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Star Wars Legends: Comics
Star Wars: River of Chaos
A Star Wars adventure set between "A New Hope" and "The Empire Strikes Back". When an Imperial power-play lands an Imperial officer in the H'drachi Ghetto, Princess Leia's Rebel forces fear the worst, until the officer's loyalties are swayed by the barbarity of the Imperial retaliations.
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
1 person is currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Louise Simonson
967 books101 followersLouise Simonson (born Mary Louise Alexander and formerly credited as Louise Jones, when married to artist Jeff Jones) is an American comic book writer and editor. She is best known for her work on comic book titles such as Power Pack, X-Factor, New Mutants, Superman, and Steel. She is sometimes referred to by the nickname "Weezie".
Since 1980 she is married to comic book writer and artist Walter Simonson
Since 1980 she is married to comic book writer and artist Walter Simonson
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 1, 2020
I had no idea what this was, picked it out of my torrent folder at random. At first I expected something more middle-period Dark Horse. But it turns out this is basically the last gasp of the classic Star Wars adventure style. It's hard to put my finger on exactly what makes this feel so different from later stories; in outline it's very similar, still just the main "Star Warriors" visiting a random planet, meeting strangers, working to help them against the Empire, a few twists and turns, and we're done. It's mostly in the characterization, which isn't necessarily bad but feels kind of gormless? Like there's clear intended depth and complexity, except everyone constantly narrates their motivations, even when they're conflicting or dishonest, so it feels utterly flat. There's an Imperial Pilot who defects, and the story would be good enough, an Admiral's son who comes to a backwater planet to find the local Imps are corrupt and exploitative, joins the Rebels to thwart them in the service of what he thinks the Empire is, and then learns the Empire is actually going to do the same thing, so he defects. Except he experiences this by having thoughts like "How am I going to navigate my conflicting loyalties?"
There are also a lot of fairly archaic plot choices. One of the big developments in the plot hinges on a random girl betraying the Rebellion to undermine a romantic rival, and that's like the only thing she ever does or is. The main native girl turns out to be a Queen, lost from birth, who reclaims her birthright to rule. Then there's the H'drachi, who are Jim Henson muppet alien hippies who can see the future, kind of, when plot-convenient, and I didn't love them. They feel oddly sidelined in the story, considering this is their planet, because their adopted human ends up speaking and acting for them most of the time. Which is not great. I do appreciate that Leia is here but not in a particularly meaningful role, though.
The art is quite good overall, with a lot of strong depictions of Imperial Sourcebook ships. The weak part is the native architecture, which is like an uninspired low-fantasy town.
There are also a lot of fairly archaic plot choices. One of the big developments in the plot hinges on a random girl betraying the Rebellion to undermine a romantic rival, and that's like the only thing she ever does or is. The main native girl turns out to be a Queen, lost from birth, who reclaims her birthright to rule. Then there's the H'drachi, who are Jim Henson muppet alien hippies who can see the future, kind of, when plot-convenient, and I didn't love them. They feel oddly sidelined in the story, considering this is their planet, because their adopted human ends up speaking and acting for them most of the time. Which is not great. I do appreciate that Leia is here but not in a particularly meaningful role, though.
The art is quite good overall, with a lot of strong depictions of Imperial Sourcebook ships. The weak part is the native architecture, which is like an uninspired low-fantasy town.
January 15, 2021
Star Wars Legends Project #253
Background: River of Chaos is a 4-issue miniseries (June-October 1995). It was first collected in the Omnibus Early Victories in October 2008. It was written by Louise Simonson and drawn by June Brigman. Neither has a long list of Star Wars credits. Simonson wrote a couple issues of the original Marvel run.
River of Chaos is set 6 months after the Battle of Yavin. The main characters are Ranulf Trommer and Mora (both one-off characters), but Princess Leia plays a significant minor role. The story takes place mostly on M'haeli.
Summary: Imperial pilot Ranulf Trommer finds his battle heroics rewarded with a promotion as aide to Grigor, Imperial Governor of M'haeli, a planet inhabited by human colonizers and a subjugated native race called the H'drachi. But his true assignment is to spy on the governor and report back to Grand Moff Lynch. His prowess as a fighter pilot translates poorly to the subtleties of politics and espionage, and he finds himself on the run, framed as a Rebel by Grigor. The rebels on M'haeli don't trust him either, with the exception of Mora, a woman who was adopted as an infant by a H'drachi seer, and who may have ties to M'haeli ruling family, believed destroyed. Soon, Ranulf is feeling uncertain about where his loyalties truly lie, and his decision may well decide the fate of the planet.
Review: There's a delightful weirdness to this entire comic that I can really get behind. You can tell right away that it is very mid-90s EU, particularly in its worldbuilding. This was definitely a time when you'd see writers go off into a weird little corner of the galaxy and just throw a bunch of stuff at a wall to see what would stick. There's a race of alien camel people who can read the future (but apparently aren't Force-sensitive), plus all the sort-of social commentary of their existence as a colonized people . . . There's the Anastasia Romanov thing with Mora . . . A couple different factions of H'drachi, a couple different factions of Rebels, and even a couple different factions of Imperials. Swirl it all around for four issues and . . . Well, if nothing else, you're not going to be bored.
