an extra level of detail that I have never before seen by either artist.