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Star Wars Disney Canon Graphic Novel
Star Wars: Rebels
In this collection of short comics stories, the crew of the Ghost dodge criminals, monsters, and the agents of the Galactic Empire as they cross the galaxy in search of aid for the young Rebel Alliance.
Featuring 43 rarely-seen comics, this collection is a must have for any Star Wars fan!
Collects Star Wars: Rebels Magazine #1–#35, #37, #39 and
Star Wars: Rebels Animation Magazine #1–#4.
Featuring 43 rarely-seen comics, this collection is a must have for any Star Wars fan!
Collects Star Wars: Rebels Magazine #1–#35, #37, #39 and
Star Wars: Rebels Animation Magazine #1–#4.
504 pages, Paperback
First published July 5, 2022
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136 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
March 25, 2023
For me, the official Star Wars canon is the original trilogy, Rogue One/Andor and Rebels. Nothing else is necessary. So it was fantastic to discover this 500-page collection of Rebels comics that I had no idea existed. This book includes forty-one short vignettes that feature the Ghost crew and nearly ever character that made a brief appearance during the series (VIzago, Lando, Mart, Wedge, Ketsu, Sato, Fenn Rau, Saw, and others). There are brief moments with Kallus and the Grand Inquisitor, but most of the stories avoid anything that would get in the way of the major plotlines in the series, which I think is a good choice. The artwork is fun, and the stories are all at a very young-reader level that feels appropriate for the medium and the original series. Everything has the feel of the old newspaper and Marvel Star Wars comics.
Because I’m always missing the Rebels series, and because there has been so little extra material related to these characters (and no, I don’t need them to appear in live-action series on Disney+), having this book on my bedside table to dip into every now and then has been a real comfort.
Because I’m always missing the Rebels series, and because there has been so little extra material related to these characters (and no, I don’t need them to appear in live-action series on Disney+), having this book on my bedside table to dip into every now and then has been a real comfort.
August 21, 2023
I LOVE IT!!! If you are a rebels fan, then these comics are a must read! Each short issue is about 10 pages and are so much fun. The dialogue seems like it came straight from the show, it fit each characters perfectly. So many sassy chopper moments, solo zeb missions, and more about sabines backstory!
July 24, 2023
This action-packed set of stories is fun, and augments the already great stories in the animated series. I liked how events and characters in the series (e.g., Ketsu, Fenn Rau, Lando, Jun Sato, etc.) featured in some of these short stories. I also had fun trying to situate when in the series run each comic story would take place.
Though I enjoyed all the stories, “The Ballad of 264” broke my heart.
Though I enjoyed all the stories, “The Ballad of 264” broke my heart.
November 11, 2025
"You can't dwell on something that may happen. You can only deal with what you see before you."
i love Chopper so much :)
i love Chopper so much :)
April 12, 2023
Very good collection of mini-comics that rotate through different character focuses - both new and old. The characterization of the Ghost crew is spot on, and I loved a lot of the art styles presented. The only reason I can't give it 5 stars is that I really was hoping and longing for more found family storylines between the crew, and/or more that focused on Kanan and Ezra's relationship. (Heck, I thought we could have used more Kanan in general!)
Still, highly recommend for Rebels fans!
Still, highly recommend for Rebels fans!
September 13, 2022
makes me want to rewatch Rebels (i just love the show so much)
my favourite was “The Ballad of 264”
would’ve liked more Kanan and Hera but that’s a very personal bias
my favourite was “The Ballad of 264”
would’ve liked more Kanan and Hera but that’s a very personal bias
December 23, 2023
This was geared towards a younger audience but I found most of the stories entertaining.
July 1, 2024
These are tie-in comics to Rebels that were mostly originally published in a German magazine (so, hey, another book for my "reading books in translation goals!"). I doubt they stand alone for people who aren't fans of Rebels; they're all short comics, about a dozen pages, so there's not much space for deep character development, and because they have to fit between episodes there's no grand plots either. But they're fun, and I vastly prefer (most of) the art to the art in the Kanan backstory comic.
Of the three authors here--Martin Fisher, Jeremy Barlow, and Alex Worley--I prefer the stories by the latter two; Fisher's end-of-story morals are just a little too on-the-nose. If I'm ranking the five artists, Ingo Romling definitely goes at the bottom, and Eva Widermann and Ruairi Coleman at the top, but none of the art is bad--I just think Romling isn't particularly good at capturing the main Rebels crew. (Especially Sabine. I did not think I was that picky about depictions of Sabine, and then I read this book, and--what is up with some of those facial expressions?)
If I have any complaints, it's about the lettering. The speech bubbles are often oversized for the text, which I can understand and forgive because German uses more letters to convey concepts than English does, and I get why they didn't want to redraw everything for this translation. But that makes some of the hyphenation of line break choices even more inexplicable. You have tons of space, guys! You don't need to produce atrocities like "-ing with" as a single line in a large, wide speech bubble.
If you're not a typesetter, this will presumably bother you less.
The editing is also a little rough in places, most notably when a comic is titled "A Youth Uncompromising" in the TOC and "A Youth Unpromising" on the opening splash page. Those . . . are very different words, guys. Which one did you mean? (I think the first, but frankly since it's about Mart I feel the latter is equally valid.)
Stand-outs for me included "Senate Perspective," "Assessment," "Escaping the Scrap Pile," "The Ballad of 264," "The Line of Duty," "Too Late to Change," "The Size of the Fight," "Off the Rails," "A Youth Uncompromising," "A Trooper's Worth," "The Beast Within," and "Crossing the Line." Individual comic-by-comic reviews are below; spoilers from here on out.
Ring Race - Fairly solid art (except why is Ezra’s face so long and thin?) This is one of the only comics in which every member of the Ghost crew plays a role, which means (given the length) that none of them get a very big role, but the voices are good. Love the kicker with Sabine’s graffiti at the end.
Learning Patience - Hera gets some nice moments of mentorship in this one! Love Ezra’s somewhat unusual use of Jedi powers here; the visual of all the components floating is great, enough so to make up for my niggling “I don’t think that’s how the Force actually works” sense. Still really weirded out by how Romling draws Sabine, though.
