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Tuesday 11 July 2017

Star Wars, Volume 4: Last Flight of the Harbinger Review (Jason Aaron, Jorge Molina)


Rebel sympathisers are starving thanks to a planet-wide blockade by the Empire. Luke and co. plot to hijack a star destroyer to bust through and drop off supplies. The only problem is they have to hijack a friggin’ star destroyer! 

Last Flight of the Harbinger is unfortunately the worst volume yet in Jason Aaron’s Star Wars run - which hasn’t exactly been amazing either! 

The plot reeks of (shudder) The Phantom Menace. I mean, how the fuck does an entire planet starve because of a lack of supplies?! What, you can’t grow food anywhere on the entire planet’s surface? Then why live there?? It’s just nonsense. 

The hijacking itself is surprisingly dull and the interim between that and breaking the blockade is filled with dreariness. Luke and Sana piss about on TIE Fighters to no effect while Han and Leia continue to tediously bicker. Jorge Molina’s art is serviceable but unimpressive. 

I did like reading about the elite Navy SEAL-esque Stormtroopers if only to get their perspective for a change. It makes their fight against the Rebels more understandable while making them more human, sympathetic and less one-dimensional which is a different and welcome change of pace. Giving their squad leader a lightsaber though was stupid, included only for the arbitrary and obligatory lightsaber duel that’s in every Star Wars book. 

Equally uninteresting is the Obi-Wan issue which tells the story of how Black Krrsantan (the evil Wookiee bounty hunter) got his scarred eye. It’s unnecessary but at least we got to see Mike Mayhew’s transcendent photo-realistic art that makes Tatooine look incredible. 

Overall, Last Flight of the Harbinger is one helluva dull read - the Force ain’t with this one.

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