Poe Dameron #30 Review

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Poe follows the adventures of Black Squadron on their mission to recruit allies in Poe Dameron #30.

This article contains plot details for Poe Dameron #30.

Poe Dameron #30

 Writer: Charles Soule | Artist: Angel Unzueta | Colorist: Arif Prianto | Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna | Cover Artist: Phil Noto | Assistant Editor: Tom Groneman | Editor: Mark Panicciai

The Poe Dameron series is nearing its conclusion, but the series isn’t coasting to an end. In the penultimate issue, Poe catches up on the adventures of Black Squadron while the Millennium Falcon carries the remainder of the Resistance forces to safety. Poe Dameron #30 provides Black Squadron a new opportunity to recruit support, but in traditional Star Wars fashion, the odds are stacked against them.

Diplomacy with a Starfighter

In Poe Dameron #29, Black Squadron had their first crack at diplomacy. Their mission took them to Pastoria. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. Poe learned from Jess Pava’s mission report that the Pastorian leader abused their trust and had no intentions to aid the Resistance from the beginning. Jess delivered the bad news via a holotransmission that Threepio retrieved and BB-8 played. The squad’s inexperience in diplomacy got the best of them.

Now, Black Squadron gets another chance. Poe Dameron #30 starts with their approach to Ikkrukk. However, the planet is under assault by the First Order. The citizens of Ikkrukk have huddled under their defense shield, but the rest of their defense network is down. This presents Black Squadron with another chance for a diplomatic win. The odds aren’t in their favor, but this is what they do best.

The decision to help doesn’t come without some debate. After the debacle on Pastoria, they are a little gun shy. The squad discusses whether they should stick to the mission. After all, aiding the Pastorians backfired. Snap Wexley, acting as Black Leader, reminds them this is what Black Squadron does. The Resistance was designed to fight back against the First Order. The discussion ends and the squad gets into attack formation.

The Reach of the First Order

Poe Dameron #30 subtly portrays the reach of the First Order. News must spread quickly. At this time, the seat of the Republic, Hosnian Prime, is gone. It is still fairly recent news. This mission occurs in the weeks that follow the events of The Force Awakens. Plus, most of the Resistance was wiped out, or was getting wiped out, on Crait. Despite the destruction of Starkiller Base, the threat of the First Order has spread like wildfire. Some citizens on Ikkrukk sympathized with the First Order and sabotaged the defense network. Otherwise, the First Order’s cruiser likely would have perished in orbit.

Ikkrukk has no choice but to hide under their shield. The First Order sympathizers killed all the engineers capable of restoring the defenses. However, Jess has the skills to fix it. So, she proposes bringing the shield down long enough to get in and fix the situation. The Ikkrukk reluctantly bring down a portion of the shield to let Jess and Suralinda through. They just make it, but Jess loses her X-Wing in the process. Meanwhile, Snap and Karé fight off the First Order TIE fighters.

Concluding Thoughts on Poe Dameron #30

Poe Dameron #30 is a compelling story. Unlike previous issues in this series, the fate of nearly every character in the story is at stake. Snap, Karé, and Jess didn’t appear in The Last Jedi. So far, those characters aren’t slated to appear in Episode IX either. Aside from Poe, Threepio, and BB-8, any of the characters in this issue might have perished.

The art, as is usual for this series, is superb. Angel Unzueta does a wonderful job capturing the likeness of characters such as Poe, Snap, and Jess. He preserves the comic aspect of the book, but the characters are clearly recognizable. Arif Prianto contributes a wonderful color palette. Phil Noto, the original artist for this series, provides the cover. His work is always excellent, and the cover for Poe Dameron #30 is no exception. It is reminiscent of the Resistance attack on the First Order forces at Takodana in The First Order.

The fact that there was a second transmission received was a nice story twist. Poe immediately relaxed while viewing Jess’s first transmission. He knew it wouldn’t end with an explosion killing all of them. He wasn’t expecting the bad news to come in the next transmission though. Black Squadron’s mission concluded with Jess and Suralinda on Ikkrukk and about to restore the shield. Therefore, Poe, and perhaps the reader, were expecting a “mission accomplished” transmission. That isn’t what Poe got though. The next message begins with Jess stating that everything went terribly wrong. To make matters worse, the final panels portray Jess with injuries and Suralinda lying on the ground next to here. It also appears that Suralinda was shot in the chest and is possibly dead. This might be the biggest cliffhanger of the series to date.