The Fake Jedi - One of the few Kanan-focused comics in the collection. I like the Grand Inquisitor’s voice here (“How many more padawans have you taken?” “He’s not my padawan!” “They you won’t be emotionally compromised when he dies.”) The concept of someone finding a lightsaber and using it to pretend to be a Jedi, originally as a a con but gradually growing into the role whether he intends to or not, is a good one, but I’m left with some lingering discomfort about the White Savior-ness of the scenario. Although he does die at the end, and Kanan encourages the aliens to believe they can protect themselves, so I guess that balances out.
Kallus’s Hunt - One of two comics in which Kallus learns that the Venn diagram of people he considers friends and people who want to defect from the Empire is a circle. On their own I don’t think either of them are great (Kallus is kind of stuck in a holding pattern until the end of S2 and that doesn’t give the writers much to work with), but I do appreciate that while both Jovan (here) and Swain (in the later comic) see through the Empire’s lies, their reaction is very different; Jovan’s “I merely learned the system and I played it to my advantage. Isn’t that what the Empire is about?” (he's been embezzling) is an unusual defector motivation for Star Wars.
Return of the Slavers - The one where Sabine gets captured by slavers and has to wear a shock collar and call someone “mistress.” This reminds me a lot of Golden Age Wonder Woman. That’s not a complaint, I like Golden Age Wonder Woman, it’s just . . . a weird tone for Rebels. And Romling continues to struggle to draw Sabine.
Eyes on the Prize - Light Kanan & Ezra adventure where Kanan gets to say “Kid, you’re going to be the death of me,” and I can hear him sigh. I imagine he says that a lot. Nothing particularly interesting here in terms of backstory or character growth, but it’s a fine canon-typical moment.
Sabotaged Supplies - Not my favorite. Kallus deliberately poisons the food the Ghost crew is stealing to get them to reveal themselves, which does sound believable for S1 Kallus; Zeb takes it personally. The Zeb & Kallus stuff is fine, really, it’s mostly the Zeb being sappy over one specific comics-only kid character instead of angry at the situation as a whole that I find a bit weird. She will never turn up again.
Ezra’s Vision - Did you know there are dopplegangers in Star Wars? I did not know this. (Okay, fine, they’re called something else, but I’m too lazy to check Wookieepedia right now.) One gets aboard the Ghost and causes chaos; it’s fine but all a bit too generic for me.
Senate Perspective - In contrast, I liked this one! The Ghost crew rescues a loyalist Senator from a crash and slowly radicalize her over the course of the story. She’s a recurring comics character who shows up later in the book and, apparently, in another comic not in this book; I may have to track that one down. I liked watching her justifications crumble one by one, and she’s got a good alien design.
Becoming Hunted - This one was just kind of dumb. Zeb rescues some civilians from self-inflicted problems of paying money to do dangerous game hunting. (Not, like, “The Most Dangerous Game.” Actual dangerous game. Gundarks.) At the end he says he learns something valuable about courage, but Zeb, you were already more courageous than anyone else in the story, you didn’t have much to learn. I think my conclusion, between this and “Sabotaged Supplies,” is that I don’t think Fisher has a good grasp on Zeb’s character.
Assessment - One of the few comics that very tightly ties to an episode (this is a prelude to “Call to Action”), and I think it’s stronger for it. Great dramatic irony/tension if you’ve watched the show. Also, a Zare Leonis cameo, which doesn’t really add much to the story but he’s my Glup Shitto so it makes me happy. (If you're reading this and you've read these comics but you haven't read the Zare novels, I recommend them!)
Ocean Rescue - The one where we learn Sabine is afraid of water, a point never alluded to before or since. So that was kind of random. It’s also one of multiple comics where Sabine tries to rescue someone from her past, which I guess makes for an interesting contrast with all of Kallus’s comics being about him trying to capture someone from his past, but still starts to feel a bit redundant. (Writing these up, it occurs to me that it’s odd that we get no Hera-centric comics in this collection, particularly when even Rebels cameo character Lando gets three. Where are her past connections?) Notable for being I think the first canonical moment when Ahsoka and Sabine work together one-on-one, and also for ending in mission failure (…hmm, there might be a pattern there), but a pretty weak story overall that relies too much on long exposition bubbles.
Secrets of Sienar - This has the worst lettering in the book and I cannot get past that. Sorry. Also, I am deeply confused at Kanan keeping secrets from Zeb on a mission “to make this more fun for you.” Kanan canonically hates when people pull that kind of shit. Another mission that ends in failure, which I do actually sort of enjoy; one of the complaints about the show is that that the Ghost crew wins too often and too easily. But in the comics, it’s almost the opposite, partly because nothing in the comics can impact the show, so any mission that would have a major contribution to the cause has to go awry. The mission itself—trying to steal secrets from a shipbuilding facility—is fine, but I can’t get past the lettering.
No Sympathy - The second Kallus comic. Also, the second comic featuring Senator Tural; I do like when the comics establish internal narrative arcs. I found the plotting pretty pedestrian, though. I wish we got a post-S2 Kallus comic somewhere in this collection, but alas.
A Day’s Duty - I have an irrational dislike for Commander Sato, okay? And why are two kids doing major ship repairs on the flagship of an entire Rebel subfleet? This comic makes it feel like Phoenix Cell has a couple dozen members, rather than thousands. The bit at the end where Mizel’s breakthrough that lets her build self-confidence is realizing that Ezra fucked up his part of the repairs is cute, though.
Ice Breaking - Another Kanan and Ezra adventure that involves training and someone coming after them. Fisher continues to write good Inquisitor dialogue, and I think this is stronger as a story than “Eyes on the Prize,” but it’s still a retread.
Vulnerable Areas - Rex and Kanan get to snark at each other, which is always a win for me, and the fight scenes and tactics in this one are pretty good. I don’t care much about the random rebels they’re helping, who will never be seen again, but that’s fine.
Academy Cadets - In some ways a retread of “Senate Perspective”—the Ghost crew rescue some Imperial loyalists (in this case, a group of cadets)—but interesting because there are multiple people in the rescued group, so they can react in multiple ways, from defecting to defending the Empire. Introduces Reann, a recurring character with an interesting arc that we’ll get to later.
