Return of the New Jedi Order, Episode III: Chewbacca by Darko Macan et al.

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2001 (contents: 2000)
Borrowed from the library
Read February 2014

Star Wars: Chewbacca

Story: Darko Macan

Pencils: Brent Anderson, Igor Kordey, Jan Duursema, Dave Gibbons, Dusty Abell, John Nadeau, Martin Egeland, Kilian Plunkett, Rafael Kayanan

Inks: Willie Blyberg, Igor Kordey, Jan Duursema, Dave Gibbons, Jim Royal, Jordi Ensign, Matin Egeland, Kilian Plunkett, Rafael Kayanan
Colors: Nathan Eyring, Matthew Paine, Angus McKie, Dave Nestelle, Dan Jackson
Lettering: Vickie Williams

Year One of the Invasion (Month 2)
This comic picks up shortly after Vector Prime, taking place in the lull between the Praetorite Vong beachhead and the arrival of the main force of the Yuuzhan Vong. During this time, C-3PO and R2-D2 travel the galaxy, recording testimonials from those who knew the fallen Wookiee warrior, friend and foes alike. I didn't much like the tales that mostly featured Wookiee characters-- they're hard to tell apart, and I think rendering Chewie's dialogue into English misses the point-- but most of these are decent little tales. I particularly liked "Ssoh; or, A Slaver's Lot," where Chewbacca leads a mass uprising, and "Wedge; or, A Pilot's Anecdote," a tall tale about just how dangerous a Wookiee can be. "Han; or, An Empty Galaxy" was also quite good: poor guy.

Faster than a DC Bullet: Jessica Jones, Part IV: The Pulse: Secret War

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2005 (contents: 2004-05)
Borrowed from the library
Read April 2012

The Pulse: Secret War

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artists: Brent Anderson & Michael Lark

Inker: Stefano Gaudiano
Colorist: Peter Pantazis
Letterer: Cory Petit

I was excited to see that Michael Lark was one of the artists working on the second volume of The Pulse; he was the principal artist on Gotham Central, and judging by that series, his sensibilities ought to match that of Jessica Jones better than Mark Bagley's ever did. And indeed it does, though he's still not Michael Gaydos. (Not really his fault, admittedly.)

However, the story of Secret War might be better than that of Thin Air, but it still doesn't feel right. We get here The Pulse's perspective on a strange series of attacks across New York, and Jessica Jones is desperate when Luke Cage is kidnapped. If I bought into their relationship, I might care more. A lot of details here are purposefully withheld-- the reporters at The Pulse never find out what's going on, and so neither do we. While this fits the powerless ethos of the Alias stories, something about this never quite clicks. Maybe it's because Jessica is too close to the center of the superhero universe? Wolverine shows up for some reason.

The Pulse has a potentially interesting premise, but it keeps on squandering it. These are neither good superhero stories nor good inversions of superhero stories, leaving you with pretty much nothing.