Star Wars: Age of Resistance - Heroes

Star Wars: Age of Resistance

by Tom Taylor

This is the Age of Star Wars - an epic series of adventures that unite your favorite characters from all three trilogies! Explore untold tales of the greatest heroes of the Resistance. Finn starts to question the First Order as he is put on infestation control on Starkiller Base. Poe Dameron fancies himself the best pilot there is, but after a New Republic protocol droid is stolen he may just meet his better! Trapped in an asteroid field, Poe will have to learn a thing or two from this mysterious pilot if he wants to survive. Rey, Chewie and R2-D2 start their journey to find Luke Skywalker, but mechanical issues force them to land on the junkyard planet the Necropolis. Plus: Rose Tico, Admiral Holdo, Maz Kanata and BB-8!

COLLECTING: STAR WARS: AGE OF RESISTANCE - FINN 1, STAR WARS: AGE OF RESISTANCE - ROSE TICO 1, STAR WARS: AGE OF RESISTANCE - POE DAMERON 1, STAR WARS: AGE OF RESISTANCE - REY 1, STAR WARS: AGE OF RESISTANCE SPECIAL 1

Genres: Star Wars, Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Marvel, Graphic Novels Comics, Fantasy

136 pages, Paperback

First published November 26, 2019

About the author

Once a professional juggler and fire eater, Tom Taylor is a #1 New York Times Bestselling, multi-award-winning comic book writer, playwright and screenwriter.

Well known for his work with DC Comics and Marvel, Taylor is the co-creator of NEVERLANDERS from Penguin Random House, SEVEN SECRETS from Boom Studios and the Aurealis-Award-winning graphic novel series THE DEEP. Taylor is also the Head Writer and Executive Producer of The Deep animated series, four seasons of which is broadcast in over 140 countries.

He is perhaps best known for the DC Comics series, DCEASED (Shadow Awards Winner), NIGHTWING (nominated for 5 Eisner Awards), SUPERMAN: SON OF KAL-EL (GLAAD Award Nominee), INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US, SUICIDE SQUAD, EARTH 2 and BATMAN/SUPERMAN as well as Marvel's FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN, ALL NEW WOLVERINE, X-MEN: RED, DARK AGES and SUPERIOR IRON MAN. Taylor is also the writer of many Star Wars series, which include STAR WARS: INVASION and STAR WARS: BLOOD TIES (Stan Lee Excelsior Award winner). Taylor has written for Marvel, DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, IDW Publishing, Boom Studios, Wildstorm, 2000 AD and Gestalt Comics.

He can be followed on twitter @TomTaylorMade.

Reviews

[Artemy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Age of Resistance is far and away the best of the three series of one-shots. Of course, it's partly due to Marvel putting one of their best writers to pen these, but it's also because the new trilogy is by far the least explored and most interesting of the three. These were all great comics, with only real miss being the Rey issue (it was a really weird choice to explore that moment in her life, a moment that really didn't need anything extra added to it). Still, even that issue was a fine read. Overall, a great collection of Star Wars comics that really helps to bide the time before Episode IX hits the theatres this December.

[Sophie_The_Jedi_Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was SO GOOD. And I cried.

This review will contain spoilers for The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker

Let me start off with this: I didn't like The Last Jedi. (Gave it 3/5 stars.) It was so badly disconnected from The Force Awakens, and I feel like many of the characters were very out of character across the two movies. Personally, I loved The Rise of Skywalker, but the cool little essays about each character in this book don't acknowledge TROS because this came out before that. I liked the essays, but I felt like I could see the writer grasping to connect the characters from TFA to TLJ. Unfortunately, the new trilogy just isn't well connected and doesn't work well as an overarching plot. They're still (mostly) good movies, but they don't link so well.

Now, to the stories!

FINN
Finn's story was short and sweet. It was just really him showing that he's got compassion, which will eventually get him into trouble. There wasn't too much to it, but it was nice.

POE
This one wasn't bad, but it was a little meh, like Finn's. Good, but not spectacular. The twist at the end did annoy me because I don't like Holdo. More on that later., but I really liked getting to see Kare and some others.