Escaping the Scrap Pile - The Ghost crew loses Chopper (bit of a recurring problem there, guys), who winds up in a scrapyard and ends up making friends with a bunch of decommissioned CIS droids and more or less rescuing himself. So some beats in common with “The Forgotten Droid” episode, but the atmosphere of horror here is really nice—the scrapyard feels like it has a jump scare lurking behind every corner, Chopper has a very “I’m not locked in here with you, you’re locked in here with me” approach, and the rise of the decomissioned droids gives zombie movie feels. I am looking at the last page now, though, and Romling still can’t draw Sabine. Sigh.
The Gangsters of Galzez - This comic wants to make me like Commander Sato. I still, irrationally, do not like Commander Sato. I recognize that’s a me problem, and yet. Also, Ezra flinging himself into danger is both cool and kind of dumb. Which, you know, S2 Ezra, story checks out, but still.
Puffer Problems - One of three Lando-focused comics in the collection. I don’t really think of Lando as a Rebels character—I mean, yes, he appears in Rebels, but he is very much an OT character—so I’m not thrilled to see him taking up so much space, and this isn’t the strongest of his appearances, but it does an okay job showing him as a scoundrel with a basically good heart beneath it all.
The Thune Cargo - Zeb and Sabine go on a mission together; Zeb gets to be the clever one, for a change. There’s some interesting alien character design but the whole thing is pretty forgettable.
Always Bet on Chop - The Zeb voice here is good, although Zeb has a surprisingly easy time understanding Chopper; it’s consistent on the show that Zeb’s binary is pretty bad. And Chopper gets to fight in an arena, which could be a good concept. But compared to the atmosphere of “Escaping the Scrap Pile,” this feels a bit bland, and come on, if your premise is “Chopper as gladiator fighter” I expect a lot more carnage.
The Second Chance - Basically the same plot as “Ocean Rescue,” except I like Coleman’s art better than Molesworth’s (there’s some really good Sabine action poses here). Minus one point for pairing the line “Nice explosion. I liked the colors” with . . . a colorless, gray explosion. Sabine can do better than that! I do dig the Sabine backstory in this book but I wish it all came together in some way; also, I am not the first one to say this, but for someone who’s sixteen in S1 Sabine sure does have a lot of backstory.
The Ballad of 264 - Standout of the collection, five stars, ten out of ten, no notes. I see skimming the other reviews that I am not alone in this assessment. If you have ever wondered “hey, what happened to that droid that Chopper pushed out the airlock?” you now have your answer, and it manages to be both hilarious and deeply sad. The panel design is pedestrian, but that’s just another way to say it doesn’t distract from the storytelling, and the final page is a masterpiece of mood.
The Line of Duty - Follow-up to “A Day’s Duty” (which introduces struggling young Rebel recruit Mizel) and “Academy Cadets” (which introduces young Imperial defector Reann), this puts them on Ezra on a routine mission gone awry. The interesting part here is the character work; Reann discovers she’s a pacifist who can’t make herself fight for the rebellion any more than she could stay with the Imperials. She steals a shuttle and deserts, with the final lines: “I have to find a planet the Empire won’t go to often and that doesn’t involve fighting. Setting course for Alderaan.” Which, yikes, way to pack a punch with foreshadowing there.
A lot of the comics in this collection have morals at the end, and most of them are excruciatingly hammered home; this is one of the few where I’m actually left pondering. Ezra is accepting of Reann’s actions: “Not everyone is cut out for war, it’s one of the many reasons we fight and others can’t. And we have to respect that. Besides, doing what you believe is right despite what everyone thinks is a strength, not a weakness.” On the other hand . . . Alderaan. The peaceful haven Reann seeks is pretty explicitly being called out as illusory. This isn’t a complaint; I think the comic is stronger for the lack of clear answers about right and wrong.
A Time to Survive - This checks in on two of the wookiee that the Ghost crew rescued back at the start of season one, Wullffwarro and Kitwarr. Coleman’s art continues to work for me, and there’s some interesting things about wookiee culture/natural mystical abilities here that I’m not familiar with, perhaps because I haven’t been reading the right parts of canon. None of the Ghost characters get particularly interesting lines or characterization, though.
Too Late to Change - The Ketsu comic! I was excited for this one and it did not disappoint. Good action poses, interesting frame arrangements, and a nice step in character development for Ketsu between “Blood Sisters” and “The Forgotten Droid.” One of the few comics here that feels like useful interstitial matter for the show.
The Size of the Fight - A more-or-less solo Zeb adventure in which Zeb gets captured by tiny mouse-like aliens, then encourages the lower-caste among them to rise up in rebellion against their mouse masters. One of the better Zeb comics in the book, I think; the storyline is clear, the aliens are cute, and Zeb gets great expressions.
The Wrong Crowd - Introduces Tonk, an explosives expert who wants to join the Rebellion. (Also, one of the few post-Legends references to cortosis.) There’s a bit of interesting character work for Hera and Sabine here (Hera is furious about what she sees as sloppy, too-loud methods; Sabine is more encouraging of the potential volunteers), but there’s nothing about Tonk’s story to make it stand out from any other radicalized civilian and knowing that Tonk would never be a significant part of the overall story made it hard for me to attach to him.
Off the Rails - I still think three Lando comics is a lot of Lando comics, but this is my favorite of the bunch. Londo bluffs his way into a high-stakes gambling game, then finds himself forced to save the lives of the rich people he meant to swindle when another criminal makes a more direct attack on their fortunes. The Lando internal monologue is deftly written.
To Thy Metal Heart Be True - Zeb, AP-5, Chopper, and Sabine (or someone pretending to be Sabine, because Romling is still unable to draw Sabine, grumble grumble) break into what they think is an abandoned Imperial facility, only to find it’s still occupied—by Imperials who have been forgotten by the Empire and would like to stay that way so they can live their lives in peace. It’s an interesting concept (and I like AP-5’s efforts to save the day), and it’s executed fine, so it’s hard for me to say why it falls a little flat for me. I think the cast and concept may just be too big for a twelve-page story; it doesn’t have room to breathe.
