When Timothy Zahn, author of perhaps the most important Star Wars Expanded Universe arc of all time, writes a new title featuring his iconic villain, it’s going to get some attention. When the novel was released in 2018, it received generally positive reviews from fans and critics, so its adaptation to the comic format boded well. Like most of these reworkings, the Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances graphic novel sufficiently captures the main thrust of the storyline, accompanied with some very beautiful artwork, but feels like an abbreviated summary of the book with a questionable end point.
The story unfolds during the Empire’s rule, following Grand Admiral Thrawn as he embarks on a mission alongside the Dark Lord of the Sith in both the past and Imperial Age. Plot wise, it jumps between a past encounter where Thrawn and Anakin Skywalker’s teamed up to search for Padmé Amidala with the Imperial portion forcing the two to face a powerful new enemy, testing their strength and forcing them to confront their past partnership. This is an interesting way to situate Thrawn as a pivotal figure in both the prequels, as well as the original film era of the Star Wars mythos.
Marvel Comics
I would usually be worried to see a four-issue miniseries with two authors, but since one of them is the author of the adapted novel (Timothy Zahn), this shouldn’t be seen as a blemish. Jody Houser does a venerable job translating the novel into a visual format, hitting the right emotional beats and plot points. Thrawn and Vader are given purpose and personal conflict to their team ups, making this a worthwhile addition to canon.
Marvel Comics
Unfortunately, the main problem with this trade is its ending. We generally expect to have a complete tale collected in a single trade, or at least a satisfying point to complete an arc, but this book ends on a questionable cliffhanger, making me wonder if Marvel intends to complete this narrative in comic form. That’s unfortunate, because the writing and art from Pat Olliffee and Andrea Di Vito is very strong.
Not much in the way of supplemental material is provided, which is common for a small TPB, but the variant covers by Leinil Francis Yu and Rahzzah are quite nice. Based on what’s on the page, Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances gets high marks for its strong scripting and artistic design. Where it falters is its hurried conclusion. Hopefully Marvel will remedy this by completing the story in a future miniseries.
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