ROSE
This was far and away the best story in the set. I liked seeing Rose and Paige, and their homeworld. I really liked that Leia was there for them after the destruction of their world; she was perfect for that. There was one line that hit me in the gut "We are the last sisters of Otomok" and aah, that final panel actually made me cry and is still giving me chills just thinking about it. So, so beautiful. Paige is narrating, not Rose! It's Paige saying that her sister is her hero and will do great things! Oh the chills! Honestly, with everything else it was this story that bumped my rating up to 5 stars. I can't give anything with this in it less than 5. I can't.

A note on the character Rose - she got done dirty. TLJ wasn't good, but Rose was a bright light in that movie. I love her character and her talents. It's a real shame that she didn't get a larger role in TROS. As much as I love TROS, that was a mistake. She deserved so much more screentime.

REY
This is a fun little adventure set between TFA and TLJ. One line in this story really got me - Poe saying "Luke's our only hope" and Leia responding "No. There is another" with a pan over to Rey. I LOVED IT. Also, the scene where Rey talks with Leia about Han's death was good. Parts like this and Rey's short interaction with Leia at the beginning of Resistance Reborn are really good - I like Rey's constant hope that she has for Ben. I also liked seeing Rey use a Jedi mind trick like she did in TFA, but the meat of this story was ultimately similar to Finn and Poe's - a little bland and not spectacularly interesting. I was kind of hoping to see a teenage Rey, but this story was still good. The parts before the conflict of the story were best.

There were also three bonus stories:

MAZ KANATA
This is a cute and fun story about Maz recruiting Han and Chewie for a mission. Short and sweet. Although I do wish I could tell whose helmet that is. It looks familiar, but I can't tell.

HOLDO
Standing on its own, this is a good story about young Admiral Holdo. (Seeing how she dyes her hair is a cute addition.) However, the story ends with everyone saying "We should have trusted you, Holdo" and... no. I know this is a reference to TLJ with Poe, but Poe was in the right. He had no reason to trust someone who was apparently driving the Resistance into the ground with no explanation. What was that message, "blindly trust authority?" No. Holdo had a lot of potential as a character, but she was not done well.

BB-8
Another cute little story about Poe and BB-8 getting information. There are other little droids. It's adorable. The ending made me smile.

Rose and BB-8's stories were the best of the batch. But over all, they were all very good. I had a lot of fun and can't wait for Age of Resistance: Villains. Also - I learned that there are other versions of these comics - Age of Republic and Age of Rebellion! I'm so excited!

Age of Resistance: Heroes gets 5/5 stars. I'm a sucker for Star Wars.

[Neil R. Coulter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Basically bland stories about basically bland characters. It says something when you can't tell which sister is narrating the story about Rose and Paige until it's revealed at the end. If two sisters in a story are completely interchangeable, you probably don't need both characters.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adds some back story to the sequel characters. To my surprise, the one I enjoyed the most was Rose Tico. Probably because she's the one we know the least about so there's a lot there to explore.

[Jesús De la Jara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bastante regular este conjunto de historias de héroes de la Resistencia. Definitivamente me quedo con el de los Villanos.
Quizás el más interesante es el de Poe Dameron sobre todo por el final abrupto pero que es coherente con las películas. La historia de Rose y su hermana también va aunque me aburrió un poco. Finn y Rei son lo que Finn y Rei en las películas un poco aburridos cuando van en plan amigos.

[Eva B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
I'm a very big fan of the sequel trilogy, and so of course I was beyond excited for this comic collection.
Finn: 4/5. A cute story, but nothing great. I would've preferred to see something like his story from Before The Awakening, but it gives some lead-up to his eventual desertion.
Poe: 3/5. My least favorite in the collection. I liked seeing Kare (and the reveal at the end), but besides that, it just felt like a condensed issue of his normal comic run.
Rose: 5/5, my favorite in the collection. I could write a lengthy rant on how awful Kelly Marie Tran and her characters were treated by the fAnDoM mEnAcE dipshits, and how much I love both Kelly and her character, but I have neither the time nor the patience to do so. I love any Tico sisters content (ESPECIALLY content that diverges from the shared plotline given to both in-universe journals and Cobalt Squadron) and this one aggressively punched me in the heart.
Rey: 5/5. That bit in the essay where the author says that the first two responses to their tweet "what does Rey mean to you?" were "how much time do you have?" and "everything"....I felt that. Rey means the world to me and I adore any and all Rey content and this was no exception. A brief interlude in her quest to find Luke Skywalker, and it's very fast and fun.

