Star Wars Adventures: The Weapon of A Jedi #2 picks up the pace as dangers of the Eedit ruins and looming Imperial Forces drive Luke to quickly master the Force. Available now from IDW, this second installment is based on a novel by Jason Fry. It’s adapted by writer Alec Worley with art by Ruairi Coleman. Chris O’Halloran provides colors while Amauri Osorio and 49 Grad-Medienagentur contribute lettering.
Luke, C-3P0 and R2-D2 have entered the belly of the beast in the Eedit ruins. Though Imperial forces are on Luke’s trail, writer Worley devotes ample page time to Luke’s training. We get to see how doggedly Luke trains on his own with only his lightsaber and the memory of Ben Kenobi to guide him.
Luke staying awake for two nights to train in the Force is definitely crazy, yet somehow admirable. The stakes are personal for him. Understanding the Force is key to understanding his past and arms him against the Empire. Besides making for some great action sequences, Worley’s training-focused issue makes room for Jedi philosophy. Despite a few contrivances to hurry up the Imperial force’s pursuit, the issue is quite balanced with plot and character.
Using the Force
In the action sequences, Coleman gets to show off Luke’s lightsaber and some explosive effects. Coleman uses dark lines to emphasize the action. Furthermore, each lightsaber movement is drawn in exaggerated blue arcs. While the action lines work well for the sake of style and drama, the lightsaber arcs look too much like ribbons covering large sections of panels to be effective.
The blue of the lightsaber posed a problem for the colorist, O’Halloran, as well. On page twelve, in a night scene already awash in blue and purple, one panel has a blue background behind the bright blue lightsaber, a blue dialogue bubble, and a special effect done in blue. Of course, blue is used deliberately, but maybe some shading would have prevented the dialogue and lightsaber from getting lost in the background. I almost mentally skipped over the panel without reading the dialogue because of the lack of contrast.
Other than the overuse of SFX, the above-mentioned panel exemplifies my only issue with Osorio’s and 49 Grad-Medienagentur’s lettering and design. These issues obstruct the action, slowing down the read from one beat to the next.
Despite such problems, Star Wars Adventures: The Weapon of A Jedi #2 manages to be a fun second issue. Luke has become the Jedi hero we recognize from the movies. The next step will be to challenge the Empire beyond a skirmish with some Storm Troopers. The Force is strong with us and with Luke as we face, head on, the next Star Wars adventure.
