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Star Wars: Princess Leia

(Star Wars: Princess Leia #1-5)

Mark Waid,

Terry Dodson (Illustrator),

Rachel Dodson (Inker, Cover Art),

Jordie Bellaire (Colourist),

Joe Caramagna (Letterer)

3.66 · Rating details · 6,431 ratings · 673 reviews

When Princess Leia Organa was captured by the Empire, she never betrayed her convictions - even after the complete destruction of her home world, Alderaan. When her rescue came, Leia grabbed a blaster and joined the fight, escaping back to the Rebel Alliance and helping strike the biggest blow against the Empire - the destruction of the Death Star! But in the aftermath of ...more

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Paperback, 120 pages

Published November 3rd 2015 by Marvel (first published March 4th 2015)

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Dec 29, 2015 Kemper rated it liked it

Shelves: 2015, comics, tv-movies, star-wars

Since this is the third Star Wars comic collection I’ve reviewed this month you might be wondering why I’ve been binge reading these. Most of you probably missed this because there was hardly any marketing done for it, but there was a little indy movie called The Force Awakens that got made by some tiny studio. I think it’s only playing at art house theaters, but I managed to catch a showing. It got me craving more stories about the Star Wars universe and for some reason Marvel released a new l Since this is the third Star Wars comic collection I’ve reviewed this month you might be wondering why I’ve been binge reading these. Most of you probably missed this because there was hardly any marketing done for it, but there was a little indy movie called The Force Awakens that got made by some tiny studio. I think it’s only playing at art house theaters, but I managed to catch a showing. It got me craving more stories about the Star Wars universe and for some reason Marvel released a new line of comics so that was fortunate timing.

I think maybe Marvel has some kind of association with the same fly-by-night studio that made the movie? Anyhow, that’s why I’ve been reading all these. And if you get a chance to catch the movie I highly recommend it, but you better hurry because I hear it’s tanking at the box office and probably won’t be in theaters long.*

What we’ve got here is Princess Leia going on her own solo adventure shortly after the events of A New Hope, but before the events of the main Star Wars comic. Leia is reeling a bit because her old home planet of Alderaan got blown to smithereens by the Empire, and it was kinda sorta her fault. So she takes it on herself to go gather up the remaining Alderaanians (Alderaans? Alderaanicans? Figure it out for yourself, nerd!) and find them a new home to protect them from Imperial vengeance.

I had pretty high hopes for this since it was written by Mark Waid, and I’ve loved what he did on Daredevil, but this fell short of my expectations. The artwork is pretty good, and he adds some nice layers to Leia by exploring the responsibility she feels to her people as the last surviving member of their royal family which is an angle the movies never had time for.

However, it suffers from some of the problems inherent to any tie-in novel or comics like the other spin-off about Darth Vader that depends on introducing new story and characters. I’m just not all that interested in those new elements and people I've never seen in the movies because I know they really don't matter. When Leia appoints a new character, Evaan, as her right hand woman to help her out with this mission I can’t get too invested in her because I know she wasn’t in Empire Strikes Back so she’s not that important in the long run or she’s dead meat walking.

The main Star Wars comic title worked very well because it was all about Luke, Leia, Han, Vader, Chewbacca, etc., etc. When you do an off-shoot story that depends on just one of them than it’s almost always disappointing because you can’t help but wish the gang would get back together.

So it’s a good tie-in title that has some interesting things, but it didn’t blow my hair up into cinnamon buns over my ears.

* The first two paragraphs of this review contain irony in which I knowingly wrote false statements in order to get some laughs based on the success of the new Star Wars movie. Sadly, my Goodreads history has taught me that I must make disclaimers like this for people who read everything literally with no sense of humor and then tell me what an idiot I am in the comments. The joke is on you, nerf herder! ...more

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Jul 04, 2015 Sam Quixote rated it it was ok

Princess Leia is the third release from Marvel’s new 2015 Star Wars line - and it’s also the worst so far!

Like the other two books, this series is set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Leia’s home planet Alderaan has been blowed up by the Death Star so she decides to fly off with Artoo and a female Alderaanian pilot called Evaan, and collect as many surviving Alderaanians from the rest of the galaxy to… uh... and then the books ends after five issues!

I think Mark Waid’s forgotten Princess Leia is the third release from Marvel’s new 2015 Star Wars line - and it’s also the worst so far!

Like the other two books, this series is set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Leia’s home planet Alderaan has been blowed up by the Death Star so she decides to fly off with Artoo and a female Alderaanian pilot called Evaan, and collect as many surviving Alderaanians from the rest of the galaxy to… uh... and then the books ends after five issues!