Short ones:
Maz: 5/5. It was fun to see Maz, Chewie, and Han interact in their youth, and do a fun little quest to find...an item that surprised me.
Holdo: 4.5/5. I adored the art style of this one, and it was nice to see teenage Holdo again after Leia: Princess of Alderaaan.
BB-8: 4/5. Short but sweet comic about BB-8 freeing some droids from the First Order and, of course, causing some trouble.

[Štěpán · Rating 2 out of 5]

Damn, just no.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 2 out of 5]

A series of one shots to help build the heroicness of the new trilogy characters. Most of these felt pretty forced, especially the Poe/Holdo issue. I did enjoy the mini-story with BB-8.

[Cale · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this collection represents the best of the Age of... titles Marvel created. Rey's story feels like an essential piece of canon, as it shows the conversation between Rey and Leia after The Force Awakens, hammering home what the loss meant to both of them (although the second half of the story is a bit of a throwaway action subplot). Finn's story highlights his compassion and clumsiness and how both led him to his familiarity with janitorial work on Starkiller Base, and gets some humor out of it too. Poe's story is about showing off in spaceships and works (or doesn't) depending on what you think of the final reveal page, but I enjoyed it. Rose's story focuses on the relationship between her and her sister and is sweet but doesn't have a lot of resonance unless you've read the novel their earlier days are detailed in.
All of the stories in the special are good, with BB-8's being particularly fun, and Holdo's helping flesh out the character a bit (even though its art was the weakest of the collection). Maz's trip with Han and Chewie offers a lot of humor and a bit of action and was enjoyable too.
So there aren't any real misses in this collection, and the art is good to very good throughout (with the one above exception); Taylor pretty much nails the voice of all of the characters and any fans of the movies would probably enjoy this collection.

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Also fun. But aside from someone getting their head ripped off in the shadows, it felt very childish. That’s the only thing I haven’t liked about the sequels, outside the movies a lot of the content is aimed at children only. I’m excited to get a sequel era show with the tones of the Andor series. But this is a good collection of stories that will definitely affect the way I see these characters when I watch the movies from now on.

[47Time · Rating 4 out of 5]

The good guys are far more boring than the bad guys. This seems to be the general rule for Star Wars, so Disney got that one right. At least as far as I'm concerned. But Holdo sure is hot. She needed more screen time.

Finn is trying to do a good job as a First Order stormtrooper, but his compassion isn't helping matters at all. He is taking his first steps toward turning his back on the Order.

Poe Dameron reminds me if Anakin. He is skilled with a fighter, but still mostly powerless to do his own thing. Yeah, mostly, until he doesn't follow orders and pursues a ship into a deadly asteroid field. He barely survives, thanks to the two ships banding together. Then the ship disables Poe's fighter and flees with its cargo - a droid head with recordings of the New Republic's command. They want to prove that the generals haven't been doing their jobs, thus allowing a new threat to grow. Their leader is Holdo. Holdo is hot.

Rey should try to wear clothes that fit. After Han gets killed by Kylo Ren, Rey joins the Resistance under Leia. Her first task is to seek out Luke to receive training in the Jedi ways. She joins Chewbacca on the Millenium Falcon and runs into mechanical problems along the way. The scrapyard planet they are forced to land on is ruled by a despot who tries to trap them. And this is where Jedi lore is thrown out the window. Rey uses the Force to convince the despot to allow itself to be imprisoned. Dude, skilled Jedi needed years of training under proper Jedi masters to get to that level. This is just like the lightsaber duels in the first Star Wars movie by Disney. Oh, it's only another stick made of light. You don't need training to wield it. It's been said before - Disney doesn't understand Star Wars.

