Comic Review - Leia Reaches Out to Her Son Ben One Last Time in "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" #4
This week saw the release of the fourth issue in Marvel Comics’ Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker adaptation, and below are my thoughts on this penultimate installment.
The best thing about this adaptation of The Rise of Skywalker has undoubtedly been getting to spend more time with General Leia Organa in her final days. As you’re probably aware, because actress Carrie Fisher had passed away before the production of the film, director J.J. Abrams was limited to using leftover footage and dialogue from The Force Awakens in bringing in a final performance for Leia in 2019. But here, writer Jody Houser and artist Will Sliney can give us additional Leia scenes like the one that opens this issue, featuring Maz Kanata assuring her old friend that she is indeed “strong enough" to pull her son Ben Solo (AKA Kylo Ren) away from the dark side of the Force and also that she is “the heart of the Resistance," despite Leia’s hesitance.
Meanwhile, we get more of Sliney’s eye-catching mirror-image page composition as Kylo goes up against Rey in a lightsaber duel on the wreckage of the second Death Star as waves crash around them in the ocean on the moon of Kef Bir. And that moment when Leia finally gets through to her son is equally as moving here as it was in the movie, as is the scene where Ben imagines his father (complete with Harrison Ford’s out-of-character stubble from his probably single day on The Rise of Skywalker set) talking him back toward the light. This part of the story also gives us Poe Dameron’s solemn meeting with Lando Calrissian on Ajan Kloss after Leia’s death and Rey’s reunion with now-wiser Jedi Master Luke Skywalker (returning in Force ghost form) on Ahch-To, during which she acquires Leia’s old lightsaber.
Through it all, Sliney’s art remains the driving force (pun intended) behind Marvel’s The Rise of Skywalker, as the Resistance prepare to attack the hidden Sith planet of Exegol and Rey pilots Luke’s once-sunken X-wing toward her destiny and an eventual confrontation with Emperor Palpatine in the next– and final– issue. And so far, the inventive choices by the creative team have kept this exercise from being another rote, straightforward Star Wars adaptation from the big screen to the comics page.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker #4 is available now wherever comic books are sold.