Star Wars vol. 2: From the Ruins of Alderaan

The main thing readers of the first volume will immediately notice in the second is that there’s a new artist onboard.  One of Brian Wood’s frequent collaborators, Ryan Kelly, provides the art for the first half of this volume and parts of it are an uneasy fit.  What’s good is that he’s got a nice handle on the tech and scenery of the series, so everything looks like it came from the world of “Star Wars.”  Regrettably, he doesn’t do as good a job with the characters.  Kelly’s cast (at least, those from the movies) seems to be stuck in a weird state where he can’t quite get the likenesses right and can’t commit fully to his own style either.  It’s too bad considering his excellent previous collaborations with Wood in “Local,” “Northlanders,” and “DMZ” along with the fact that this volume is still pretty engaging otherwise.

While very little progress is made in finding the mole in the Rebellion’s outfit, it’s still fun to see Han and Chewie struggle to escape Coruscant with Boba Fett hot on their tale, as is the case with Luke and Wedge infiltrating a Star Destroyer on a spy mission.  Wood also gives the new characters their moments in the sun as well.  The smuggler Perla makes for a capable foil to Solo, while Imperial Lieutenant Birrah Seah finds herself having to fulfill a very specific request from Vader.  Seah’s response to the outcome of that job is far more sensible than any other Imperial officer I’ve seen.  Then there’s the Imperial commander Bircher, who looked like he was created only to fit the role of arrogant officer and whose character is salvaged in this volume through a clever twist.  So yeah, there’s lots of payoff at the end of the volume and original artist Carlos D’Anda returns to illustrate its second half in his bold, expressive style.  This is a collection that gets better as it goes along.  Let’s hope that continues to be true for the two remaining volumes in this series.