The Sons of Sky (Or Sons of the Sky, depending on whether you believe the ToC or splash page) - Goran goes after Hobbie and Wedge after they defect in “The Antilles Extraction.” Another one of the rare comics that ties directly into an episode! Hobbie and Wedge want to pay respects to the family of Rake (the third cadet who attempted to defect in the episode, and who died in the process), only to find Goran beat them there. Everyone ends this comic with complicated feelings; it’s an excellent coda to the episode.
Final Round - Another Ketsu comic, somewhat unexpectedly for me, since it’s not incorporated into Ketsu’s Wookieepedia page. In this one, Ketsu is in a private prison (how? why? we never learn) and the Ghost crew arrives to bail her out, only to learn that part of the terms is that someone will have to face another prisoner in gladiatorial combat, only for Tonk (from “The Wrong Crowd”) to blow up the prison as planned, which sort of starts a prison break except the prisoner Zeb has been fighting announces he deserves to be in prison and stays behind, and . . . if you’re thinking “that’s a lot of plot for twelve pages,” it sure is a lot of plot for twelve pages! While I appreciate that Barlow’s comics tend to be more ambitious than Fisher’s, this is another one that doesn’t really have room to breathe.
[remainder of comics reviewed in comments, because this got too long for Goodreads]
Of the three authors here--Martin Fisher, Jeremy Barlow, and Alex Worley--I prefer the stories by the latter two; Fisher's end-of-story morals are just a little too on-the-nose. If I'm ranking the five artists, Ingo Romling definitely goes at the bottom, and Eva Widermann and Ruairi Coleman at the top, but none of the art is bad--I just think Romling isn't particularly good at capturing the main Rebels crew. (Especially Sabine. I did not think I was that picky about depictions of Sabine, and then I read this book, and--what is up with some of those facial expressions?)
If I have any complaints, it's about the lettering. The speech bubbles are often oversized for the text, which I can understand and forgive because German uses more letters to convey concepts than English does, and I get why they didn't want to redraw everything for this translation. But that makes some of the hyphenation of line break choices even more inexplicable. You have tons of space, guys! You don't need to produce atrocities like "-ing with" as a single line in a large, wide speech bubble.
If you're not a typesetter, this will presumably bother you less.
The editing is also a little rough in places, most notably when a comic is titled "A Youth Uncompromising" in the TOC and "A Youth Unpromising" on the opening splash page. Those . . . are very different words, guys. Which one did you mean? (I think the first, but frankly since it's about Mart I feel the latter is equally valid.)
Stand-outs for me included "Senate Perspective," "Assessment," "Escaping the Scrap Pile," "The Ballad of 264," "The Line of Duty," "Too Late to Change," "The Size of the Fight," "Off the Rails," "A Youth Uncompromising," "A Trooper's Worth," "The Beast Within," and "Crossing the Line." Individual comic-by-comic reviews are below; spoilers from here on out.
Ring Race - Fairly solid art (except why is Ezra’s face so long and thin?) This is one of the only comics in which every member of the Ghost crew plays a role, which means (given the length) that none of them get a very big role, but the voices are good. Love the kicker with Sabine’s graffiti at the end.
Learning Patience - Hera gets some nice moments of mentorship in this one! Love Ezra’s somewhat unusual use of Jedi powers here; the visual of all the components floating is great, enough so to make up for my niggling “I don’t think that’s how the Force actually works” sense. Still really weirded out by how Romling draws Sabine, though.
The Fake Jedi - One of the few Kanan-focused comics in the collection. I like the Grand Inquisitor’s voice here (“How many more padawans have you taken?” “He’s not my padawan!” “They you won’t be emotionally compromised when he dies.”) The concept of someone finding a lightsaber and using it to pretend to be a Jedi, originally as a a con but gradually growing into the role whether he intends to or not, is a good one, but I’m left with some lingering discomfort about the White Savior-ness of the scenario. Although he does die at the end, and Kanan encourages the aliens to believe they can protect themselves, so I guess that balances out.
Kallus’s Hunt - One of two comics in which Kallus learns that the Venn diagram of people he considers friends and people who want to defect from the Empire is a circle. On their own I don’t think either of them are great (Kallus is kind of stuck in a holding pattern until the end of S2 and that doesn’t give the writers much to work with), but I do appreciate that while both Jovan (here) and Swain (in the later comic) see through the Empire’s lies, their reaction is very different; Jovan’s “I merely learned the system and I played it to my advantage. Isn’t that what the Empire is about?” (he's been embezzling) is an unusual defector motivation for Star Wars.
Return of the Slavers - The one where Sabine gets captured by slavers and has to wear a shock collar and call someone “mistress.” This reminds me a lot of Golden Age Wonder Woman. That’s not a complaint, I like Golden Age Wonder Woman, it’s just . . . a weird tone for Rebels. And Romling continues to struggle to draw Sabine.
Eyes on the Prize - Light Kanan & Ezra adventure where Kanan gets to say “Kid, you’re going to be the death of me,” and I can hear him sigh. I imagine he says that a lot. Nothing particularly interesting here in terms of backstory or character growth, but it’s a fine canon-typical moment.
Sabotaged Supplies - Not my favorite. Kallus deliberately poisons the food the Ghost crew is stealing to get them to reveal themselves, which does sound believable for S1 Kallus; Zeb takes it personally. The Zeb & Kallus stuff is fine, really, it’s mostly the Zeb being sappy over one specific comics-only kid character instead of angry at the situation as a whole that I find a bit weird. She will never turn up again.
Ezra’s Vision - Did you know there are dopplegangers in Star Wars? I did not know this. (Okay, fine, they’re called something else, but I’m too lazy to check Wookieepedia right now.) One gets aboard the Ghost and causes chaos; it’s fine but all a bit too generic for me.
Senate Perspective - In contrast, I liked this one! The Ghost crew rescues a loyalist Senator from a crash and slowly radicalize her over the course of the story. She’s a recurring comics character who shows up later in the book and, apparently, in another comic not in this book; I may have to track that one down. I liked watching her justifications crumble one by one, and she’s got a good alien design.
