Booklog

Another impressive installment. This arc is following a rather classic arc - but that in no way makes it boring. Renegade and ne'er-do-well Cade Skywalker is forced to confront his past and become the Jedi that fate would have him be. Any intelligent reader knows where the story is going the minute you get a handle on Cade's character. What Ostrander does surprisingly well is make you care about it anyway. With all the disappointment expressed in Cade by his peers and yes, even by his illustrious ancestors, you simultaneously want to cheer for him and say, "Screw them, do your own thing; be your own man" and yet... Maybe it's the artwork, but you can feel the disappointment when you see Luke and for Star Wars fans who've seen the old guy go through so much, you just want him to catch a break - even long after he's dead.

In this volume, Cade undergoes his obligatory transformation, and even after such a short development, it feels good to see it. Ostrander wisely doesn't get rid of the ambiguity - Cade is not a Jedi, even if it does mean he's kicking the drugs and trying to atone for the bad decisions he's made in the immediate past. More interesting were the couple of one-shots. There was one vignette about a new Stormtrooper recruit that gives a "common" perspective on the unfolding space opera that is nicely done and well-written. The political subterfuge and wrangling between the Sith, Fel's Empire and the Galactic Alliance Remnant is also well layered for a comic book (and again, I can't help but make comparisons to the political debacle of a story unfolding in the Fate of the Jedi arc.

In Legacy history repeats itself, but the effect is more nostalgic than parroting. This is fun stuff.