Star Wars Legacy TPB 2: Shards

It's not exactly playing fair to put Luke Skywalker on the cover to this trade, is it? I mean, this takes place like 130 years after Return of the Jedi, and Luke is dead. Sure, he shows up as a ghost, but I'd think some of the main cast from the actual series might have made a better cover.

This trade steps away from the main narrative a bit. Rather than follow Cade, Shado, and the other folks we've grown to like, most of the collection picks up a ton of assorted characters to give us a better glimpse of the galaxy. We check in on the Grand Moff council and we see the usurping of Roan Fel from another perspective. John Ostrander fleshes out the Empire a bit more with a short story about a new recruit joining a squad of Stormtroopers (and it is fun seeing them take their helmets off and turn into "normal" folks). Most importantly, we meet Cade Skywalker's mother, Morrigan Cade. She's an Imperial agent and a tough customer. She's interesting, but clearly has the Empire's interests at heart so I can't like her too much. The main storyline picks up a big when we rejoin Cade as he links up with his outcast Jedi buddies. I like the weird mix of character forming up in the new "alliance." A deposed Emperor, Imperial Knights, Jedi, and some bounty hunters and smugglers. I'll give Ostrander this; he is really utilzing the best elements of the Star Wars universe and he's created a cast of characters that fit nicely into the Star Wars archetypes.

A whole bunch of folks work on the art in this trade, but Jan Duursema owns the Legacy universe now. The other artists do ok, but her art really makes the stories feel like they count. I will say I don't really care for the design of the Yuuzhan Vong. They look like old RPG monsters and they aren't too original looking. They don' carry quite the same nerd credit as a twi'lek or a hutt.

Fair