Script: Mike Baron
Pencils: Edvin Biukovic
Inks: Eric Shanower
Colors: Pam Rambo and Dan Brown
Separations: Digital Chameleon
Lettering: Ellie DeVille
Cover Art: Mathieu Lauffray
This is the comic adaptation for the novel The Last Command. As with the other two novel adaptations, I won't be focusing on plot as I will on elements unique to this comic.
It seems to be a trend to have artwork that improves with each adaptation. Of course, anyone familiar with the work of Edvin Biukovic will not be surprised by this. The movie characters look as good as always, and other characters improve in this issue. Mara, although she wears the same outfit she has for the other comics, now also sports armbands the size of her forearms, the perfect size in which to hide a holdout blaster. Karrde still looks the same, but at times he wears a coat that helps to make him a little more presentable. And the Noghri are now short and not looking like brutes!
Biukovic is also known for adding little tidbits, and there are lots of them here that, although small, enhance the story and make it more enjoyable to read. It is also the small things like this that help add some reality to it. General Bel Iblis is depicted as being left-handed. When Thrawn's commando team is breaking into Han and Leia's, Winter is seen sitting with an infant in each arm and a gun on her lap. We get to see the view from inside of a bacta tank and how little a person can actually see from inside one. And the twins' mobile is just darling, with the X-Wings and TIEs circling each other!
At the very beginning, Pellaeon is giving the captains of the other ships their orders. Although the subplot of the officer who wants revenge for the destruction of the Peremptory at the end of Dark Force Rising is dropped in the comic, a little bit of it survives through the sneer one of the officers has on his face. Another thing that was really cool was in the scene where Leia is holding one of the infants (Jacen?) and they are looking out over the city. First we have the exquisitely beautiful picture of Leia hanging on the wall behind her and her child. Then, throughout that entire scene, I loved watching Jacen's reactions to everything. He was very aware of what was going on, and you can tell that he didn't want mommy to leave.
There are a couple of times where Biukovic seems to take dramatic license with the story, however. In my review for the novel, I commented on how Wes seemed to be out of character by helping Wedge haul the "drunken" Aves. I'd said that I pictured Wes as hanging back with his hand on his blaster. Seems I wasn't alone, as that's exactly how this scene was depicted in the comic.
On the other hand, at the end, one of Karrde's vornskrs is shown to have died in the final battle, whereas in the book both survived. Again, this could be seen as making the story better, but I do have a little problem with changing the story too much. In a case like this, where it's very minor and nothing's harmed by doing it, I'm inclined to let it go.
There are other things, though, that I can't let go. In the novel, C'baoth keeps telling Mara that he has foreseen her kneeling before him. She does not kneel before him at all until right before she kills him. Not so in the comic. The whole time they are discussing her kneeling before him, she already is on her knees on the floor, recovering from the lightning blasts. Then when she kills him, she is standing, not kneeling.
My biggest nitpick, however, with the art is when Mara is in the Imperial Palace right after she wakes up. Winter takes her to her room and tells her they have her clothes for her. Mara realizes she has no blaster, so she decides to go to the library in the Palace completely naked to get one? I don't think so! When she's fully dressed, she says the line, "Now I feel dressed." I have to laugh at that, considering that didn't seem to bother her a few panels ago.
There were other things that happened that just didn't seem to make sense. In the scene where the commandos are trying to break into Han and Leia's, Leia takes the time to pull her hair back? That struck me as weird. Thrawn is shown to be petting an ysalamir on his lap at least once. Don't their claws have to be stuck in those nutrient tubes constantly? I don't think I'd want those claws anywhere near my thighs. And I did not know it was possible to interview anyone inside a bacta tank, as they are shown to be doing with Himron.
I think the story itself, however, was translated over far better than it was in Dark Force Rising. There were still spots where things were left a little vague, beginning with the very first battle, but the main story came across much more intact. For example, the three-pronged attack in the beginning was barely mentioned, focusing on the attack in the Ukio system. So a reader could wonder why Han was getting attacked when he was nowhere near Ukio unless they read really close.
There were some errors in word balloon placement, but nowhere near as bad as in Dark Force Rising. The confusion factor is a lot less. For example, towards the beginning, when Luke and Karrde bump into each other, Luke is supposed to fill Karrde in on Mara's status. Now Karrde fills in Luke, even though Luke's the one who's been on Coruscant with her lately.
There's a scene where Leia is feeding one of the twins, and the other is asleep. Leia identifies the twin as Jaina, which would corroborate with the book. When Winter comes in, she asks Leia if Jacen should be put in the crib, and Leia says yes.
Karrde, Gillespee, and Mazzic meet in a cantina to discuss grabbing a CGT for the New Republic. Karrde asks them if they are in. Gillespee's and Mazzic's responses are switched, making Mazzic say he's in because of losing his place on Ukio, when it was Gillespee who owned that place.
Also, during the final confrontation on Wayland, when C'baoth reveals his clone, the clone is referred to as Luke Skywalker, not Luuke Skywalker.
All in all, this is a far better adaptation than Dark Force Rising, superior in all ways. The only way it falls short to Heir to the Empire is in story translation. The artwork is just fantastcially superb, and the major errors are few and mostly unnoticeable, with about two exceptions, which I mentioned before. I say it's a must have, but then I would say that anyways because of Edvin Biukovic's contributions. Also, where else will you find a shot of Biggs Darklighter, alive and well and walking around in the Imperial Palace? *grin*
Reviewed July 10, 2000 by Kelly M. Grosskreutz.
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