Rose has loved fighters since she was a kid. She has always dreamed of leaving the mining world where she was raised. The First Order threatened her home, so she started fighting back, eventually joining the Resistance. Holdo is still hot. Am I that fond of purple hair? Their homeworld is torn apart by the First Order before anyone can stop them. Leia convinces them to channel their energy alongside the Resistance.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is going to function as a dual review for both the Heroes and Star Wars: Age of Resistance - Villains books, because I mainlined all the issues in one fell swoop and not entirely in order. Each character-centric issue is absolutely tiny: it’s more like a bite-sized vignette, a brief glimpse of a moment that characterises them.

The villains set was more interesting to me because of the insight it gave us to Snoke and Kylo Ren, mostly because I am very interested in those mysterious arcs and where in the world they’re going in the movies, and so it’s interesting to see that during his training, Kylo was unable to kill the Force manifestations of his parents. Also, Hux and Kylo’s dynamic continues to crack me up for how much they bicker and squabble!!

In contrast, the heroes’ issues were mostly just… more of the same: Finn’s early compassion, Rey’s scrappiness and hope, Poe’s first glimpses of the Resistance. None of it is particularly surprising or unexpected, but it is nice just getting to see more of these characters.

[☮ morgan ☮ · Rating 4 out of 5]

”All you need to know, Han, is everything we take from the dark side allows the light to shine brighter.”

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are the heroes we needed.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

~34 ABY

Star Wars Age of Resistance: Heroes features the main heroes from the sequel trilogy. This volume contains five issues told as short stories: "Finn 1," "Poe Dameron 1," "Rose Tico 1," "Rey 1," and "Age of Resistance Sepcial 1."

Finn's story, "Infestation," is actually rather cute. It takes place when Finn is still working on the new Starkiller Base. The base was built over an actual planet and digs down deep into the natural elements. Finn, among others, is asked to eradicate the infestation of creatures coming into the base, but what Finn discovers is that they are just creatures trying to keep their home. Finn makes his way onto a trash barge, carrying the creatures off planet as cargo, releasing them to a new place where they won't be harmed any longer.

Poe's story, "Fight or Flight," follows a young version of Poe as he has recently joined as a pilot for the New Republic. A rogue ship has taken something from the New Republic, and Poe uses his flight skills to keep up with the ship, even following it into a dense space maelstrom. The other pilot is impressed at his skills of keeping up, but does not relent in giving up what they took. This was an interesting twist, because the audience knows who this person in the other ship is, though it isn't revealed until the last page of the short.

Rose Tico's story, "My Hero," explores her past and the planet her and Paige come from. They want to join the resistance and come back to save their parents, but once they have the power, they are a bit too late. This explores a small bit of the relationship between Rose and Paige, as well as some of the things they do together before the events of The Last Jedi in which the opening scene shows Paige losing her life for what she believe is making a difference.

Rey's story, "Alone," takes place between the events of The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. Rey sits with Leia and explains what she saw take place between Kylo and Han, and Leia wants to know the details, no matter how horrifying. Soon after, Rey and Chewie are on their way to find Luke Skywalker, but their compressor craps out and they need to make a stop at a junk heap to scavenge some parts. Of course, there is someone regulating who takes parts and at what cost. Rey has the opportunity to use her Force powers to manipulate this regulator into jailing itself to pay for the crimes of those it has had enslaved. Figuring this a job well done, Rey and Chewie continue on to Ahch-To.

The Special includes three short stories. "Maz's Scoundrels" shows Maz Kanata working with a younger Han and Chewie, though Maz doesn't exactly tell them what they are looking for on their mission. They just know they are getting shot at and need to get Maz whatever she needs, as she is such a notorious underworld smuggler. "The Bridge" was an interesting short featuring Holdo. She uses a plant to dye her hair and she has always been seen as a bit of an oddity. When her ship is attacked and many of the crew killed, she takes the most logical actions possible, ultimately being appointed to Captain (and she is rather young in this short). "Robot Resistance" is a bit of a silly story about how BB-8 always just kind of does his own thing, instead of listening to Poe. And the Resistance gets a few new droids out of the affair...

Like the other "Age of..." collections, this volume features a number of articles after each character's story highlighting their iconic moments and impact on fans. I enjoyed getting a little bit of extra information on these characters as Star Wars winds down in the Skywalker Saga. Finn isn't my favorite character (well, none of the heroes are...), but his story was the best out of this collection. I also really liked the surprise at the end of Poe's story. The art in these and the writing for such short pieces is done well and weaves these tales into the film universe with a smooth and connective segue. 

