Review: The ‘Hyperspace Stories’ Comic Series Comes to an End With Issue #12
Hyperspace Stories #12 marks the end of Dark Horse’s varied series. In a lot of ways, “varied” is the right word to describe it as the series varied in quality, characters, creative teams, and stories.
With issue #12, Hyperspace Stories ends by taking audiences back to the Battle of Endor to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Return of the Jedi. It’s a fun, standalone adventure with low stakes. In many ways, this is also emblematic of the series as a whole. However, it’s not the celebratory, rousing, and conclusive last issue that I was hoping for.
Spoilers below…
Hyperspace Stories issue #12 spotlights the character of Evans Basch. He’s a ship engineer who’s only seen in the background of Return of the Jedi in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. His story is interesting and charming enough to have kept me engaged. It centers on his journey through the Rebellion and his desire to reunite a young child with her lost toy plushie.
For those who have kept up with Hyperspace Stories, you’ll know that the plushie is the thread that ties all the issues together. While each issue jumps from period to period, the plushie is a recurring object that runs through the different stories. Issue #12 finally reveals the importance of this plushie.
It’s discovered that the plushie carries inside it a map. The map appears to point to ancient locations of importance to the Jedi. And it even somewhat resembles the map from The Force Awakens. Although, with this being the last issue in the series, there’s no clear indication of where this story thread will continue. There is an off-chance this will continue with Hyperspace Stories: Qui-Gon and future graphic novels being released next year, but the sudden end to this plot line did make me stop and go, “Wait, that’s it?” But then again, this series’ main focus was never exclusively the plushie but was simply a vessel to tell these stories.
And while I enjoyed the plushie’s odyssey and how it gets from one place to another, I’m not sure if Evans Basch was the right character to feature, especially in this last issue. I get that Hyperspace Stories is a place for creators to explore and flesh out minor characters, but this is also a series that features major players like Rey, Luke, and Yoda. Again, his story is fun and engaging, but his story isn’t the big “hoorah” that I was looking for, as I think it would’ve been better to have the same story but with a more interesting and known character like Lando, Han, or even Chewie.
Hyperspace Stories has a lot of heart and adventure. And it’s no different here in issue #12. While the series doesn’t end with a large “bang,” it still features some interesting moments that help bring to life other characters and that celebrate the varied tapestry that is Star Wars. The Hyperspace Stories line will be an interesting one to follow in the near future.
Score: 6/10
Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories #12 is available now wherever comics are sold. Thank you to Dark Horse Comics for the copy used in this review.
Born and raised in Hawaii, Jay Goodearl runs the YouTube Gaming channel “Good Games, Dude” His channel aims to open up video games to beginners and immediate players and help them understand what makes games the art form that it is.