I think Mark Waid’s forgotten how to write interesting comics. They’re always competently written but by god are they tedious to read! My biggest problem with this limited series was how completely boring it was! Leia’s quest is vague - just go, somewhere, and find some people - and lacked a villain - the Empire are just hovering in the background as always. There’s no drive to the story which isn’t that great a premise to start with anyway, and no tension. Waid finds second gear early on and never leaves it for the remainder of the book.

Waid doesn’t do much with Leia. She’s the same character at the end as she was at the start and the same character that she was from the movies. For all the focus, Leia is as Leia does and the extra space doesn’t expand her character from strong-willed female protagonist to anything more.

If you thought Waid would look deeper into her character to maybe show her grief over losing her homeworld, you’d be wrong - a handful of panels are devoted to some semblance of emotion over her people’s genocide before it’s brushed aside again.

The book ends so abruptly too - I guess she saved enough Alderaanians? Or maybe that was all there was of them, in two locations? Eh, whatever!

Terry and Rachel Dodson’s art was pretty good - very warm, flowing lines in contrast to the sharpness of Salvador Larocca’s in Darth Vader and John Cassaday’s in Star Wars. I did have a problem with issue #3 where Leia and co. are halted by a group of armed guards who are shown to be at least 10-15 feet away from them but in the next panel Leia is stood right next to a guard and easily swipes his gun - no-one shoots at her either! Sloppy spatial distortion and bad plotting.

Speaking of bad plotting, in issue #5 on the surface of the desert planet Skaradosh, a spaceship rescues Leia and co. out of nowhere. One of the Empire’s goons says “No ship could have gotten by us undetected” - so why did it? Because plot convenience!

Oh yeah, and who isn’t a fan of the shitty prequels? Leia makes a pit stop at Naboo to remind us Natalie Portman was her mum (though Leia’s unaware of this). Any reminder of those movies is bad juju, at least for me, and didn’t make me like this book any better. At least we didn’t see that loathsome creature - you know the one. Even the sarlacc would spit him out!

Mark Waid’s Princess Leia is a character-driven story that doesn’t show us anything new about the character or tell a memorable tale. Boring, aimless and eminently skippable, Princess Leia shows us why Star Wars works best as an ensemble space opera. ...more

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Jul 06, 2015 Sesana rated it liked it

Shelves: comics, star-wars

This is the least of the first three Marvel Star Wars comics, which doesn't mean that it's bad. It starts with a plausible, reasonable plot to assign to a solo Leia book: Leia wants to gather together the remnants of Alderaan. Ok, that makes a certain kind of sense. And Waid seemed to have a decent handle on the character of Leia as of a A New Hope. But the problem is that it never quite goes beyond a decent plot and decent characterization. For one, the plot is way too big to be assigned to a s ...more

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Oct 26, 2015 Paul E. Morph rated it liked it

Shelves: comics-read-in-2015

I quite liked this one. I thought it started well, but lost its way a bit in the middle. Fortunately, Mark Waid seemed to steer it back on course for a strong finish.

I usually like Terry Dodson's artwork, and this was no exception, but he really seemed to struggle with capturing a likeness for Leia, which let it down a little bit.

Overall, I liked it but it could have been better.

(view spoiler) ...more

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Dec 09, 2015 Dimitris rated it really liked it

3.5 stars
What is the best thing to do when you hear that there is a Star Wars spy story with Princess Leia, has well written dialogues, sharp humor and political intrigue and it is written by Mark Waid? Well… to read it of course, duh!

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Mar 11, 2016 Chad rated it liked it

I expected more from this book given to the creative team. Waid's writing felt bland and felt like just a stock story. Terry Dodson is a fantastic artist but he's changed his art to give it more on an animation feel. It's not as detailed as his previous work and I didn't really care for it. It just felt sloppy when I can normally get lost in his pages. ...more

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Feb 13, 2017 Bhanuj rated it liked it

We are alderaan.
We answer rage with wisdom.
We answer fear with imagination.
We answer war with hope.

Alderaan is gone and what is a princess without a kingdom?
The story is a quest of Princess Leia, to keep Alderaan alive through its survivors. The story started off well and ended well but somewhere in the middle, it stretched out a bit. The artwork is great and the series is action packed but not something that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

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Nov 23, 2015 Kim rated it it was amazing

Shelves: comic-heaven

What girl doesn't want to be Princess Leia?!! I adored this comic. And if someone could send me all of The princess clothes that would be terrific. Look forward to the next comic. Princess Leia is so badass. ...more

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Nov 15, 2015 Scott Rhee rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, graphic-novel, star-wars, young-adult

I think I stopped buying and reading comic books at approximately the same time that I discovered that girls were willing to have sex with me.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying comic books were a symbol of my immaturity, that my coming of age required a putting away of childish things, and some of those “childish things” included comic books. That’s not it at all.

