Star Wars Adventures Annual 2020 - Comic Review

Star Wars Adventures celebrates 2020 with a spectacular annual issue featuring two amazing stories: Rabbit Hunt by Cavan Scott and A Rebel Bounty by Nick Brokenshire—the former starring everyone’s favorite Lepi smuggler Jaxxon and the latter following IG-88 on his latest bounty target, a grand-engineer.

Rabbit Hunt

Jaxxon is up for new trouble in Cavan Scott’s latest Star Wars story. It’s no surprise that the Lepi is once again taking the spotlight in Star Wars Adventures’ latest comic book—being the main character for every year’s annual issue of the series since 2018. Scott was the one responsible for canonizing the character from Legends, and ever since then he has taken every opportunity to include Jaxxon into his Star Wars work—from Star Wars Adventures to Jedi Temple Challenge to even a special story for the recent anthology book From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back.

In Rabbit Hunt, Jaxxon is caught in between a web of enemies and allies—from Dengar trying to collect the bounty on the Lepi’s head to teaming up with Luke, Han, and Chewie to steal a cache of Imperial transit chips from his ex-girlfriend, Amaiza Foxtrain.

Artist Francesco Gaston nails it at capturing the dynamics of the story—panel by panel gracefully laying out the action on each side of the conflict, which often got messy though a wild exchange of blaster fire. Worthy of mention are the full-page aerial panels—showcasing a Where’s Waldo-style (or in this case, Where’s Jaxxon) illustrations depicting Jaxxon’s ultimate trick. Charlie Kirchoff’s striking colors help the story pop out of each panel while providing a nice contrast between Jaxxon’s bright green/red/white/yellow combination and the slightly muted ones of the other characters and environments.

Rabbit Hunt is a delightfully spicy story that will make the readers fall in love with Jaxxon (and his numerous family) again and again.

A Rebel Bounty

It is an understatement to say that Nick Brokenshire is one of the most talented comic artists in the galaxy far, far away. First of all, his ability to write, draw, and color his stories is something of a rarity in the industry. Brokenshire understands Star Wars to its core, and A Rebel Bounty is the proof of it. The very first panel is a pure homage to the Western genre—from its sandy color palette to dressing IG-88 with a rugged poncho—immediately resembling the same efforts the creative team behind The Mandalorian is trying to reproduce from the original trilogy.

Besides the iconic cameos of IG-88, Dengar, and even Kallus, a.k.a. Fulcrum from Rebels used as devices to connect to the more mainstream part of the Star Wars universe—Brokenshire takes it a step further. The artist introduced a new mysterious character, the grand-engineer who has a very special understanding of technology—taking the story to the edge of what is considered Star Wars. This bold move is what makes A Rebel Bounty so special and gives the opportunity to explore new mysteries within our beloved galaxy far, far away.

From green space rabbits to mystical-technological beings, Star Wars Adventures Annual 2020 is the perfect way to escape into a galaxy far, far away. What are you waiting for?! Support your local comic book store and grab your copy today and don’t forget to share your thoughts below or on social media.