Review: ‘Star Wars’ #2 Dives Deep With Mixed Results

The first issue of this new, post-Return of the Jedi-set, volume was relatively expansive in its focus, dropping each of the “Big Three” characters into their own locale/plot line. By comparison, Star Wars #2 does the opposite, mostly sticking with one character — Luke.

And while the opening issue set the stage for a mounting, planet-spanning conflict, this one similarly narrows its focus, dropping Luke onto one specific world and setting him off a quest to acquire a Jedi artifact MacGuffin. This quick narrowing of focus unfortunately leads to mixed results.

On the one hand, sticking principally with Luke (Leia and Mon Mothma briefly appear as Renn fills them in on Luke’s actions, but that’s it for main characters) allows writer Alex Segura to dig into the plot a bit. The result is much denser read, with an issue that seems to take its time unfolding its plot (as opposed to issue #1, which seemed to fly through plot as it bounced from locale to locale and character to character). Luke is also the character arguably the most changed by the events of Return of the Jedi, so putting him in the spotlight makes sense. It’s fun to see him just waltz into a clearly dangerous situation with confidence because he knows he can handle pretty much anything that gets thrown at him.

Luke’s quest also affords an opportunity to get to know this new version of the Nagai — confirmed as such by the cover if not the story itself — as Luke’s encounter with one leads him to a community of them, and brings him into conflict with elements therein.

On the other hand, the zoomed in focus makes Star Wars #2 feel like its deep in the weeds of old lore and new characters. This issue re-introduces the Crown of Verity to canon, an old Jedi artifact Luke is aware of thanks to Obi-Wan’s journals (which previously appeared in a role-playing game sourcebook but is debuting in-story, in-canon, here), and makes Luke immediately obsessed with retrieving it (without ever really spelling out why).

At the same time, Luke’s encounter with the Nagai on the planet Gadrilam while pursuing the crown introduce a bunch of characters, from the sympathetic Jesrit to the antagonistic Venk, to the bounty hunter Ibo Truddispal who found the crown. It’s a lot names and people coming at us at once, even as other members of the book’s cast (presumably) have yet to appear (ie Lando).

The Crown of Verity, meanwhile, is one of those jibberish MacGuffins that seemed to pop a lot in the old Dark Horse comics. There’s little in this issue to suggest why Luke wants it so bad nor to connect it to whatever minimal “rebuilding the galactic order” themes have been established in the nascent series.

Certainly, series have to zoom in periodically, even/especially in ones with large sprawling casts. And there’s still plenty of time for the Crown of Verity, the new characters introduced here, and the Nagai in general to link back up with whatever broader picture the book establishes. For one thing, there’s a brief appearance on Gadrilam of some of the Imperial remnant Han encountered last issue, confirming Luke’s quest isn’t entirely isolated. It just feels like Star Wars #2 went too deep, too fast, shifting from a sweeping “let’s explore this new era” tone to a character-specific examination of in-universe lore in a way that creates narrative whiplash.