Star Wars: Tie Fighter #1: One of the challenges that I've noticed "Star Wars" authors face is that they quickly need to make large casts of new characters into recognizable individuals. Pretty much every title except the main one -- with its cast of instantly recognizable characters -- suffers from this problem to some extent. Some authors eventually manage to develop the new characters into great ones: Triple-Zero form "Doctor Aphra" is as much a part of the "Star Wars" mythos as Threepio in my mind. Some authors don't: I stopped getting "Poe Dameron" because I couldn't keep any members of Poe's squadron straight.
Houser and her art team do a solid job here of identifying everyone right from the start. By the end of the issue, I more or less recognized the main characters and knew how they fit into the larger story. Houser's principal challenge is that they're interacting with a large set of other characters that comprise the Imperial forces. (Thompson on "Star Wars: Han Solo - Imperial Cadet" faced a similar problem.) Every once in a while I was like, "Wait, who's that guy? Is he one of the main characters?"
Houser is at her best when she's using the characters to tease out the culture of fear that permeates -- and, in fact, fuels -- the Empire. Ganem has an academic bent, and he often notes that the Republic's representative system and subsequent political weaknesses led to the Rebellion. But, his comrades -- particularly his girlfriend Zin -- warn him that even this sort of historical reflection is verboten in the Empire. After all, nothing justifies the Rebellion. Houser is really giving us one of our most in-depth explorations of this Imperial culture of fear, and I'm excited to see where she goes with it.
Uncanny X-Men #16: Hopefully this issue is just a blip and not a sign of this series going off the rails. But, Rosenberg is all over the place here.
The issue starts well, with Scott turning in MLF members Dragoness, Forearm, Samurai, and Strobe to Captain America. But, Steve knows that he hasn't turned over Banshee, Dark Beast, and Hope, and Scott blithely lies to him that he didn't have them as prisoners. But, Scott also makes a pretty compelling argument that Steve's version of "trust" feels like a one-way street, and Steve seems to agree, as he gives Scott a tip that later leads the team to Magneto.
In the meantime, Alex expresses frustration that Scott not only lied to Captain America but seems to be listening to Logan to the exclusion of everyone else. Scott claims he's doing so because he knows Alex will always have his back, whereas Logan will always challenge him when he thinks that he's wrong. Alex points out Scott may be overestimating his faith in him. But, he also points out the hard truth -- that all the X-Men's leaders, including Scott, have made terrible decisions. The dream is dead, and the School is gone.
Scott takes this advice to heart, and it's here where it gets weird. He spontaneously resigns from the leadership. It's fine that Alex's argument so sways him, but it's...abrupt. Moreover, given that practically everyone on the team at this point has led another team, Dani convinces everyone to embrace direct democracy -- everyone gets a vote on what they do. Given the history of in-fighting in the X-Men, everyone seems very optimistic this approach is going to work. But, they go one step further when Magik, off panel, convinces everyone to invite Banshee and Hope to join the team. I get why the X-Men would want Hope to be on their side, but I don't get why Hope would suddenly decide to join forces with the X-Men. Isn't she a terrorist now? Is she really OK with Scott just blithely turning over four members of her squad to the U.S. government, regardless of Scott telling Steve that he was responsible for anything that happened to them? Didn't she, like, shoot Scott two issues ago?
To make matters worse, Rahne spontaneously leaves the team to live a normal life. Shouldn't she have known by now that X-Men-ing isn't for her? Moreover, she's going to quit at their lowest moment? Shouldn't she have done so during the era when you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting an X-Man? I get her point that it's all hopeless so she might as well try now, but that doesn't feel like Rahne. It seems like throwing away her life's work just when it became all the more relevant.
Anyway, it gets more and more random. The X-Men confront Magneto and his new Brotherhood (consisting of Avalanche, Juggernaut, Pyro, Random, and Toad), but it turns out Magneto is Joseph. Then, Juggernaut turns on Joseph because he wants to help mutants and doesn't like that Joseph lied to him. (In a great example of pet peeve #3, Jamie reminds Juggernaut that he's not a mutant, but Juggernaut quotes the "First they came for the [x]..." speech, which, again, doesn't really feel on brand for him.) Then, Kwannon appears from nowhere and decapitates Joseph. Then, Dani collapses in pain and announces that Rahne is dead.
It's all...a lot. Everyone's personalities just seem totally random. I get that Rosenberg is trying to portray Scott as changed, but he's never been this interested in everyone else's opinions. He's certainly not someone who thinks the battlefield should be a democracy. Then, we have Joseph spouting a long, involved Magneto-esque rant about...something? Honestly, I didn't quite follow it, other than "humans = bad." Then, we have Alex whining that Scott isn't taking him seriously, which feels like Rosenberg is leaning way too heavily into Alex as a younger brother and not Alex as the leader that he was, of X-Factor and then the Avengers' Unity Squad. Then, just as the chips are down, Rahne decides she wants to have a life? And Hope just wordlessly embraces of the team's offer of forgiveness. It all just doesn't make sense.
Also, when did Salvador Larocca get this bad? I remember in the 1990s when everything he did had a certain energy. But, now, it's like he's paying Greg Land to finish his panels for him, which...isn't a complement.
Anyway, here's to hoping we return to form next issue.
Also Read: Amazing Spider-Man #19.HU; Guardians of the Galaxy #4; Marvel's Spider-Man: City at War #2
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