Writer: Jason Aaron

Artist: Stewart Immonen

And now we’re into Act II of Marvel’s Star Wars reboot.  The initial arcs of Jason Aaron’s Star Wars and Kieron Gillen’s Darth Vader have both wrapped up, and I’ll be damned if they weren’t good.  But now we’re in the sophomore season, and disappointingly, John Cassaday departed art chores on Star Wars and, after a one-issue interlude about Obi Wan’s history, we’re into our second full storyline with Stuart Immonen taking over.  Given that a change in artist can drastically alter the tone of a series, does the book still hold up?

Unsurprisingly, yes.  Immonen’s work is a worthy replacement to Cassaday even if it’s tonally very different.  While Cassaday went for a high-detailed level of realism and brightness in his style, Immonen’s pencils lean a little more towards the cartoonish with heavy use of shadows.  That’s not to say that Immonen lacks detail or attention thereto–his opening spread of a Star Destroyer should quell any doubts that this isn’t good artwork.  Furthermore, the muted tone he’s using is effective given that we’re getting hints of a darker story arc here: Luke is separated from the group and is once again in trouble; Han stands accused of running a scam on Leia.  This is a good fit so far.

Speaking of story, Aaron continues to intrigue and delight us.  If I had to guess, I’d say that this arc is going to deal with competing themes dealing with our character’s past.  Luke is searching for his–he’s looking for old Jedi sites so he can train himself to be a Jedi.  In contrast, it’s Han’s past that’s seeking him out–the mystery of Han’s “wife” introduced in issue 6 continues here.  We don’t get firm answers, but it wouldn’t be very funny if the story of Sana Solo was immediately resolved this issue.  Plenty happens here, but an explosive cliffhanger guarantees that we’ll want to come back for next month.

So welcome to Star Wars, Stuart Immonen.  Hope our cast survives the experience.

Rating: Five Aluminum Falcons out of five.