Star Wars: Age of Resistance is a 2019 Marvel Comics series set in the Star Wars Expanded Universe written by Tom Taylor. The Special 1 issue is co-written by Taylor, G. Willow Wilson, and Chris Eliopoulos. Art for the series is done by Leonard Kirk and Ramon Rosanas.
The series covers a number of heroes and villains across the Sequel Trilogy era, taking place before, during and after the events of The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.
Not to be confused with The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.
Tropes featured in this comic include:
- A Day in the Limelight: Each issue focuses on an individual from the Sequel era.
- The heroes are Finn, Poe, Rose, and Rey, while the special issue has tales about Holdo, BB-8, and Maz Kanata.
- The villains are Phasma, Hux, Snoke, and Kylo. However, most of the focus of Phasma's issue is on KM-8713, a stormtrooper who aspires to be like Phasma.
- All for Nothing: In Rose Tico's issue, she and her sister Paige go to a lot of effort trying to drive the First Order from Hays Minor to prevent them from wrecking the planet, culminating in them joining the Resistance when they realize they can't fight them alone. The First Order ends up blockading and destroying Hays Minor long before the Resistance are in any position to stop them.
- Bad Boss: Phasma's issue features her in all her cowardly glory, sending her troops to die at the front while she hangs back and orders bombing runs on the battlefield before taking credit for the victory as one of the few survivors and executing the only witness to her cowardice.
- Barefoot Loon: In Holdo's story "The Bridge", one can see that she has a penchant for going barefoot onboard spaceships. Though she acts seriously and rationally throughout the story, this detail is meant to remind us how quirky she actually is (something that is clearly demonstrated in Leia, Princess of Alderaan).
- Best Served Cold: Hux takes the opportunity to execute Admiral Brooks for the abuse he heaped upon him as a child after one of the radar technicians under Brooks' command sabotaged Hux's shuttle. Hux knew Brooks had nothing to do with it, but had been waiting patiently for decades to find the perfect excuse to gain his revenge.
- Call-Forward:
- In Poe's issue, the commander (Holdo) of the ship Poe's squadron is chasing fakes communications issues to distract and delay him. Poe would later use this same tactic on General Hux at the start of The Last Jedi.
- Rose's issue gives us an utterly brutal example. After young Rose and Paige crash a flight simulator, their father tells them to come get dinner, jokingly saying "You probably worked up an appetite dying in a fiery blaze." This is exactly how Paige dies in The Last Jedi.
- The Cameo: Nien Nunb appears at the end of Poe's issue, being the pilot of the Resistance ship under Vice Admiral Holdo's command that stole the head of a protocol droid belonging to a New Republic admiral.
- Disposable Pilot: After the shuttle that carried Kylo Ren and Armitage Hux is sabotaged and crashes on a planet, Kylo asks where the pilot is...Hux: (points in one direction) "Over there." (points in another direction) "And over there." (points in yet another direction) "And a little bit over there."
- Foreshadowing: Snoke muses that if he had Luke on his side, the Galaxy would’ve been his a long time ago. As The Rise of Skywalker reveals, the Galaxy would’ve indeed been his, about thirty years ago...
- Hero of Another Story: The commander of the ship Poe is chasing in his issue after they stole a protocol droid's head carrying sensitive information. In the end, they're revealed to be Amilyn Holdo.
- Kick the Dog:
- Snoke backhands Kylo hard enough to draw blood for thinking to wear his mask on Dagobah.
- Admiral Brooks mocks a young Hux after the latter drops a couple of drinks and suggests him to lick it up so as not to waste it, which gets Hux into more trouble with his father when he attempts to comply. Unlike Brendol, who in a twisted way, might treat his son harshly to bring out his potential, Brooks is clearly content to humiliate the boy for no reason.
- Hux's treatment of Bylsma; after he helps them contact the First Order for rescue Hux has his pet norwoods killed and only spares him so that he can use his planet as target practice for Starkiller Base, knowing that Bylsma is from Alderaan. Hux gains absolutely nothing from doing this; in fact, he straight up says he wants to do it because "It will amuse me."
- Kill It Through Its Stomach: How Kylo Ren kills the Benathy's god which is actually a nigh-indestructible Zillo Beast.
- Noodle Incident: In Poe's issues, Holdo mentions stealing something from within the Lost Souls asteroid field that was hidden away there during the Clone Wars.
- Origins Episode: Rose Tico's issue serves as one for both her and her sister Paige, depicting their childhood on Hays Minor, their first encounter with the First Order and their motives for joining the Resistance.
- Prequel: The majority of the issues are set prior to the events of The Force Awakens, the main exception being Rey's issue, which is set right at the end of The Force Awakens and focuses on what Rey, Chewie and R2-D2 got up to on the way to Ahch-To; as it turns out their journey was not entirely uneventful.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Phasma's issue provides an example of one for KM-8713. Despite her efforts, she accomplishes nothing by the end of the story save for helping Phasma conquer the Demirians and dies as "another nameless, fallen gun", as Phasma cruelly points out.
- Shout-Out: In Hux's issue, he identifies his would-be assassin as a lowly radar technician, referencing Saturday Night Live's infamous "Undercover Boss: Starkiller Base" skit.
- Slave Liberation: Type 1. After she discovers that Ara-Nea's 'workers' are actually slaves, Rey uses a Jedi Mind Trick to force him to release them and hand himself over to them to be punished for his crimes.
- Space Mines: The Lost Souls asteroid field in Poe's issue was seeded with mines during the Clone Wars to protect something at the center of the field.
- Supporting Protagonist: Snoke is ostensibly the Villain Protagonist of his issue, but it really focuses more on Kylo Ren and his inner conflict.
- The Trickster: The commander of the ship Poe is chasing seemingly enjoys playing with him, calling him "flyboy" and performing elaborate tricks to get away from him. At the end, the said commander is revealed to be Amilyn Holdo.
- Training from Hell: Part of Kylo's training involves Snoke dangling him over the side of a cliff with the Force, then dropping him to see if he can break his fall in time.
- Villain Episode: Hux, Snoke, Phasma and Kylo all get an issue focusing on them (although Snoke and Phasma's issues have a more personal focus on Kylo and KM-8713, respectively).
- We Have Reserves: Phasma sacrifices a lot of stormtroopers to conquer the planet Demir.
- What You Are in the Dark: While Kylo cuts down the illusion of Luke in the Dark Side Cave, he ultimately can't bring himself to destroy the mirage of his parents, choosing instead to trick Snoke into thinking he'd done so.
