Graphic Novel Review - Star Wars: Shattered Empire

Name: Star Wars: Shattered Empire 

Published by: Marvel Comics

Writer: Greg Rucka

Artists: Marco Checcheto, Angel Unzueta and Emilio Laiso

Colorist: Andres Mossa

Letter: VC's Joe Caramagna 

I picked this up because what was advertised about this miniseries, I wanted to find out what happened just after 'Return of the Jedi' and based on the cover and my previous experience with Marco Checcheto I was quite enthusiastic about how he would draw this iconic characters and action scenes. I got almost exactly what I was expecting. 

The main viewpoint character is Shara Bay, the mother of Poe Dameron, from the sequel trilogy. The stories present in the main four issues are kind of like anthologies, tales occurring just after the final battle of the third movie and the week following it, she interacts with the trio of heroes from the movie with cameos from other beloved characters. 

There never is any real danger or momentum in the stories presented here, and dialogues are very cheesy quite often. At times, this almost felt like deliberate and cheap attempt at introducing Dameron's parents in the main story chronologically without adding much to the plot other than establishing that the battle with the Empire is not over yet. 

But the art by Marco Checcheto is even better than I expected. His brilliant drawings of these iconic characters and visually astounding action sequences is bound to create nostalgia in the fans of this franchise. With his truly remarkable drawing of the epic Star Wars universe, it was almost impossible to stop from keep on turning the pages just to watch the brilliance unfold. If this was solely based on art, I would have given this full marks for sure. 

The extra two issues featured here are, Mark Waid's Princess Leia #1 and Star Wars (1977) #1. I didn't really care much for the first one, as the story was very bland, and the drawing of the main two characters was too similar. The second issue is the start of Marvel’s adaptation of the original movie, which was some nostalgic fun, despite having some peculiar drawing. 

Overall, I'll give this one, 3.5 out of 5 stars.