Star Wars #15 Review

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What is Owen’s issue with Obi-Wan? This issue tackles that.

Warning: this article contains spoilers for Star Wars #15.

 

Star Wars #15

Writer: Jason Aaron | Artist and Cover Art: Mike Mayhew | Letterer: VC’s Chris Eliopoulos

With the Vader Down crossover event over, issue 15 of Star Wars returns to Obi-Wan Kenobi’s journal to tell another tale of the old hermit as he watches over Luke Skywalker. The issue opens with Kenobi setting the scene: it has been a year since the drought that ravaged Tatooine in the last issue that featured Obi-Wan. Luke is slightly older, and he is racing his Skyhopper through Beggar’s Canyon. Obi-Wan, ever protective of the boy, watches and urges Luke to feel and use the Force. Unfortunately, Luke makes a bad maneuver and damages the Skyhopper. Uncle Owen Lars is, of course, furious and grounds Luke “for life.” Luke protests that he can fix the speeder if he were just allowed to race. By racing, he believes he could win and afford the needed parts. Owen will have none of it.

Kenobi, who is clearly fond of Luke, decides to covertly intervene. He knows he shouldn’t interfere, but he justifies his decision to do so because he believes Luke will need to develop piloting skills if he is to someday look after himself and fulfill his destiny. He puts his plan into action by seeking out the one source of spare parts he can afford to break his seclusion for: the Jawas. Recent victims of raids by the Tuskens, the Jawas agree to trade Skyhopper parts for Kenobi’s intercession with the Raiders. After a long night of fighting off the Tuskens, the Jawas deliver parts to Luke at a nearby market when he and Owen go droid shopping. Luke mistakes the parts as a gift from Owen.

However, Owen is not fooled. He knew exactly where the parts come from. Owen resents Obi-Wan’s interference with Luke and the Lars family and returns the parts to Kenobi at his hut. Owen demands that Obi-Wan cease interfering. He knows that Kenobi has kept the Tuskens from raiding the Lars homestead. He knows that Kenobi has prevented Jabba’s goons from shaking them down. And, now he knows that Kenobi had a hand in the Jawas delivering free parts. Owen makes it clear that when Kenobi delivered Luke to him and Beru, it was so that they would protect him, and Owen further makes it clear that protection extends to protecting Luke from Obi-Wan. Despite the admonishment, Obi-Wan is resolved to keep Luke safe.

The issue concludes at Jabba’s palace. The Hutt is determined to discover the identity of the one responsible for defeating his thugs when they came after the Lars homestead. After a brief demonstration, Jabba hires someone for the task, and it is someone that readers have met in the pages of Marvel’s various Star Wars comics before.

These standalone issues of Obi-Wan’s exploits are really quite good. For the most part, they can be read as individual stories of Obi-Wan’s adventures, but they do combine to tell a larger story. One thing they all have in common is the theme of Obi-Wan’s solitude. Living the life of a hermit is not an easy thing. Obi-Wan has a mission to protect and watch over Luke, and doing so inconspicuously is a challenge for him. It is clear that his affection for Luke continues to grow as he watches over him. At the time of this issue, he has also learned to make the best of his situation. He doesn’t enjoy eating snake stew every day, but he chalks it up as part of his responsibility.

It is also obvious that Obi-Wan is lonely. When Owen arrives at his door, he is furious with Obi-Wan for interfering. Despite this, Obi-Wan happily invites him in for dinner. Granted, part of his motivation may have been to disarm Owen’s fury, but the expression on Obi-Wan’s face is one of joy, and possibly relief. For a man that was accustomed to living among his fellow Jedi or soldiers his entire life, an existence of solitude cannot be easy.

Owen’s reaction to Obi-Wan’s actions speaks volumes. First, Owen’s devotion to Anakin is rather surprising. Owen only ever knew Anakin from the one visit Anakin made to Tatooine to rescue his mother. Their time together was brief, and it was interrupted by Obi-Wan’s transmission from Geonosis. Anakin left without even saying goodbye, and it doesn’t appear that Anakin returned to Tatooine before he became Darth Vader. So, when Owen accuses Obi-Wan of being responsible for Anakin’s death, is he really angry about Anakin, or was he taking out his grief over Shmi on Obi-Wan? Shmi was Owen’s stepmother, and Owen had far more of an attachment to her than Anakin. Once Shmi died, and later after Clieg Lars died, Anakin would have been the only connection Owen had to his parents. Obi-Wan showed up and delivered the bad news, and likely became forever associated with Anakin and Shmi’s deaths in Owen’s mind.

Second, Owen seems to either not understand what happened to Anakin or misplace the blame for Anakin’s fate with Obi-Wan. Owen credits Obi-Wan with Anakin’s because he believed that Anakin followed him into danger that got him killed. This is, of course, inaccurate. If anyone lead Anakin away, it was Qui-Gon Jinn when Anakin was but a child. In addition, Anakin was more responsible for his fate than anyone. Anakin’s life was a tragedy. His desire to protect the one he loved was also his greatest flaw. It lead him down a dark path and to his own destruction. Of course, Owen can’t possibly know this, and even if he did, he wasn’t likely to understand.

Third, Owen is very protective of Luke. This is understandable. Owen and Beru are Luke’s guardians, and they are the only “parents” Luke has ever known. Obi-Wan left Luke in their custody to raise and protect him. Owen takes that job very seriously. It is also easy to see how he might take Obi-Wan’s presence not only as a threat to Luke’s safety, but to Owen’s role in Luke’s life. Obi-Wan is a Jedi. He was a hero of the Clone Wars. An impressionable child might find him to be heroic and an idol. Owen might naturally feel a little insecure with someone like Obi-Wan around.

Star Wars  15 had great action scenes, character development, and back story. It was good to see Obi-Wan in action against the Tuskens. With all the focus on The Force Awakens as of late, it was good to get back to a classic location with classic aliens such as the Jawas. Whenever the next installment of Obi-Wan’s journal comes, it will have been set up quite well by this issue.

Favorite Panel:

Mike Mayhew makes his debut for Marvel’s Star Wars comics with this issue. Overall, his work was quite good. Although the portrayals of Luke were a little uneven (sometimes he looked like a young Mark Hamil, and sometimes he didn’t), Obi-Wan looked like what you would expect for this time in his life. Mayhew’s combat sequences were also enjoyable. When portraying combat, Mayhew would employ entire pages that portrayed multiple combat moves without breaking up the action in panels. It was a creative change for this series that worked. Obi-Wan’s fight against the Tuskens was one of my favorite parts, and I have chosen part of one of these pages as my favorite “panel.”