Marvel’s Rogue One Adaptation #1 Fleshes Out the Events of the Movie

 

Written by Jody Houser

Art by Emilio Laiso

Cover art by Phil Noto

 

All appears lost in the fight against the tyrannical Galactic Empire. The Rebellion has discovered the existence of the Empire’s ultimate super-weapon. The Death Star. With the power to wipe planets from existence, the Death Star’s existence spells doom for those seeking freedom. All hope now lies in the hands of new heroes Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor. Their last ditch gambit to steal the Death Star plans are all that stands in the Empire’s way!

 

 

In another example of Star Wars synergy, Marvel has released the first issue of the Rogue One Adaptation comic to coincide with the home video release of the movie. Let’s see how this one fares compared to the adaptation of The Force Awakens which followed the movie note for note and added virtually nothing to the story.

 

Like the movie itself, the adaptation has no opening crawl. Instead, it has a Rebel’s Report that describes the mission: “Find and extract Jyn Erso”. And while it starts like the movie on Lah’mu, with the death of Lyra Erso and kidnapping of Galen, after two pages it is clear that this adaptation will not just adapt the film but add to the story in significant ways.

 

 

We witness the fateful encounter between Galen and Bodhi Rook that pushes the imperial cargo pilot to defect and look for Saw Gerrera’s rebels.

 

 

We also get Jyn’s arrival to the Wobani labor camp and her interaction with her cellmate, named Oolin Musters in the novelization and described by Felicity Jones as her ‘many tentacle friend’, in which the alien threatens to kill her. She (because Oolin is female) never gets a chance, because Jyn is saved by the Rebel Alliance.

 

The interrogation of Jyn plays out pretty much just like the movie, however it is interspersed with Jyn’s flashbacks, including the moment when Saw Gerrera abandons Jyn in a bunker.

 

 

Another nice addition is a scene between Mon Mothma and Bail Organa in which the two leaders discuss the discovery of the Empire’s super weapon. Mothma thinks that with proof of its existence, the Senate would have to act, but Bail fears that ceding to the Emperor has become second nature to most of the senators. Mothma says they have to try diplomacy first, but also be prepared for what comes after that.

 

 

Aboard of Star Destroyer Executrix, we witness in comic-book form one of the many contentious on-screen encounters between Grand Moff Tarkin and Director Krennic. Here, the defection of Bodhi Rook has pushed the timetable and Tarkin proposes a weapon test.

 

 

The scene leads directly to Jedha City and the two Guardians of the Whills. Their relationship to the Force is clear from a single panel: one lost his faith in it, the other is still guided by it.

 

 

The issue closes with an afterword by Gareth Edwards, director of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. He remembers how as a child he just wanted the ‘boring’ yellow letters to hurry up and get to the real excitement and how he used to believe that the characters of Star Wars were real and how he wanted to live in a galaxy far, far away. He got the next best thing when he started working for Lucasfilm.

 

“I look back on those early days of making the film, hanging with Gary and the Story Group as one of the best creative experiences I’ve ever had. Unlike other filmmaking processes, our problems were never ‘What the Hell shall we do?’ but always, “What the Hell shall we cut out to make this film have a chance at being less five hours long!’

And like the heroes in the film, we did make sacrifices. We cut things out, we rearranged, tightened; And merged ideas together… if only there was a place where some of these forgotten scenes could actually live and exist again.”

 

That chance is this comic mini-series which will share many of the concepts, themes and visuals that never made into the final film.

 

After reading the first issue, I am pleased to say that the comic was exactly what Edwards promises. The comic is written and drawn in a way that gives it a cinematic feel. It’s also giving us the sense of which events in the movie played out concurrently. Cleverly placed flashbacks flesh out the characters, explaining their motivations and general attitude. Laiso’s art transfers the atmosphere of the movie successfully to the page, especially when it comes to different settings like the Ring of Kafrene or Jedha, and it is brilliantly complimented by Rachelle Rosenbergs’ colors. His character drawings though are a bit inconsistent, ranging from completely realistic like Bail Organa to the portrayals that are nothing like what we saw in the movie, like Krennic.

 

Overall,the Star Wars: Rogue One Adaptation is off to a promising start – one that promises to add to the story of the movie and the characters in a meaningful way. I certainly recommend you to pick it up, because we are heading to Jedha in…

 

THE NEXT ISSUE:

 

 

  • Jyn Erso continues her quest with Cassian Andor to help the Rebellion fight the sinister Galactic Empire.
  • Following the trail to the ancient Jedha City to find Rebel extremist Saw Guerra, Jyn and Cassian get caught in a firefight with the Empire…
  • …only to then be taken prisoner by Saw’s followers!
  • The Star Wars story continues!

 

 

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Staff member, comic and book reviewer. Cheers for the Light Side, but would drink with Grand Admirals.

Jelena Bidin (LadyMusashi)

Staff member, comic and book reviewer. Cheers for the Light Side, but would drink with Grand Admirals.

