Warning: Minor Spoilage Lay Ahead
The third Star Wars series to be released under the Marvel umbrella, Princess Leia #1 (of 5) reminds us of what it means to be a rebel again. Even if it’s rebelling against your own people. To be honest, this was the one series that I have been looking forward to the most. 
Having writer Mark Waid (S.H.I.E.L.D.) onboard for the mini-series sold me on it, not that I could turn down anything Star Wars related. So far I have been very impressed by the books that Marvel has been releasing. Both the Star Wars and Darth Vader series have been more than impressive. It’s time for everyone’s favorite galactic princess to take center stage.
Surprisingly enough there hasn’t been that much Leia-centric released. I remember reading The Courtship of Princess Leia back in the day, but nothing else really comes to mind. But that’s all about to change. Princess Leia #1 doesn’t skip a beat after the end events of A New Hope. One thing that Waid does really well is establish the story at this point of the chronology. Leia has had little time to grieve after the loss of her Planet Alderaan blowing up. The story does a really good job at placing her at this point in her life and having everyone trying to convince her to feel a certain way. But when the Empire places a bounty on all surviving Alderaaneans(?), Leia can’t just sit around doing nothing! She wants to get out there and protect her people. She ends up enlisting Evaan, a hotheaded X-Wing pilot, who is also from Alderaan for her help. The adventure begins. Terry Dodson (Uncanny X-Men) who has worked with Marvel for a long time, does a great job at capturing the essence of the classic characters. I think that his cover is my favorite, even amongst the variants. Not a lot of action to draw this time around, but I’m sure that will pick up soon enough! I’m hoping that this is more a ‘spy-esque’ thriller.
I’ll say it again, I think that’s great that Disney decided to take Star Wars in a bold new direction. That’s coming from someone who loves the EU, yet the new canon is exciting and fresh. Every story that has come out so far, novel and comic, has been pretty good and Star Wars fan approved. Waid and Dodson have my attention with this series and hopefully it does well enough to produce a sequel.
