Star Wars Resistance Rey # 1 Review

Since the summer Marvel has released single issue Star Wars comics under the Resistance maxiseries label. All of these issues are themed around a character from the sequel trilogy. The series gives us a little bit of insight into the characters in the run up to Rise of Skywalker. We have had Finn, Poe and somewhat controversially Snoke. Now Rey will have her issue. Rey is of course played by Daisy Ridley in the movies. Despite being the most important character of the sequel trilogy she has not appeared in many of the tie-in novels and comics. Until now with Resistance Rey # 1

Alone

The official title for Rey issue 1 is “Alone”. The story is written by Tom Taylor and starts with her lonely youth on Jakku. It then jumps to the resistance base on D’Qar to the moment just after the destruction of the Starkiller. Chewbacca and General Solo share a tender moment as they deal with the death of Han. As Chewie and Rey decide to leave to search for Luke Leia asks her of Han’s final moments.

Rey tells her what she saw, Han standing on the walkway deep inside the Starkiller confronting Kylo Ren. Rey suggests Han should have fled instead of confronting his son. Leia tells Rey he might have fled, but would never flee to far before confronting his fear.

As Rey and Chewbacca take the Millennium Falcon to Ahch-To they run into difficulties. The Falcon’s hyperdrives fails and they are forced to land on a planet known only as The Necropolis. There the arachnid caretaker of the huge junkyard demands Rey set out alone to find the spare parts she needs. Without going into too much ‘Star Wars memes’ it becomes clear: “It’s a trap!”. Rey is confronted by a huge monster and flees using a ship similar to Boba Fett’s Slave 1.

Afterwards she confronts the caretaker. She accuses it of creating a force field around the planet that causes hyperdrives to fail. After being shipwrecked the crew are lured away one by one. Most are killed and the remainder imprisoned. The caretaker does not deny the charge and instead decides to fight Rey. After standing her ground with her lightsaber Rey appears poised to charge her would be attacker. Standing near ledge the reader is left wondering if Rey will strike the arachnid or force push it into the cavern.

Instead Rey uses her newly gained force persuasion power to order the caretaker to release her prisoners and make itself available to their mercy. Afterwards Rey and Chewbacca set off once again for Ahch-To.

Conclusion of Resistance Rey # 1

This comic around Rey is perhaps too short to ever become fully engrossing. From cover to cover it is 24 pages, and that includes 5 pages not relevant to the overall story. That said, Rey is an interesting look at the title character. After The Force Awakens we saw a young woman quickly maturing as a result of the dangerous world around her. In The Last Jedi she takes a lot more direct action. This comic entitled ‘Alone’ shows that despite her lonely youth on Jakku she will care for others. Rey will even avoid fighting if a better solution avails itself – that makes her a Jedi akin to Qui-Gonn and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Despite the upbeat ending after the unfortunate memorial for Han I cannot say that this comic propels the character. We get a little bit more insight, but other than that it is mostly familiar Star Wars themes. Most die-hard fans of the franchise will readily recognize them and sigh. What I had hoped were some possible hints at what the character will undergo in the upcoming movie The Rise of Skywalker. I believe she is of Palpatine’s lineage. Either a female clone, daughter or granddaughter. But from this comic I could discern nothing about that or any other possibility. Perhaps that is a general criticism of the Disney franchise. The movies are the centerpiece with other media never propelling the story forward.

You can pick up Resistance Rey # 1 from Comixology for 3.59 euros.