Book Review: Star Wars (2020) Volume 1

Charles Soule, et.al., Star Wars, Volume 1: The Destiny Path. New York: Marvel, 2020. ISBN: 9781302920784.

Genre: Comics

Subgenre: Star Wars, space opera

Format: trade paperback

Source: Eastside Branch, Lexington (KY) Public Library 

This is the Star Wars comics run by Charles Soule. This volume includes issues 1-6 of the comics. The events start right after Leia, Lando, Luke, and others escape from Bespin Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back. Luke is coping with learning the truth about him and Darth Vader. Leia is working to bring the Rebel fleet back together after their defeat in the Battle of Hoth. The Empire is determined to crush the Rebellion. Darth Vader puts a ruthless young commander in charge of hunting down the rebels, Tarkin's former protege Commander Zahra. These are dark times for the rebels. 

The story fills out a gap between Episodes 5 and 6. If you thought Leia and Chewbacca hated Lando for his treasonous, albeit at Imperial gunpoint, role in Bespin that angle is really played up here. To complicate things, they need to sneak back into Bespin for various reasons, and this is much of the story in this volume. 

The story has a pretty good pace overall. It feels very familiar given the popular characters and setting within the original films. As a villain, Commander Zahra makes a strong threat. This volume is an easy ready; once you start, you just keep on reading. 

Overall, while not great, this is pretty good. It is certainly better than the bad new trilogy Disney (the current Star Wars owners) produced. If you are a fan of the original films, you'll probably like this one. Libraries already collecting Star Wars comics will want to add this one to their collections. 

3 out of 5 stars.