Force Matters: It’s Action Figure Playtime in ‘Star Wars’ #6

It’s a quiet week in a galaxy far, far away, with just one issue on the stands. But it’s a fun one!

Star Wars #6 by Alex Segura & Phil Noto

Luke, Han and Valance cosplay the last galactic civil war to escape an army of battle droids!

• This issue is basically built around the idea of Luke and Han (and Valance) donning Clone Trooper armor to more effectively fight back against the battle droids, which in turn recalls the time Han and Luke dressed up like Stormtroopers to rescue Leia, which always makes me think of the fact that in the original run of Kenner action figures, Luke got a “Stormtrooper disguise” variant but the line petered out before Han got his, having to wait until 1995’s “Power of the Force” to join Luke in disguise.
• Han refers to the battle droids as “Clunkers”; throughout the animated Clone Wars, the derisive nickname for the droids used by the clone troopers was always “Clankers.” Given Segura’s vast knowledge of Star Wars minutiae, I have to assume this an intentional decision and not a mistake.
• The visual of a battle droid getting down on its hands and knees to peer under a tank while looking for Luke is funny.
• This issue marks the first appearance of Marntiv, one of the leaders of the Nagai rebellion.
• When Anakin appears briefly in a sort of symbolic parallel to Luke, Noto styles him after his Clone Wars appearance (rather than in his Revenge of the Sith attire).
• New Republic intelligence agent Bastion pops up on Kaltrais, monitoring the actions of Reyna Oskure and the Fenril Consortium; she first appeared in Battle of Jakku — Last Stand #2, and last appeared in issue #1 of this volume.

Segura makes the most of the central visual gimmick, largely by leaning into the parallels between Luke and Anakin they invite, as well as Han’s general “I’m too old for this shit” weariness. Noto seems to lose the thread a bit though, with the characters getting a bit lost in the action sequences — between the similar armors, desert setting, and monochromatic droids, it’s not always clear where everyone is in relation to each other as the battle rages on.

Cover of the Week – Action Figure Variant

John Tyler Christopher‘s series of action figure variant covers are tons of fun, and given the correlation to action figures this issue sparks, this issue’s seems an appropriate “Cover of the Week” winner.

Question of the Week

Empire magazine just released their list of the “The 50 Greatest Star Wars Characters Of All Time.” Which, of course, begs the question: who’s YOUR favorite Star Wars character?

Let me know on the socials!