Star Wars #30 Review

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Luke Attempts to End a War and Learns a Lesson of Power in Star Wars #30.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Star Wars #30.

Star Wars #30

 Writer: Jason Aaron | Artist: Salvador Larroca | Colorist: Edgar Delgado | Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles | Cover: Stuart Immonen | Assistant Editor: Heather Antos | Editor: Jordan D. White

The Story So Far

While marooned in his X-Wing, thanks to sabotage by R2-D2, Luke resumed reading Obi-Wan Kenobi’s journal. In this story, Obi-wan relates the story of a Jedi Master that encountered a strange planet of warring children. In addition, these children fought over a force sensitive mountain which was a dormant sentient race. The Jedi Master found a young mentor in the heart of the mountain. After learning the secrets of “stonepower,” he then awoke the mountain, but faced an inevitable battle between the children upon his return. The Jedi Master was unnamed and unknown to Luke, but the reader knows it was Yoda. After piecing clues together, Luke determines the identity of this planet and rushes there in the hopes of completing his Jedi training. However, Garro, Yoda’s former child-mentor, confronts him on the planet Vagadarr. Their conflict commences Star Wars #30.

Garro’s Intentions

The story splits into two intertwining parts. The first part is Luke’s confrontation with Garro. Interspersed with this conflict is Yoda’s conflict with the children of Vagadarr. It is hard to understand one story without the other. That said, Garro harbors a resentment towards Yoda. With Luke’s arrival, he believes he can achieve some sort of revenge. The sentient mountain beings, or rock beings, are nearly gone. All that is left are smaller boulder-sized beings – mere miniatures of the former inhabitants of Vagadarr. Garro claims he will kill them all.

Yoda’s Victory

The story shifts back in time to Yoda’s struggle with the rock beings of Vagadarr. Much to the Rockhawkers’ (one of the tribes of children) surprise, Yoda successfully holds back one of the mountain beings with the Force. With the aid of the Mudwhackers and the Force, Yoda dispels the Rockhawkers’ control of the mountain. Furthermore, he summons other mountain beings from inside Vagadarr’s surface from their slumber.

Luke and Yoda Impart Similar Lessons

Yoda and Luke’s stories then converge. Garro has a crazy desire to destroy the children of the rock beings. Those children and Garro are all that remain on Vagadarr. Once the mountains re-emerged, the people of Vagadarr departed and explored new worlds. In their absence, the Vagadarrians lost their “stonepowers,” and the stone beings of Vagadarr and the planet itself began to die. Garro blames Yoda for this. In revenge against Yoda’s influence, Garro wants to finish the job and destroy the stone children.

Luke refuses. He states no one is dying that day. Similarly, Yoda confronts the warmongering Rockhawkers in his time. They desire his death, but he subdues them with the Force. It is a time to learn to live. The war on Vagadarr ended, but Garro the child was too cowardly to accept things. Garro didn’t know how to live in this new world. He walks away from Yoda and his people. Vagadarr is temporarily at peace as life wins over death.

Luke’s resistance reminds Garro of Yoda. First, Yoda protected the lives of everyone. He refused to kill, and Luke did the same. Second, Garro sees Luke as a frightened child. Furthermore, Luke reminds Garro of himself. Garro attributes Luke’s appearance to Yoda. He is half-right. Luke pursued an unknown Jedi Master on Vagadarr. In that sense, Yoda did bring Luke to Vagadarr. However, Yoda himself didn’t summon Luke there. Regardless, Garro finally learns Yoda’s lessons about living, and he sacrifices himself to restore life to the mountain beings of Vagadarr. He ended the war after all, just not in the way he intended.

Yoda’s Lesson Received

Despite his rash behavior in rushing off to Vagadarr in the first place, Luke learned Yoda’s lesson. For a Jedi to gain power, he must humble himself first. Luke demonstrated humility. Garro saw his fear, and it reminded him of himself. Instead of insisting on taking the battle to Garro, Luke protected the rock beings of Vagadarr. Even though Garro insisted on death, Luke countered with life. Nobody was going to die that day. The page with Luke’s denial of Garro’s declaration of death neatly juxtaposed itself with Yoda’s insistence that no one else dies when he confronted the Rockhawkers. Everyone must learn to live.

Although this story was clunky at times, this payoff was craftily done. The remaining issue is whether Luke truly learned this lesson. Evidence suggest he didn’t. In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke crash lands on Dagobah and laments his fortune. He disrespects Yoda by calling Dagobah a “slimy mudhole.” Yet, it wasn’t so long ago that he had read of Yoda’s adventure to Vagadarr. Even if he didn’t know that Yoda was the hero of that tale, he might have learned of Yoda’s patience and respect for other cultures. Then again, he was still an eager young man, just out of his teenage years, and he yearned for Jedi training. Perhaps the lesson fled from his mind knowing he was in near proximity to a Jedi Master capable of completing his training.

Yoda’s Awareness

For the first time in this series, Star Wars #30 reveals Yoda in the “present day.” As Luke accepts his role as defender of the rock beings, Yoda seemingly senses Luke’s development. He then comments that Luke will soon “be ready as he will ever be,” and that Luke would then seek him out. In the meantime, Yoda waits. However, Yoda denied Luke’s readiness to Obi-Wan when Luke arrived on Dagobah. So, what changed his mind? The Screaming Citadel event is next in Star Wars comics. Does Luke take a course of action Yoda disapproves of? Or, perhaps, when confronted with Luke on his doorstep, Yoda remembers Anakin’s failure and Yoda gets cold feet. The development of this decision should be most interesting.

Conclusion

Star Wars #30 seemingly concludes the “Yoda’s Secret War” story arc. This is a difficult story arc to evaluate. Aaron created several layers of story in this arc. The story begins with Threepio’s captivity and shifts to Luke’s pursuit of Artoo. Once stranded, Luke turns to the journal and starts reading a story told by Obi-Wan about Yoda. That story quickly leads to another story. Half way through the story, Obi-Wan’s own encounters with Garro intrude. Finally, Luke enters the action. These plots build some mystery. The individual issues read weeks apart make the story a little disjointed. This story is better read one issue right after the other.

Interestingly, Garro remarks that Luke was a frightened child. When Yoda first encountered Anakin Skywalker, Luke’s father, he remarked the fear he sensed in him. Of course, Yoda feared that this fear would lead Anakin to the dark side, and eventually it did. Perhaps Yoda later senses this fear in Luke, and that creates an apprehension to train him. Yoda doesn’t want to repeat a past mistake.

An unresolved plot line remains. What happened to C-3PO and R2-D2? Their story is likely coming. However, the next story arc is the cross-over event The Screaming Citadel. Therefore, it is unlikely to be resolved then. It is debatable whether Luke would have abandoned Artoo and Threepio to pursue the mystery of the Jedi Master on Vagadarr. He is loyal, so it seems out of character. On the other hand, he acts rashly, and he desperately wants to complete his training. So, his actions are feasible.

Favorite Panel of Star Wars #30

The favorite panel for Star Wars #30 came down to two. As usual, Salvador Larroca’s art shines, so it is not an easy choice. The first candidate features Luke. He finally had enough of Garro. Therefore, he takes a stand and protects the rock beings. He stands in the defensive with his lightsaber lit. The other contender features Yoda on Dagobah after he sensed Luke’s development. “Yoda’s Secret War” featured many great panels of Yoda using the Force. However, this is his first prequel appearance in the comics. Yoda has been the winner of a few previous favorite panel selections lately, and therefore, Luke wins out for the favorite panel of Star Wars #30.