In actuality, I just didn’t have time to read them anymore, and I certainly didn’t have the money to buy them. All of my time and mon ...more

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Jul 15, 2016 Lance Shadow rated it did not like it

Shelves: comics, miniseries, star-wars, canon

This one's pretty bad. And I should have seen it coming. The reviews on this site were mixed. In a video where he talked about the new Star Wars Canon, Kristian Harloff said that this was the worst of the comics. And after reading the first issue of Mark Waid's Princess Leia comic that was included in the trade paperback for Shattered Empire, I was expecting even less. And yet... did it really have to be THIS bad?

THE STORY: Immediately after duping Chewbacca out of that medal during the awards c ...more

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Apr 06, 2017 Kaion rated it it was ok

Shelves: graphic, adventure

Mark Waid fundamentally doesn't understand Leia as the Slytherin princess-general of my heart. But hey, points for giving Leia a woman friend? And the art?

Let's not talk about the plot. ...more

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Nov 30, 2018 Maria Soares rated it liked it

I don't think this comic did much for me in terms of Princess Leia's story. It felt a bit like filler. The art is absolutely gorgeous though, which doesn't always happen with Star Wars comics. ...more

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Apr 04, 2016 Wendy rated it it was ok

Shelves: star-wars, comics-manga

Leia finds herself without a home or a role in the rebellion and the few of her people that remain don't think too highly of her ice queen persona. Why doesn't she grieve, they wonder? As if everyone must grieve in the same way. Leia imposes herself on an Alderaanian pilot named Evaan with whom she wants to be friends, though the woman keeps herself at a carefully caustic subservient distance. They take off to scour the galaxy for pockets of survivors to gather them together before the Emperor w Leia finds herself without a home or a role in the rebellion and the few of her people that remain don't think too highly of her ice queen persona. Why doesn't she grieve, they wonder? As if everyone must grieve in the same way. Leia imposes herself on an Alderaanian pilot named Evaan with whom she wants to be friends, though the woman keeps herself at a carefully caustic subservient distance. They take off to scour the galaxy for pockets of survivors to gather them together before the Emperor wipes them out completely.

The exploration of Leia's feelings and actions following the death of her planet has the potential to be a great read, but that's not really what we get here. In fact, I can't really say that this is a Leia story at all since the character often doesn't resemble Leia at all in her actions. She's brash and bold, and quick to drop pretenses and subterfuge -- which is good since every time she "disguises" herself, everyone immediately recognizes her. Probably because she wears bright white and has got that telltale hair thing going on. She impresses the wayward Alderaanians with her courage and willingness to sacrifice herself, but the storytelling just doesn't dig deep enough to make any of this convincing. This is a complaint I've had with a few graphic novels recently where perhaps too many assumptions have been made about the character and their survival to tell a convincing story. I suspect that some of the problem is the medium. The limited space in a comic doesn't give a lot of time for exposition and character introspection. Alternatively, perhaps if Leia's mission had focused on one or two groups rather than bouncing around to three, it would have allowed for greater detail and depth. I found myself comparing this to Martha Wells' Razor's Edge that dealt with a similar adventure but (a) the format allowed for more depth, and (b) the plot stayed put in one place, with one group of Alderaanians.

The art was Terry Dodson standard which is to say that it is good and I like it, but in my maturity, I've grown tired of "same face" syndrome. Occasionally Leia looks like Carrie Fisher, but mostly she just looks like every other character in the book and every other character Dodson has ever drawn.

www.bibliosanctum.com ...more

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Dec 12, 2015 Joe rated it it was ok

This is as good as you can do with a Princess Leia book Mark Weid? Here's what I wanted:

- Character growth
- Girl Power
- Fun adventure

Here's what I got:

- Slight variations on her two hairstyles from A New Hope.
- A quest that even she seems confused by.
- An ending that basically hits the reset button on the whole thing.

There's a reason that they only gave this book 5 issues. I will say this: The artwork was beautiful. So, yeah, maybe just look at the pretty pictures and don't read the words, I gue ...more

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Feb 11, 2016 Jessamyn Leigh rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-comics-graphic-novels, read-star-wars, read-2016

I need more Leia comics in my life.