Becoming Hunted - This one was just kind of dumb. Zeb rescues some civilians from self-inflicted problems of paying money to do dangerous game hunting. (Not, like, “The Most Dangerous Game.” Actual dangerous game. Gundarks.) At the end he says he learns something valuable about courage, but Zeb, you were already more courageous than anyone else in the story, you didn’t have much to learn. I think my conclusion, between this and “Sabotaged Supplies,” is that I don’t think Fisher has a good grasp on Zeb’s character.
Assessment - One of the few comics that very tightly ties to an episode (this is a prelude to “Call to Action”), and I think it’s stronger for it. Great dramatic irony/tension if you’ve watched the show. Also, a Zare Leonis cameo, which doesn’t really add much to the story but he’s my Glup Shitto so it makes me happy. (If you're reading this and you've read these comics but you haven't read the Zare novels, I recommend them!)
Ocean Rescue - The one where we learn Sabine is afraid of water, a point never alluded to before or since. So that was kind of random. It’s also one of multiple comics where Sabine tries to rescue someone from her past, which I guess makes for an interesting contrast with all of Kallus’s comics being about him trying to capture someone from his past, but still starts to feel a bit redundant. (Writing these up, it occurs to me that it’s odd that we get no Hera-centric comics in this collection, particularly when even Rebels cameo character Lando gets three. Where are her past connections?) Notable for being I think the first canonical moment when Ahsoka and Sabine work together one-on-one, and also for ending in mission failure (…hmm, there might be a pattern there), but a pretty weak story overall that relies too much on long exposition bubbles.
Secrets of Sienar - This has the worst lettering in the book and I cannot get past that. Sorry. Also, I am deeply confused at Kanan keeping secrets from Zeb on a mission “to make this more fun for you.” Kanan canonically hates when people pull that kind of shit. Another mission that ends in failure, which I do actually sort of enjoy; one of the complaints about the show is that that the Ghost crew wins too often and too easily. But in the comics, it’s almost the opposite, partly because nothing in the comics can impact the show, so any mission that would have a major contribution to the cause has to go awry. The mission itself—trying to steal secrets from a shipbuilding facility—is fine, but I can’t get past the lettering.
No Sympathy - The second Kallus comic. Also, the second comic featuring Senator Tural; I do like when the comics establish internal narrative arcs. I found the plotting pretty pedestrian, though. I wish we got a post-S2 Kallus comic somewhere in this collection, but alas.
A Day’s Duty - I have an irrational dislike for Commander Sato, okay? And why are two kids doing major ship repairs on the flagship of an entire Rebel subfleet? This comic makes it feel like Phoenix Cell has a couple dozen members, rather than thousands. The bit at the end where Mizel’s breakthrough that lets her build self-confidence is realizing that Ezra fucked up his part of the repairs is cute, though.
Ice Breaking - Another Kanan and Ezra adventure that involves training and someone coming after them. Fisher continues to write good Inquisitor dialogue, and I think this is stronger as a story than “Eyes on the Prize,” but it’s still a retread.
Vulnerable Areas - Rex and Kanan get to snark at each other, which is always a win for me, and the fight scenes and tactics in this one are pretty good. I don’t care much about the random rebels they’re helping, who will never be seen again, but that’s fine.
Academy Cadets - In some ways a retread of “Senate Perspective”—the Ghost crew rescue some Imperial loyalists (in this case, a group of cadets)—but interesting because there are multiple people in the rescued group, so they can react in multiple ways, from defecting to defending the Empire. Introduces Reann, a recurring character with an interesting arc that we’ll get to later.
Escaping the Scrap Pile - The Ghost crew loses Chopper (bit of a recurring problem there, guys), who winds up in a scrapyard and ends up making friends with a bunch of decommissioned CIS droids and more or less rescuing himself. So some beats in common with “The Forgotten Droid” episode, but the atmosphere of horror here is really nice—the scrapyard feels like it has a jump scare lurking behind every corner, Chopper has a very “I’m not locked in here with you, you’re locked in here with me” approach, and the rise of the decomissioned droids gives zombie movie feels. I am looking at the last page now, though, and Romling still can’t draw Sabine. Sigh.
The Gangsters of Galzez - This comic wants to make me like Commander Sato. I still, irrationally, do not like Commander Sato. I recognize that’s a me problem, and yet. Also, Ezra flinging himself into danger is both cool and kind of dumb. Which, you know, S2 Ezra, story checks out, but still.
Puffer Problems - One of three Lando-focused comics in the collection. I don’t really think of Lando as a Rebels character—I mean, yes, he appears in Rebels, but he is very much an OT character—so I’m not thrilled to see him taking up so much space, and this isn’t the strongest of his appearances, but it does an okay job showing him as a scoundrel with a basically good heart beneath it all.
The Thune Cargo - Zeb and Sabine go on a mission together; Zeb gets to be the clever one, for a change. There’s some interesting alien character design but the whole thing is pretty forgettable.
Always Bet on Chop - The Zeb voice here is good, although Zeb has a surprisingly easy time understanding Chopper; it’s consistent on the show that Zeb’s binary is pretty bad. And Chopper gets to fight in an arena, which could be a good concept. But compared to the atmosphere of “Escaping the Scrap Pile,” this feels a bit bland, and come on, if your premise is “Chopper as gladiator fighter” I expect a lot more carnage.
The Second Chance - Basically the same plot as “Ocean Rescue,” except I like Coleman’s art better than Molesworth’s (there’s some really good Sabine action poses here). Minus one point for pairing the line “Nice explosion. I liked the colors” with . . . a colorless, gray explosion. Sabine can do better than that! I do dig the Sabine backstory in this book but I wish it all came together in some way; also, I am not the first one to say this, but for someone who’s sixteen in S1 Sabine sure does have a lot of backstory.
The Ballad of 264 - Standout of the collection, five stars, ten out of ten, no notes. I see skimming the other reviews that I am not alone in this assessment. If you have ever wondered “hey, what happened to that droid that Chopper pushed out the airlock?” you now have your answer, and it manages to be both hilarious and deeply sad. The panel design is pedestrian, but that’s just another way to say it doesn’t distract from the storytelling, and the final page is a masterpiece of mood.
