"The End" Week: Star Wars #50!

Hmm, I think I'm missing another Marvel Star Wars last issue (2020's #75!) and I wonder if I might not have preferred that one. From 2024, Star Wars #50, "The Path of Hope" Written by Charles Soule, art by Madibek Musabekov, color art by Rachelle Rosenberg.

This was the finale of Marvel's second modern Star Wars books, after the original classic. The first was set immediately after the first movie--"A New Hope" or "Episode IV" if you must--while this series was set after Empire, which meant Han was off the board. (There were probably flashback issues or something in there somewhere!) But, this issue begins much later, at the new Jedi temple on Ossus, as Master Luke Skywalker has a talk with his star pupil, Ben Solo. That little bitch. He's the bad guy, I think you're supposed to hate Kylo Ren, and I do. I really do. Look, I could see rebelling--so to speak--against his parents Han and Leia, maybe; or even turning away from his master's teachings. What I can't buy, is that somehow, that kid went bad, when he had mothersmurfing Chewbacca in his life! I'm pretty sure Chewie was like an uncle to him, if not half-raised Ben himself: I can't imagine choosing to live my life in such a way that would disappoint Chewbacca, and I've never even met the big guy. Anyway, the framing sequence is Luke telling Ben about the year his dad was the "Hansicle."

Seeking Jedi knowledge, Luke revisited the fungal "Living Sea of Gazian," and got a tip from the memory of Azlin Rell, who had been a Jedi centuries before Luke's time...before being forced to become something else; which should already be a massive warning sign. Azlin knew Luke was looking for a way to fight the Empire, without risking his friends, and gives him coordinates to something. Luke later discusses it with Leia, Chewie, and Lando: it could be an assassination weapon and ethically dicey, or it could not exist; let's go see! After a search on a far-off, frozen planet; and a skirmish with an Imperial garrison guarding it; the heroes find a device that Threepio translates as the "Grim Rose." Labelled with instructions, if provided with genetic material, it would kill a person, "through some arcane mystical power," anywhere in the universe. Which meant, if they could find something of Emperor Palpatine's...

This leads to a search on Naboo, with Lando going undercover disguised as an Imperial officer. An archivist sees through it--Lando slips on the rank, noting nobody could read those rank badges--but she still gives him what he was looking for, asking only that he use it to kill the Emperor. Now the ethics question could no longer be avoided, but Chewie ends the discussion by dumping Palpatine's sample into the Grim Rose. He then asks Threepio to translate, largely for the reader's benefit: with his homeworld Kashyyyk enslaved and his family possibly dead, "the Wookies do not have the luxury of debate." Using the Force, Luke tries to see how the Grim Rose worked: by following people connected or affected by Palpatine, working its way to him. Threepio then realizes, that maybe cleared up some "ambiguities" on the label: once it found it's target, it would kill them...and everyone it had touched on the path to get there.

When Luke wants to stop it, Lando advises, let it run: they had to stop the Emperor, to avenge Alderaan, and it was probably searching through Imperials anyway...Still, so far Luke could see the Grim Rose had touched over a thousand people and was still running; and there was the possibility Palpatine could defend or hide himself somehow, which would just increase the search. Luke tries to destroy it with his lightsaber, but to no avail. Returning to Gazian, Luke goes back in, to try and get more information from Azlin Rell, who seems really excited that they used the Grim Rose and wanted to hear how it went. Luke asks if the target can be changed: sure, but why would you want to? Fighting past Azlin, Luke finds the oldest body in the sea, and takes a piece from it: given a target already long dead, the Grim Rose deactivates. Ben asks, what was the point of this story? "Don't become evil to fight evil." Great, I'm sure he took that to heart. 

While I've enjoyed picking them up randomly, I tried getting a subscription to I think this series, like I had for so many years as a kid! Only for the book to immediately be just mired in crossovers; like I would've needed two other subs to keep up. I did read the first four or five issues of the newest, post-Return of the Jedi Star Wars, since they brought back the Nagai from the end of the classic run; but while the art was pretty, it didn't feel as lively or wild as I'd like.