All good things must come to an end, and sadly Star Wars: Legacy sees its last issue (at least under the Dark Horse label) due to Marvel taking over the franchise. A couple of things become worrisome; for instance, can a slow building story like this cap so many plot threads in a single issue, and will that hurt the end product? Is it good?
Star Wars: Legacy #18 (Dark Horse Comics)
Ania Solo and her friends, including an ex Imperial Knight named Jao, have found themselves on a planet chasing Darth Wredd. He’s a Sith who’s caused a lot of trouble since issue #1 and befuddled everyone due to his desire to kill off all other Sith. You see, his entire planet was destroyed by Sith, but he’s also aware there should be only two Sith to create balance, not the 500 or so that roam the galaxy. That would explain why he’s lured them all to the planet, but now Ania and her friends must face a lot of angry Sith with the help of an Imperial Knight army. How cool does that sound?! Last issue the battle began and this issue opens right in the thick of things.
But I thought we need balance!
The pace of this issue is brisk, to the point where a lot of character moments that could have been were not given time, which is a shame since that’s usually a strength of the series. It quickly wraps up the Wredd plot, but also gives Ania a new direction. How writers Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman fix the issue of Jao being on the chopping block is a bit of a cheat too, but there’s no way they could have done it any less clunkily since they have no time to let things evolve naturally. Ultimately it’s rather clear if given another arc or two this story could have gone down some interesting roads, but the story needed a period rather than an ellipsis, so it is what it is. Frankly I didn’t find the ending to Wredd very good, partly because he goes out like a chump.
It’s not about the size of the blaster, it’s about its power!
It is however nice how things end on the last page and nobody can complain that the story left any loose ends. That’s good, particularly when a story so good ends so abruptly, because they can’t keep it going, but they can give us a new direction we can take it in our own imaginations.
The art by Gabriel Hardman and Brian Albert Thies is strong…enough. A lot of the action panels feel rushed, partly because the detail is missing, but the blocking and choreography is exciting and understandable. The Jao vs. Wredd match is just okay unfortunately. It ends on a stereotypical mountain peak straight out of Star Trek when Kirk faced Gorn and unfortunately the layouts and story didn’t articulate why the battle went the way it did. It just sort of ends, as if they wanted it to be impactful but didn’t have the space for it.
Okay wait…that’s pretty big.
Is It Good?
So often a story ends poorly, leaving the observer disappointed. That isn’t the case here, but the loose ends are tied so quickly it’s obvious it’s not as good as it could have been. As it stands though, it’s an entertaining end with plenty of conclusions readers should enjoy.
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