The Line of Duty - Follow-up to “A Day’s Duty” (which introduces struggling young Rebel recruit Mizel) and “Academy Cadets” (which introduces young Imperial defector Reann), this puts them on Ezra on a routine mission gone awry. The interesting part here is the character work; Reann discovers she’s a pacifist who can’t make herself fight for the rebellion any more than she could stay with the Imperials. She steals a shuttle and deserts, with the final lines: “I have to find a planet the Empire won’t go to often and that doesn’t involve fighting. Setting course for Alderaan.” Which, yikes, way to pack a punch with foreshadowing there.
A lot of the comics in this collection have morals at the end, and most of them are excruciatingly hammered home; this is one of the few where I’m actually left pondering. Ezra is accepting of Reann’s actions: “Not everyone is cut out for war, it’s one of the many reasons we fight and others can’t. And we have to respect that. Besides, doing what you believe is right despite what everyone thinks is a strength, not a weakness.” On the other hand . . . Alderaan. The peaceful haven Reann seeks is pretty explicitly being called out as illusory. This isn’t a complaint; I think the comic is stronger for the lack of clear answers about right and wrong.
A Time to Survive - This checks in on two of the wookiee that the Ghost crew rescued back at the start of season one, Wullffwarro and Kitwarr. Coleman’s art continues to work for me, and there’s some interesting things about wookiee culture/natural mystical abilities here that I’m not familiar with, perhaps because I haven’t been reading the right parts of canon. None of the Ghost characters get particularly interesting lines or characterization, though.
Too Late to Change - The Ketsu comic! I was excited for this one and it did not disappoint. Good action poses, interesting frame arrangements, and a nice step in character development for Ketsu between “Blood Sisters” and “The Forgotten Droid.” One of the few comics here that feels like useful interstitial matter for the show.
The Size of the Fight - A more-or-less solo Zeb adventure in which Zeb gets captured by tiny mouse-like aliens, then encourages the lower-caste among them to rise up in rebellion against their mouse masters. One of the better Zeb comics in the book, I think; the storyline is clear, the aliens are cute, and Zeb gets great expressions.
The Wrong Crowd - Introduces Tonk, an explosives expert who wants to join the Rebellion. (Also, one of the few post-Legends references to cortosis.) There’s a bit of interesting character work for Hera and Sabine here (Hera is furious about what she sees as sloppy, too-loud methods; Sabine is more encouraging of the potential volunteers), but there’s nothing about Tonk’s story to make it stand out from any other radicalized civilian and knowing that Tonk would never be a significant part of the overall story made it hard for me to attach to him.
Off the Rails - I still think three Lando comics is a lot of Lando comics, but this is my favorite of the bunch. Londo bluffs his way into a high-stakes gambling game, then finds himself forced to save the lives of the rich people he meant to swindle when another criminal makes a more direct attack on their fortunes. The Lando internal monologue is deftly written.
To Thy Metal Heart Be True - Zeb, AP-5, Chopper, and Sabine (or someone pretending to be Sabine, because Romling is still unable to draw Sabine, grumble grumble) break into what they think is an abandoned Imperial facility, only to find it’s still occupied—by Imperials who have been forgotten by the Empire and would like to stay that way so they can live their lives in peace. It’s an interesting concept (and I like AP-5’s efforts to save the day), and it’s executed fine, so it’s hard for me to say why it falls a little flat for me. I think the cast and concept may just be too big for a twelve-page story; it doesn’t have room to breathe.
The Sons of Sky (Or Sons of the Sky, depending on whether you believe the ToC or splash page) - Goran goes after Hobbie and Wedge after they defect in “The Antilles Extraction.” Another one of the rare comics that ties directly into an episode! Hobbie and Wedge want to pay respects to the family of Rake (the third cadet who attempted to defect in the episode, and who died in the process), only to find Goran beat them there. Everyone ends this comic with complicated feelings; it’s an excellent coda to the episode.
Final Round - Another Ketsu comic, somewhat unexpectedly for me, since it’s not incorporated into Ketsu’s Wookieepedia page. In this one, Ketsu is in a private prison (how? why? we never learn) and the Ghost crew arrives to bail her out, only to learn that part of the terms is that someone will have to face another prisoner in gladiatorial combat, only for Tonk (from “The Wrong Crowd”) to blow up the prison as planned, which sort of starts a prison break except the prisoner Zeb has been fighting announces he deserves to be in prison and stays behind, and . . . if you’re thinking “that’s a lot of plot for twelve pages,” it sure is a lot of plot for twelve pages! While I appreciate that Barlow’s comics tend to be more ambitious than Fisher’s, this is another one that doesn’t really have room to breathe.
[remainder of comics reviewed in comments, because this got too long for Goodreads]
January 10, 2024
Really enjoyed reading the Ghost's adventures of missions between episodes! At first, it took me a little bit to get into it, but I had a fun time reading it. I'm glad I got to experience the Ghost squad together again. The art styles used were great too.
September 3, 2022
A collection of forty-one short stories from the Rebels Magazine and the Rebels Animation Magazine.
This book charts the adventures of the crew of the Ghost as they fight the Empire, as well as telling the stories of their various allies like Ketsu Onyo, Cikatro Vizago, Fenn Rau, Ahsoka Tano, Wedge Antilles, Saw Gerrera and Lando Calrissian.
I've always been surprised by how few tie-in stories there have been for the Rebels TV series, especially since I consider it one of the best things (evil) Disney has done with the licence to Star Wars since they acquired it. However, it's usually overlooked in favour of The Clone Wars (which is great at times but has waaaay too many filler or mediocre episodes) and therefore hasn't had a huge impact on Star Wars publishing.
It's nice then to have this book, which does an excellent job of capturing the themes and tone of the TV series. Primarily, it nicely captures the theme of the importance of family, as well as the tonal balance of light-hearted banter and knowledge that there will be more defeats and losses before the end of the conflict comes. They were impressively complex things for the TV series to convey and it's nice to see them carried over into this book.
