Colors: Jordie Bellaire
Review: Will Dubbeld
Mostly as a fan.
I didn't have enough stock to warrant a fiscal concern...
In any case, visions of a beclawed Mickey Mouse/Wolverine mashup haunted my dreams.
Time goes on as time does and my fears were largely dismissed.
I've yet to see a Spider-Man/Donald Duck team-up, there's been some pretty entertaining films, and Disney hasn't dicked the dog as much as it could have potentially with editorial meddling.
I mean...it ain't great by any means, but I could be a helluva lot worse.
Like Valiant comics after the Acclaim buyout.
Anyhow, some years pass and The House of Mouse and The House of Ideas seem to have found some synergy.
And then I hear Disney bought Lucasfilm.
Whereas there were apprehensions about the Marvel deal I had no such concerns in this case.
Star Wars was the first and best corner of nerdery I discovered as a child. It was one of the first comics I owned as a child.
And look at this full circle I've created here...
The original Marvel Comics run of Star Wars comics was still the finest produced. I know most fans adhere strictly to the 20-some odd years of lore crafted by Dark Horse, fine work I'm sure, but I never cared for the books.
Give me Valance the Hunter, hoojibs, and Jaxxon the green space rabbit any day.
Needless to say, I was pleased as punch when Marvel announced the prior Expanded Universe was to be flushed in lieu of all-new material.
It hasn't all been fantastic work but so far it hits more than misses.
This Droids one-shot was a no-brainer as far as I was concerned. Interesting robot designs and wacky-headed aliens have always been some of the best set dressing in the SW universe.
Hell, I was even (and still am) a big fan of the 1980s Star Wars Droids cartoon.
Stewart Copeland from The Police wrote and performed the opening theme, for crying out loud...
The book is broken into 3 stories, 1 for each of the main Star Wars eras.
Even the godawful Republic-era Prequel territory.
Because yes, those movies are drek.
Throw that shit into the garbage chute, flyboy...
The first story, without dialogue save bleeps and whistles, is about one of Darth Maul's little floating spycam droids who rescues another droid on Tatooine. As odd as it sounds, it's a story about making new friends and that's really the sum whole.
Part 2 spotlights our favorite astromech, R2-D2 as he zooms about a Rebel base in preparation for a rescue mission. R2 runs into several other staple background droids including a power droid, 2-1B, a Treadwell unit (I think...) and a few others. After bebopping around in Family Circuslike fashion, Artoo finds his mission scrapped and his efforts all for naught in comedic fashion.
By that I mean, "womp, womp!", comedy...
The final tale features the Golden Boy of the new trilogy's Cute Robot department, BB-8.
I love that silly-ass thing. He'll never take the spot of R2-D2 in my heart, but that little roly poly dollop of charm is right up there with WALL-E.
Cute Robot Design Team, you've done your job well...
BB-8 highlights his skill as a matchmaker, doing his best to introduce a derpy X-wing pilot who shares a mutual attraction to a maintenance technician. Each party admires the other from afar, but neither one etc. etc. You know the drill.
Comics could really benefit from more lighthearted one-shots like this one. No heavy lifting involved, no continuity drag, nothing more than a few cute stories. It reminded me of the Spider-Man: Sweet Charity one-shot from many moons ago in that aspect.
Not because Spidey shows up or anything, but the spirit was the same. Marvel could really do with more projects like this one because it gives the regular reader some easily digestible fare in the face of multipart arcs and stories jam-packed with pathos.
I've always been a fan of Chris Eliopoulos' work. His Franklin Richards/HERBIE stories always tickled me in their Calvin and Hobbes-style monkeyshines and this comic shares that cheeky humor and friendly presentation. His art is cartoonish by nature and has a level of whimsy equal to that of Bill Watterson, if perhaps lacking in technical acuity for detail.
Jordie Bellaire, of course, knocks it out of the park on color duty. Jordie is easily my favorite contemporary colorist, urging me to buy books I normally would bypass simply due to her mastery of the craft.
Admittedly, this book may not find much of an audience outside of Star Wars fans who'll be buying the comic anyway because it says Star Wars on the cover.
Honestly, if you don't care about BB-8 or other adorable robots I can't blame someone for bypassing this one.
I mean, they're wrong of course, but you can't please everyone.
The book sure pleased me, however, and I'll certainly reread this gem again.
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