Comics Review: "STAR WARS #2" - Luke Skywalker Raises His Pimp Hand

STAR WARS #2 (2025)

MARVEL COMICS

STORY: Alex Segura

ART: Phil Noto

COLORS: Phil Noto

LETTERS: VC's Clayton Cowles

EDITOR: Mark Paniccia

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: C.B. Cebulski

COVER: Phil Noto

VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Chris Sprouse and Karl Story with Neeraj Menon; John Tyler Christopher; Leinil Francis Yu with Romulo Fajardo, Jr.; Josemaria Casanovas; Luciano Vecchio

28pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (June 11, 2025)

Rated T

“Smoke”

In 2015, Marvel Comics began publishing Star Wars comic books again.  Marvel's new Star Wars #1 opened in the time immediately after the events depicted in the original film, Star Wars (1977).  After 75 issues, that series ended.  In late 2019, the next new Star Wars ongoing series (cover date: 2020) debuted and focused on the aftermath of the events depicted in the second original Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back.  It ended in 2024 after 50 issues.

Now, ten years after returning to the publication of Star Wars comic book series, Marvel has another Star Wars #1.  Its stories will be set after the events depicted in the third film in the original Star Wars trilogy, Return of the Jedi (1983).  This new Star Wars comic book is written by Alex Segura; drawn and colored by Phil Noto; and lettered by Clayton Cowles.

Star Wars finds Luke Skywalker leading a mission near “Fenril Sector” in order to stop a band of pirates from looting New Republic supply shops.  On Chandrila – the provisional capital of New Republic, Princess Leia and Mon Mothma unsuccessfully attempt to negotiate an alliance with the planets of the Fenril Sector.  On the Outer Rim planet of Guat'a, Han Solo and the bounty hunter, Beilert Valance, battle the “Zantarrk Gang.”

Star Wars #2 (“Smoke”) opens on an unnamed planet near the Fenril Sector.  There, Luke and fellow pilot, Rynn Senat, have just had a strange experience with what was supposed to be a pirate.  For Luke, however, the pirate pilot and the experience are even stranger.  His words send Luke on a mission to the planet, Gadrilam, where the pilots says Luke must find, Ibo Truddispal, a hoarder of artifacts, including Jedi artifacts.

What tragedy awaits Luke on Gadrilam?  And who are the victims and who are the bad guys on this strange planet?

THE LOWDOWN:  I do not receive PDF or physical review copies of any titles published by Marvel.  I bought this new Star Wars comic book via Amazon Kindle slash comiXology, and it is not the first Star Wars comic book that I have read or reviewed.

Writer Alex Segura continues to weave a new narrative spin on the post-Return of the Jedi Star Wars universe.  If the recent Star Wars #1 was about hope, this second issue is about the new perils that our heroes face now and the dangers that are bound to come for them.  Segura continues to bury his cast in deep sh*t, but he makes it all seem like a wonderful world of adventure.  His characters, settings, and plot lines are genuine, as if they stepped right out of the original film trilogy.

Phil Noto's storytelling deftly depicts this most dangerous game that Luke is playing, and I'm here for it.  Noto presents page-turning thrills and chills that sent me careening to the last page.  Segura and Noto make a good creative team for Star Wars because they are willing to make it as dark and dangerous, but seem unwilling to make Star Wars a repeat of everything that came before this new iteration.  Also, Clayton Cowles' lettering is an exercise in low key graphics, telling the story with a sense of classic comics cool.

I continue to be pleasantly surprised by this new Star Wars comic book.  It feels like classic Star Wars that has found a new pathway to a galaxy of adventure.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Star Wars comic books will want to read the 2025 Star Wars comic book series.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

The STAR WARS #2 KINDLE EDITION is available at Amazon.

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