The second installment of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s secret journal hits this week and Luke is a little bit older. Luke is about the age Anakin was in The Phantom Menace and evidently he’s flying complicated crafts like Anakin too. Ben needs to back off after he brought Luke close to getting hurt from Jabba’s men—is it good?
Star Wars #15 (Marvel Comics)
Ben is starting to show some white in his hair; he’s still limber and in control, but if you asked him he’s doing too much. He needs to be more of a drifter than ever, but when he witnesses Luke fly a ship like his father and then break it he must do something.
Why does this book matter?
Canon stories about Ben Kenobi the drifter on Tatooine? Sign me up. Plus Luke can use more characterization since we know next to nothing about his childhood.
He actually flies the ship he had a model of in A New Hope? Radical!
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
This issue’s quality starts with the fantastic art by Mike Mayhew. He brings a lifelike look to the characters which helps sell the believability of the story. From Uncle Owen’s young but chubby frustration about Luke to Ben Kenobi’s smashing smile it’s all captured vividly.
Writer Jason Aaron tells a story that suits the universe. We all know Ben was a soldier of sorts and has been on many a mission which makes it easy to see he’s frustrated as the quiet protector here. He adds some interesting elements to Kenobi’s presence on Tatooine, like his gentle push of Luke to find the Force, that we never knew about. Fans of the series will want to check this out for Uncle Owen meeting with Kenobi—it sheds some light on their relationship and certainly foreshadows his utter hatred of Kenobi in A New Hope.
Uncle Owen sure looks chubby and not charred to a crisp.
The voice of Kenobi is strong too. We’re inside his head as he narrates this story, it is his journal after all, and it suits the character. Aaron does a good job capturing his voice and more than once I caught myself reading it with Alec Guinness’ accent.
It can’t be perfect can it?
The Jabba centric cliffhanger just didn’t do it for me. A certain Wookiee character pops up which we’ve seen before in these Marvel Star Wars books and I don’t see what the fuss is about. So far this character has very little importance on anything besides being a threat. Give us a more badass character for a cliffhanger like this!
That’s badass.
Is It Good?
Vivid and beautiful art propels this lost chapter of Luke’s life and details elements we assumed and can now confirm from the original film.
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