Poe Dameron: Book I: Part I: Black Squadron
What is it ? : Poe Dameron and BB-8 are streaking towards a planet surface in their X-Wing, and enter a tunnel, the tunnel is tight and mines are detonated causing the ceiling to begin collapsing, when they see a set of giant doors beginning to close, so Poe accelerates to get through them in time.
Some time earlier on D'Qar, he is getting briefed by General Leia, she is sending him on the mission from the start of The Force Awakens, to find her brother, Luke Skywalker. She tells him of Lor San Tekka, and gives him 4 wingmen and a technician, Snap Wexley, Kare Kun, L'ulo, Jess Pava, and Oddy Muva, to help. Oddy the tech wants to fly with them, and Poe assures him that the Resistance needs pilots so his time will come soon enough. They ask about their mission, but Poe tells them it's classified, L'ulo comments he's been flying with Leia since Endor so he thought it might earn him some trust, and Snap says he's been flying since Jakku, but admits he was only 16 back then. Poe names them Black Squadron, and calls them his friends.
Back in the current time, he has landed inside a cavern, which is a circular settlement with a clear area in the middle where a large blue egg dangles from the ceiling. He contacts the rest of his team, but his comlink gets shot out of his hand as we see the inhabitants, a group of different species all aiming blasters at him, all of whom have blue marks on their foreheads.
Poe explains that he's looking for Lor San Tekka, and the elder of the group explains that he stayed among them for some time and earned their trust, if Poe is willing to do the same she might trust him enough with where Lor San went. Poe says he's on a timetable, when BB-8 disturbs him with something it has retrieved from his ship. The group, called the Creche, think it's a detonator and he's going to destroy their egg. He dives for cover and then threatens their egg with his blaster causing them to cease fire. Poe tells them it is a tracker, so the First Order is coming here, so they're extremely limited for time, and he returns to his X-Wing to contact Black Squadron, who tell him the First Order is already overhead with a First Order Landing Platform, Tie Fighters and Jet Troopers.
Oh and there's a second cartoony style story about BB-8 helping a ginger X-Wing Pilot and a Technician fall in love.
High Points : Okay, I like they're tying this into The Force Awakens, we've seen the end of this mission, but now we're seeing the quest that Poe Dameron had to go on to find Lor San Tekka and eventually retrieve the map piece to find Luke.
I also love that they're fleshing out the Age of Resistance (as they call it), with new characters, vessels and ideas, we've had nearly 50 years of the Age of Rebellion getting fleshed out, so the Resistance era desperately needs it.
Low Points : This series is 31 issues long, if it's all the quest for Lor San Tekka, it's going to drag a little, especially as during this period the First Order isn't seen as a credible threat against the New Republic. So I'll be interested if they do treat this as a building of not only the First Order, but also of the Resistance. But at this moment, both look already fully formed, which doesn't make too much sense.
So what do you really think ? : It's a pretty good beginning to a series, the background building doesn't take too long, and we're straight into the action. We've got some characters we know (Poe and Snap for example), but we're getting more information. Snap is interesting, as he's a bridge between the two era's, old enough (just) to have fought against the Empire, but still young enough to take part in this conflict.
Final Words : So, they don't seem to have made something of it yet, but it seems as if the first mystery of this series isn't where Lor San Tekka is, as we already know that, he's on Jakku, we see him in The Force Awakens.
But instead it's the question of who is the traitor?
We know someone has planted a tracker on Poe's X-Wing, and it's not likely to just be some random grunt at D'Qar. So it's part of his team, we know it can't be Snap, but the others it could be any one of. Kare Kun seems friendly with everyone, with banter for them all, which makes me suspicious. L'ulo has been around since Endor, but the fact that he's not trusted might be driving him away from the Resistance. Jess Pava doesn't get a single word, so they might be hiding her among the crowd for the moment. And Oddy Muva wants to be a pilot, wants to be considered one of them, but currently isn't, so that might be a reason that he might betray them, and as a tech he'd have the best reason to be close to a fighter and plant the tracker. We'll see what comes of this arc as we go along.
Score : 8.5/10
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