A Look At The Other Guys In Star Wars: TIE Fighter #1
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
Squadron Five of Shadow Wing is a newly-formed fighter wing, and it’s having some trouble melding. The personalities are strong and disparate, and their commander is a no-nonsense veteran of the Empire and the Republic. They have a new mission to protect a stranded Star Destroyer; it’s a strange mission and takes a stranger turn immediately. In a short back-up story, Zin Graw has an uncomfortable run-in with another TIE pilot.
Star Wars: TIE Fighter #1 introduces us to Squadron Five of the Shadow Wing, bold TIE Interceptor pilots with a reputation to make and uphold. They are given missions directly dealing with suppressing the Rebellion in the aftermath of the Death Star’s destruction.
There are five members of the squadron, and, while effort is made to distinguish them from one another in both personality and appearance, we aren’t given much time to absorb that before they’re thrown into a mission.
Of course, we have time to meet them in the issues to come too. That said, the comic isn’t especially action-packed either, and that does leave us with a comic that doesn’t give much character or excitement.
It doesn’t help that we’re left with a backup story that tries to give a twist centering on one of these characters we’ve barely met.
It is worth mentioning that the TIE Fighter miniseries ties into an upcoming novel called Alphabet Squadron and is intended to give us the Imperial side of the book’s events.
Roge Antonio provides the artwork for the main story and gives texture and personality to both the characters and the world. It looks very good. Michael Dowling is the artist on the short backup, and that looks excellent too. Arif Prianto and Lee Loughridge provide the color art for the first and second stories respectively, and they do a darn good job to boot.
Star Wars: TIE Fighter #1 is a decent read. It doesn’t excel in any one regard, but it’s far from an unpleasant read. The perspective provides promise, and the artwork is great throughout. I can recommend this one. Feel free to pick it up.
Star Wars: TIE Fighter #1 comes to us from writer Jody Houser, artists Roge Antonio and Michael Dowling, color artists Arif Prianto and Lee Loughridge, letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna, cover artist Giuseppe Camuncoli with Elia Bonetti, and variant cover artists John Tyler Christopher and Jeff Langevin.