24 thoughts on “Marvel’s Rogue One Adaptation #1 Fleshes Out the Events of the Movie

  • April 6, 2017 at 12:42 am
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    Beautiful cover by Phil Noto, but the interior art ( by another artist ) is ghastly – garish and overbearing colouring to make up for the poor line art.

    What happened to the days when the SW movie adaptations were masterfully crafted by the likes of Howard Chaykin or Al Williamson?

    Surely ROGUE ONE ( or even the TFA adaptation ) could have benefitted from the likes of a Francesco Frankavella, or a Steve Epting, not this substandard artwork?

    • April 6, 2017 at 3:12 am
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      I think some of the inside art is hit and miss. Some panels are great while others are meh. But I love the colours used in it.
      I can say I prefer this art style over the art in the current Yoda arc in the Star Wars comic. Every Yoda panel is a obvious tracing of a shot of yoda from the prequels.
      I dont know the artists but of the current canon comics ive enjoyed the art the Kanan Comic, The Poe comic and the first Obiwan story in the Star Wars comic.
      When it comes to comic art my prefrence is the artist should have a unique fun style (unlike the stale style of the Yoda arc) but its should be overstylsed to the point that I cant look at the panel a undertsand what im seeing at a glace.

      • April 6, 2017 at 10:14 am
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        The art in “Darth Maul” is truly great. Oh, and “Lando”‘s art was pretty good too…

        • April 7, 2017 at 2:39 am
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          Obi-Wan & Anakin’s art was fantastic as well.

    • April 6, 2017 at 6:07 am
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      Yeah, Really not crazy about the Disney era artists either but to be fair, The vast majority of Marvel comic artists 2017 blow donkey. You will find better fan art at a con than in one of their comics.

  • April 6, 2017 at 12:54 am
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    The Bail and Mon Mothma interaction has an error I think. Why would she say his name twice?

    • April 6, 2017 at 1:07 am
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      I think it speaks of how poor this adaptation truly may be. Can’t believe the two “Bail”s slipped by the comic’s editor.

    • April 6, 2017 at 6:25 pm
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      We gotta warn the senate Morty…..lives are at stake Morty..ehhh*burp* you don’t understand the severity of this weapon Morty!!!

  • April 6, 2017 at 1:02 am
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    “If only there was a place where these forgotten scenes could live on and exist again”

    They can if they were on the Blu-Rey, then I could watch them. I won’t forget them and they will exist in my memory.

    • April 6, 2017 at 1:15 am
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      Can’t if they were never filmed

      • April 6, 2017 at 1:26 am
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        “The the hell shall we cut out to make not five hours long”

        Makes me think there is footage I have not seen.

        • April 6, 2017 at 2:52 am
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          most of what he was referring to was in the creative process (before filming) as it was mere discussions about what should be in the film as the tightening, cutting, and joining of scenes is in script not during editing process. Gareth previously said that what he cut out were shots that would not be long enough to be worth adding in, although I doubt what he says it is the story we have.

          • April 6, 2017 at 3:10 am
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            When the next blue Rey comes out, we shall see.

  • April 6, 2017 at 1:53 am
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    Why does Bodhi look so old and Tarkin so young?

    • April 6, 2017 at 10:33 pm
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      Krennik looks too young too.

  • April 6, 2017 at 3:02 am
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    This is an adaptaion which make sense as to why you would purchase it. The small little scenes (Bodhi and Erso, Jyns interaction with her cell mate etc), which I believe are in the novel, are the extra info you want.
    The force awakens is just panel for panel for the film. What is the point of that?
    I hope we continue to get these extra scenes through the rest of the comic.
    I think I’ll buy the trade paperback because this cover art is beautiful.

  • April 6, 2017 at 3:10 am
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    It would be cool to see a extra Vader castle scene in the comic

  • April 6, 2017 at 6:06 am
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    This releasing the adaptation nearly half a year after the film shit has got to stop same goes for the novelizations and soundtracks. I think part of why the Disney era feels off for me is not being able to read/listen to them in advance to get myself in the mood for the film. It’s sort of fun to imagine how they will be used and guess which scenes make the final cut or not.

    • April 6, 2017 at 2:29 pm
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      I have to disagree. Maybe it was a tad long for them to wait, but releasing any of the material adapting the film *before* the film is simply madness, imho.

    • April 7, 2017 at 6:01 am
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      Just b/c they did it the wrong way before doesn’t mean they should keep doing it.

  • April 6, 2017 at 3:26 pm
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    This adaptation is 10 times better than the one that came after The Force Awakens. The art is really disappointing though. Krennic and Tarkin don’t look like themselves at all. Its cool that they added some extra scenes even though a few were already in the novel.

  • April 6, 2017 at 7:58 pm
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    Not really feeling the art here. Looks very cartoon-y. I know what the characters are supposed to look like and everything is just off.

  • April 6, 2017 at 10:34 pm
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    This comic is going to be a nice addition to the movie and novelization.

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