The covers: A trio to track down if the Force is with you. The Regular cover is by Stuart Immonen and it’s a trippy frontpiece. Yoda is held in the hand of a gigantic antagonist, who gazes upon the Jedi Master with a smile. The creature seems to be entirely dark blue, with Yoda’s lightsaber providing some illumination of the monster’s face. The lighting effects, from the coloring, really sells this. Very unsettling, given the size of the Jedi’s opponent. The Star Wars 40th Anniversary Variant cover is by Kevin Wada. Luke has his hands holding his belt as the gazes forward wistfully. To his right is his landspeeder and just behind that is home on Tatoonie. This looks great and, like the previous 40th Anniversary Variant, the colors of the sky are beautiful, with purples and blues comprising the oncoming night. Beautiful. The final cover is the Action Figure Variant cover by John Tyler Christopher and it features my favorite classic Star Wars action figure of all time: Luke Skywalker: Hoth Battle Gear. The figure looks great, with its headscarf frozen in the wind, and the large shot of Luke gorgeous. I purchased this cover as soon as I saw it. Overall grades: Regular A, Star Wars 40th Anniversary Variant A, and Action Figure Variant A+
The story: I wasn’t too keen with the previous issue’s story, having it earn a C-. I formally submit my apology to writer Jason Aaron, who was setting up things to occur in this issue, and they certainly do occur. Yoda is trapped within a mountain full of Force crystals with Garro, a preteen. Now that they are within the mountain, left to die, the green Jedi Master realizes “The stones weren’t pieces of a mountain, but of a living creature. A barely living creature.” Yoda mediates for three days, trying to commune with the mountain. He does tap into the massive creature’s consciousness and it awakens. “Yes, young Garro. Hunger our new friend does. But not for us.” The mountain creates an exit for the pair to leave its interior, but Garro is hesitant. He doesn’t think he can return to his people, who left him out to die inside the mountain, but Yoda convinces him that he should go back to those he considers family. Naturally, once the pair are found by the Rockhawkers things do not go as they had hoped. The reader is waiting for the big reveal to happen, and it does, but first Garro makes a surprising announcement on Page 6. My hat’s off to Aaron for doing this — I don’t think anyone saw that coming! When the mountain does move, everyone gets out of Dodge, save one character. One guess who that could be…Pages 12 – 15 are really, really good. I was also surprised by 16, as I had completely forgotten that character, but his return was more than welcome, as was the cliffhanger of the final page. I was not pleased with the previous two installments of this story, but Aaron has made me realize my errors. Overall grade: A
The art: Last issue also had me also not happy with the visuals, but, like the story, Salvador Larroca makes up for it in this issue. The interior of the mountain looks like rocks (Duh), but once the reveal comes at the bottom of the first page its vein-like structures seem more obvious, showing the reader that the truth was before him or her all the time. The final three panels on Page 3 nicely capture movement, with the final panel being very dramatic. The close ups of Yoda throughout the book are really well done, with 5 – 8 being really so sweet! The setting, though minimalistic, on 7 and 8 masterfully establish a great sense of scale for the characters; it was simple, yet absolutely effective. The literal rise of the mountain is a showstopper of a visual, but it’s really kicked up in intensity on 10 and is a stunner on 13, this full-paged splash is jaw dropper for what Larroca puts in it and some awesome perspective. The character I’d forgotten about that appears on the final five pages looks excellent. Having this character wearing that outfit is the coolest thing in the world. I really liked the third panel’s layout on the penultimate page because it captured a real movement of the character and was set up like an actual scene from a film. A familiar character appears on the final page, which is also a full-paged splash, and it’s a very startling change from how this individual has been previously seen. I completely admit to bringing this character’s image as close to my face as I could to try and look at the details in the face. Yes, it’s really creepy. I liked the art on this issue. Overall grade: A
The colors: Edgar Delgado does some solid work with every possible shade of blue with this book. The interior of the mountain could have been a blob of a mess, because it’s rock and it’s blue, but Delgado’s work gives it some great depth. The exit from the setting on Page 4 is appropriately bright. Starting on 5 Yoda gets several close ups and the work done on him is amazing. I love him on 5, 6, and 8. And mention must be made of the setting on 7 and 8. The colors enhance the space of the location. There are several panels that contain clouds and dust and Delgado makes them incredibly realistic. There’s also some really smart coloring on the first full paged splash, with the lighting that’s brought onto the page excellent. The primary color used for the surface of the world on the final page nicely compliments the protagonist’s costume. Overall grade: A
The letters: Dialogue, narration, sounds, the unique font of the character that appears on 10, and droid talk are created by VC’s Clayton Cowles. I was happy to see the slight change in font for Yoda’s narration to show that it’s a different form of communication. The unique font used for one character was also strong, as was all the droid speech on the final five pages. Even with all these kudos, I’m not a fan of the thin font used for the dialogue. Overall grade: A-
The final line: The story and art improve, showing this to be a much larger story than anticipated. I really want to know what’s going to happen next issue. Yoda shows, once again, he is the toughest Jedi, ever. Overall grade: A
To order a digital copy of this book go to https://www.comixology.com/Star-Wars-2015-29/digital-comic/471123?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC90b3BSZXN1bHRzU2xpZGVy
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