Star Wars: The Force Awakens #1 Review!

Jondee here on the Finalizer,

We finally have another Marvel adaptation of a Star Wars movie with this limited series. I’m not sure how many issues it will last; I’m guessing five issues. It has a nice painted cover by Esad Ribic with Rey standing in front of Finn and BB-8 with the Falcon overhead. The dawn of the sun keeps the background in yellow which is not a spectacular debut, more subdued. The issue is written by Chuck Wendig who wrote the so-so Star Wars: Aftermath novel and also currently writing the Hyperion comic for Marvel. The art is also by a Marvel vet, Luke Ross, who is a fine artist, but not turning in stunning artwork. The only problem with the comic book is the captions is that they read like Captain Obvious; “This is BB-8 loyal astromech droid…” The compression of the film takes out the moment where Finn gets the bloody hand print on his helmet, the turning point for his character, it is just summarized.

Instead, the comic opens with BB-8 witnessing Kylo Ren interrogating Poe. Ren is introduced as the “dark First Order enforcer.” It shifts from the First Order shuttle taking off to Rey. There is one panel with Rey scavenging an Imperial shuttle, new scene. It moves to Rey back at her Imperial walker home, again the compression takes away from the emotion of Rey’s loneliness. General Hux gets the information about BB-8, no caption there, so his role and Captain Phasma are a bit confusing since they are not introduced. We also see the crash of Poe flying the TIE fighter. Finn is seen with a parachute, not the ejection chair, and the meeting of Finn and Rey. The final splash of the Falcon is nice. Ross’ art captures the look of the film, bringing instant memories of a scene, and captures the likeness’ of the characters. Much of the captions should be simple, like “General Hux of the First Order.” The rest has to be shown through the artwork. The only downside is the writing. A buy if you are a Star Warrior. Three Lightsabers out of Five.