Return of the New Jedi Order, Episode VII: Revelations by Tom Taylor and Colin Wilson

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2012 (contents: 2011)
Acquired July 2012
Read March 2014

Star Wars: Invasion 3: Revelations

Script: Tom Taylor

Art: Colin Wilson

Colors: Wes Dzioba
Letters: Michael Heisler

Year One of the Invasion (Month 6)
The title of Revelations definitely doesn't lie, as we learn a lot about the various members of the Galfridian family. While Finn trains with an ancient, crazy Jedi Master and tries to prevent an assassination, Kaye and her mother continue their amassing of power on the Outer Rim. It's a shame that this is the last volume of Invasion, as its end definitely sets us up for big events to come, which now never will. But it's a good volume on its own: Finn's escapades on Coruscant are good old-fashioned Star Wars fun (with a twist), while the Galfridian women continue their development into something different, something we've never seen before. I really like the use of the reporter character, too, as well as the development of the "Outer Rim Alliance."

The timeline placement of this series is actually a complete mess: volumes 1 and 2 can't come any sooner than after the events of Dark Tide: Onslaught, because there's no known Yuuzhan Vong activity between Vector Prime and Onslaught. But volume 3 both claims two months have passed since volume 1 and opens with Finn watching a news report from the Battle of Dantooine, which happens in Onslaught. Furthermore, the whole tone of the government response during Invasion is far more like that of Onslaught than what comes later: by the end of Onslaught, Chief Fey'lya is no longer in a state of denial about the invasion, but he is still claiming nothing is wrong in Revelations. I wish I had a good answer to all this, but I do not think there is one!

Return of the New Jedi Order, Episode V: Rescues by Tom Taylor and Colin Wilson

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2011 (contents: 2010)
Acquired July 2012
Read February 2014

Star Wars: Invasion 2: Rescues

Script: Tom Taylor

Art: Colin Wilson

Colors: Wes Dzioba
Letters: Michael Heisler

Year One of the Invasion (Month 3)
Rescues picks up right from the end of Refugees, following Finn as he continues (sporadically) his Jedi training and Kaye as her rebellion against her Yuuzhan Vong captors continues. Finn's plotline is okay-- there's some nice space combat action, as he and the Solo twins try to sneak onto a Yuuzhan Vong-occupied planet-- but the high point is definitely Kaye's continuing to amass power and forces to use on the Yuuzhan Vong. It seems to presage a decent into villainy without being completely evil; it's pretty well done, and I look forward to seeing what happens to her in volume 3.

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.