Star Wars (2020) #26 - Comic Review

After defeating Commander Zahra and her Imperials, the Rebel Alliance finds themselves on the upswing. They’re pumped up, full of hope, and have the desire to do good. Star Wars (2020) #26 sees the Alliance, full of plenty of familiar faces, attacking the Core World of Bar’leth on Imperial Unity Day to make a statement: the Rebels are here to stay, no matter what the Empire throws at them. As the higher ups of the Rebel Alliance plan their long game, the issue finds itself turning to a secret Imperial project that has come under the scrutiny of the Imperial Security Bureau. Emperor Palpatine himself has tasked ISB agent Sharin to investigate the secret project and its work facility to make sure everything is on the up and up, and we get to see just how intense the Empire is with their security procedures and just how hard it is to get past them.

Star Wars (2020) #26 starts out much lighter than I would have expected. Writer Charles Soule shows us a side to the Rebellion that we often don’t see: one of happiness. They’re fresh off victory and can see their goals clearly. He shows them celebrating, cheering, and even gives the readers a version of Luke Skywalker who is willing to swing around his lightsaber to show his crew a beacon of light. Soule also does a fantastic job crafting the meat of the story that takes place within the Empire. Without spoiling things, we really get to see just what people go through in the Empire and what they’re forced to endure in their daily life on a secret space station. It’s the flipside to the coin that finds the rarely seen happy Rebels to the also rarely seen day to day excursions of Imperials.

The art for Star Wars (2020) #26 is equally fantastic with the trio of artist Andrés Genolet, colorist Rachelle Rosenberg, and letterer VC’s Clayton Cowles taking up the helm this time. Genolet’s art is some of the best of the series so far with incredible expressions and body language, especially later in the issue with the couple of Imperials we follow. There’s a page with a deep discussion near the end that I found myself going back to a few times while reading and writing this review. Rosenberg once again proves to be an absolute powerhouse with her colors, giving stunning portrayals of light and brightness throughout the happier Rebel scenes and darker colors during the Imperial segments. The way she colors Lando and his outfit is definitely one of my favorite portrayals of Lando thus far.

The main cover art for Star Wars (2020) #26 comes from a new favorite cover artist of mine E.M. Gist—featuring an epic look of Luke and Leia, both battle ready with weapons drawn that honestly looks like a Legends novel cover. The depictions of both characters are spot on to their live action counterparts, and the colors are, as usual from Gist, breathtaking. The first variant cover comes from John Tyler Christopher and is the Action Figure variant of Obi-Wan Kenobi as a Padawan from The Phantom Menace. The second variant cover is the Choose Your Destiny variant from Chris Sprouse, Karl Story, and Neeraj Menon which features an awesome rendition of the fan favorite Jedi of the Prequel Era Plo Koon and his lightsaber hilt!

With the Rebels feeling great coming off a recent victory against the Empire, Star Wars (2020) #26 finds itself in a lesser seen story of happiness and excitement. That’s not all, though, as we also get to take a walk through the halls of a secret Imperial project which is the exact opposite of hopeful vibes. Fire up your speeder bikes and zoom on down to your local comic shop to pick up a copy of this issue today!