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Apr 15, 2016 Katie rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned

"We answer rage with wisdom.
We answer fear with imagination.
We answer war with hope." ...more

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Dec 27, 2019 C rated it it was amazing

This one is amazing! I hope to get more books of Leia's journey before she joined the rebels. Also, I ship her and Evaan. They are too cute to be lovers. 😍👩‍❤️‍👩 ...more

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Jan 23, 2018 Ash rated it did not like it

Shelves: why-did-i-read-this, comics-graphic-novels

"We are Alderaan. We answer rage with wisdom. We answer fear with imagination. We answer war with hope. We are, each of us, important. Alderaan survives."
- Princess Leia

I'm in complete and total awe of this graphic novel. It's not a good thing. I enjoyed Mark Waid and I know he can write good or great graphic novels. However, I cannot forgive him for making a saga with PRINCESS LEIA boring. That's exactly what he did!

Star Wars: Princess Leia is only five issues long making this volume very scant ...more

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Oct 23, 2015 sassafrass rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, fab-heroines, comics, star-wars

I have no idea why this one is rated so low compared to the other comics that marvel has released? Actually there is a small hint, and its probably due to the fact its Princess Leia headlining instead of Han or Luke (who both barely make an appearance in this comic).

I really enjoyed this narrative, it dealt with the emotional fallout of losing an entire planet, and demonstrated why Leia was one of the rebellions top commanders and all around badasses that the empire feared and wanted captured.

Y ...more

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Apr 29, 2017 Cat (cat-thecatlady) rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-own

this was so good! I loved the friendship between Leia and Evaan. and the Alderlaan plot. kickass ladies in space make my world go around

full review here: https://catshelf.wordpress.com/2017/0... ...more

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May 23, 2017 Melanie rated it really liked it

could have been gay, was not gay

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Nov 14, 2015 Neil R. Coulter rated it did not like it

Shelves: fiction, graphic-novels, star-wars

This is one of the most lightweight Star Wars stories I've yet read. Writer Mark Waid begins with an intriguing premise: If there are people from Alderaan living on other worlds at the time of the planet's destruction, then doesn't that make Princess Leia their queen? Unfortunately, that initial hook becomes a rather silly, vapid story that ignores the deeper issues.

The story picks up at the awards ceremony on Yavin after the Death Star's destruction. Leia decides she needs to accept her respon This is one of the most lightweight Star Wars stories I've yet read. Writer Mark Waid begins with an intriguing premise: If there are people from Alderaan living on other worlds at the time of the planet's destruction, then doesn't that make Princess Leia their queen? Unfortunately, that initial hook becomes a rather silly, vapid story that ignores the deeper issues.

The story picks up at the awards ceremony on Yavin after the Death Star's destruction. Leia decides she needs to accept her responsibility as Queen of Alderaan and gather all the other survivors from throughout the galaxy. At her side is her trusty and eminently forgettable sidekick, an X-wing pilot named Evaan (who seems to have stolen Luke's outfit from the awards ceremony). By the end of the book, after some mildly Star Wars-y adventures and many moments of self-doubting and soul-searching, Leia has managed to collect a large number of Alderaanians, who have now left the planets where they had been living comfortably for years and are drifting together in a space fleet, with no home and with the Empire presumably hunting them down forever. Waid didn't convince me that this is a good thing.

Throughout this story, Leia seems off, and the book as a whole feels more like an episode of the old Droids cartoon than actual Star Wars--though still not as awful as the Holiday Special. Crafting a story that features almost entirely female characters is kind of a clunky way of bringing feminism to Star Wars, and the end result (for me, at least) was not that Princess Leia looks like a stronger or more interesting character than in the movies. Even learning the origin story of Nein Nunb wasn't enough to rescue this book.

The artwork is fairly bland and simple. It has the look of having been completed quickly, or with a too-short deadline. It's not terrible, but I just didn't see anything special in it.

Graphic novels should be a place for Star Wars--always a very visual storytelling world--to shine. But it didn't happen with Princess Leia. ...more

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May 20, 2017 Jordan Lynch rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, graphic-novels-manga, 2017

The braids, the skill, the sass! Leia proves that she's not just a pretty princess, she's a fierce and determined fighter who will do anything for her people.

