A.J.'s Reviews > Star Wars: Princess Leia

“Whatever happens Leia...you must keep Alderaan alive.”

Set directly after the Battle of Yavin, Princess Leia sees the titular character go on a mission to save every last surviving son and daughter of Alderaan after it got blown up in A New Hope. She brings along Evaan, a rebel pilot from Alderaan who seems to have a problem with the princess for some reason. Their mission seems like it may go smoothly until it turns out the Empire is searching for the last survivors of Alderaan too.

Mark Waid scripts all 5 issues while Terry and Rachel Dodson take care of the pencils and inks, respectively, and it’s always nice seeing Jordie Bellaire’s colors in a Star Wars book. The team of artists do an impeccable job throughout every single issue of this series. The Dodson’s splash pages are breathtaking throughout this, and each page always feels like it’s being constructed with a unique panel layout. The main problem for me was Mark Waid’s writing, which sucks since I usually like Waid a good deal.

I think his writing mostly fell flat here because even though I love Leia, everything about this book is regarding Alderaan, and like who cares? I mean I know some do, but I sure as fuck don’t care about anything regarding Alderaan. I get why Waid went this route for the story and everything, but you can’t expect me to just care about Alderaan and this book does nothing to make you. Alderaan’s only purpose in the original Star Wars was to get blown up, and that’s because George Lucas needed a planet to get blown up by the Death Star. That’s it. I get trying to add personality and background to a place and its people, but this planet’s only purpose in this universe is to be the place where Leia hides from Vader growing up before it gets blown up. That’s it. I even rolled my eyes every time it popped up in Kenobi, like I really don’t care about this place.

I would’ve preferred this being set in between the Original Trilogy and Sequel Trilogy, with Leia flashing back to this mission or even another one later down the line, and how what she learned during it connects to her current Jedi training. Or just anything interesting because the flashbacks we got just weren’t. I get Disney has a tight leash on what these creators can do, but this was weak. Leia can also come across as a bit desperate and clueless here, which are two words I would have never used to describe her before reading this. I did LOVE the scene of Leia on Naboo seeing a stained glass of Padme, it was a great emotional moment that ties this franchise together.

Unless you are a massive Princess Leia or Terry Dodson fan, I would recommend skipping this. Even if the art is incredible, the story is serviceable at best and Waid just wasn’t the right pick for this story. He doesn’t have the best voice for Leia and this was pretty creatively bankrupt, even for a Star Wars comic. This is a pretty nothing story with some pretty art.