Review: Star Wars Vol. 5- Yoda’s Secret War

Quick Summary

Pros: Yoda’s flashback adventure is compelling from start to finish. Leia’s modern adventure is lighthearted and fun. Both stories are packed with meaning and inspiration in more than a few places.

Cons: The modern actions of Luke aren’t that interesting.

Overall: The is definitely one of the better volumes in the Star Wars comic series. It details a lengthy adventure with Yoda that highlights some of the coolest aspects of this character. Plus, it contains a short but entertaining adventure with Leia. The entire volume is also filled with meaningful messages that give the reading experience additional depth. Star Wars fans, especially those who enjoy Yoda, should definitely read this book, even if they haven’t read previous volumes.

Story

Star Wars Vol. 5: Yoda’s Secret War, by Jason Aaron, continues to see a rise in the quality of storytelling from the Star Wars series. Though the majority of this volume is a flashback, it is a flashback that focuses on one of the best Star Wars characters undertaking a dangerous and exciting mission. Yoda’s actions here are captivating and relevant in a way that is easy to connect to. Plus, the volume also includes an entertaining story centered around Leia. Both stories are enjoyable and both stories have a wonderful message. The collection’s only problem is that the modern actions of Luke are not that interesting. Overall though, this is a good book that almost every fan should be able to enjoy.

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The majority of Yoda’s Secret War centers around the titular war fought by Yoda on a planet that seems to be inhabited entirely by warring tribes of children. Like most Yoda centric stories, this adventure is instantly captivating and overall excellent. It grabs interest quickly by forcing Yoda to confront a strange material that blocks his ability to use the force. The investigation into this strange substance evolves into a tantalizing mystery that eventually reveals this planet is also inhabited by giant rock titans who have been masquerading as mountains. Yoda’s dive into this mystery and the way it affects the local populace is awesome and makes for a great Star Wars story.

This portion of the book is also filled with meaning, as it contains a number of deep messages about society as a whole. On the surface, Yoda’s journey contains an obvious, but still touching, message about the value of life and the evils of any kind of war. However, below this surface message are more intricate themes regarding the responsibility of older generations, the true value of bravery, and the power of standing up for what is right. All of these messages are well-written and enhance this impact of this volume.

Yoda’s Secret War also contains a worthwhile story, by Kelly Thompson, about Princess Leia that shows what an incredible character she can be. This story starts out with some lighthearted moments, as Leia trades quips with Bash and the duo have a few slapstick encounters with Stormtroopers. Then, things get more and more serious and Leia delivers an inspiring speech about her personal motivations and the power of a rebellion. The combination of humor and meaning make this a solid individual story and I look forward to seeing Bash’s future contributions to the Rebellion’s efforts.

The rest of the volume details a few quick moments that show how Yoda’s past adventures have affected the future. Though these moments are not downright bad, they are defiantly the least appealing portion of the book. Luke’s encounter with the Garro gives the flashback story a nice resolution but is not that interesting on its own. Plus, Obi-Wan’s encounter with Garro doesn’t really make sense, especially since Garro claims to have never left his planet. Luckily, these moments comprise a very small portion of the book and it does not affect the overall quality of the collection as a whole.

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Art

The total quality of the artwork in Yoda’s Secret War is a bit mixed. Salvador Larroca brings a good level of detail to landscapes and newly introduced characters. However, the main problem here is that Larroca’s work on facial expressions often ends up looking very strange, especially in the case of previously established characters. When depicting people like Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, their faces look as if they were ripped from a scene in the movies and dropped into a completely unrelated scene in the comic. The worst example of this is on the first page of chapter 30, where Luke looks as if he is vacantly staring off into the distance despite the fact that he knows projectiles are on their way toward him. These flaws are distracting when they are present and further lower the quality of this book’s modern-day scenes.

Yoda’s Secret War also contains an annual by Emilio Laiso. The stylized looks in this chapter are visually pleasing and help capture the lighthearted tone that can be found in the story. These visuals are also able to shift when the tone becomes more somber, thus helping enhance the narrative. Overall, this chapter looks good and helps the quality of this book.

Continuity

Star Wars Vol. 5: Yoda’s Secret War continues the story from Star Wars Vol. 4: Last Flight of the Harbinger (Review). Both stories take place between the movies Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope and Star Wars: Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back. However, the Yoda flashbacks here seem to take place sometime after Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace.
The story here continues in Star Wars Vol. 6: Out Among the Stars (Review). Star Wars: The Screaming Citadel (Review) also takes place between these volumes.