YMMV / Star Wars (Marvel 2015)

---

• Art Evolution: Compare the artwork in issues 1 and 2 to that of only a few issues later (issue 5 for example) — the improvement in the art style is rather substantial.
• Funny Moments:
  • Issue 7 involves a flashback to Luke's childhood where a group of Jabba's thugs visit Owen's moisture farm, amazed that they've somehow managed to never pay their water taxes. It's quickly explained why — for years, old Ben has been constantly showing up at just the right time and using Jedi mind tricks to dissuade them to leave (and, just for good measure, make them insult him, too).
    Obi-Wan: You've taken enough water for the day. You should head back to Jabba's before a dust storm comes. And I should mind my own business.
    Enforcer: (Smugly) We've taken enough water for the day. We should head back to Jabba's before one of those dust storms comes. And you should mind your own damn business, old man.
  • Issue 8 begins with a Star Destroyer officer commanding his pilots to bomb the planet on which Han and Leia are hiding on. Quoth one of the pilots: "I love my job." Poe's Law makes it hard to know if he's being serious or sarcastic, of course, but it's amusing either way.
  • At the end of Issue 9, Chewbacca roars something, which C-3PO translates, telling those in attendance that both of them will go rescue their friends. When Threepio realizes that means he is going along, he nearly freaks out.
  • And in Issue 10, Threepio translates another message from Chewie, this time to a group of Nar Shaddaa bar patrons:
    C-3PO: "Chewbacca says: 'Anyone who doesn't wish to be Physically Inconvenienced should perhaps find another establishment in which to consume their beverages. And they should do so with some haste.'"
  • Later, Chewbacca drops the bartender from Issue 8 off a ledge, subverting Asshole Victim. The bartender lands in a garbage heap. With a dianoga in it. Threepio's response is the icing on the cake.
    "You let him go? Oh, that was very kind of you."
  • In Issue 4, Vader's reaction to Salacious Crumb's laughter
    Darth Vader: If you value that creature's life, you should tell it to never again do that in my presence.
  • Issue 17's subplot with Han and Luke going on a supply run. The entire caper is pure comedy gold. Especially the nerfs. Given that the main plot is pretty dark, it makes for some well-needed relief.
    Han: (to Luke, annoyed that there are nerfs in the Falcon's cockpit): You're dead to me now, you know that, right?
  • Even after having flown a fighter in suicidal combat and destroying the Death Star, Luke still acts like a total fanboy in getting an opportunity to pilot the Falcon.
  • Issue 27 has Obi-Wan telekinetically writing a story about Yoda in his journal.
    Obi-Wan: He found himself on a dark and dreary, seemingly lifeless world. And it was so hot he thought his face might melt from his skull. No wait, ignore that last part. That's *me*, not Yoda.
  • In issue 37, Sergeant Kreel fanboys so hard over meeting the Emperor that he can't stop talking about it, even in the middle of battle.
    • Palpatine off-handedly thanks Kreel, even muttering "whoever you are" under his breath. Kreel still thinks this is a great honor.
  • Issue 57, Leia is looking for Han, who's out back chopping wood. She finds him.
  • Issue 28 of the 2020 run, Luke is discussing some defectors he's trying to rescue with General Syndulla. When he talks about how he's starting to feel the connections of everything to the Force, Hera compares him to Kanan. When Luke asks whether that's a good thing, she can only say: "Usually".
• Harsher in Hindsight: In Issue #5, the Tuskens raiding Kenobi’s house run the moment they see Luke draw his lightsaber, seemingly alluding to Anakin’s massacre a tribe decades earlier. Come Star Wars: Darth Vader, and it appears their frame of reference may be much more recent, as Vader slaughtered another tribe earlier that week during his return to Tatooine.
• Heartwarming Moments: the 2015 #33 has Luke and Leia bonding over their childhood of running away.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Some fans got mad that Luke attempted to duel Vader before The Empire Strikes Back, though he was swiftly beaten aside. Vader even chastises him for being untrained. Come The Force Awakens, you have characters with no saber training fighting in duels and faring much better.
  • One of Ralph McQuarrie’s old sketches for A New Hope shows a stormtrooper wielding a lightsaber, something which obviously never made it to the finished film. Guess what happens in Issue 21?
  • An alternate cover of Issue 1 features the main cast trying to keep Jaxxon out of the story. This ultimately failed.