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good collection, and I liked that the collected edition includes background pieces on each character and how they developed both from script to screen, and through the trilogy.

And yes, only Poe Dameron would dare to sass Kylo Ren (which makes me wonder if Poe already knew who Kylo really was, but that's a question for another day).

There is some wobbly continuity - in TFA, we are told that Finn has shown "no prior signs of non-conformity", but the books and this comic consistently show that he has repeatedly shown that he's not cut out to be a heartless, anonymous stormtrooper.

But the stories are interesting and fun, which is the main thing. I like how Poe's story highlights the New Republic just not being interested in the rumours of the developing threat, despite warnings from the likes of Leia. That is something that other novels have mentioned, so there are parts of the collection that do manage to fit in continuity-wise.

A fun read and I will look for the corresponding Villains one.

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing remarkable but good enough to take the sour taste The Rise of Skywalker has left in my mouth. I adore the sequel trilogy characters beyond what we were given and this was a nice companion, with eye-catching art and lovely short essays at the end of each character's story that actually made me tear up a bit.

My not at all objective ratings:

Finn - 4.5/5
Poe - 4.5/5
Rose - 5/5
Rey - 3.5/5
Maz Kanata -3.5/5
Holdo - 4/5
BB-8 - 4/5

[nobody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing 💜

[Matthew Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid collection of stories. The standouts in this one were Rose’s story and Poe’s story.

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't think I'd give this a try, but it was sitting there on the shelf at the library next to Star Wars: Age of Resistance - Villains, so I figured why not? Might as well check it out and see how it is.

It was very bland, in my opinion. I wasn't amazed or wowed or anything special like that. In fact, what I liked about it the most is that it's a very short and quick read. Therefore, while the rating is rounded down, it's a 1.25 star from me.

[riley_slavens · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading both the 'Age of Resistance' comics I have to say I really enjoyed these additions to the story. With these comics for the heroes I really liked how they chose to go all over the board with the timeline jumping from Poe’s days with the new republic navy to Rey after the events of the attack on starkiller base. While Finn's backstory is not all that interesting in terms of stories beyond possibly a few things he did for the first order I liked how they build on this idea of Finn not being the cookie cutter stormtrooper that we all have come to know. While his wasn't my favorite it was still a very good way to gain more insight into Finn's life before we see him in The Force Awakens. I really found Poe’s to be a very interesting addition to the series given that the only other time we really see his days with the New Republic are either just filler lines or the chapter we got in “Before the Awakening”. While this portion might be a bit hard to follow if you aren't aware of the connections that Poe and a few of his other squadron members had to the New Republic Navy before we catch up with them in the Poe Dameron series I really saw no other issues with this comic and I thought it was a fun read. With the comic that featured Rose and her sister Page Tico, who we only briefly see in the beginning of The Last Jedi it proves to fill in a lot of gaps in the story and answer alot of questions about who these two were and where they came from. I actually found this one on the better side of this comic collection, while Rose isn't my personal favorite I do truly believe she really shines in the other media of star wars. Rey’s comic really didn't stand out to me beyond getting to see a bit more of multiple characters during the end of the force awakens. While the story wasn't really all that intriguing, getting to see a bit more of Leia and what she was going through just hours after Han Solo's death was a really nice touch that I enjoyed. Maz’s story was alright, while I really thought that we were going to see how she came to be in position of the skywalker saber I really can't say I was disappointed with her story. Holdo was another character who wasn't one of my personal favorites from the last jedi but she's gained my respect a bit more as a character through her small tale in this series. All around this really just showed off a bit more of her being a hero and some fun facts about how she dyes her hair. And last but certainly not least BB-8s comic. I honestly thought this comic was really cute and a fun break from the normal seriousness of star wars. It was fun getting to see more of Poe and BB-8s relationship prior to the films and all in all this comic was good fun. Overall I really did like this series and I thought the stories for all the characters were neat and nice shorter stories that just added to these characters we know and love from the films and books. I highly recommend checking out both the Heros and the Villains series for the Resistance/sequel characters, while I have a soft spot for all of them I do believe these were a really fun read.

[Dreximgirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed these stories esp Poe and Finn.

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not going to summarize this one since it's just a collection of stories, each one focusing on a different main character from the Star Wars sequels trilogy. So I'm just gonna go through and give my thoughts on each story.

Finn: Finn has not always been the most interesting character to me, but his story really made me enjoy him a lot more. Finn's story revolves around him being a good person at heart even when he was a Stormtrooper. I also liked seeing how Stormtroopers operate on Starkiller base outside of the war with the Resistance. It was my second favorite story.

Poe: All right, so, confession: I do not give a shit about Poe. Another confession: my least favorite part about Star Wars is the starfighting. Weird, I know. So, Poe is like the perfect storm of shit for me. Obviously, I didn't care for this story. I didn't hate it, but just for the sheer fact that I don't enjoy Poe took away from the story. I did like that the person he was chasing, though, turned out to be Holdo. I loved her putting him in his place in Last Jedi and putting him in his place without him even knowing it was her.

Rose: I liked this one. The narration "twist" is predictable with it actually being Rose's sister, but that didn't take away from the story for me. Rose and Paige's backstory is sad and tragic, like so many other Resistance fighters, but I thought this built their relationship up in preparation for the Last Jedi.

Rey: Rey is my favorite Star Wars character period so obviously her story was my favorite. Her story focuses on her journey to Ahch-To where Luke Skywalker is. I liked the focus on how Rey feels alone because she has been alone for almost her entire life because that's something I feel like the movie don't capitalize on. Rey uses Jedi mind tricks (or whatever the technical name is) for the second time and it was awesome.

Maz/Holdo/BB-8: These were super short stories, but I liked all of them. BB-8's was probably my least favorite since I felt like it didn't build upon BB-8's character. But Holdo and Maz's stories both had something in them that made me more invested in their characters.

[Josiah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why is the vast majority of sequel material just so dull and boring?

[Paul Decker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was definitely excited to read this collection since we haven't gotten much content featuring the heroes from the prequel trilogy quite yet. I really enjoyed this volume.

The first story features Finn as a janitor on Starkiller Base prior to the events of The Force Awakens. It really shows how different Finn was from the other First Order stormtroopers. He had compassion even when he was still technically with the bad guys. I give this story a 3/5. It was pretty boring and my least favorite of the stories in this volume.

The next story has Poe Dameron flying with Rapier Squadron in the New republic. A mysterious ship steals a droid's head and Poe chases them into danger. They bond by barely surviving. There's a really fun reveal. This one gets a 5/5.

Rose and Paige are the focus of the next story. This is a true origin story for the sisters, from childhood to joining the Resistance. I always want more stories about these two! 5/5

Rey's story is small, but exciting. It follows her in the moments leading up to and the travel to Ahch-To to find Luke. 5/5

The next story shows Maz Kanata being pretty badass. It also features a younger Han and Chewbacca. 4/5

I really enjoyed the young Holdo story. It's all about impressions. I feel like this story is so relevant to how so many people viewed her in The Last Jedi. 5/5.

The last story in this volume is all about BB-8 being a kick-ass droid with a heart. BB-8 comes to the aid of other droids. 4/5

This was a really fun collection. Most of the stories are semi-origin stories or feature younger versions of the heroes we're still getting used to on the screen. I look forward to many comics featuring these characters in the future. I give this volume a 5/5.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great to learn more about some of the characters in the new star wars trilogy, especially rose.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another short tale collection featuring one time period in Star Wars, this one during the sequel trilogy. Highlights:
- Finn - Still as FN-2187, the story talks about him going deep on Starkiller Base and finding a colony of bat-like creatures. Refusing to kill them, wanting to relocate them, he disobeys orders and gets sent on trash barge guard duty. He relocates the bats to the trash planet, proving he has already started to rebel.

- Poe - As Rapier Squadron Leader, Poe is sent out with his squadron to follow a rogue ship. Able to keep up with it through an asteroid field, he gets a lesson in focusing on what really matters and following your heart. Unbeknownst to him, the one giving the lesson was Haldo.

