Kyle’s Review: Marvel’s Poe Dameron #9

marvelpoe9- cover

It’s hard for me to believe Poe Dameron has reached it’s ninth issue.  It felt like yesterday this title just got going.  This ongoing series has been a great peak into the galaxy I feel we barely got a glimpse of in The Force Awakens.  We are learning more and more how much Poe actually went through to get to that remote village in Jakku, hoping to find a link to the missing Luke Skywalker.  SPOILERS AHEAD…

 

 

marvelpoe9- not a kyber

 

Well, that’s not the galaxy’s biggest Kyber crystal like I hoped.  It is actually not explained at all, but I have hopes it will be.  In a galaxy as big as the one far, far away, Poe and Agent Terex certainly keep running into each other, and this time they descend upon Kaddak.  Poe and C-3PO have come to retrieve a droid, a “spy-droid”, that has information on the location of Supreme Leader Snoke.  It cracks me up that 3PO has these minions of droids embedded in the First Order, but I guess it shouldn’t, since Poe makes a very good point in this issue that 3PO has been involved in every crucial situation on the side of good.  This issue does a lot of name dropping, not in the bragging sense, but a lot of names that will make your eyebrows raise.  I’ll break the bad news upfront…no mention of Snoke.

 

 

Terex is really beginning to grow on me.  At first, I wasn’t sure what to think of this mustachioed, rent-a-cop looking fella.  He seemed to be kind of a slimy bad guy, but there wasn’t much sinister about Terex other than he worked for the First Order and had some Imperial pedigree.  Well, we get to learn a lot more about that pedigree.  The frame above is a somewhat surprising scene, which I won’t spoil for you.  This kid is trying to pick-pocket Terex, and that’s all I’ll say.  It’s best to kind of make these Terex discoveries on your own.

 

 

The previous issue concluded with Terex showing up on Kaddak in a strange, samurai looking outfit.  This armor does not appear in quite as dramatic a fashion as it was revealed.  Terex is certainly well known on Kaddak, and as that free-falling glass in the foreground of the above frame indicates, he’s certainly feared.

 

marvelpoe9- double datemarvelpoe9- jakku you too

 

We got a bit of history on Terex in the previous issues, but this keeps the lesson going.  The Battle of Jakku has certainly become something of a watershed moment in the Sequel Trilogy-era.  Terex survived the battle, along with his friend Corlac, and they made their way to Kaddak.  Terex is an Imperial loyalist, through and through, and the more I read about him the more I feel like he was manipulated.  Corlac introduced Terex to the two ladies in the above frame, promising him they would help save the Empire.  Terex was stationed on a shipyard that laid dormant after the Empire’s last stand at Jakku.  These two gals run a repair yard and Corlac convinced Terex they would help repair whatever ships were left at the shipyard.

 

marvelpoe9- clubhouse

Hey, it’s Kanjiklub!  You’ll see another familiar group of undesirables pop a few frames after this one, no doubt their ears would perk up at Han Solo’s name as well.  I wouldn’t call this moment Easter egg material, but there are a few more like this.  It’s cool to see writer Charles Soule and artist Phil Noto having fun in these pages.  Poe and 3PO continue their search for the spy.  This issue is mostly focussed on Terex, but 3PO gets a good share of the spotlight, too.  More name-dropping, too.

 

marvelpoe9- small wonder

 

It turns out you don’t have to be the most advanced droid in the galaxy to make a big difference.  Those little droids you see, moving throughout the corridors of Death Stars and Star Destroyers, blend into any scene. Unfortunately, 3PO learns that the droid with the location of Snoke has been taken by a group or organization called the Rancs.  Poe seems to know of them and is not to keen on having to deal with them.

 

 

I wasn’t too surprised to find a few pages later that Terex is familiar with the Rancs, as well.  Not only is Terex familiar with the Rancs, it seems that he was once their leader before joining the First Order. We are introduced to Wisper, the current leader of the Rancs.  When Terex lead a group to the abandoned Imperial shipyard, decades earlier, Wisper was there.  It seems he has much trepidation about Terex showing up on Kadaak.

 

marvelpoe9- open the pod bay doorsmarvelpoe9- terex don't change his stripes

 

I’m dying to know the story behind Terex’s departure from the Rancs to the First Order.  It’s pretty clear above that he’s leaving the First Order behind and returning to his whatever criminal heritage he had on Kadaak. I could also see this being some sort of ruse, but if you recall in earlier issues, Terex is somewhat of a rogue agent in the First Order.  My theory is that he turned to crime after he realized the Empire was really gone, and the only reason he joined the First Order is because he thought they were the Empire reborn.  What we have seen is they are clearly something beyond what the Empire was, and I don’t mean that in a good way.

 

marvelpoe9- 3PO checks in

 

Just as Terex embraces his criminality, Poe and 3PO show up looking for the Rancs.  This story ends just as it gets going, due to a large part of this issue being exposition on Terex’s past.  Just as many of these issues end with Poe being in a much more difficult position than he began, issue #9 offers a cliffhanger.  It feels like Terex is just about a page away from walking into Poe, but we’ll have to wait until next time for that.

 

Poe doesn’t get a lot of time in this issue.  Terex is the star, and I’m glad Soule devoted some time to developing his origins.  This period of time an interesting juxtaposition to the period of time between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.  What I mean by that is all these lost souls that were dedicated to the Empire now wandering through the galaxy, trying to find their meaning as the New Republic forms.  I understand the Story Group is trying to keep the mystique of the Sequel Trilogy and is going to hand us information about this period of time sparingly until it’s completion, but I hope we see more stories through the eyes of former Empire.  Rae Sloane and Terex are compelling characters and I imagine there are many more we’ve yet to meet.

 

Amid this busy week of Rogue One, this is a great issue to have with you to read while waiting in line or for the film to start.  Well worth your money and your time.  I hope you all enjoy Rogue One!

 

 

marvelpoe9= next issue

 

This issue is available at your local comic shop or digitally through comiXology

 

 

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Kyle Larson lives in Portland, Oregon. When he's not running trails, he's reading and writing.

Kyle Larson

Kyle Larson lives in Portland, Oregon. When he's not running trails, he's reading and writing.

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