Review: Star Wars: Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Captain Phasma
Quick Summary
Pros: The main storyline is exciting and unpredictable. The entire adventure helps characterize Phasma as a villain in ways the movies were unable to do. The artwork is impressive and matches the tone of the story.
Cons: Plot points relating to Phasma’s past feel out of place and awkward.
Overall: This relatively short comic works well as a unique and consistently interesting trip with a highly underutilized character. It helps turn Phasma into a worthwhile villain by allowing her to be the sinister hypocrite she truly is. Along the way, her actions inspire suspense and intrigue, leading to a journey fraught with subverted expectations. All in all, this is a very worthwhile comic for anyone who wants to see more from Phasma or anyone looking for some additional background behind the conclusion of The Force Awakens.
Story
Star Wars: Captain Phasma, by Kelly Thompson, is a short but very entertaining adventure that details some of the fallout from the conclusion of The Force Awakens. The entire journey is an unpredictable trip filled with action, subterfuge, and surprising twists. Along the way, Captain Phasma’s character is expanded upon in ways that the movies were never able to do. This turns her into a true villain and gives additional characterization to many of her past actions. All in all, this comic creates a newfound level of respect for a character that was tragically underutilized in the movies.
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The central storyline in Captain Phasma is entertaining all the whole way through and is just unpredictable enough to keep things thrilling. Phasma’s wild hunt to kill the man she will soon blame for her own actions starts with her avoiding the death of an entire planet and continuing on to a hostile new world. This portion of the narrative sees her raise an army, only to get what she wants and then immediately abandon them. Everyone around her ends up dead, often in ways the reader will not see coming. The entire narrative has great levels of action and suspense, allowing the comic to stay interesting from start to finish.
The other positive in Captain Phasma comes from the character development it gives to Captain Phasma. In The Force Awakens, Captain Phasma is self-righteous in her dedication to the First Order and is seen chastising Finn for being a traitor. However, in that film, she also commits a small betrayal when she shuts down the shields in order to spare her own life. Though this hypocrisy goes relatively unaddressed in the movies, this comic expands upon it in a tremendously satisfying manner.
It has her immediately delete all evidence of her betrayal and even go on to pin this betrayal on a patsy. These traitorous actions are constantly contrasted against the level of duty she expects from others, as she tells other troopers to die in the name of the First Order and demands complete loyalty from the subordinate who accompanies her on her adventure. All of this helps turn Phasma into the brutal and despicable villain she was set up to be in the movies. It also further demonstrates the fractured mentality of the First Order’s leadership, which clearly has more problems than initially believed.
The only significant flaw within Captain Phasma is the strange way in which her backstory is alluded to. She makes one or two mentions to having experienced a situation similar to the people of Luprora and even flashes back to her childhood at one point. However, none of this is really expanded upon in any significant way. Instead, this information ends up feeling unnecessary and having one single flashback feels strange.
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Art
The artwork in Captain Phasma is well crafted and very cinematic. Artist Marco Checchetto provides detailed depictions of the characters in a way that helps them transition well from the big screen. The work here looks great and the way it is laid out helps the action transition from one scene to the next. In addition, Checchetto helps create a new Star Wars world with a unique and imaginatively designed population and landscape. All of this is then enhanced by the work of colorist Andres Mossa, who ensures that the tone of the comic is as bleak and sinister as one would want it to be. Overall, this is a good looking book that fits well into the Star Wars comic universe.
Continuity
Star Wars: Captain Phasma picks up Captain Phasma’s story from her last appearance in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. The rest of the comic follows her from this point and appears to coincide with the conclusion of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
The conclusion of this book indicates that Captain Phasma’s story continues in Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi.