REVIEW: Star Wars: Agent of the Empire #1 and #2

Star Wars: Agent of the Empire #1 and #2

Written by John Ostrander
Pencils by Stephane Roux
Inks by Julien Hugonnard-Bert
Colors by Wes Dzioba
Letters by Michael Heisler

22 pgs / Color / $3.50 US (ea)

Dark Horse Comics

Like Ron, Conor and Josh (and, frankly, most of the iFanboy staff), I grew up a huge Star Wars fan. I watched the original trilogy countless times, owned the action figures, had the bedsheets, played the roleplaying game. Despite this fervent love for all things Star Wars, I never really dug the comics. With the exception of the acclaimed Dark Empire series and silly one-shots like the Tag and Bink books, the comics couldn’t capture the same feeling as the original movies. There’s a hell of a lot of Star Wars comics out there, but they feel to me like all substance but no soul.

The reason for the long preamble is basically this; I picked up Star Wars: Agent of Empire without high expectations, and it surprised the hell out of me. The first two issues establish a unique corner in the Star Wars expanded universe, and set up a series that works with some of the most enjoyable tropes of the franchise – along with liberally borrowing from another cinema stalwart.

If you’d like an incredibly broad pitch for Agent of the Empire, it’s Star Wars meets James Bond. We join the series’ protagonist, Imperial agent Jahan Cross, mid-mission at the opening of the first issue, tussling with a Imperial Colonel with sticky fingers. The high-action in medias res intro is just one of the many bits cribbed from Ian Fleming’s Bond.

The similarities continue with a dressing-down from Imperial intelligence head Armand Isard (M) for excessive force, details on Cross’ next mission (with a request to “keep the body count to a minimum”) and a visit with Royd Pew (Q) for some gadgets. Ostrander, who has written a good deal of Dark Horse’s other Star Wars titles, writes about the universe with an easy confidence. His approach avoids too much expository dialogue, simply pushing the plot speedily forward without stopping to explain every bit of minutia. I’m not reaally familiar with the Corporate Sector or the commerce guild, but I’m glad the author didn’t feel the need to labor over an explanation. There’s more than enough context to figure out why Jahan is tracking a project called “Iron Eclipse.”

After a well done cameo from everyone’s famous scruffy-lookin’ nerf herder, #2 kicks off with the “gather information and woo lovely ladies before some kind of mishap” leg of the Bond structure. Etti IV’s Imperial Embassy is packed with the upper crust, and we’re slickly introduced to all the players in the upcoming drama. Special credit should go to Roux and Hugonnard-Bert for making the first two-thirds of the book so visually interesting, as it’s little more than a handful of talking heads and conversations. We get enough from supporting cast IN-GA, Elli Stark, Dah’lis and Ambassador Vorlin to set up the next three issues, before Roux and Ostrander stretch their action muscles with a scene that seems to draw inspiration from D-Day in Animal House.

There’s a delicate line to be walked here. Agent of the Empire needs to succeed as an homage to James Bond and other modern spy tales without feeling like a ripoff. The book is largely successful – though the source material is easy to figure out, I found myself having more fun enjoying the silliness and secret agent action than finding it uninspired. Despite all the spy business, the book is still Star Wars first and foremost, and the sense of adventure (and that “soul” I mentioned) shine through. As Ostrander told USA Today, “… [T]here’s a lot of overlap in the Bond and Star Wars franchises: charismatic lead character, beautiful women, exotic locales, large-scale villains, intense action, chases, technology and gadgets. It’s like peanut-butter cups: two great tastes that go great together.”

The biggest weakness of the book is the feeling of predictability coming from the characters that play to James Bond types. The gadget guy acts like Desmond Llewelyn, the hard-ass chief acts like M, Dah’lis acts like the love interest that won’t make it to the end of the story. Keeping these characters in their established roles won’t make for a bad read, but hopefully Ostrander takes the chance to surprise readers by playing a few characters against expectations.

Agent of the Empire is set just a few years before A New Hope, which gives us a galaxy instantly familiar to any fan. It’s a familiarity further enhanced by Stephane Roux’s pencils. Roux’s art in the first two issues perfectly captures everything about the Star Wars universe: not just the Imperial characters, but the technology, the alien races, and the otherworldly settings. The slightly cartoony style (strengthened by Julien Hugonnard-Bert’s inks) works particularly well for Ostrander’s frequent action sequences. The characters are always moving, and the slight exaggerations work for both a wild speeder chase and subtler physical comedy. Like Georges Jeanty’s work on Buffy, Roux’s characters are familiar enough to be recognizable from the movies but different enough to escape the photo referencing that plagues many licensed books.

Praise also goes to Wes Dzioba, whose colors make every page of these books pop. We complain plenty about the dark palate of many modern comics, but Dzioba comes from the JJ Abrams school of a galaxy so bright we need sunglasses. The second issue in particular, dominated by dialogue-heavy scenes at an Imperial Embassy, really shines.

It’s easy to recommend Agent of the Empire to anyone with even a passing interest in the Star Wars universe. A secret agent cavorting around a galaxy far, far away is a great new spin on both spy and Star Wars tales, and the creative team on this book gives me confidence we’re in for more Empire Strikes Back and Casino Royale  than Phantom Menace and Moonraker.

Story: 4  / Art: 4 / Overall: 4

(Out of 5 Stars)

Star Wars: Agent of the Empire #1 was released on December 14th. #2 is out this week.


Comments

  1. maybe i’ll check this out in trade, I really enjoyed Stephane Rouz on Zatanna, gotta give this a chance

  2. I had no idea John Ostrander was writing this book. I’ve been missing Star Wars since his Legacy series ended. I might have to check this out now

  3. Kinda bummed I missed out on the first issue. I wonder if my shop still has it? Sounds like a lot of fun though, and Roux was awesome on Zatanna.

  4. The Dark Horse site has a promo for it but the title doesn’t seem to be available digitally yet.