Arriving with much fanfare and more variant covers than you can shake a lightsaber at, Marvel's Star Wars #1 hit shelves this week, written by Jason Aaron with art by John Cassaday. Set not long after Luke Skywalker destroyed the Galactic Empire's first Death Star, the issue features Luke, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, C-3PO and R2-D2 infiltrating an Imperial weapons factory, a plan that starts to unravel once Darth Vader shows up. The issue is Marvel's first Star Wars comic book in nearly 30 years, and it's clear that The House of Ideas is excited about getting to play in George Lucas' sandbox once again.
One thing that immediately jumped out at me was how much this book captures the feel of the original Star Wars trilogy, from Han's wisecracks to Threepio's nonstop fretting. There's even an amputation via lightsaber in this inaugural issue, which is a weird thing to get excited about but a Star Wars necessity as far as I'm concerned.
Marvel's clearly taking full advantage of Disney's 2012 Lucasfilm acquisition, with Darth Vader and Princess Leia titles arriving later this year, but it's also putting forward the best resources possible to tell compelling stories in this universe. Marvel's Star Wars is already looking like a top-tier book that's bound to remind geeks everywhere why they fell in love with this franchise in the first place.
