Star Wars Adventures TPB Vol 11: Rise of the Wookiees by various
Star Wars Adventures TPB Vol 11: Rise of the Wookiees by various
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"Ghosts of Kashyyyk" written by John Barber, illustrated by Derek Charm
The First Order is holding a blockade over Kashyyyk and Chewie along with Terbus the Porg, Beaumont Kin, and Nien Nunb bust through it in the Millennium Falcon with the help of the Nautolan pilot Daz in her X-wing. Seemingly out of nowhere, Chewie runs off into the supposedly haunted Black Forest, leaving the rest of his Resistance cohorts nervous and wary of what in the world is going on. Well, little ole Terbus follows after him and the two end up making a fantastic team as they conquer a number of First Order troopers, freeing a fairly sizeable group of Wookiees in the process! The moral of the story is that "Whatever planet we come from, whatever led us here...we're all in this together."
I loved the Porg antics that helped save the day and as always, seeing Chewie in action, kicking butt and taking names (check him out below), is simply a delight!
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"Secret Agent Droids" written by Michael Moreci, illustrated by Tony Fleecs and Matt Herms
This story had major 3PO action and I am always so here for that!! It takes place in Garel City with C-3PO, BB-8, and R2-D2 being told to stay on the ship while Leia and Poe meet with a weapons supplier. Well, a strange transmission comes in begging for help and BB-8 and R2 simply can't resist the call to come to someone's aid! 3PO of course claims it's a trap from the very beginning and lo and behold he's right!! Well sort of. There's a young Duros girl, Likana, who's been scoping out some new First Order communications scrambling tech overseen by a man she calls the Gamemaster--Director Orlok is his actual name. Hijinks ensue and even General Hux gets involved, but in the end, the good guys definitely make an impression!
The moral of this story is in response to Poe's proclamation that, "A mission ran by droids and a kid--it could have gone a lot differently. In the future, leave this kind of stuff to the Resistance." 3PO boldly and rightfully responds with, "Pardon me, Commander Dameron. But Likana is every bit a part of the Resistance as you. And, quite frankly...so am I. We are the Resistance. We are all the Resistance." Getting to witness 3PO stand up for himself so bravely brings supreme joy to my heart!
This whole story was a mile a minute and super fun...of course, I am a sucker for droid action (see worried 3PO below)...
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"Tales from Wild Space: The Lost Stories" written by Cavan Scott, illustrated by David M. Buisan and Charlie Kirchoff
This story was phenomenal!! As an ending to the "Tales from Wild Space" series, it encapsulated everything that had come before in a dramatic and perfectly executed way. I've mentioned in my reviews of the 2020- "Star Wars Adventures" run that I'm beyond displeased about the publishers doing away with "Tales from Wild Space" but I do have to admit that this last story was an excellent encapsulation of this wonderful sub-series of tales!
Emil Graf discovers that the supposedly destroyed (by Nihil raiders nonetheless!!) Lost Library of Nelgenam still exists and he sets off with Noni (his Kowakian Monkey Lizard) and CR-8R and BB-00 (his droids) to find said library. They arrive to an empty and abandoned building where they face crumbling architecture, wreck-weavers (arachnoid creatures that only eat metal--not so great for BB-00 and CR-8R!), and maniacal weapons-hot librarian droids who are violently demanding silence (see below)!! Things look dire. ...then things just get SO much worse. A Tarinna a.k.a. a Critonian Story Vampire (see below) appears and begins sucking all the stories Emil knows out of his head!! As this happens, Emil relives stories that have been told in the past in the "Tales from Wild Space" sub-series but is simultaneously forgetting the characters and plots involved. It was so incredibly sad to read but was also super fun at the same time to get glimpses of stories from previous issues, all of which felt comfy and familiar!
Emil, like his relatives Lina and Milo, bounces back quickly from the trauma of losing so many stories and vows to create new stories as he continues on his life's adventures.
Why did they have to stop this sub-series?!? It was so freaking good...*sigh*.
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"Loyalty Test" written by Michael Moreci, illustrated by Arianna Florean, Mario Del Pennino, and Valentina Taddeo
This one was admittedly a bit odd. Kylo Ren makes it very clear that he trusts no one but himself while Hux keeps goading him about good leaders trusting their underlings which allows them to be even more successful in the end. The two land on Vendaxa, believing there to be a Resistance presence on the planet...but all they get is attacked by a very angry Acklay (a cool prequel connection). With both baddies doing their part to defend each other from the beast, in the end they seem to come to an agreement that they have each earned each other's trust. ...something that seems strange for both Kylo and Hux...neither of these men seem to care all that much about earning the trust of others. I guess the whole premise of this one just felt out of character which threw me off.
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"Squad Goals" written by Michael Moreci, illustrated by Arianna Florean and Valentina Taddeo
Cute enough, and with a connection to the prequels which always gets me going, I did enjoy this foray into a flying lesson given to Rey by Poe, despite it having a very similar moral to the first story in this collection--that we can't do everything alone and that we're all in "this" together.
So Poe takes Rey out to the Moon of Kyzring which is filled with carnium, an energy-rich mineral. The Mining Guild has been destructively mining the moon for years, leaving all its waste as debris in orbit around the moon...along with a whole passel of buzz droids (see below) which they use to break apart the debris! I love getting to see these little buggers in a sequel trilogy context and being described as relics. I do have one gripe though, after Poe's ship gets overrun by buzz droids, Rey somehow figures out a way to shoot at the debris surrounding his ship which then splinters off thus knocking out the buzz droids...even Anakin couldn't figure that out with Obi-Wan during the Battle of Coruscant. Oh well, I'll chalk it up to there just not being all that much debris for Anakin to shoot at to achieve the same effect...
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"The Battle for Horizon Base" written by Michael Moreci, illustrated by Arianna Florean, Mario Del Pennino, and Valentina Taddeo
As plot goes, this one seemed rather pointless although the message at the end was clear and exciting as it foreshadows the arrival of all those ships at the end of The Rise of Skywalker! Finn and Ducain (the guy who stole the Millennium Falcon of all people!!!) are at Horizon Base, carrying out a mission to recruit a new group of people to the Resistance that were badly treated by the First Order. After Finn and Ducain are rudely attacked by a giant Candori (see below), Mezlo, Master Strategist of Oru, decides to hear them out as Resistance fighters. Unfortunately Mezlo claims that his people fight for honor while the Resistance fights for heroism. Honestly, I'm not sure the difference is very clear to me, but the idea of fighting for heroism certainly makes Mezlo indignant and angry. But of course, Finn's passion and excitement in fighting for what is right, leads Mezlo to respect and appreciate the former stormtrooper. Despite this, he still declines an offer to join up with the Resistsance immediately and says that he and his people will answer the call when the time comes. The moral of the story is once again that no one is ever really alone.
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Again, a wonderful collection spanning all sorts of different characters and genres yet somehow taking place during the same time period. This first run of "Star Wars Adventures" always left me super impressed and this final TPB of the run was no exception! I highly recommend anyone check it out who is simply a fan of fun stories, bright artwork, and canon connections!
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