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A review by jaredkwheeler
From the Ruins of Alderaan by Brian Wood
4.0
Star Wars Legends Project #240
Background: From the Ruins of Alderaan, released in April 2014, collects issues 7-12 of Dark Horse's Star Wars run (July-December 2013). All 6 issues were written by [a:Brian Wood|20493|Brian Wood|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1413750561p2/20493.jpg]. The first 3 were drawn by [a:Ryan Kelly|180971|Ryan Kelly|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], and the other 3 were drawn by [a:Carlos D'Anda|306749|Carlos D'Anda|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1572710949p2/306749.jpg]. Wood wrote this entire 20-issue series. D'Anda did the art for about half of them, but these 3 issues are Kelly's only Star Wars credits.
From the Ruins of Alderaan is set a couple months after the Battle of Yavin, picking up right where In the Shadow of Yavin left off (my review). The main characters are Leia, Luke, Han, Chewie, and Wedge Antilles, plus Mon Mothma and Darth Vader. There are also a number of recurring characters from the previous issues. The story takes place in various places, including aboard the Star Destroyer Devastator, on Coruscant, and around the 2nd Death Star, under construction above Endor.
Summary: Their plan to root out the spy has failed, and the Rebels are growing increasing desperate. So much so that Leia takes off on her own to find a new Rebel base alone, while Luke and Wedge undertake a near-suicidal mission to infiltrate the very Imperials who are tracking them. Meanwhile, Han and Chewie's mission to Imperial Center has failed, and with Boba Fett on their trail they'll be lucky to escape alive. But a chance contact may prove surprisingly fortuitous. And Darth Vader continues his obsessive hunt for the pilot who defeated and, worse, humiliated him at the Battle of Yavin.
Review: Since none of the storylines from the first collection were really concluded, this collection just picks all of that up and keeps going. As such, you could pretty much take my review of that and apply it all here. The artwork still looks really good, particularly the space battles, but it's still distracting that the characters don't look right (and sometimes seem to drastically change appearance from page to page?).
Everything that I complimented about the initial storyline is still working and is still really good. But overall this ended up feeling weaker overall. The biggest reason for that is a massive plot twist that comes out of nowhere and ties up the biggest ongoing plotline so far. It felt really unearned and I don't get how it actually makes any sense. It's the kind of twist that, had it been done well, would have been really cool actually, but instead it was just like, "Um, what?"
Okay, you know what, I'm just going to tell you. SPOILER WARNING STOP HERE IF YOU WANT TO READ THIS YOURSELF.
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***
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Colonel Bircher, the superstar Imperial officer who has so impressed the Emperor that he was given Darth Vader's Star Destroyer to command in his hunt for the Rebels, and who personally leads a squadron of crack-elite pilots into battle in the Empire's brand-new top-of-the-line TIE Interceptors . . . is actually Mon Mothma's nephew and is a double-agent.
I know.
There's some minor hand-waving about how they somehow sliced him into the Imperial records and how he had his hand on some kind of kill-switch to disable his squadron in case it looked like they might kill any Rebel pilots, but . . . nah. That's just silliness.
The cliffhanger at the end of the collection hints at the possibility of a fun new direction for the series, now that this storyline is wrapped up, so I'll hang my hopes on something good coming of that.
B
Background: From the Ruins of Alderaan, released in April 2014, collects issues 7-12 of Dark Horse's Star Wars run (July-December 2013). All 6 issues were written by [a:Brian Wood|20493|Brian Wood|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1413750561p2/20493.jpg]. The first 3 were drawn by [a:Ryan Kelly|180971|Ryan Kelly|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], and the other 3 were drawn by [a:Carlos D'Anda|306749|Carlos D'Anda|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1572710949p2/306749.jpg]. Wood wrote this entire 20-issue series. D'Anda did the art for about half of them, but these 3 issues are Kelly's only Star Wars credits.
From the Ruins of Alderaan is set a couple months after the Battle of Yavin, picking up right where In the Shadow of Yavin left off (my review). The main characters are Leia, Luke, Han, Chewie, and Wedge Antilles, plus Mon Mothma and Darth Vader. There are also a number of recurring characters from the previous issues. The story takes place in various places, including aboard the Star Destroyer Devastator, on Coruscant, and around the 2nd Death Star, under construction above Endor.
Summary: Their plan to root out the spy has failed, and the Rebels are growing increasing desperate. So much so that Leia takes off on her own to find a new Rebel base alone, while Luke and Wedge undertake a near-suicidal mission to infiltrate the very Imperials who are tracking them. Meanwhile, Han and Chewie's mission to Imperial Center has failed, and with Boba Fett on their trail they'll be lucky to escape alive. But a chance contact may prove surprisingly fortuitous. And Darth Vader continues his obsessive hunt for the pilot who defeated and, worse, humiliated him at the Battle of Yavin.
Review: Since none of the storylines from the first collection were really concluded, this collection just picks all of that up and keeps going. As such, you could pretty much take my review of that and apply it all here. The artwork still looks really good, particularly the space battles, but it's still distracting that the characters don't look right (and sometimes seem to drastically change appearance from page to page?).
Everything that I complimented about the initial storyline is still working and is still really good. But overall this ended up feeling weaker overall. The biggest reason for that is a massive plot twist that comes out of nowhere and ties up the biggest ongoing plotline so far. It felt really unearned and I don't get how it actually makes any sense. It's the kind of twist that, had it been done well, would have been really cool actually, but instead it was just like, "Um, what?"
Okay, you know what, I'm just going to tell you. SPOILER WARNING STOP HERE IF YOU WANT TO READ THIS YOURSELF.
***
***
***
Colonel Bircher, the superstar Imperial officer who has so impressed the Emperor that he was given Darth Vader's Star Destroyer to command in his hunt for the Rebels, and who personally leads a squadron of crack-elite pilots into battle in the Empire's brand-new top-of-the-line TIE Interceptors . . . is actually Mon Mothma's nephew and is a double-agent.
I know.
There's some minor hand-waving about how they somehow sliced him into the Imperial records and how he had his hand on some kind of kill-switch to disable his squadron in case it looked like they might kill any Rebel pilots, but . . . nah. That's just silliness.
The cliffhanger at the end of the collection hints at the possibility of a fun new direction for the series, now that this storyline is wrapped up, so I'll hang my hopes on something good coming of that.
B