On top of the themes and tone, I was also pleased to see that the stories here don't all just centre on the core Ghost crew and instead branch out into telling other stories of the Rebellion in its early days, most notably with a mission for now-iconic Saw Gerrera and the shady adventures of Lando.
There are also plenty of iconic villains on offer too including Agent Kallus and the Inquisitors, not to mention brief appearances by Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader.
There are two major downsides to the book, however.
The first is simply that the art style is clearly geared towards younger reader and may lead older readers to dismiss the book as being for children (ironically similar to what happened with the TV series, actually).
The second, much worse, detriment to this book is the fact that each of the stories is so short, most only being a dozen pages at best. The writers counteract this slightly by creating original characters who turn up in later stories, offering a tiny bit of cohesion to the book overall, but it's not enough to stop this feeling like a massive collection of short vignettes which have no overall story.
I enjoyed the book overall, but the fact that it's so fractured in its storytelling robbed it of the satisfying reading experience that an actual Rebels graphic novel might have had.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
This book charts the adventures of the crew of the Ghost as they fight the Empire, as well as telling the stories of their various allies like Ketsu Onyo, Cikatro Vizago, Fenn Rau, Ahsoka Tano, Wedge Antilles, Saw Gerrera and Lando Calrissian.
I've always been surprised by how few tie-in stories there have been for the Rebels TV series, especially since I consider it one of the best things (evil) Disney has done with the licence to Star Wars since they acquired it. However, it's usually overlooked in favour of The Clone Wars (which is great at times but has waaaay too many filler or mediocre episodes) and therefore hasn't had a huge impact on Star Wars publishing.
It's nice then to have this book, which does an excellent job of capturing the themes and tone of the TV series. Primarily, it nicely captures the theme of the importance of family, as well as the tonal balance of light-hearted banter and knowledge that there will be more defeats and losses before the end of the conflict comes. They were impressively complex things for the TV series to convey and it's nice to see them carried over into this book.
On top of the themes and tone, I was also pleased to see that the stories here don't all just centre on the core Ghost crew and instead branch out into telling other stories of the Rebellion in its early days, most notably with a mission for now-iconic Saw Gerrera and the shady adventures of Lando.
There are also plenty of iconic villains on offer too including Agent Kallus and the Inquisitors, not to mention brief appearances by Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader.
There are two major downsides to the book, however.
The first is simply that the art style is clearly geared towards younger reader and may lead older readers to dismiss the book as being for children (ironically similar to what happened with the TV series, actually).
The second, much worse, detriment to this book is the fact that each of the stories is so short, most only being a dozen pages at best. The writers counteract this slightly by creating original characters who turn up in later stories, offering a tiny bit of cohesion to the book overall, but it's not enough to stop this feeling like a massive collection of short vignettes which have no overall story.
I enjoyed the book overall, but the fact that it's so fractured in its storytelling robbed it of the satisfying reading experience that an actual Rebels graphic novel might have had.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
October 31, 2022
This is a massive omnibus edition of stories, with over 500 pages and dozens of one-off or loosely related comics. all of the stories are decent to good, with a couple carrying characters through multiple arcs between each episode. It's been years since I watched Rebels, so I'm sure many of the characters originated there and I just don't remember them, but overall it didn't feel like I needed to. Outside of the Spectre crew, most characters get enough detail to understand who they are and why they're acting as they are without needing to refer back to the series.
I will say that for a book dedicated to the Spectre crew, they seem to take a backseat in a lot of the stories. That's probably due to the constraints of the comics - they had to be able to be written and exist without interfering with the episodes, so can't do much development. It's all serviceable stuff and the art is for the most part in keeping with the series. If you're a fan, you'll probably enjoy these side stories, but at the same time it's a little underwhelming in how little the crew change or grow over the hundreds of pages.
I will say that for a book dedicated to the Spectre crew, they seem to take a backseat in a lot of the stories. That's probably due to the constraints of the comics - they had to be able to be written and exist without interfering with the episodes, so can't do much development. It's all serviceable stuff and the art is for the most part in keeping with the series. If you're a fan, you'll probably enjoy these side stories, but at the same time it's a little underwhelming in how little the crew change or grow over the hundreds of pages.
August 16, 2022
Okay, so let me just preface this by saying that the Star Wars Rebels animated series *might* be my favorite Star Wars content from the Disney Era. If you follow my reviews, you know that I have loved Star Wars in the post-Lucas era, so that is high praise indeed. That being said, I can't help but be mildly disappointed with this collection of comics. I realize that they are written with a younger audience in mind, but one of the things that made Rebels great was the serial nature of the series. These 43 comics are all pretty much one-shots, and while they are certainly readable and enjoyable, they don't seem to add very much to the overall Rebels story. Still, it was fun to get stories involving the Ghost Crew and lots of the minor characters that showed up in the series. The artwork was very faithful to the animated series. For the price though, you really can't beat it. It's nice to see Dark Horse back in the Star Wars fold.
My rating: 3.5 Stars
My rating: 3.5 Stars
March 2, 2023
Years later we finally got a compilation of the comic strips published in the German "Rebels" and "Rebels Animation" magazines, which ran for years, never published anywhere else. Dark Horse makes a great softcover volume of over 500 pages, containing over 40 short stories from different writers and artists.
The stories encompass characters, situations and timelines adjacent to the episodes of the 4-season series. None of these stories adapt the episodes, or related novels, but they are entirely new. Most of the times, they chronicle missions with all or part of the main cast, but we also have stories where they are just barely related.
All of the extended cast of the series is portrayed once or more, with fan-favorite characters such as Lando Calrissian, agent Kallus, Vader, even Saw Gerrera.
The writing is generally on point, and the art rarely disappoints. This is a terrific compilation and any Rebels fans should have it in their collection!
The stories encompass characters, situations and timelines adjacent to the episodes of the 4-season series. None of these stories adapt the episodes, or related novels, but they are entirely new. Most of the times, they chronicle missions with all or part of the main cast, but we also have stories where they are just barely related.
All of the extended cast of the series is portrayed once or more, with fan-favorite characters such as Lando Calrissian, agent Kallus, Vader, even Saw Gerrera.
The writing is generally on point, and the art rarely disappoints. This is a terrific compilation and any Rebels fans should have it in their collection!
