The Last Command #1

Story: Mike Baron (adapted from Timothy Zahn)
Pencils: Edvin Biukovic
Colors: Pamela Rambo
Editor: Bob Cooper

Thrawn steps up his attacks. Leia gives birth to twins. Reviewed 11/28/97 Story In issue #1, I was struck how Mike's done a good job of bringing the reader up to speed on missing events and reintroducing subplots. It just occurred to me that we haven't seen 'Delta Source' mentioned before, but it's weaved in nicely. Art The cover for this issue is worth mentioning first. Mathieu's covers are always great, but this circle and white space design is especially striking. The preview for issue #2 is even more fabulous. Ms Rambo's color style and scheme provides an attractive consistent look with the HTTE and DFR adaptations. Despite the overwhelming peach colors on pages 8 and 9, the book has a rich look. I never noticed before how effective using a purple (rather than black) starfield is in the space scenes. Edvin Biukovic's (the lineup change from DFR) pencils are inconsistent. The technology is all of the great quality we've seen in his X-Wing work. The characters start well, lapse a bit in the middle, but then build to a great birth scene. I'd say that the likenesses are a cross between what we've seen in HTTE and DFR. Mara Jade's rendering gets a passing mark... but man oh man, his Noghri are the "definitive" look in my opinion. Summary The average art makes this inferior to previous issues, but I wasn't thrilled by HTTE#1 or DFR#1 either. 7/10. Recommended.
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