Segura and Noto Take the Galaxy Beyond the Empire in Star Wars #1

by Henry Wood

Written by Alex Segura

Drawn & Colored by Phil Noto

Lettered by Clayton Cowles

Edited by Mikey J. Basso, Drew Baumgartner, Mark Paniccia, Robert Simpson & Grace Orriss

The Battle of Jakku is over! The Empire has been defeated! Now, the New Republic must unite the galaxy under a banner of peace and prosperity for all, but their challenges are just beginning! Leia and Mon Mothma attempt to bring a large civilization into the New Republic, while Luke and Rynn Zenat tangle with a dangerous group of pirates and Han and Beilert Valance try to discover how a criminal syndicate became so powerful.

Coming off the heels of his The Battle of Jakku event, writer Alex Segura has relaunched the main Marvel Star Wars title with the help of artist Poe Dameron artist Phil Noto. This is a relatively unexplored era of Star Wars in the new canon, and because of that Segura and Noto have a lot of room for storytelling, and they have chosen to create a three-pronged story, focusing each on one member of the Original Trilogy trio. Luke, Leia and Han are all trying to establish the New Republic as a stable political entity, but all doing it through different strategies.

Leia is working with the New Republic to try to get the world of Pirros to join the fledgling New Republic, to disastrous results. This demonstrates that the New Republic is weak and prone to fracture, which, while we haven’t seen this yet in any canon material, makes a lot of sense. For a historical comparison, after the Revolutionary War, the United States of America was not a stable country and didn’t even resemble same political structure as we have today until the Constitution was ratified in 1787.

Luke is back with the New Republic starfighter corps investigating a pirate group in the Fenril Sector who are raiding New Republic equipment hubs and ships and selling their loot. Meanwhile, Han has teamed up his old Imperial Academy buddy Beilert Valance to investigate why a small criminal syndicate has suddenly become a powerful force in the galaxy.

The best part of this issue is Phil Noto’s incredible art, which somehow both feels realistic to the actors of the Original Trilogy, without falling into a weird photo-tracing uncanny valley feeling. You can see Carrie Fisher in Leia Organa without feeling like you’re looking at a picture of her, which is the best for this type of book in my opinion.

The plot on the other hand feels predictable and bare, but not necessarily bad. It’s pretty clear that these three plots are going to converge in some way to come together into a singular threat. All that being said, I do think the idea of a New Republic trying to find its footing and set out its course in the galaxy is an interesting idea and I am interested in seeing that continued. It’s often overlooked that the New Republic was around for 30 years, almost a decade longer than the Empire, meaning that despite falling to an enemy it failed to see coming, it had staying power. It’s a good idea to look into that and I’m glad that Alex Segura and Phil Noto are investigating this.