October 20, 2024
These comics feel so much like the series, it's amazing. Around a quarter of the stories are season 1 era, about half are season 2, an eighth are season 3, and an eighth are season 4. So it makes me wonder if the frequency of the release schedule for Rebels Magazine changed. The collection really goes to bold places, like when Wedge and Hobbie visited the family of their deceased comrade and there's not really a squeaky clean resolution. 264 makes a return, but his ultimate fate is sad. The date of a sentry droid, however, is heartwarming thanks to AP-5 reprogramming it. Lando also makes a few appearances, which is kind of weird because the Spectres aren't featured in his stories, but they were harmless. And I was really not expecting to see Saw Gerrera in this. Is this his only appearance in comics other than the Rogue One adaptation?
March 7, 2023
This was fun! I got into Rebels super-late, during the pandemic, but I enjoyed it and love the characters. This huge omnibus not just gives us more time with the crew of the Ghost, but with so many of the rebels they meet along the way.
The stories are really short, practically bite-sized at times so despite being 500 pages, it’s a really quick read.
I would have liked more stories with Hera and Kanan. Was surprised at how little they featured here, actually. Zeb gets way more than they do. I also would have liked to see more of Ezra’s special Force abilities at work.
Some of the art goes into goofy territory at times. But for the most part the characters, planets, and ships are gorgeous.
This was a great way to spend a few evenings.
The stories are really short, practically bite-sized at times so despite being 500 pages, it’s a really quick read.
I would have liked more stories with Hera and Kanan. Was surprised at how little they featured here, actually. Zeb gets way more than they do. I also would have liked to see more of Ezra’s special Force abilities at work.
Some of the art goes into goofy territory at times. But for the most part the characters, planets, and ships are gorgeous.
This was a great way to spend a few evenings.
September 29, 2022
An interesting collection of comics. Mostly centered around the main cast of Rebels, it introduces few original characters and rarely ever touches on the main villains and their exploits. All said, the series did keep to a certain level of consistency I'm fond of, and the stories touched on several lesser developed characters from the show. It has a vibe similar to early comics from when they were being published between movies, details kept vague and plots kept short as the landscape the stories are told in change without prior notice to the author. While not a massive fan of the comics, I am vastly happy that they have all been collected and translated.
January 7, 2024
This was a fun compilation of comics that I had no idea had existed since they were mainly part of the magazine. The stories are largely set some time within Season 2 as we already set Rex in some of the stories, but we don't get all the way to Thrawn.
They're great snippets of stories featuring the full Rebels crew, some supporting characters and some original ones as well. The goal of the comics, as was the goal of the show, was to flesh out the stories of the early Rebellion and it does so quite well. They're not super kiddie, as was the show, and they're actually pretty fulfilling.
Solid collection indeed.
They're great snippets of stories featuring the full Rebels crew, some supporting characters and some original ones as well. The goal of the comics, as was the goal of the show, was to flesh out the stories of the early Rebellion and it does so quite well. They're not super kiddie, as was the show, and they're actually pretty fulfilling.
Solid collection indeed.
August 27, 2023
Look at the size of that thing! This took my months to get through, because like a Rebel spy cell on multiple missions, "life" had its nerve, getting in the way of my reading enjoyment. Really loved the Kenner toys making their way into the visuals. I didn't realize that there was a thread of storyline and repeated villains and accomplices woven throughout the collection; I thought it was just random stories compiled. The alternating artists' styles made for a nice mix, too.
January 9, 2024
This book contains a bunch of short stories featuring the Rebels crew. None of them are super noteworthy but the are a lot of fun. Sometimes they introduce new characters and a couple times they even came back, which was a lot of fun. One thing I thought was cool was that it focused on side characters from Rebels in some stories too, like Lando or Wedge! I read this because I love the characters from Rebels and wanted to spend more time with them, this book served the purpose well.
October 11, 2024
This is one fantastic trade paperback! It’s truly acts as an amazing companion piece to the Rebels show; short, quick missions, journeys, etc. that are easy to digest in short sittings! Disregarding the fact that these are canon stories, thus being “required reading” for people seeking to enjoy everything in the new canon, if you just love the Rebels series, this would truly be something you love.
December 13, 2022
I really struggled to get through this. It's possible that a 500 page compendium wasn't the best way to read these 12-page stand-alone stories, but even with that in mind I found most of the artwork to be a little bland and stiff, and the writing is hamstrung by the disconnected format and the need to maintain the status quo of the television series.
July 28, 2023
This volume collects all the Rebels comics found in the Rebels Magazine. I was glad to have read all these to color in more of the canon of this era. However, not many of the stories are anything that you MUST know about or need to know about in regards to the overall history of the Rebels crew.
April 22, 2024
A decent collection of short stories. I think big fans of the Rebels show may enjoy this, but for anyone else, the stories are mostly skippable. There are some gems in here, but most of the stories are nothing too special. I am really glad that this got published though, as many of these comics were not available in English for a long time.
February 2, 2023
I was hungry for more Rebels stories, but this collection of short stories didn't really give me anything I wanted. Not enough fun character moments, and too short to get a crunchy story out of it. It's also long, so you kind of have to push through a lot of chuff to get to the good stories.
April 10, 2023
I went into this thinking it would be Marvel level Star Wars comics... I was incredibly mistaken. This was VERY kiddy and only a few issues were even enjoyable. If you are a big Star Wars Rebels fan, just avoid this...otherwise it'll be a huge disappointment.
July 28, 2023
This is essentially a comic Rebels version of the From a Certain Point of View novels. It has its moments. Not many, but it does have them.
In other words, despite its short burst vignettes yielding mixed results, it is worth reading without adding anything essential to the canon.
In other words, despite its short burst vignettes yielding mixed results, it is worth reading without adding anything essential to the canon.
April 2, 2023
For a much younger audience. Very repetitious. Gave up halfway through.
May 1, 2023
Perfect for Rebels fans; I was delighted by how many comics build on different episodes of the show. (Also WHY was "The Ballad of 264" so devastating???)
August 26, 2023
No major plot points but really enjoyable to read, a chance to see more of some really beloved characters.
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