With the release of the final issue of Star Wars: Battle For Jakku- The Last Stand, the Star Wars comics have finally moved beyond the Galactic Civil War and into the status-quo post-bellum we know and love from the Mandoverse. The Galaxy has at last entered an age of peace and justice under the authority of the New Republic. Threats still loom on the horizon for our heroes; Imperial Warlords like Thrawn, ambitious rulers of the underworld, and of course the shadowy precursor of the First Order.
Such a momentous leap required an extensive undertaking of not one, but three comic miniseries totalling 12 issues. The question is: was it good?
In my humble opinion, yes and no. Ultimately, the story had potential. The characters were strong and well written (and because of this I'm now eagerly anticipating Alex Segura's upcoming run of the mainline Star Wars title) and the art was fantastic, especially the work of Jethro Morales in particular. That being said, I felt that there was just too much going on in too little time. I could barely register the return of some extended universe characters, and didn't really have the opportunity to get attached to the newer characters like Rynn- even when I really liked them. All in all the biggest fault of the story is that it just left me wanting more.
On the continuity conflicts with the Aftermath trilogy, I really don't mind. Most changes to events depicted in comics and books by live action or animated content can be irritating when it adapts out a character you like or just messes with a story you enjoy. While it is usually understood that, purely based on the general popularity of each type of media, tv and film supersedes the books and comics in the current Canon continuity, it gets a lot trickier when the books and comics conflict with each other. Without getting into spoilers, the conflicts come down to a question of who knows what and when, along with some new developments in the Battle of Jakku that aren't seen in other content that touches on it.
With the latter issue it can be handwaved, thanks to the intervention of the heroes of the story, as being irrelevant to the overall course of the Battle, though some issues are quite glaring. Conflicts in continuity rarely bother me, but I do understand why it irks many. Beyond the desire for one clean and cohesive story, people don't like it when stories they like get contradicted, overwritten, trodden-upon, or however else you want to phrase it, by other stories that come after. In this case, I suppose, I'm not bothered in part because I don't like the Aftermath trilogy.
My main gripe is that the series was just too short. It covered too many characters in too little time, and left me a bit dazed and confused about events I already knew of because they appeared in other works. The big issue is that all the different subplots play into each other in different ways, you can't simply drop one to focus on another. As a result the best solution would have been to just spread the story out more into more issues. The nature of the modern comic book industry, its infamously tight deadlines and its reliance on miniseries as a crutch, leads me to think that this was never in the cards for Segura. I find the fact that I did not enjoy these comics to be regrettable, and I think he made a valiant effort in trying to condense so many moving parts into a short and cohesive narrative.
Adelhard was a really fun and interesting villain, such a massive upgrade on the stock villain of the now defunct Uprising mobile game, and I wish he could have played a larger role in the story in spite of the very obvious continuity related roadblocks that left him tied down. I think it would have been interesting seeing him evolve into a post-imperial warlord type a-la Moff Gideon in Canon or Zsinj in Legends, but his story is wrapped up nicely and in a way that leads me to doubt Lucasfilm will bring him back any time soon.
While Adelhard is captivating, Rynn is frustrating. Unlike Adelhard, she's not an existing character prior to this story, so we have to just go with what we are given right off the bat. Her backstory isn't really fleshed out until late in the series, so she spends much of the story as an elevated extra in the form of a Rebel Pilot that has just kind of become a member of the OT heroes' supporting cast out of nowhere. It would have been nice to see her develop a rapport with Luke especially before the events of the story really kicked off as I think it would have given more depth to her journey as a character, this is yet another casualty of the series length. I hope Segura can rectify this in his new Star Wars run, I think she has a lot of potential to grow and I think it's a safe bet to say that she will return.
TL,DR:
Fun story with a lot going on, but too short to give the events and characters the attention they deserve. Alex Segura made the most of the short run he was given, but it ultimately lacked the depth I've come to expect from the mainline Star Wars title. I suspect it would have been better had it been longer.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Stars
Posted on 1/29/2025