Return of the New Jedi Order, Episode IV: Refugees by Tom Taylor and Colin Wilson

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2010 (contents: 2009)
Acquired March 2012
Read February 2014

Star Wars: Invasion 1: Refugees

Script: Tom Taylor

Art: Colin Wilson

Colors: Wes Dzioba
Letters: Michael Heisler

Year One of the Invasion (Month 3)
Though written in the 2010s, the Invasion comic series takes place during the first year of The New Jedi Order. According to the timeline I consulted, the first two volumes take place between Chewbacca and the Dark Tide duology. (I'm skeptical, but that skepticism is based on a decade-old memory of Dark Tide, so we'll see what I think once I reread it.)

Anyway, Invasion follows the journeys of two siblings named Finn and Kaye Galfridian, members of the royal family of Artorias, one of the first planets to fall to the Yuuzhan Vong. Kaye and their mother are captured by the Yuuzhan Vong, their father is trapped on the planet, and Finn ends up falling in the Jedi and discovering his Force potential. Finn's plotline is a little jumpy; one page he's leaving Artorias, the next he's settling in at the Jedi Academy and crushing on Jaina Solo, the next he's on a pivotal mission to Nar Shaddaa. Meanwhile, Kaye is figuring out how to turn the tables on her captors.

It's not great, but it's not bad-- I don't really feel the level of attachment to the Galfridian family that I think the story wants me to have. The worst part is when Luke Skywalker, Kyp Durron, and a Jedi Master you've never heard of go on a mission together. Guess which one dies? The best part is just getting to see the Yuuzhan Vong invasion visualized; this is a rich era, and one of my favorites, and it has a very unique aesthetic that hasn't been exploited much. The Yuuzhan Vong are perfect for comic books.