"Star Wars Adventures Annual 2020" by Cavan Scott and Nick Brokenshire

"Star Wars Adventures Annual 2020" 

This is an affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

This issue was FINALLY released!!! It was a long time coming and the wait was well worth it. The "2020 Annual" contains two crazy but super fun stories. The first delves into the unfortunate life of Jaxxon the Lepi and the second gives us insight on a whole new species--the Grand Engineers (some really cool stuff here). I was incredibly delighted that this comic is finally getting to see the light of day after so many CoVid-related delays and it was such a blast to read!

---

-"Rabbit Hunt" written by Cavan Scott, illustrated by Francesco Gaston and Charlie Kirchoff

Here we learn that Jaxxon has A LOT of cousins and one of them in particular is not afraid to drag Jaxxon's name through the mud. Reegor steals some Imperial transit chips with the help of Amaiza Foxtrain, Jaxxon's old crewmate who betrayed him in a previous comic. And everyone's after Jaxxon because the only real difference in appearance between the two is a scar over Reegor's left eye (see below). Even Han and crew make the mistake as they capture Jaxxon in a bid to get their hands on the transit chips.

But before all this, we see Jaxxon cheating at Sabaac against a Gloovan Gangster named Scram whose crew shows up (what an array of species!!!--see below) to take Jaxxon down. But then Dengar appears, wanting the bounty on Jaxxon's head. He's in it deep at this point!! That's when he gets, well, saved essentially by Han. This Lepi always has the good luck in the end.

After learning that it was Reegor and not Jaxxon who stole the transit chips, they develop a scheme to get their hands on the chips after all by wrangling a bunch of Jaxxon's more respectable cousins into confusing the hell out of some stormtroopers. It was wacky and glorious (see below).

Definitely a fun and easy read that had humor and action in all the right ways. 

---

-"A Rebel Bounty" written and illustrated by Nick Brokenshire

If I'm sussing this out correctly, Agent Kallus (as Fulcrum) plays a fairly big role in this comic and it was so great to see good Kallus in action!! Essentially, a bounty gets put out on a Grand Engineer (a new type of species I've never heard of before which are mystically connected to technology--after this comic, I definitely want to know more about them!!). IG-88 goes out after the bounty (which was placed by Jabba the Hutt) and captures her--Lony Coleema--just after she's made a deal with the Rebels, giving them secret intel on the Empire's technology.

IG-88's plan isn't to take the bounty to Jabba though...he wants to neurally-connect with Lony. He says, "Your Order has a unique and deep connection with technology. I intend on strip-mining your mind, that I might learn your ancient secrets...as well as all you can show me about the empire's secret inventions. [...] This electrode will create a link between your organic mental processes and my electronic thought systems." Talk about spooky as hell!! The "Order" he speaks of is the Order of the Sight Voltaic...check out the images below for what I mean by mystical tech connections!

I need a whole flipping book about these people!! They are genuinely fascinating and something like I've never seen or heard of before in Star Wars.

So, will Lony get saved by Agent Kallus/Fulcrum?!?! Or will she forever be lost to the neural connection with IG-88?!?! Up until the very end, it's anyone's game...

---

Another wonderful combo of stories under the "Star Wars Adventures" brand!! I LOVE this series so incredibly much and hope it continues for many years to come.