Star Wars: Legacy – Prisoner of the Floating World #1 Review

Dark Horse returns to the Legacy saga of Star Wars and follows Ania Solo, Han and Leia’s great-great-granddaughter. This takes place 138 years after “A New Hope,” which frees the creative team of any continuity issues.

Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman are renowned for their work on the “Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes” series because of their strong character work gave real and meaningful stakes for everyone involved. That trend continued in this opening installment of a new legacy.

The Jedi Council, the Imperials, and the Galactic Alliance have formed a Triumvirate to keep peace in the galaxy. The script shows how uneasy this peace really is as each branch tries to push its own agenda to the forefront and is quickly reminded of how things need to be done in everyone’s best interest. These moments are subtle and tense at the same time because they augment the idea that faction warfare is on the horizon.

Ania Solo is a tough, clever, and spunky young lady. Like her great-great grandpappy, she is not afraid to shoot first. At first, considering her lineage, it was kind of depressing to see her searching for scraps in a junkyard to make ends meet. However, this shows how far the family name has fallen in the galaxy, which means her namesake’s reputation will do little good.

Ania’s confidant is an engineer named Sauk, a timid soul who gets a lot of guff because he is a Mon Calamari. You feel for Sauk not only because of the treatment he endures but he resonates with the reader because he looks an awful lot like Admiral Ackbar. I’m not sure if this was by design, or maybe all Mon Calamari look alike. Either way, the resemblance will have you screaming, “It’s a trap.”

The tone of the artwork was gritty and almost unrefined, which was a great way of showing what life is like in this day and age in the Star Wars universe. If you weren’t sold on this the first time you read it, read it again. I did, and I’m happy I did, as Bechko and Hardman have set the stage for what might be an epic adventure.

Grade: B+