Is It Good? Star Wars #6 Review

When it comes to a story, repetition ain’t always bad. It can be used to emphasize, or to create a rhythm. Generally speaking though, when repetition hits comics it shouldn’t last too long because the real estate of every page is so small and therefore so valuable. Unfortunately for Brian Wood’s Star Wars the series has hit a wall of repetition in more ways than one. Issue #6 feels like much of the same, but is it good?

Star Wars #6 (Dark Horse Comics)

If you missed it, check out our review of issue #5.

It feels like we’ve been reading about a single X-Wing battle for 100 issues now. Last issue it came to an end but with Leia getting severely hurt. Apparently Wood didn’t think that was enough however, as the same Tie-Bombers that attacked last issue are back for more. Sigh. On top of that, Han Solo and Chewie’s story—seemingly the most interesting at this point—has been getting scant updates with a full two panels devoted to his story this issue. Methinks that’s not a very good balance in an ensemble series!

I will admit it is neat to see Luke moving around outside his ship on a tether (because you don’t see that much in Star Wars) when rescuing the bleeding Leia, but do we need another 13 pages devoted to the same battle that took up most of last issue? The grand scheme of things it seems like a rather small altercation that’s taken up a huge chunk of the book. Especially considering we could be spending more time with other characters or events. For instance, it was introduced there might be a spy in the new team’s midst…why not develop that?

The end result of the space battle does have an impactful conclusion which I won’t spoil here. It’s just too bad it has to spend so much damn time repeating the same story beat over and over. Even the repercussions that follow the battle feel like time wasted and that’s a real bummer, because for the most part this series started on the right foot, but seems to have lost its way. It’s particularly disheartening when you consider how good Carlos D’Anda has been throughout this series.

4.0

• Strong art

• Laborious story to chug through
• No balance between the characters
• Boring and poorly paced

This series is in a bit of a doldrums, largely because the pages show events taking place, but they aren’t revealing character or advancing the action in a strong enough way. The biggest failure is the pacing, which seems stuck at the moment, but here’s to hoping it gets out of its funk soon.

Is It Good?

No. Two issues in a row where I wonder why I keep reading. Sigh.