  • After Leia saves Sana’s life on Nar Shaddaa, Sana not only warms up to her, she even starts sounding vaguely flirty towards Leia, saying all the danger Leia’s brought with her has been exciting and Sana gets now what Han sees in her. Sana would later turn out to be gay, with a weakness for disastrously dangerous women like Doctor Aphra.
  • Kes threatens to crash a Star Destroyer into the Emperor's palace if Shara dies after the Empire captures her. 31 years later, his son (with the help of his friends) destroy a fleet of Star Destroyers which crash into the planet where Palpatine was hiding.
  • Boba Fett’s introduction in the comic has him beat the tar out of multiple Mos Eisley cantina patrons and kill some just for fun of it. Come The Book of Boba Fett, and Boba on his return to Tatooine has turned such a new leaf that he’s loath to kill anybody and noticeably struggles in battle more than he used to.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The reveal of Leia being frozen in carbonite can be quite unsettling.◊
  • The Grand Inquisitor learns that Death can’t always save you from things worse than it.
  • In Issue 36 of the 2020 run, we finally get to see the lowest levels of Coruscant. There are colossal monsters capable of swallowing the Millenium Falcon whole living down there.
• Older Than They Think: In the old EU (now Legends), Luke first duel against Vader before The Empire Strikes Back was even made in the novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye, the first EU book besides the novelization of the original film.
• Only the Author Can Save Them Now: Issue 3 has a series of Deus Ex Machinas all in quick succession. First, Chewbacca tells Han that he'll need a day and a half to fix the Falcon (he gets it working in minutes), then Luke's speeder is damaged and he proclaims aloud that he won't escape the explosion of Cymoon-1 in time (he does), and finally the team (very quickly) boards the Falcon, only to find themselves cornered by a fleet of Star Destroyers (which they escape from easily).
• Take That, Scrappy!:
  • A variant cover◊ of Star Wars 1: Skywalker Strikes has one towards Jaxxon, a character from the Star Wars (Marvel 1977) comic books.
  • Issue #31 introduces a Star Wars equivalent of the Ceti eel and the Denevan parasite from the rival franchise. And among those shown to be a host of this new creature? A Gungan!
• Tear Jerker:
  • Issue #15, when you learn just what Obi-Wan was getting up to while Luke was growing up. Namely, desperately missing the days of the Jedi Order when he was able to help people more effectively, going a bit odd from his life of solitude, and trying to assist Luke's family and get closer to the only thing he has left of Anakin - only to be soundly rejected by Owen Lars, who tells him to keep away from Luke. Owen has a point, but it still hurts to see Obi-Wan's sorrow and loneliness.
  • Star Wars Annual #2, when Leia reveals that she believes herself to be a monster because she realized she would do anything for the rebellion, even sacrifice Alderaan again, and that the rebellion has completely consumed her to the point where she would sacrifice anything and everything because to do anything less would be an insult to everyone she's sacrificed along the way.
    • It may also be a subtle nod to the fact that Leia takes after her biological father in ways of which she's likely better off remaining ignorant. Perhaps it is for the best that Luke was the one Obi Wan selected to be trained as a Jedi.
  • Leia and Luke looking up at the night sky and Leia pointing out the light of Alderaan, still there since the explosion hasn't reached the system yet.
    Leia: It's hard not to feel like... if I just fly to that spot... it'll still be there.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Sana Solo. Many a fan freaked when she was introduced and what her existence implied. Though this is mitigated by the reveal that she isn't actually his wife.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: A lot more potential stories could have been done by continuing to use Queen Trios as an example of a leader trapped between a rock and a hard place and having to constantly play both sides.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The revelation that Han was married before he met Leia was an intriguing idea with a lot of storytelling potential, and it was a pretty bold way to shake up the character's previously established backstory. Or it would have been, if the writers hadn't copped out and revealed that it was a lie.
• Unintentional Uncanny Valley: Artist Salvador Larroca seems to have a bad habit of tracing over movie stills to represent the main characters, which is jarring and doesn't mesh well with the rest of the comic's artwork.

---