At last, the final series of the initial three comics that Marvel had announced has arrived. Of the three, Star Wars, Darth Vader, and Princess Leia, Leia was the series that I was most interested in reading. With Mark Waid (Kingdom Come) writing and Terry Dodson (Uncanny X-Men) doing the art, I had high expectations. So does the comic meet those expectations? Mild spoilers ahead.
The short answer is yes. I didn’t like this one quite as much as Vader number one, but it was still really good and I thought better than Star Wars issue one. The story starts in the moments immediately after the Battle of Yavin. Princess Leia finds herself overly protected and not allowed to assist in the search for a new base after the Empire has placed a 10,000,000 credit bounty on her head. However, when word arrives that the Empire is hunting down surviving Alderaanians, Leia decides that as the last surviving ruler of Alderaan, it is her duty to gather up and protect her people.
The meat of the story I enjoyed quite a bit. The idea of Leia trying to save what’s left of her planet is a good one, and it’s not a story that has really been explored before very much. There are also some great moments, like the little trick that Artoo and Evaan pull when they’re trying to leave Yavin 4. However, my one complaint is with the dialogue between Leia and Luke near the beginning of the comic. I can’t really explain it, but something felt off. The things they said just didn’t really feel like either of those two characters to me. Beyond that, a really solid job by Mark Waid.
Terry Dodson, as I expected, doesn’t disappoint either. The art is really beautiful, and he does a good job capturing the main characters’ likenesses while staying true to his own particular style. This isn’t Dodson’s first time doing a Star Wars comic as he also did the pencils for Dark Horse’s Dark Force Rising adaptation.
While his likenesses were maybe more accurate in that comic, I really prefer the slightly more stylized versions in Princess Leia. Jordie Bellaire’s colors really add to Dodson’s lines. I particularly like the way she chose to color C-3PO. Although, some of her choices did feel a little strange to me, especially the wear on the pilots’ helmets. It was really noticeable on Evaan’s helmet, where it looked more like blood spatters all over it than dirt and damage.
Final thoughts:
You should definitely be buying this comic. Also, I love Leia’s new hairdo.