- Rose - This is the story of Rose and her sister growing up and learning their skills, as well as joining the Resistance. Coolest part of this story? The two of them taking out an entire squadron of bombers.

- Rey - A story of Rey's journey to Ahch-To. Turns out that the Falcon had a compressor issue on the way and they had to stop on a junk planet to find a part. During the adventure, Rey is forced to overthrow a tyrant who is luring ships to the junk planet for their own gain, using a huge beast.

- Maz - Maz enlists Han and Chewie to help her take down a gang lord. Nice to see her in action.

- Holdo - As a guest diplomat on a ship, Holdo should get to rest, but when the First Order attacks, she takes control and is able to not only escape with her ship and crew, but also take out a Star Destroyer. This earns her a Captain commendation.

- BB-8 - On a mission with Poe to retrieve data, BB-8 also liberates a group of droids who were being tortured by First Order forces.

You've got to love the little snippet stories like this. Gives the characters more depth and provides an opportunity to see that not every is completely life-altering for the whole galaxy.
Strong Recommend.

[Logan Harrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10:
Some more awesome stories from Tom Taylor; we need to give him the reigns on more Star Wars stories! Here are my thoughts on this anthology:

Finn:
Well, we finally know how FN-2187 ended up on Sanitation duty! A decent little story that shows how Finn has always been questioning the actions of the First Order.

Rose Tico:
Overall, a nice little story that shows just how close Paige and Rose Tico were with one another and how they came to join the Resistance. I loved their conversation with General Leia Organa and how much heart was in it for those three women.

Poe Dameron:
A neat story that shows how the Resistance began building itself in the shadows of both the New Republic and the First Order. I enjoyed seeing Poe’s first interactions with Nien Nunb and Vice Admiral Holdo through this heist too!

Rey:
A fine story, but nothing super vital to the story of Rey. This bridges a tiny gap of time during the third act of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), which is neat to see, but it’s fine.

Age of Resistance Special:
The first of three stories in this issue focus on Maz Kanata, Chewbacca, and Han Solo retrieving the mask of the Grand Inquisitor from a thug wearing a Wookiee-fur coat; the interactions between Maz and Chewbacca were perfect! The second story takes place during the Reign of the Empire, but focuses on Amilyn Holdo as she leads a makeshift crew towards escaping an Imperial Star Destroyer. That’s it really. The third story centers on BB-8 infiltrating a First Order base, leading a droid rebellion, and blowing the base up in the process; pretty awesome honestly.

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I don’t want to pretend I’m the biggest fan of the new trilogy characters as a whole, I think the writing in this comic did a spot-on job of capturing Finn, Leia, Holdo, Maz, and evening Rey as unique voices within the franchise. I think Rose and Poe get the shorter end of the sticks, but Poe has a whole series to himself where he shines. I honestly like getting to know where Finn comes from since his origins seem a lot more compelling than his lack of character growth post-TLJ. Holdo, honestly, also pique my curiosity but I worry she’s just a “Leia” archetype with colorful hair. This idea of her being so committed to the cause as to not want to share her plans seems compelling, but only if there are enough narrative beats spent with her to justify her character choices in TLJ. This is the beauty of the Star Wars EU, but also the source of my greatest frustrations at times as a fan. They fill in those gaps in character, but I wish the movies maybe spent the time doing that instead of maybe spending as much time in cheeky banter (and I say that as someone who loves Weedon-esque banter).

[Saimi Korhonen · Rating 4 out of 5]

”There’s been something growing out there. Something evil. And a Resistance is rising against it.”

3,5/5!

A collection of short comics about the hero quartet of the sequel trilogy - Rey, Finn, Poe and Rose. All the stories highlight a significant aspect of their main character - for example, Finn's story focuses on his compassion and Rose's on her resilience - and, even though they aren't long or super profound, they were all fun to read.

My favorite stories were Poe's story because it takes place when he is still in the New Republic navy and he has a run-in with a rogue ship that is carrying some familiar faces - Amilyn Holdo and Nine Nunb , and Rose's story. It was interesting to see Rose and Paige struggle with losing their homeworld and figuring out what they want to do. Finn and Rey's stories were alright, but I wish they'd been a little bit more exciting. I didn't feel like I got anything new out of Rey and Finn as characters from these stories.