I love the relationship between Leia and Evaan and how it shifts from Evaan begrudgingly teaming up with Leia out of respect as a royalist to Leia winning Evaan's friendship and respect through her actions. Leia's mission to gather and save the remaining Alderaanians is admirable, and I love that she fights even against her allies to achiev ...more

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Feb 28, 2017 Kendra rated it it was amazing

10 out of 10 would cry again

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Mar 11, 2017 Max added it

Fun, tight story bringing the question of the Alderannian diaspora (and Leia's own royalty) into focus in the new Star Wars continuity. I'll probably pick up vol 2 at some point. ...more

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Feb 01, 2019 Nancy rated it liked it

Shelves: graphic-novels

This review can also be found on my blog: https://graphicnovelty2.com/2019/02/0...

Set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, this story is about Leia dealing with the pain of losing her family and the entire planet of Alderaan. Immediately after the medal ceremony Leia approaches General Dodonna to see how she can help and discovers that surviving Alderaan citizens that were off world when the planet was destroyed are being hunted down by Imperial forces. Leia quickly finds pilot Evaan This review can also be found on my blog: https://graphicnovelty2.com/2019/02/0...

Set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, this story is about Leia dealing with the pain of losing her family and the entire planet of Alderaan. Immediately after the medal ceremony Leia approaches General Dodonna to see how she can help and discovers that surviving Alderaan citizens that were off world when the planet was destroyed are being hunted down by Imperial forces. Leia quickly finds pilot Evaan Verlaine, a fellow Alderaanian, to help her find and save their brethren. With a few slick maneuvers they escape to Naboo to find an enclave of musicians who keep their culture alive. I did appreciate the few panels that showed Leia seeing her birth mother represented in stained glass and feeling a connection without knowing why. Smuggler and pilot Nien Nunb joins the women as they continue searching other worlds for survivors, and there is an intriguing subplot about what makes a true Aldaraanian when they discover an outpost of survivors that have intermarried with natives of that planet.

Author Mark Waid, who has written Kingdom Come and Strange Fruit, two favorites of mine, gives Leia a story to work through her grief. He addresses some hard questions: Is Leia still a princess without a world? What parts of a culture are worth saving? Should descendants of a people who now look and act different be considered valid citizens of Aldaraan? This one-off graphic novel tries to pull together many threads, but isn’t able to delve deep into many of the issues. I ended up wanting a bit more from this story than Waid was able to deliver.

The artwork was a mixed bag for me. The most glaring issue for me was that Princess Leia did not look like Carrie Fisher. Artist Terry Dodson made Leia a hottie with form fitting outfits and sexy come hither eye makeup and hair-dos. And it’s not as if he couldn’t replicate the actors who portrayed them in the movies, as the depictions of Padmé and Bail Organa looked very accurate. There were several panels that lacked detail and definition; in particular, there was a scene of Leia as a child where she looked like a monkey with her face in profile and her hair flowing out like a tail. I typically love the way Jordie Bellaire colors, but in this book the coloring was just standard, with some odd shading of faces.

All in all, this was an enjoyable outing with Leia that gave a look at a gap in the Star Wars narrative that helps explain how the loss of her people shaped her into the general she became in later years. (Actual rating 3.5/5) ...more

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Sep 04, 2019 RG rated it liked it

Didnt really like this as much as I was hoping. Cool artist but he for some reason changed his style to go down a cartoon looking style, just didnt work. Waid had a solid story but I felt like Leia was making random jokes like Han would which just didnt suit her character. Just a pass.

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May 06, 2020 kristen ♡ rated it liked it

Shelves: 2020, comics

it kept a coherent story but it wasn’t all that exciting. could have been better, could have been A LOT worse.

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Sep 02, 2020 Robin rated it it was ok

while the plot was interesting, I feel like the execution wasn’t the best. this was very underwhelming, sadly

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Aug 13, 2018 A Voracious Reader (a.k.a. Carol) rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, year-2018, media-tie-in, short3-101-150-pages, 3-stars, gso-library, graphic-novel

*Book source ~ Library

After the destruction of Alderaan and the subsequent destruction of the Death Star, do you wonder what happens right after the medal ceremony at the end of A New Hope. Well, wonder no longer. Princess Leia’s story continues here as she tries to round up the last surviving citizens of Alderaan scattered across the galaxy before the Empire can get to them.

I have to say, I’m not very impressed with this one. I really enjoyed the book Leia: Princess of Alderaan, but this graphi ...more

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About Mark Waid

Mark Waid

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Mark Waid (born March 21, 1962 in Hueytown, Alabama) is an American comic book writer. He is best known for his eight-year run as writer of the DC Comics' title The Flash, as well as his scripting of the limited series Kingdom Come and Superman: Birthright, and his work on Marvel Comics' Captain America. ...more