Today saw the release of the fourth issue in Marvel Comics’ adaptation of Lucasfilm’s live-action Disney+ series Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, and below are my thoughts on this installment by writer Jody Houser and artist Salvador Larocca.
Next week’s comic-book releases will mark the beginning of Marvel’s adaptation of Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances novel, written by the same comic writer who is penning this current Obi-Wan Kenobi adaptation, and I am so much more excited for that one. It’ll be really refreshing to see a story brought from a non-visual medium into a visual one, rather than watching House and Larocca translate this Disney+ series essentially shot-for-shot and line-for-line to the comics page. That said, I’m still powering through these Obi-Wan Kenobi issues, and with only two more left to go after today’s, let’s just say I’m looking forward to the end.
For those who don’t recall, the fourth episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi saw the title character traveling to Fortress Inquisitorius on the moon of Nur to rescue poor little Princess Leia once again. But first he has to convince the would-be-rebels who are running the underground-railroad-for-Jedi known as the Path to help him on this mission. So Ben and Tala Durith head out and sneak into the fortress while Leia is interrogated by Reva, the Third Sister of the Sith Inquisitors. You know how this plays out because you saw it on Disney+. There was some cool action and some moody lighting, all of which made for an interesting and compelling episode of television. I can’t really say that has survived the transition to comic-book form, as this issue reads more like one of those photo comics you see every once in a while than something with its own style of art that went into it. The cover by the amazing Phil Noto, embedded above, is a terrific example of this.
I’m actually not sure whether that’s the ultimate compliment to Salvador Larocca or a dig at his shot-specific illustrations, which you could quite easily convince me were traced off a paused image on a TV screen. But either way, it just feels too close to what we already know. I’ve said this several times before in these reviews, but I would much, much rather see an artist put his or her own spin into these stories than just recycling everything that the Obi-Wan Kenobi cinematographers and directors chose to put into the show. I guess the sole benefit of having these comics (so far) is that Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi has yet to be released on physical media, so if you wanted to own these stories right now this is the only way to do it. Otherwise I’ll continue to recommend skipping this and picking up Thrawn – Alliances next week.
Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi #4 is available now wherever comic books are sold.