We dive back into The Star Wars with Annikin hiding out from Stormtroopers as he attempts to rescue Leia. I have to say, even after reading eight issues, it’s still very strange to see how the character connections could have been. Don’t get me wrong, this comic has a good story and has the feel of Star Wars, but it’s just a bit weird (and jarring at times) after thirty-seven years of Star Wars lore being handed down. Anyway, back to Annikin.
Note: This recap may contain spoilers!
He’s not very good at hiding or blending in, so he gets caught almost immediately. He puts up a good fight though. Meanwhile, the two villains, Darth and Valorum, are watching and it seems that they don’t get along. Darth is trying to one up Valorum, who doesn’t appear to be bothered, but he is wearing a mask covering the bottom half of his face, so I can’t be sure. It also seems that Darth is his name and not a title, like it is in the movies. Annikin is taken to an interrogation room, where Valorum is very familiar with him. Orders are issued that Annikin is to be sent to Alderaan and executed.
Outside the fortress, Luke and his ragtag team of Wookiees are preparing an attack. It goes about as well as you would expect, with many ships crashing into the fortress and doing significant damage to it. Inside, Valorum helps Annikin escape and look for Leia. It’s a scene highly reminiscent of Star Wars, especially when the trio dives into a trash compactor. Darth is scrambling to fight off the Wookiees, but also find the trio before they escape. However, luck holds out for them and they escape the garbage room, but without having to fight a tentacle monster. Annikin finds R2 and they all make it to an escape pod right before the fortress explodes.
And with a final scene in the Aquilae throne room, so ends the first part of The Star Wars. It was interesting, fun, and as I said above, strange, to read about this alternate Star Wars adventure. It had all the characters we know and love, and some that we never even heard about. There were a lot of characters and it was probably a good idea to put some of them together, like Darth and Valorum, as it streamlined the story. I do hope there will be more, as is hinted at in the final page. It will be interesting to see where the characters go from here.
