SWNN Review: Marvel’s Star Wars #20
Story by Jason Aaron
Art by Mike Mayhew
- Another dive into the journal of Obi-Wan Kenobi!
- Jabba has hired bounty hunter Black Krrsantan to find out who’s been thwarting his men!
- The old hermit of the dune wastes might know something about that.
Back in Star Wars #15, Jabba the Hutt hired Black Krrsantan, a Wookiee bounty hunter, to find out who defeated his thugs a year ago during the great draught on Tatooine. This issue continues that story.
Jabba’s thugs show Krrsantan where the attack happened. We also find out that Jabba fed defeated men to his rancor.
Back on Lars homestead, Owen obviously regretted taking away skyhopper parts Obi-Wan bought for Luke and wants him and the boy to work on it together. But Luke is nowhere to be found. Owen doesn’t get the opportunity to find him because Black Krrsantan kidnaps him.
Luke has run away from home. Ben’s journal tells us that this has happened before and it will happen again. Only this time Luke senses that something is wrong and hurries back home only to find Beru hurt. She urges him to hide until she gets help. But, Luke has other ideas.
In the canyons, Wookiee is torturing Owen because he wants to get Ben’s attention. And he gets it.
Ben knows who Krrsantan is and who hired him. He attempts to resolve the matter without fight, using mind trick, because he doesn’t want to use lightsaber and show that he is a Jedi. But, that doesn’t work on this bounty hunter. Ben is feeling his years on Tatooine and the Wookiee quickly gets the upper hand.
Ben gets the help from unexpected source. Owen thinks well and, though his intervention distracted Krrsantan, Ben is now forced to both fight the bounty hunter and try to save Owen’s life. The fight is dramatic and painful for Ben as Wookiee is a relentless fighter.
Just as it seems that Owen’s life is lost, Luke arrives to help saving his uncle.
With Owen saved, Ben is free to fight Krrsantan. He defeats him and Wookiee falls of the cliff. He survives, but earns the scar by which we all know him. We learn that he escaped from Tatooine earning Jabba’s ire.
Ben witnesses the warm reunion between Owen and Luke and, later, reunion of the entire family and returns to his life with the renewed sense of hope.
I am one of those people who want to see Obi-Wan Kenobi spin-off movie from Lucasfilm. While there is still a chance of that happening, these Star Wars comic intermissions are succeeding in giving me bits and pieces of Ben’s story I want. And they are indeed bits and pieces, because there is only so much story you can cram into 20 or so pages. In a way, this is the end of a small mini-arc that the authors started in issue 7.
Most of this issue was dedicated to the fight between Ben and Krrsantan, but we get some of the information about Ben’s life. He spends his time in meditation with barely any human contact – we see him talking to banthas and even giving them names. He feels his age and inactivity on Tatooine, not just through the pains and aches of his body. Faced with enormous Wookiee he feels fear, something he, by his own account, hadn’t felt in years. When in great need, he calls upon his master, Qui-Gon, for the assistance. And he has his doubts about being Jedi enough to overcome Krrsantan.
I’d say he does very well, in spite of needing Luke’s assistance.
Mayhew does a great job portraying action, predominant in this issue, as well as characters’ facial expressions and different emotions. Once again, the colors of Tatooine are gorgeous, perfectly complementing his art.
The events of this issue might not have completely ironed out the relationship between Obi-Wan and Owen, but a small progression was made and Luke returned on the path of becoming a pilot. It was interesting to learn that he tried to escape home multiple times, making me wonder if we will see some Ben’s adventure with young Luke in the future. We also now know that Krrsantan was forced to leave Kashyyyk, though not why.
The issue didn’t push Obi-Wan’s story on Tatooine significantly ahead. We still don’t know if Qui-Gon Jinn established contact with Obi-Wan and started his training to become one with the Force. I wonder if Lucasfilm is preserving that story for a potential film, but I will like to see it, at least on the pages of this comic, as it will certainly be significantly different than Yoda’s because his personal demons are different. You won’t miss anything if you skip this issue, but if you like Obi-Wan as I do and appreciate beautiful art, you will enjoy it. And we will not see old Ben Kenobi for a while because The Last Flight of the Harbinger arc begins in…
THE NEXT ISSUE:
• Sgt. Kreel is back with an all-new squad of stormtroopers!
• Go inside the minds of an elite group of Imperial soldiers!
• Join incoming artist Jorge Molina for a walk on the dark side!
Staff member, comic and book reviewer. Cheers for the Light Side, but would drink with Grand Admirals.
Wow. Art is clearly impressive. A bit too hyperrealist for me. sometimes i had the feeling to watch movie-book lol
The art is amazing. Does anyone know the artist’s method? Is it a lot of photo-tracing, or is it just photo-reference? Great work.
Mike Mayhew is one of the best in the business in my opinion. He specializes in photo realism and uses a lot of cutting edge digital techniques as well as traditional methods, often times combining the two. One of my favorites is his fully painted X-Men Origins: Jean Grey one-shot, and he does some of the most amazing covers in comics today. No doubt he uses references to achieve his photo realistic look, but he’s definitely no photo-tracer like Greg Land. Check out this interview with him that came out when the last Kenobi-centric issue came out…
http://marvel.com/news/comics/25651/open_mike_mayhews_star_wars_sketchbook
Thanks for the link! Will definitely check more of his artwork out ( I see he has a deviant art page ).
He is far superior to Greg “porn-tracer” Land ( who’s also a plaigarist I might add ). Mayhew’s artwork is just mind-blowing.
Hot DAMN that art is amazing!
Aaron and Mayhew’s artwork is some of the best I’ve ever seen. It’s almost photorealistic, the way they draw and color the characters seems so believeable, I imagine it as a movie.
Good read – enjoying these books a lot! Like the whimsy in kid Luke! A chip off the old Skywalker block indeed! And next month: STORMTROOPAH!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPKz5V5mM0Q
What the fucking fuck is that thing ?! Sooo awkward. I will never found the sleep anymore after that. i thank you not (lol)