The weirdness isn't quite my flavor, but it's never just completely silly enough to disengage me from the story. The art is a bit drab. I liked the main characters and their arcs, and I appreciated the ambition of the whole thing. I'm on record as being in favor of stories that feature compelling characters and locations and storylines that aren't totally derivative of something from a Star Wars movie, so I can't rightly turn up my nose when I come across one. I wish the H'drachi didn't feel like second-class citizens in this story just like they are on their own homeworld. That, more than anything, felt like the biggest failure of imagination. Still, this one is worth checking out.
B-
Background: River of Chaos is a 4-issue miniseries (June-October 1995). It was first collected in the Omnibus Early Victories in October 2008. It was written by Louise Simonson and drawn by June Brigman. Neither has a long list of Star Wars credits. Simonson wrote a couple issues of the original Marvel run.
River of Chaos is set 6 months after the Battle of Yavin. The main characters are Ranulf Trommer and Mora (both one-off characters), but Princess Leia plays a significant minor role. The story takes place mostly on M'haeli.
Summary: Imperial pilot Ranulf Trommer finds his battle heroics rewarded with a promotion as aide to Grigor, Imperial Governor of M'haeli, a planet inhabited by human colonizers and a subjugated native race called the H'drachi. But his true assignment is to spy on the governor and report back to Grand Moff Lynch. His prowess as a fighter pilot translates poorly to the subtleties of politics and espionage, and he finds himself on the run, framed as a Rebel by Grigor. The rebels on M'haeli don't trust him either, with the exception of Mora, a woman who was adopted as an infant by a H'drachi seer, and who may have ties to M'haeli ruling family, believed destroyed. Soon, Ranulf is feeling uncertain about where his loyalties truly lie, and his decision may well decide the fate of the planet.
Review: There's a delightful weirdness to this entire comic that I can really get behind. You can tell right away that it is very mid-90s EU, particularly in its worldbuilding. This was definitely a time when you'd see writers go off into a weird little corner of the galaxy and just throw a bunch of stuff at a wall to see what would stick. There's a race of alien camel people who can read the future (but apparently aren't Force-sensitive), plus all the sort-of social commentary of their existence as a colonized people . . . There's the Anastasia Romanov thing with Mora . . . A couple different factions of H'drachi, a couple different factions of Rebels, and even a couple different factions of Imperials. Swirl it all around for four issues and . . . Well, if nothing else, you're not going to be bored.
The weirdness isn't quite my flavor, but it's never just completely silly enough to disengage me from the story. The art is a bit drab. I liked the main characters and their arcs, and I appreciated the ambition of the whole thing. I'm on record as being in favor of stories that feature compelling characters and locations and storylines that aren't totally derivative of something from a Star Wars movie, so I can't rightly turn up my nose when I come across one. I wish the H'drachi didn't feel like second-class citizens in this story just like they are on their own homeworld. That, more than anything, felt like the biggest failure of imagination. Still, this one is worth checking out.
B-
January 27, 2020
As this was an older Boxtree publication I must confess I wasn't expecting anything special. In my experience a lot of the old Boxtrees are quite dated now and very simple. I'm pleased to say this is not the case here. There are certain factors that date it a little, but the compelling story really surprised me. Although the story arc the main character goes on has been done before, and was pretty predictable, it was enjoyable to follow. Things such as watching a devoted imperial seeing just how common people suffer at the hands of his beloved Empire and having to make some tough internal choices, never gets old. Most of the characters were pretty good, though there were a couple who made some really insane choices that came out of the left field.
The artwork was a little basic and there were a couple of scenes set in heavy snow fall that you'd only know it was snowing because the characters were pointing out how difficult it was to see due to the snow falling despite been drawn in clear snow-free air. A minor complaint, but very noticeable.
The artwork was a little basic and there were a couple of scenes set in heavy snow fall that you'd only know it was snowing because the characters were pointing out how difficult it was to see due to the snow falling despite been drawn in clear snow-free air. A minor complaint, but very noticeable.
August 14, 2025
Really enjoyed that. It’s a bit pulpy and the romance between Mora and Ranulf seems to happen a bit too fast, but there’s a fun little story here about a small religious community learning to accept outsiders and work towards a better future instead of living an oblivious existence full of oppression that comes from sticking to the status quo. And it does it all without use of the force or a lightsaber which shows some real restraint that has to be commended.
March 28, 2025
Literally has like a handful of recognizable Star Wars elements including just a single character from the movies (Princess Leia) and she used here like a cameo in each issue of the miniseries, like they were literally paying Carrie Fisher per panel she was in. Everything else is a story reads like Louise Simonson had an alien race fighting against an oppressive military presence on the back burner and just cut and pasted some Star Wars stuff into it. It's not telling any sort of interesting new story either, every plot beat is basic sci-fi fodder. Don't waste your time.
February 26, 2023
A fine mediocre star wars story that does not improve on the expanded universe lore in any meaningful way.
April 25, 2013
Even better than Vader's Quest (my previous choice for best Star Wars comic).
I particularly liked this as it is about an Imperial officer who has to infiltrate and spy on rebels, a great concept in my opinion.
I particularly liked this as it is about an Imperial officer who has to infiltrate and spy on rebels, a great concept in my opinion.
February 27, 2016
Not a fantastic read but the artwork by June Brigman is sublime. Almost any panel could be taken out and framed. Set in between A New Hope and Empire it treads a lot of the same territory as A New Hope but it's a bit of fun, Bounty Hunter Glott is especially cool.
September 1, 2015
what did I even read.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews