LITREP: Legacy - Divided Loyalties

So it's really great to turn the focus back to the Allies.  Tatooine was dull to me for one reason and one reason alone; Cade Skywalker.  It's odd to say you adore a series, yet hate the protagonist, but I'll easily admit that I can't stand Cade.  The reluctant hero shtick was great, but it just won't end, so it's great to get a whole issue dedicated to the Allies.  I love just about all of them, from Fel to Stazi, and everyone in between.  

         The issue starts with the Jedi meeting the Alliance fleet.  It's nice to meet new Jedi, and the Twin Tails look lovely.  It's quite interesting that the X series fell out of favor with the main Alliance forces.  Now let's set all this aside because Sigel Dare is here!  I can't help but love Sigel.  She's clearly the Alpha-17 of Legacy.  What's not to love about a snarky sociopath?  That's not to say she wasn't a shebs in this issue--she was-- but a little more character development could make her all the more likeable.

        The first plot involves Sigel and a Jedi named 'Dan' going to Dac to extract Master Sinde.  This Dan character is seriously annoying.  I'm still kind of mad at the smug Jedi.  The two knights sneak through the Sith forces a little too easily if you ask me.  Whatever.  Single issue stories don't really have time for the nitty gritty.  

        When confronted, Treis Sinde refuses to return to Bastion.  Emperor Fel has ordered his return, yet Sinde claims the force wants him to stay.  Sigel Dare pulls her lightsaber on her former master, calling him a traitor.  I agree with Master Dare, though an execution is taking things too far.  I think a direct order from your superior is more important that protocol.  In such an awful and dangerous war, sacrifices must be made.  Imperial Knight protocol doesn't matter osik when the fate of the galaxy is at hand.  Treis Sinde is betraying his Empire.  Master Dan resolves this by agreeing to stay on Dac, in place of Master Sinde.  Thus Sinde and Dare both return to Bastion without further hassle.

          The second plot follows the Galactic Alliance fleet.   A Sith taskforce suddenly attacks the Allies.  On the bridge of the Alliance, Gar Stazi is shot by a traitor.  The would be assassin is detained and Stazi is taken to the medbay.  The enemy fleet's commander is an over-ambitious admiral who plans to become the new Executor.  Unfortunately, he gets no time to develop in the period of the issue.  

         With Jhoram Bey filling in for Stazi, the fleet makes an emergency jump to escape their pursuers.  The Sith fleet manages to chase them to their RV, to Bey's surprise.  Out of desperation, they attempt another escape.  When the Sith fleet catches up, they find only the Alliance.  Expecting a surrender, they are caught flat-footed when the rest of the Alliance fleet ambushes them.  The Allies have won the day.

          I thought the first plot was fairly good;  It was great to get more Sigel Dare, even though this wasn't her finest appearance by any metric.  Treis Sinde's actions left a bad taste in my mouth, though.  The second plot was more of a lame repeat of Renegade, a far better issue.  One thing alone makes the issue great in my mind:

         The traitor, a Mon Cal named Tealart, betrayed the Alliance because his family was held hostage by the Sith.  Now captured, he concludes they were probably dead by now.  A sympathetic Stazi promises to help his family if possible.  In the end Gar Stazi promises an execution for Tealart, stating that a demonstration must be made.  The Mon Cal understands and thanks the Admiral for promising to help.  

         Legacy manages to handle nuance much better than most Star Wars stories.  It's rather great that an issue like this can exist in such a childish universe.  George Lucas once said Star Wars was for twelve year olds.  Legacy manages to go above and beyond Lucas' simplicities.  

         

LITREP: The Last Flight Of The Harbinger

I really don't read the Marvel comics much, so I only picked this one up because of special forces.  Does it deliver?

-NON SPOILER SEGMENT-

So I read it with the SpecForce in mind.  I don't think it really delivered.  Just a buncha super hero stormies.  Karen Traviss really put it best: "Special Operations was as much—no more—about detailed surveillance, observation, and rehearsal than going in with [guns] blazing and blowing stuff up.".  All the SCAR Troopers did was blow stuff up.  The comic ever got into tactics or any of the cool stuff.  Also the SCARs aren't really the focus; It's really about the "Big Three", which was a personal disappointment.  

         The art isn't much to look at.  It fell into the uncomfortable crevasse between realistic and cartoonish.  The heroes looked quite weird and the SpecForce troopers looked a tad obnoxious.  If anything, the cover art wasn't bad.  

        What I really wanted was a nice story from an Imperial perspective and getting to see the nicer sides of the Empire.  This was not the case.  The Imperials outside of Scar Squad were just awful, while Scar themselves don't seem very nice either.  I was hoping they would be the Imperial counterparts to the OT heroes, with maybe even their own series.  This seems unlikely.  A real missed opportunity in my opinion.

   'Special Commando Advanced Recon' is an awful acronym. It doesn't make grammatical sense.  'SCAR' doesn't even sound cool to me.  Scar Squad clearly doesn't know how to equip for a mission.  The comic involves a mission to a star destroyer (The Harbinger).  Onboard this ship the Imperials use flame throwers, sniper rifles and rocket launchers.  How does this make sense?  Flamethrowers don't work in a fireproof environment, sniper rifles are useless in a tight indoor area and bazookas can punch a hole through the ship's interior.  The SCAR Troopers aren't tactical- they're just OP.

        The story mostly pertains to the Big Three, but it's fairly enjoyable and contains enough SpecForce troopers for my liking.  Better than trying to squeeze enjoyment out of Gambler's World, I'd say!  For this I'd give it a 6/10.  It really isn't bad; It's pretty fun.  If you're a SpecForce fanatic like me, you'll probably like it.

-SPOILER SEGMENT-

So the dialogue was pretty cheesy.  There's a point where the sergeant asks Luke what to call him, to which he replies "REBEL!",which I thought was fairly cringey.  The "I've got a bad feeling" line is quite cliche at this point, but the comic nicely subverted it's usage, so credit for that.  Han and Leia bicker so much it makes them look like BFFs in ESB.  It's like the author couldn't think of any other way they could interact.  There's this one part where they are fighting over who commands the ship, and they literally race to the bridge to settle the argument.  Han commandeers a speederbike and Leia takes a space suit to fly to the bridge.  It's so childish I can't take it seriously in the slightest.  

        Vader abruptly appeared, though in the end when they inevitably failed he fires his TIE Fighter on the Harbinger in rage.  I thought this was awesome and in line with Vader's nasty temper.  Another great moment was the ending when the reader discovers C-3PO was captured.  It's shocking and sudden, packing a nice punch.  A rebel admiral is captured in the beginning and the audience doesn't know his ultimate fate.  However, when his ship strangely appears he is strapped to the front!  It was honestly a bit scary.  Sarge using his lightsaber against Luke was also a great scene.
        In the end I thought it was okay.  Not really memorable, while it had a ton of potential.  It focuses way too much on the Big Three and delivers hardly anything new.  If you like that kinda pulp then read it---If you like special forces then read it---But if you like great stories then don't read it. 

LITREP: Lando

I had heard good things about Marvel's 'Lando' miniseries and I was bored so I decided to pick it up.

-NON SPOILER SEGMENT-

So first off the art wasn't that great.  I love the art of Legacy Volume 2, and Lando's art is quite similar, but it lacks the stylish coloring and is generally worse in every way.  The story was pretty good honestly.  I have a buncha nitpicks, but overall it worked rather well.  Lando was Lando, but the book featured several new characters who were decent.  The best character in my opinion was Lobot.  I didn't expect to see him, but he was quite terrific.  The story is rather short, but it succeeds within the time it's given.  

        I'd give it a 7/10; It was mostly good, and while it didn't quite appeal to me I can see why people would like it.

-SPOILER SEGMENT-

Now I get to complain, since most of my complaints are spoilery.  

        So it seems Disney is progressive in so many ways.  However when it comes to Imperials you'd think these characters came from the seventies.  Disney just can't seem to write an Imperial character who isn't a defector or a mustache-twirler.  Alas Timothy Zahn wasn't just ahead of his time- He was ahead of this time too, apparently.  There is a Moff who appears in this comic; Morally interesting Moffs are an endangered species.  Turns out this Moff was just another villainous type.  [sigh]

        Lobot was great.  His original backstory was he was a criminal who was turned into an organic computer as punishment for his crimes.  I honestly prefered this depiction.  His "death" was really quite touching.  It reminded me a lot of Kane Starkiller's sacrifice.  It must be said, however, that the idea of a cybernetic implant that is such a detriment to the user was very stupid.  Who designed that thing?

        Korin was literally just Professor Gryphomarn.  The panther twins offered nothing really.  They turned evil because they look scary, I guess.  You see I've never been a fan of the Dark Side being an external force of corruption.  I've always prefered internal darkness.  Seeing two otherwise good individuals suddenly possessed was jarring and weird.  

        Channath Cha was interesting.  At first she seemed like another boring Boba Fett clone, but the twist where she was Lando's former lover and helped them escape was great and surprising.  What bugged me was that the Emperor would even use a bounty hunter.  Why not use special forces, a Sovereign Protector or a Hand?  Palpatine commanded the entire Empire; There is no reason he would ever need the service of bounty hunters.

Anyway I thought the book was objectively good.  Didn't really appeal to me, but it was still okay.