A lot of people deserve credit on this one. Michael A. Stackpole did the story, Darko Macan the script, and Dave Nestelle the colors, throughout the entire four-issue series. Edvin Biukovic did the art and lettering for the majority of the comic, as well as the cover and production sketches in the TPB. Then it gets complex. For a couple of pages in the comic, John Nadeau did the pencils, Jordi Ensign the inks, and Dave Cooper the letters, and for the last 20 or so pages, Gary Erskine did the art and Annie Parkhouse did the letters.
The Phantom Affair is the second four issue mini-series in the XWRS series. It also guests Mirax Terrik, and even has a cameo by her father, Booster Terrik. We also get to see exactly what happened at the Gus Treta refueling station on that fatal day when Wedge's parents were killed.
I can't believe how much better it is than the prior offering, The Rebel Opposition! To sum it up, the plot was a lot more interesting, I didn't really catch any continuity errors, and the artwork is just superb. Then again, if you've heard anything about the late, lamented Edvin Biukovic, that last shouldn't surprise you.
Just for frame of reference sake, I am working from the TPB version of The Phantom Affair, not the separate issues. Let's start with the artwork. First, the Rogues look like they're supposed to. Tycho's hair is still a little lighter than I'd like it to be, but I guess it's a good compromise between Stackpole's description of a brown-haired man and Allston's of him being blond. Wes looks a little old and battle-hardened to be the baby-faced man he's usually described as being, but this is the look that all the artists have stuck with since The Rebel Opposition, so I can live with it.
Another thing that I thought was pretty cool was the cameos inserted into this issue. They do not take away from the story, and most of them go unnoticed unless you are really looking for them and know what to look for. The obvious one is on page 74 of the TPB (issue #7) where their skimmer flies past a certain SW celebrity. There's a couple of others, however, that I never would have guessed had I not read the Rogue Squadron Handbook.
On page 50 of the TPB, a student is being held up for the code of the day. Compare that student with the Honorary Rogues section in the back of the Handbook. Also using that same section, compare the other color picture with the guy in the bottom right-hand panel on page 49 of the TPB. Pretty cool, eh?
The best part about the artwork is the depth of emotion that can be seen in the characters' eyes. The best example of this is found in Wedge's flashback. After the death of Jagged and Zena, the stuff with Booster and Wedge was awesome. It read almost if there were two actors standing in front of me. Booster's eyes, in particular, told an entire story that went far beyond the few lines of dialogue he had. Booster's eyes show me a man who is concerned about Wedge and saddened by what happened. He wants to help Wedge and understands exactly where Wedge is coming from when Wedge says he wants revenge, but yet he'd love to stop him from killing Hask. I almost get the impression from this that Booster himself has traveled down this path a few times. Makes you wonder if this is how he got into the smuggling business.
To make it short, the artwork is simply exquisite, and the only real problem I have with it is that Biukovic was not permitted to finish the mini-series. A bunch of other people were brought in to finish it up, and their stuff just wasn't as good. I especially would've loved to see how Biukovic would've portrayed the adult Wedge's final confrontation with Hask.
Now, on to the story. The plot was both entertaining and dramatic. The best part, of course, was the flashback where Wedge relives the death of his parents and the hunt for Loka Hask. I mentioned the artwork on this, but the dialogue also helps to show us just what kind of man Booster Terrik really is. He allows Wedge to take his Z-95 Headhunter out after Hask, and follows him in the Skate. When they find Hask's ship, Booster then tries to convince Wedge just to disable the ship and let the Corellian police take care of the rest. Keep in mind that this takes place before Booster's trip to Kessel. I figure this flashback takes place shortly before his arrest, so we know that CorSec is looking for Booster. For him to even mention CorSec says a lot for Booster.
Another thing I found interesting was the Ante-Endor Association. Here was an organization that truly believed that the Emperor was alive and Endor never happened. At first, I thought it was just propaganda, but from their conversation amongst themselves later on, you can tell they truly believe it. No wonder they beat up Tycho! And this also fits in nicely with Wedge's Gamble, where they were discussing how some people still weren't sure if Palpatine was alive or not.
The one problem I have with the story is Loka Hask. This guy was wanted by the Corellian Police. Since they were chasing him through space, I would presume that there were warrants out for him. While running from the police, he causes an accident that destroys half of a refueling station and kills two.
So how did this person become an Imperial officer? Not only that, but an officer actually placed in command of others and charged with securing an important weapon for the Empire? Was he recently promoted after Endor? I mean, the Imperials may be the bad guys, but they seem to at least know how to do a background check, and it's not like the Empire doesn't have a good working relationship with Corellia and its police force. And they still want to at least maintain the appearance of having officers with somewhat decent character. I know that sounds weird, but I'm thinking of Crispin's Han Solo trilogy and Han's huge effort to make sure he had a clean record so he could get into the Imperial Navy.
A side note here: with that thing on his face, who in the universe is going to take him seriously? He's the last guy I would send to negotiate anything because, unless he's being sent to a world where all the humans are engaged in a symbiotic relationship with parasitic creatures, he's going to be laughed at.
All in all, an excellent effort here, the best of the earlier mini-series of the XWRS series. Superb atwork, an entertaining plot, very few complaints, and it is the only XWRS comic to have both Mirax and Booster. This also has my favorite scene in the entire XWRS series, the flashback scene with Wedge and Booster.
Reviewed August 19, 2000 by Kelly M. Grosskreutz.
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